Extra Mile Pointless Prize

[epilsk]

A challenging Winter of work and travel is going to keep me from fully participating in BAFS this year, but I still plan to participate vicariously as a Friend of BAFS.  And, I am once again going to sponsor the Extra Mile pointless prize so I can be sure to get the highlights/lowlights of BAFS 2025.  Here are the “rules:”

This prize goes to the person or people who have the most compelling stories of how they overcame challenges to get their daily mile(s) recorded, or to fail while trying valiantly to do so. The prize is a donation in the winner(s) name(s) to the bike-related charity of their choice. Past winners have shown grit and determination by using children’s bikes on icy driveways, putting their whole body into reviving a dead phone battery in near-zero temperatures to record a ride, and finding clever hacks to overcome mechanicals. The winner does not have to succeed, just show the appropriate amount of crazy in an attempt to get the daily ride in and logged.

Please post your entries in this thread and I will announce the winner at or before the final Happy Hour. I look forward to hearing how crazy/stupid you are willing to be; just be safe out there!

[consularrider]

It’s early in the competition, but we got about 10 inches of snow and frigid temperatures in Bloomington, IN Sunday and Monday (1/5&6).  I share a hybrid bike here with my sister, but it is not equipped as a snow and ice bike.  I rode a decasleaze on Sunday as the accumulation started and had no problems.  Monday I managed a basic one mile sleaze ride with two road laps around the main Meadowood Retirement Community building after the first pass of the snow plow.  However, there was still a great deal of packed snow and ice and my 700×35 tires kept sliding.  I had to try and keep to the flattest route because there was no uphill traction.  Today more plowing, but still ice and slush issues.  I tried to ride outside of the complex, but one entry is off a busy four lane highway and the other is narrow and still treacherous.  I did more extensive laps and managed another decasleaze ride.

 

[rumpuscat]

I was in Kansas City last week and so I got to experience the front end of the snow storm that dumped on the DC area. In Kansas City they had blizzard conditions and 17″ of snow! I had brought my bike helmet, mask and gloves so I was prepared to keep up the Frozen Saddles streak using the RideKC Bike Share bikes, which are very similar eBikes to the CaBi or Lyft bikes. On Sunday, January 5th I had to chip the RideKC bike out of an ice cocoon (with my only tool, a gel pen) to even get the gears and unlock mechanism to engage. I managed a wobbly sleazy mile on the icy sidewalk and then loops in a semi-covered garage. Kudos to the men at the bus stop who only laughed at me a little when I almost slid out in front of them. Monday, January 6th was post-snow but the bikes were covered in the fluffy stuff and I had another cautious slippery sleazy mile around a semi-plowed parking lot. The streak lives! 

A literal freezing saddle.

Chipping ice off of the grips.

My slippery path!

[epilsk]

Well done!  And I think we have an early leader this year.  Stay safe out there.

[Author]

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