Freezing Saddles Meet and Greet Happy Hour?

[consularrider]

@Riley Casey 71989 wrote:

So does this mean this drunken bacchanale, err meet & greet is open to winter riders who are not competitors? Or worse yet aren’t even in Arlington?

Everyone is always welcome at Cap City!

[Arlingtonrider]

Hozn,

You just happened to be in the super-competitive group. I totally get where you’re coming from and I know you put a lot of pressure on yourself last year and that you have a new little one at home. I think the idea of a Slackers Team might be fun – but suggest that it be limited to Freezing Saddles alumni who volunteer to help with the contest and events the year they are on a Slackers Team. (RCannon100, Ronwalf, you, I and perhaps some others meet those conditions.) That will help keep this going. I think most of us will want to be on regular teams at least every other year anyway.

I look at Freezing Saddles as a fun contest for everyone, even though the winners and a group of competitors may turn out to be hardcore. What happened last year is that three teams were neck and neck and became super-competitive, which was awesome and made this even more fun. But many more of us were just trying to keep up with our commuting, ride a little more mileage and/or some bad weather days we wouldn’t have otherwise, ride more days, and move up a few notches for our teams. Those who are new to this should keep in mind that a rider who rides at least a mile a day scores 10 points for that day, which, if you ride every day, makes you just as valuable to the team as someone who rides 60 miles one day a week. If you ride short distances some days and long distances others, you rack up even more points. You don’t have to do really long rides to have a good finish in the competition – you just have to ride consistently.

The main thing that happened last year is that lots of us found incentive to ride as many days as possible in addition to our work commutes and to add some extra rides/mileage to our routines. We ended up riding our bikes to buy groceries more often, to the post office, library, to have coffee or lunch with friends or whatever else we could think of that would get us on our bikes on any given day to go at least one mile and hopefully more. We went on more weekend and group rides. We also learned what to wear and how to ride in rain or on really cold days so that it was no longer a big deal. Riding on bad weather days (in addition to making us badass) helped push our teams ahead because some on other teams would opt to stay off their bikes. Freezing Saddles was extra incentive to go out there and do it. We competed at whatever level we felt like. We did occasionally have some urging/invitations from our teammates or other Freezing Saddles participants to join them on group rides (great for earning team points). Over most of the competition, perhaps other than the last week of it (and maybe even then), most or all of the teams opened their rides to all Freezing Saddles participants, regardless of which team they were on.

Overall, people made a lot of new friends, learned a lot about cold weather riding and how to feel comfortable and had tons of fun. I would guess that maybe 15% of the FS participants did occasional mega-rides. The level of competitiveness is whatever you want to make it. Really, this note is more for all the potential FS participants out there than for you, Hozn. I just want people to know that they don’t have to go all out or be super-athletes to have a wonderful time participating in Freezing Saddles. I thought it was a total blast and I never did any of the crazy long rides. I’d love to see more new people doing this each year and don’t want it to be intimidating to anyone. So that’s my take on things.

And as far as the mini-contest for the longest ride on Jan. 1 – that’s really to encourage people just to go ride. Mainly I was thinking of the Hains Point Loop d’ Loop ride. All are welcome to that, and you can ride as little or as much as you want. It’s a lot of fun to ride and meet up with friends there. Also, all are welcome at the Freezing Saddles happy hours or any other happy hours that I’m involved in organizing. As far as the contest itself, even though we sometimes call it BAFS (Bike Arlington Freezing Saddles), Freezing Saddles had participants from DC, Maryland, Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, etc.

[KLizotte]

@Riley Casey 71989 wrote:

So does this mean this drunken bacchanale, err meet & greet is open to winter riders who are not competitors? Or worse yet aren’t even in Arlington?

Riley, we would be HONORED by your presence!!!!!

[hozn]

Yeah, I should probably be clearer so I don’t give newcomers a bad impression of the competition!

(1) I had a blast last year.
(2) I tend not to participate in competitions just-for-fun (i.e. I intend to win!) and
(3) I have a very Minnesotan sense of obligation not to let my team down. #2 and #3 resulted in a lot of miles (but not near as many as consularrider or rod). But #1 was always true.

Freezing saddles was really my introduction to this community and that has been fantastic.

I don’t really want to join a slacker team, but I am enjoying the software work and keen to crash whatever freezing saddles happy hours I can

[DismalScientist]

Will there be beer?:rolleyes:

[Riley Casey]

Hmmm … “Any club that would have me as a member …”:rolleyes:

@KLizotte 72012 wrote:

Riley, we would be HONORED by your presence!!!!!

[vvill]

@Arlingtonrider 72002 wrote:

I look at Freezing Saddles as a fun contest for everyone, even though the winners and a group of competitors may turn out to be hardcore. What happened last year is that three teams were neck and neck and became super-competitive, which was awesome and made this even more fun. But many more of us were just trying to keep up with our commuting, ride a little more mileage and/or some bad weather days we wouldn’t have otherwise, ride more days, and move up a few notches for our teams. Those who are new to this should keep in mind that a rider who rides at least a mile a day scores 20 points for that day (I think), which, if you ride every day, makes you just as valuable to the team as someone who rides 120 miles one day a week. If you ride short distances some days and long distances others, you rack up even more points. You don’t have to do really long rides to have a good finish in the competition – you just have to ride consistently.

Yeah as someone who rode in one of the teams that ended up being competitive, it always helped just to have a team member ride on a day. I really think this whole thing can be done either competitively or just-for-fun (especially if you like numbers, charts, etc.). I am firmly in the latter group this time around – the first time it was actually more just “hang on, they just rode more miles, and they’re only a teensie bit ahead of us, we can do that” spiralling out of control. The other thing I loved was how it provided motivation to get out every single day – something that I learned keeps me more sane through the cold dark months.

Also, I am sure hozn could just win “fastest average speed” easily if he wanted to…

[Tim Kelley]

BikeArlington still has some of the Washington Area Bike Forum reflective zipper pulls. If someone wants to pick some up before the happy hour to distribute, it might make identifying each other while you’re out and about riding a little easier.

[americancyclo]

@Tim Kelley 72115 wrote:

BikeArlington still has some of the Washington Area Bike Forum reflective zipper pulls. If someone wants to pick some up before the happy hour to distribute, it might make identifying each other while you’re out and about riding a little easier.

I’ve been rocking mine since last year, love em!

[ShawnoftheDread]

Anecdotal evidence is they either don’t work as trailside ID, or people don’t want to cop to recognizing me. My money’s on the latter.

[Arlingtonrider]

I corrected my long post above to reflect that you earn 10 points for a one mile day – not 20. Still, riding every day that you can makes a big difference for your team – especially over time.

[Fast Friendly Guy]

@Arlingtonrider 72239 wrote:

I corrected my long post above to reflect that you earn 10 points for a one mile day – not 20. Still, riding every day that you can makes a big difference for your team – especially over time.

Alright! Say, K, could you confirm the kickoff is Jan 2nd ~6pm? at Capital City in Shirlington?

[Arlingtonrider]

Sure! The Freezing Saddles kickoff is Jan. 2nd at Capitol City Brewing Company in Shirlington ~ happy hour starts at 5 pm, with kickoff/Jan 1 winner announcement/etc. at 6 pm. It looks likely that we’ll be able to get a room to ourselves. Parking is easy for both bikes and cars.

Cap City’s four core beers will be available for $2.50/pint. Several great appetizers will be half price until 7 p.m. (Added later – our group is getting pretty large. If you can, please bring some small bills or plan to pay by credit card to help minimize change-making for our servers who will be running individual charges. Cap City is very generous to us and we like to show appreciation.)

All are welcome, including friends, family, 2013 Freezing Saddles alumni and other forum folks. Don’t be concerned if you don’t know anyone yet. We’ll have nametags (real names and forum names) and you’ll make lots of new friends. Teams will be announced. A winner for the first day of the competition will be declared. The kick off will be fun and you should be there!

I’ll post more details closer to the event and may ask for a tentative count of those planning to come. (You can let me know now if you want to – I’ll be asking again later for those who haven’t already responded.)

Shirlington car and bike parking map: [ATTACH]4310[/ATTACH] Capitol City Brewing Co. is on Campbell Ave. at the corner with S. Quincy Street and nearest Garage #3. Parking is free in most Shirlington lots after 5 p.m. In addition to the U-racks shown on the map, there are several other things one can lock a bike to.

[Mikey]

Mikey + Mrs Mikey + 3 Mikey Minion

[Toonces]

I will be there!

[Author]

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