eBikes and electric powered vehicles (including the Elf)

[dasgeh]

Ugh. This is not an athletic competition. I’ve always thought of it as a competition to build camaraderie and community around people who bike. But it’s not an athletic competition.

And as to fairness? Huh? Take my commute. It takes me about 20 minutes on my unloaded e-assist, 25 minutes on my road bike. It would take my husband (a bit more fit than our beloved TK) about 20 minutes on the unloaded eassist, 15 minutes on a road bike. Before I carried and gave birth to three kids, the commute would have taken me about 20 minutes on my road bike. Which one of these is “fair”? “Unfair”?

Or temperature: at 35 F on my road bike, I wear heavy tights, one shirt layer + coat; on the eassist, I wear long johns + trousers, 2 shirt lawyers + coat; my husband, on a road bike wears leg warmers, base layer + jersey + jacket; husband on eassist wears jeans, one shirt + coat. Is one of these fair? Unfair?

I put moose mitts on the bike in the 30s. Husband waits until the 20s. Many of us don’t have moose mitts. Fair? Unfair?

Seriously. This kind of talk about “athletic competition” and “fairness” is very un-freezing saddles.

[Anonymous]

@Tim Kelley 129644 wrote:

It warms my heart to see everyone bickering…

<>

whatevs, dad. (grownups: so weird.)

[ginacico]

@dasgeh 129675 wrote:

Seriously. This kind of talk about “athletic competition” and “fairness” is very un-freezing saddles.

Mmm hmm. The more rules imposed, the more the needle shifts to the serious end of the spectrum. I really wanted to believe the marketing emphasizing the opposite.

If SolarBikeGuy only signed up to troll or sabotage the games, it will become evident; otherwise, give him the benefit of the doubt and let him play. Disperse those with e-assists, moose mitts, or other random perceived “advantages” among the teams and move on.

Attempts at exclusion are arbitrary, and unpredictability is fun. Having an ELF in the mix might just make FS sillier than ever.

[mstone]

@bobco85 129650 wrote:

[*]A miniature cattle prod extends out of the back of the bike and shocks the child into a calmer state

I was thinking more like a 3DS. I guess I need to add a disclaimer?

[rcannon100]

I organized the first FS. It was organized as an athletic competition in cold weather. ebikes were excluded with one exception.

[Tania]

I thought the mention of moose mitts was a joke? Is there serious talk of excluding people based on their choice of winter gear? (Which is about the stupidest thing I’ve read on this forum…) Am I going to be excluded for wearing Lake boots too? Is this about riding our bikes to seeing who’s the most hard core?

[lordofthemark]

@ginacico 129678 wrote:

Mmm hmm. The more rules imposed, the more the needle shifts to the serious end of the spectrum. I really wanted to believe the marketing emphasizing the opposite.

If SolarBikeGuy only signed up to troll or sabotage the games, it will become evident; otherwise, give him the benefit of the doubt and let him play. Disperse those with e-assists, moose mitts, or other random perceived “advantages” among the teams and move on.

Attempts at exclusion are arbitrary, and unpredictability is fun. Having an ELF in the mix might just make FS sillier than ever.

Just to clarify – I don’t think anyone at all suggested that he be excluded or not be allowed to participate – just that his miles on the ELF would not count. But whatever, if folks think a rule against counting ELF miles detracts from the event, so be it.

At some point in a game, fairness does matter though – even a light hearted, social game can be ruined by being egregiously unbalanced. Of course in FS we have all different levels of experience and fitness, types of bikes, levels of winter gear ownership, and home and work locations with different levels of bike friendliness. So it can’t be a serious competition, even if anyone wanted that. I think the ELF presents a greater degree of unbalance, which might detract from the fun, but we can always just see if that happens and adjust next year.

[lordofthemark]

@Tania 129682 wrote:

I thought the mention of moose mitts was a joke? Is there serious talk of excluding people based on their choice of winter gear? (Which is about the stupidest thing I’ve read on this forum…) Am I going to be excluded for wearing Lake boots too? Is this about riding our bikes to seeing who’s the most hard core?

That was me, and yeah, it was a joke. “Don’t quit your day job” they said.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I think I’ll buy a Hummer and spend my time in traffic reading ArlNow comments.

[bobco85]

@mstone 129680 wrote:

I was thinking more like a 3DS. I guess I need to add a disclaimer?

Eh, they’re both devices that use electricity to entertain

[ginacico]

@Tania 129682 wrote:

I thought the mention of moose mitts was a joke?

It was a joke. dasgeh was trying to make a point about arbitrary rules, and that was my (perhaps unsuccessful) attempt to add support.

[dasgeh]

On a happier note, everyone, including ebikes and even ELF-Troll, is welcome to join us on Kidical Mass Arlington’s HOLIDAY LIGHTS AND 60+F TEMPERATURES RIDE. This Saturday. 4:45pm Key Elementary – we’ll ride to Westover. Longer and hillier than usual, so not geared towards first-time kiddos.

It’s a last minute thing (planned late after looking at the forecast and having another obligation cancelled) so please help spread the word.

http://kidicalmassarl.blogspot.com/2015/12/holiday-lights-featuring-60-degrees-in.html
https://www.facebook.com/kidicalmassarlington/?ref=bookmarks
https://twitter.com/KidicalMassARL/status/675080479259889664

[dasgeh]

@rcannon100 129681 wrote:

I organized the first FS. It was organized as an athletic competition in cold weather. ebikes were excluded with one exception.

I’m pretty sure your memory is going, good sir. I didn’t even participate in the first BAFS. In the years I have competed, there have been multiple folks on ebikes. IIRC, you also would repeatedly state that BAFS is a noncompetition with no organizer.

[lordofthemark]

Last fall I mentioned my goals included 5. Competitions etc – Get a smart phone (probably on black Friday), download Strava, and decide which competition or challenge makes sense for me.

JRenault replied

FREEZING SADDLES. This is THE competition. It is perfect because:
1) You’re on a team of people, many of whom you already know.
2) It’s handicapped, so you aren’t directly competing with crazy people who do 80 miles a day at 30mph.
3) It’s pretty much the focus of the forum from January to March.
4) It’s highly motivating, and for both number of rides and distance of rides.

Hmmm.

[lordofthemark]

I would live to disavow credit for raising the issue of Bar Mitts – in fact it was Dismal. His joke was better, however.

Let me just say that for me last FS was about stretching what I was capable of physically (I had scarcely ridden in winter before, certainly never regularly or in the range of conditions I did) It was not about doing what I would have been doing anyway, except with socializing and silly prizes added. Whether that makes it an “athletic competition” or not, is a bit Talmudic even for me. I was able to get into it even knowing that most (?) folks had more winter gear, better bikes, had ridden in winter much more than I had before, etc – the wide range of participants and their mix among the teams enabled me to express my competitive spirit anyway.

If say, one third of the participants were riding ELFs? I don’t know. We are not close to that level of ELF adoption and may never be (I will reaffirm that I would be delighted if lots of people would switch from cars to ELFs, just is I would if more people drove EVs) , so maybe it doesn’t matter.

[Author]

Posts