If Rapha wants me to be part of their marketing, then THEY can pay ME. I can guarantee you they will have some sort of photo waiver in their registration and it's a ploy by them to get free modelling work.
Second . . . Yes, do the Great North instead! Great event!
https://www.bikereg.com/greatnorth
Lastly, I live in the area and have ridden these roads extensively over the years. It's a great area, but there were local government issues with last year's Battenkill affecting this year's event and I'm not absolutely sure if they would also affect this event.
Here's this year's TotB Gran Fondo Route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45933527
Last year town of Cambridge had a local road closed for construction. TotB management (Ventures Endurance, a Gannett Media company) wanted to route on the road and went around locals to State DOT, who forced the town to re-open the road for the event. That didn't sit well with the town supes, who voted to ban TotB from town of Cambridge roads going forward. So this year's route it totally different–no Juniper Swamp, no Meeting House, no Roberson, and much less unpaved. In past year's the TotB has always gotten event permissions from all involved local governments, so not sure how that could affect other events being held in the area. The interval starting on June 29 could be a way to get around having to get formal event permissions.
In any event, Rapha hasn't offered to pay me to ride this, so I won't be there!
BBD