Freezing Saddles 2014 Prizes

[cvcalhoun]

Yep, I put mine down as my actual average at the time I registered. Handicap was 50 points a week (2 rides, total of 30 miles), which means that at the end of 11 weeks (tomorrow), I should have 550 points. I actually have 1,519 points, plus whatever I earn tomorrow. Apparently, this competition achieved its goal of encouraging more riding, at least in my case!

Final figures: 1,615 actual versus 557 handicap. Not too shabby!

[Rod Smith]

I averaged 200 per week in Nov and Dec but that was not indicative of how far I generally ride so I upped the number a little. I entered the average I rode during last year’s Freezing Saddles 258/week (or 259, can’t recall exactly). I’m currently above 300 so far this year. Of course, I ride at least 30/day on the job so I probably shouldn’t even be in the game. The French team cheats.

[Rod Smith]

This contest originated in the commuters forum and is largely about encouraging people to ride to work. Despite that and to cancel my unfair advantage I propose a “weekend warrior” award for the individual with the most miles ridden on the weekends. There are many Freezing Saddles competitors for whom riding to work is not feasible.

[cvcalhoun]

My commute to work is very short indeed, as I work from home. Trying to bicycle from my bedroom to my office has proved impractical. Nevertheless, most of my riding is on weekdays. Hence the fact that with far fewer miles or hours than you, I am second only to you in miles after sunset.

I have no issue with a “weekend warriors” contest; just pointing out that it may not catch all the noncommuters.

@Rod Smith 79828 wrote:

This contest originated in the commuters forum and is largely about encouraging people to ride to work. Despite that and to cancel my unfair advantage I propose a “weekend warrior” award for the individual with the most miles ridden on the weekends. There are many Freezing Saddles competitors for whom riding to work is not feasible.

[Fast Friendly Guy]

@jrenaut 79822 wrote:

I think we determined there were some privacy issues with this. RCannon has the handicap data but it’s not in the database that powers the FreezingSaddles.com site. I’m happy to do the data analysis part of this but you’ll have to discuss with RCannon whether we want to share the data or not.

I’m curious about this too, but without knowing each competitor’s intentions, it may be impossible to spot sandbaggers. If someone has ridden significantly more than their handicap, does this mean sandbagging or rising to the intended challenge to ride more than usual? I can’t remember what I put as my handicap, but it’s almost certainly my Nov/Dec average (though that was influenced upward by the Rapha Festive 500 challenge) Weren’t handicaps used exclusively for balancing the teams? Still, I think it would be interesting to know what I put as my own handicap.

[Rod Smith]

B]Warning: Long post with nothing of substance in it. Do not read unless you have some time to waste.[/B

Good point Carol, and it reminds me of a joke I tell about SteveE, and I will keep telling it until someone laughs. He works from home but he takes the long way to work. A very early morning mixed modal commute that includes 40+ miles of bicycle riding to get from bedroom to office. Um, that was the joke. Yeah I know, if I have to tell you it’s a joke… Probably not my best material. :p

If someone were to offer a pointless prize for most miles ridden, I would graciously accept it and then immediately hand it over to Steve. I’m a slacker compared to him and pretty much all of you, rolling out usually over an hour late and I almost never work a full eight hours including commute. (I do consider my commute to be part of my job as it is necessary to transport my bicycle and gear into the city. Not commuting by bicycle isn’t an option for me. My rig is too big to put on a bus or a train).

Anyway, I applaud your efforts to put the miles in, and it sounds like you’ve benefitted from the effort. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you creeping up on me in hours ridden after sunset. Sorry but I’m not going to give up my place on the top of that list without a fight.

David, the term sandbagger is very much used tongue-in-cheek here. It’s a prize for the rider who rode farthest beyond his or her expectations, rising to the challenge as you put it. I’m pretty certain no one intentionally entered a number that wasn’t exactly how much they rode in Nov/Dec or a number larger than that for reasons such as mine. I very much doubt anyone entered a number less than their Nov/Dec miles, the number we were asked to submit. I cheated by entering a different number but I only cheated myself, to make the game more challenging for me and more fair to the other riders.

[Rod Smith]

Does anyone else find it interesting that the two teams with the most women are the teams that will finish first and second? So proud of my “girls”.

[KayakCyndi]

@Rod Smith 79835 wrote:

Does anyone else find it interesting that the two teams with the most women are the teams that will finish first and second? So proud of my “girls”.

Girl power rocks! And it probably points to the fact that many of the women who ride have a tendency to be just a little type A!

And Rod, OF COURSE, you should be in this game! You’re the best captain ever. (Note I have an admittedly small small sample size, I’ve been lucky enough to be on his team both years:D. I’ll try to rig it that way again next year too!).

[dasgeh]

I’m not sure the difference between a side bet and a pointless prize, but I think I meant the #kidical prize/s to be a pointless prize.

[vvill]

@Rod Smith 79835 wrote:

Does anyone else find it interesting that the two teams with the most women are the teams that will finish first and second? So proud of my “girls”.

Yeah I noticed that – awesome. The only thing is with that random distribution, some people ended up in teams with only one woman and the rest all males.

@dasgeh 79875 wrote:

I’m not sure the difference between a side bet and a pointless prize, but I think I meant the #kidical prize/s to be a pointless prize.

Not really much difference but I think it’s implied that side bets are started and finished while the rest of the competition is still running. Of course, a side bet can still involve a pointless prize.

[83b]

@CPTJohnC 78613 wrote:

Okay — as freezing saddles is winding down, I plan to offer a prize for the person who ranks seventh lowest for the average number of miles per ride. I was planning to go with the lowest, but a) I don’t want to make it too easy to target, and b) based on my quicky review of the leader-board, I have a sneaky suspicion that I’m in very strong contention for the lowest avg.

I think it is only fair to enforce a 10 ride/day minimum -that is, the winner must have at least 10 separate days in which they got points for riding- and at least one ride in each calendar month of the competition (to avoid folks who aren’t ‘active’ participants in our lovely little challenge).

Is there someone who can assist in actually pulling the data part of this together? I am planning to offer something in the dessert world as the prize…

Oh no, Dasgeh and I appear to have tied for 7th shortest rides! Taking things out to a third decimal place just seems too competitive for this sort of thing. Besides, I don’t have a current UCI license. I propose instead that, if possible, any prize be split into two separate pint glasses. Alternatively, if the prize isn’t something easily divisible by unit of liquid measure, we could hold a tie-breaking track stand event or some such thing.*

*I cannot do a track stand.

[jrenaut]

@83(b) 80146 wrote:

Oh no, Dasgeh and I appear to have tied for 7th shortest rides! Taking things out to a third decimal place just seems to competitive for this sort of thing. Besides, I don’t have a current UCI license. I propose instead that, if possible, any prize be split into two separate pint glasses. Alternatively, if the prize isn’t something easily divisible by unit of liquid measure, we could hold a tie-breaking track stand event or some such thing.*

*I cannot do a track stand.

CPTJohnC sent me a note about this and I can tell you what I told him – the sorting is done before the rounding, so it’s likely that if we displayed a few more decimal places, it would show Dasgeh as definitively 6th. It is possible that you are exactly tied, but since the calculation is based on an average of averages, it would be pretty unlikely. I like your proposal, though.

I can’t check it from work but plan to this evening. However, I could also refuse to tell you and make you and Dasgeh and CPTJohnC work out a tiebreaker or an equitable split.

[Steve O]

Just like the Sloppies, we also had 44% women, but ended up in 9th. What does that mean?

Women %’s
Sloppies – 44%
Frenchies – 50%
Flood control – 10%
Cosmos – 10%
Pig meat – 20%
Journalists – 22%
Scalawags – 18%
Oxidized – 10%
Busters – 44%
Loafers – 40%

Total – 22.4% women (22 of 98)

@Rod Smith 79835 wrote:

Does anyone else find it interesting that the two teams with the most women are the teams that will finish first and second? So proud of my “girls”.

[jrenaut]

@Steve O 80158 wrote:

What does that mean?

I think it means that gender is poorly correlated with cycling ability and dedication.

[Steve O]

@Rod Smith 79834 wrote:

. . . a joke I tell about SteveE, and I will keep telling it until someone laughs. He works from home, but he takes the long way to work.
….
Um, that was the joke.
… Probably not my best material.

Let’s hope not. If I laugh, will you stop?

[Author]

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