This ride is unusual in that it is flatter than any other long ride that I am familiar with. It was fun to ride. Lots of low traffic roads with good asphalt and nice scenery. There were 2400 riders and more tandems than I have seen in one place before. There are many 90 degree turns and road intersections. The route is mostly well marked with spray painted turn markings before, at, and after the turns. I did miss two turns though, since I did not have a way to clip the route sheet on my handle bars. It didn't take long to determine and correct the errors. The GPS route I down loaded from the 2012 route from RWGPS, was not the same as the 2013 route. So, I could not depend on it very much, only where the route overlapped and then only as a help to be aware of a possible upcoming turn. Also the route sheet provided did not have turn by turn directions, so even with a clip it would may not have prevented the two wrong turns I made. Beware of the bridges. Some are what appear to be surfaced with wood decking, and the others are decked with steel grate. The steel grate's longitudinal pieces are higher than the lateral pieces, which makes the bike squirmy. If either the wood or steel is wet it would be very slick. The SAG stops were all good, especially the lunch stop. There were two live bands playing, both are very good. See the 2013 actual route, taken from the paper route map, without the two turn errors (though they were minor), at the route named "HOPE Ride Century 2013". The 50 and 75 mile options both end in the HOPE town square, so the century route is just an extension of those two routes.