* Freezing Saddles 2014 *

[rcannon100]

Registration is now open.

Freezing Saddles is a commuter challenge organized by the volunteer efforts of the Bike Arlington / WABA forum. It is a hat style tournament where cyclists are randomly assigned to teams of ~8 based on handicaps, creating teams that will have roughly the same handicap value. The challenge runs from Jan. 1 to the end of winter. Cyclists earn 1 point for each mile ridden and 10 points for each day ridden (and yes, riding means outdoors – it is Freezing Saddles not Living Room Saddles). Participants must be part of the forum and be members of Strava. More than that and what awards will be awarded, well that’s up to the volunteers.

Registration closes Dec. 24th. There will be no late registrations this year. Teams will be announced on the forum by the end of the month.

Freezing Saddles is a self organized effort of the participants. Freezing Saddles is not sponsored by anyone (it is not sponsored by Bike Arlington or by WABA). There is no organization. It is just a bunch of people coming together to be silly and ride bikes when it is really really cold. Your participation in Freezing Saddles is voluntary and at your own risk and you have not paid anyone anything to participate. Please volunteer to help make this self organized effort succeed.

Topic

[dkel]

I couldn’t bear to do a sleaze ride on the first day, but had to help prepare for a big open house today. I got in eight miles despite having nowhere to go, so I think I’m safe from sleazing up my team on day one. I also used the ride to put in some purposeful work on hills…maybe that will benefit the team later…besides, any ride is better than no ride!

So looking forward to happy hour tomorrow!

[jrenaut]

What do you call it when the weather can’t make up its mind? “Hmm, maybe it should rain. No, snow! No, sleet! Ooh, how about all three at once?”

Oh, right, they call it “this post gets flagged for excessive profanity”.

What kind of bonus points do I get for riding in this? Stay safe out there.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@jrenaut 73262 wrote:

What do you call it when the weather can’t make up its mind? “Hmm, maybe it should rain. No, snow! No, sleet! Ooh, how about all three at once?”

Oh, right, they call it “this post gets flagged for excessive profanity”.

What kind of bonus points do I get for riding in this? Stay safe out there.

They call it rule 5 and rule 9, and welcome to happy hour.

[jrenaut]

@ShawnoftheDread 73275 wrote:

They call it rule 5 and rule 9, and welcome to happy hour.

As I mentioned somewhere, I had to miss happy hour for date night. I’ll never add any + to my N if I blow off date night to go ride my bike in the snow.

[MattAune]

@jrenaut 73367 wrote:

As I mentioned somewhere, I had to miss happy hour for date night. I’ll never add any + to my N if I blow off date night to go ride my bike in the snow.

Weak excuse… My wife and I have Thursday date night every week. I took her to happy hour, then to Carlyle Grand.

[rcannon100]

Didnt register for Freezing Saddles? Envious of everyone who rode on Tuesday? Want in on the fun of hypothermia? Now is your chance?

It looks like a few people who signed up for FS have not shown up (and if you did sign up and have not shown up, show up or you will be dropped). What we will do is identify who has not shown up, what their handicap is, and then attempt to match people from the waiting list who have less than or equal to that handicap.

If you would like to be on the waiting list, send me a personal message with your strava number, your average number of rides per week and your average number of miles per week (November thru December)

No promises here but we will see what we can do.

Yes, Peter, you are #1 on the waiting list.

[Jason B]

@Jason B 73116 wrote:

Started early today, and it was one of my coldest starts yet. This is going to be a cold couple months!

I wrote that last week, and , well ummm, I think I need to revise it.

[Rod Smith]

@rcannon100 74119 wrote:

Didnt register for Freezing Saddles? Envious of everyone who rode on Tuesday? Want in on the fun of hypothermia? Now is your chance?

It looks like a few people who signed up for FS have not shown up (and if you did sign up and have not shown up, show up or you will be dropped). What we will do is identify who has not shown up, what their handicap is, and then attempt to match people from the waiting list who have less than or equal to that handicap.

If you would like to be on the waiting list, send me a personal message with your strava number, your average number of rides per week and your average number of miles per week (November thru December)

No promises here but we will see what we can do.

Yes, Peter, you are #1 on the waiting list.

Chris Tank is on the Lentement Strava Club and he sent me a PM indicating he is glad to be on our team and anxious to rack up the miles. Not sure why he hasn’t completed the registration process. I told him he probably needs to reauthorize and provided a link to the authorization page. He is not a complete no show though so I hope you can give him a little more time to get onboard.

[Subby]

Epic three way battle for first place right now between Sloppy Seconds, Samurai Sandbags, and Team 9 from Outer Space!

http://freezingsaddles.com/leaderboard/team

Anyone who rode last week is out of their minds.

[NicDiesel]

So, I lied. I did finally go riding outdoors this past weekend and, outside of my shoes getting soaked, had a blast. The slush makes it hard to go over 12mph but I did manage to ride 10 miles and not crash.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Subby 74549 wrote:

Epic three way battle for first place right now between Sloppy Seconds, Samurai Sandbags, and Team 9 from Outer Space!

http://freezingsaddles.com/leaderboard/team

We’re out of our minds.

Fixed.

[culimerc]

@Subby 74549 wrote:

Epic three way right now between Sloppy Seconds, Samurai Sandbags, and Team 9 from Outer Space!

http://freezingsaddles.com/leaderboard/team

Anyone who rode last week is out of their minds.

*Now* it’s fixed

[sethpo]

Weather is about to turn to suck.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/01/16/return-of-the-polar-vortex-cold-at-times-downright-frigid-for-end-of-january-increasing-snow-chances/

“Temperatures should average well below normal starting around next Tuesday, lasting at least through the end of January.”

“Throughout this period, chances for snow are above normal. I think light snow events are more likely, but cannot rule out more significant storminess.”

[consularrider]

@sethpo 74982 wrote:

Weather is about to turn to suck.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/01/16/return-of-the-polar-vortex-cold-at-times-downright-frigid-for-end-of-january-increasing-snow-chances/

“Temperatures should average well below normal starting around next Tuesday, lasting at least through the end of January.”

“Throughout this period, chances for snow are above normal. I think light snow events are more likely, but cannot rule out more significant storminess.”

Oh good, now I won’t feel so bad about riding the ice bike while the hybrid gets repaired.

[jopamora]

@sethpo 74982 wrote:

Weather is about to turn to suck.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/01/16/return-of-the-polar-vortex-cold-at-times-downright-frigid-for-end-of-january-increasing-snow-chances/

“Temperatures should average well below normal starting around next Tuesday, lasting at least through the end of January.”

“Throughout this period, chances for snow are above normal. I think light snow events are more likely, but cannot rule out more significant storminess.”

Time to unbox the snow tyres.

[Author]

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