Freezing Saddles 2015

[oldbikechick]

@rcannon100 100129 wrote:

You can enter mileage into STRAVA manually. You MUST use strava to play (or whatever Hozn says)

I was very low-tech last year and just entered my miles into Strava. I was never a user of Strava before (or since), and it was easy enough for me to figure out. I don’t even have an odometer, I just know the mileage of my route and when I went anywhere else, I just mapped it on Google maps. Note that I was on the “slacker” team so I don’t think anyone was too concerned about the veracity of my paltry miles. Maybe it would be more of an issue if you are manually entering some sort of hard-to-believe huge number of miles.

[Mikey]

@cvcalhoun 100216 wrote:

Maybe something based on this?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7041[/ATTACH]

check out FSSB #5 for updated photos of last year’s festivities.

[Dickie]

Take what I am about to say with a grain of salt since I have never participated in Freezing Saddles…. and I’m British. Seems to me a large portion of this thread is concerned about; balancing the teams, keeping this a Forum event, and preventing random folks from signing up but never participating. The solution for all of these is simple…. set up an entrance fee. Those who love the forum and the people associated with it will have no issue paying the fee. It will also eliminate those folks who sign up without really thinking about the consequences. You could donate the money to WABA or Phoenix Bikes, pay for an after party, or buy an actual trophy…. whatever. The fee could be as little as $5-10, or as much as $20, regardless…. if we can afford to buy the proper gear to ride in the winter we can afford a small donation. Setting up a payment option wouldn’t be too difficult…. I’m sure PeteD could help us there.

[Rod Smith]

Great idea! Rider with the most miles takes the pot? Just a thought. :p

[jrenaut]

I think Freezing Saddles is better as a recruitment tool. People love ridiculous competitions. Raising the barrier to entry means fewer people participating. I can’t speak for all, but I know that going to the post party two years ago then participating last year has definitely raised my interest in the forum. I understand that managing additions and subtractions can be a pain, and it’s not my pain, so easy for me to add to it.

Why not heavily restrict additions, open it to everyone but stress that we WILL NOT chase you down. If you don’t know what team you’re on, it’s on you to figure it out. And like I said before, teams that lose players that way can consult rule 5.

[Arlingtonrider]

The venue I hope to be able to get for the 2 main happy hours is the separate room at Capitol City Brewing Co, which I think holds about 75 people total (any kids included). If BAFS happy hours get too big and we would still like to have a room to ourselves, someone else (not me) is going to have to find venue(s) for us. Just saying.

Last year I think we had about 100 BASF participants, and about about 68 people (including some spouses and kids) came to the final happy hour. The first happy hour was much smaller. Both, on keeping with our Thursday tradition (special discounts) were on Thursday nights.

If it turns out that Cap City can’t accommodate us this year, (for their reasons or ours), we will need a volunteer to lead a venue search.

[DismalScientist]

@Dickie 100254 wrote:

If we can afford to buy the proper gear to ride in the winter we can afford a small donation.

Apparently I can’t afford proper gear.:rolleyes:

[Steve O]

@DismalScientist 100269 wrote:

Apparently I can’t afford proper gear.:rolleyes:

I have seen Dismal on a bike, and I can attest to the truth of this statement.

[americancyclo]

@DismalScientist 100269 wrote:

Apparently I can’t afford proper gear.:rolleyes:

@Steve O 100270 wrote:

I have seen Dismal on a bike, and I can attest to the truth of this statement.

I dunno, wasn’t he wearing GORE(tm) khakis the other day when some of us were whining about plastic underwear?

or was it the Assos Biznus Kasuual pant?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Rod Smith 100256 wrote:

Great idea! Rider with the most miles takes the pot? Just a thought. :p

Yes, but no professionals.

[rcannon100]

@Dickie 100254 wrote:

The solution for all of these is simple…. set up an entrance fee.

Not unless there is an organization running this. One word: Legal Liability. Once this is a paid for event, the organizers are exposed to lawsuit, we will need insurance, we will need Denning to write us up a waiver…. blah blah

The lack of entrance fee of any sort has always been intentional. This is a group of friends coming together to goof off. Nothing more.

I think Freezing Saddles is better as a recruitment tool

But again, it is not. FS is a game played by friends. It has no purpose. It is not sponsored. There is not organization or mission behind it.

If we want it to be organized or we want it to have a mission or whatever, that’s fine. But someone will have to handle all of the legal ramifications that come with that.

[jrenaut]

@rcannon100 100277 wrote:

But again, it is not. FS is a game played by friends. It has no purpose. It is not sponsored. There is not organization or mission behind it.

If we want it to be organized or we want it to have a mission or whatever, that’s fine. But someone will have to handle all of the legal ramifications that come with that.

Ok, it functions as a recruitment tool. We can call it whatever we want for legal purposes. And since my objection was to the fee, and your legal argument objecting to the fee is much stronger than my argument, I think we’re good to just ride our bikes. Together, in the cold, for prizes that don’t matter.

[rcannon100]

Okay, I am circling back to thinking that handicaps is the way to do this.

* Teams will be formed using the handicap system. Participants will self report their average weekly mileage for TIME PERIOD (for Sept through Nov??). Those self reported averages will be checked against strava. Sandbaggers will be ridiculed.
* Teams of 10 to 12 will be formed composed of relatively equal handicap scores (each team should be able the same strength to start with)
* Participants may select if they have a preference to be assigned to an MD, DC, VA or ANY team in order to promote team activities
* Late comers or whatever will be assigned to a substitute pool
* Captains who are missing participants and are below the handicap may take from the substitute pool. The captain with the greatest deficit handicap gets first dibs
* EVERYONE who participates must go through the registration system
* There will once again be a slacker team for people who want to compete but are too lame to compete.
* Communications will be through the forum

[dasgeh]

@rcannon100 100279 wrote:

Okay, I am circling back to thinking that handicaps is the way to do this.

* Teams will be formed using the handicap system. Participants will self report their average weekly mileage for TIME PERIOD (for Sept through Nov??). Those self reported averages will be checked against strava. Sandbaggers will be ridiculed.

Some of us have stopped futzing with Strava while there has been no reason to futz with Strava (i.e. no NBC or BAFS)

Also, some of us have predictable changes in our mileage between now and next year (change in work location). Wanna be on my team?

[cyclingfool]

@dasgeh 100286 wrote:

Some of us have stopped futzing with Strava while there has been no reason to futz with Strava (i.e. no NBC or BAFS)

Also, some of us have predictable changes in our mileage between now and next year (change in work location). Wanna be on my team?

I’ll join. Between you and me, we have the beginnings of Team Unpredictable Miles.

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