2017 Freezing Saddles Thread #1

@sjclaeys 149319 wrote:

But absolutely NO UNICYCLES! Those people are weird.

I’m sorry, but if we exclude all the weird people, we won’t have enough left for even one team.

Link to the registration form is here.

Registering is only the first step in entering. Please read this post for further steps, rules, etc.

If you have trouble with the form, please read the remainder of this post. If that doesn’t work, you can send me a private message.

Executive decisions have been made, after as much input as I could get given the short time involved:

• People who have participated in past years, but have moved out of the area, will be permitted to participate.
• People will be permitted to request that they be put on a team with people in their geographic area.
• Slackers will be permitted only if they have participated in past years.
• Registration will be limited to 250 people.

Some things you might do will cause the form not to submit:

• If you fail to answer any of the questions marked with an *.
• If the Zip Code you enter is not in Maryland, Virginia, or DC.
• If you don’t check the box for “Are you really gonna play?”, the one for “Legal stuff,” or the one for “I’m not a robot.”
• If you select “I’m not really intending to participate in anything, so I’m not registering for Freezing Saddles” under “Will you participate in the reindeer games?”
• If you try to submit the form after the deadline (which is clearly stated on the page, along with a countdown timer). After the deadline, the form will change to one that indicates that you can still register, but may or may not be assigned to a team.

Some things you might do will not interfere with the form submission, but will get you laughed at by the people who have access to view the submissions:

• If you inaccurately state your FS2016 miles.
• If you submit more than once. If you need to make a change, just send me a private message, and I can fix it. We really don’t need two or three of you signed up.

If you need access to the form results, please send me a private message with your e-mail address and why you need access.

Dunno if this has been talked about already but someone brought it up at Coffee Club this morning:

If you happen to live and work in DC and don’t want to get stuck with a losing team full of wimpy teeny tiny microcommutes, – don’t ask to be put on a locals only team – , instead ask to be put on one of the VA or MD teams and get those miles biking out to meet your new friends.

Yay, Team Exile! Maybe somewhere between IEV, MSO, and ATX there might be a halfway normal “winter”…

…because right now, our lows are your highs.

@LeprosyStudyGroup 149346 wrote:

Dunno if this has been talked about already but someone brought it up at Coffee Club this morning:

If you happen to live and work in DC and don’t want to get stuck with a losing team full of wimpy teeny tiny microcommutes, – don’t ask to be put on a locals only team – , instead ask to be put on one of the VA or MD teams and get those miles biking out to meet your new friends.

What if you happen to live and work from home? If I’m accepted to play, I have to put some slicks on one of my mountain bike so my mileage isn’t embarrassingly low!

@cvcalhoun 149373 wrote:

Every year before this year, I’ve worked from home (in Bethesda, not DC). And every year, I’ve managed to put in enough miles so that it’s at least not embarrassing. (7th on a team of 9, or 8th on a team of 13.)

If you work from home and don’t do any noncommuting rides, you obviously shouldn’t be in Freezing Saddles (because you’re never actually riding). But if you work from home and do some riding, then we balance out the wimpy riders on each team with the ones that ride a couple of centuries on a Saturday just for fun. Or the teammate I had my first year who rode a century with a broken clavicle.

I mountain bike at least 4 times a week and shoot for at least 8 miles/ride. Sometimes even in the snow , but if this is geared primarily for road mileage, I can bow out.

Bike Ski by ricky d, on Flickr

It’s geared towards riding every day. The daily bonus for going at least a mile is ten points. Last year, if a person rode exactly one mile each day of the competition, they would have gotten 869 points, good for 197th out of 263. The lowest any every day rider finished was 158/263. While riding centuries like a crazy person all winter will definitely endear you to your team, the biggest bang for your buck is making sure you get that 10 points every day.