For more than two decades, a group of cyclists has taken part in an unofficial, early morning joyride along the closed-off route, indulging in the rare freedom of the unimpeded road each year before the start of the actual footrace.
Some riders were saddened to lose a beloved yearly ritual. The ride, they said, was something organic in a city where many public events have come to feel overly costly or contrived.
Others were angry, placing the blame on what appeared to be a growing group of riders who pedaled aggressively and treated the event as a time trial, putting the safety of volunteers and pedestrians at risk.
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