Freezing Saddles: Winter Bike Challenge (sign up open)

[Bilsko]

@crysb 39089 wrote:

Open invitation to anyone who wants to join Team FourCuatroPho for some lunchtime pho in Old Town Alexandria (and trash talkin’) on January 1st!

I would *so* be up for Pho on Jan 1, but usually when I eat pho I eat so much that my stomach feels like its going to burst right after. I don’t know if always ordering a large pho with 2 or 3 kinds of meat is the problem or what, but its pretty much every time. I don’t ever even feel that full after a Thanksgiving meal. Sorry, just wanted to make it clear just how incapacitating a good pho meal can be for me. So, anyways, that sounds like a really bad idea for a time to ride a bicycle.

Ahhhhh….I see, this invitation is sabotage – lure the unsuspecting participants from other teams in and then POW, disable them with pho. Well played, sir. Well played.

[Mark Blacknell]

Some points:

1) I think trainer rides should count. Anyone who can put up with that ()*@#@ deserves some credit. Believe me, I would not be a beneficiary of this rule.

2) Team 3 may well, in fact, turn out to be the Blue Train.

3) Pete should be his own team. I know he has at least five voices in his head.

4) Cannon’s a despot.

[Arlingtonrider]

I don’t think trainer rides have been ruled out. I asked whether we wanted any rules on things like that, then Ron said he could filter them out, but I don’t think any decisions were made to exclude them. I think the only rule is that one mile minimum is needed to count for a ride day. Later – I’m fine either way, but Shawn of the Dread makes a good point below.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Arlingtonrider 39092 wrote:

I don’t think trainer rides have been ruled out. I asked whether we wanted any rules on things like that, then Ron said he could filter them out, but I don’t think any decisions were made to exclude them. I think the only rule is that one mile minimum is needed to count for a ride day. I’m fine with that.

I was under the impression that one of the very first agreements was no trainers. It’s hardly a winter challenge if it can be done indoors.

[ronwalf]

@Mark Blacknell 39091 wrote:

1) I think trainer rides should count. Anyone who can put up with that ()*@#@ deserves some credit. Believe me, I would not be a beneficiary of this rule.

Yeah, I think they’re going to count. They weren’t ruled out early on, so no reason to change the rules now. We can be an inclusive group.

On that note, there’s also this funny point: The Strava APIs don’t let me distinguish between any activity type. So if you want to snow shoe your way to the top of the charts, I ain’t got the power to stop you

[crysb]

@ShawnoftheDread 39093 wrote:

I was under the impression that one of the very first agreements was no trainers. It’s hardly a winter challenge if it can be done indoors.

I agree with this – “freezing saddles” should mean you’re outside putting in the miles.

[eminva]

EKR, EKR, wherefore art thou, EKR?

@Bilsko 39090 wrote:

I would *so* be up for Pho on Jan 1, but usually when I eat pho I eat so much that my stomach feels like its going to burst right after.

@Bilsko, it’s a Vietnamese restaurant — order a plate of rice, bacon and brown sugar and assemble your own Feed Zone rice cakes for a mid-ride power snack!

I will be there with the Team FourCautroPho booster club — hope others can make it, too.

Liz

[Arlingtonrider]

Calpike, are you out there with EKR??

[bikenurse]

Is too late to get in on the game? Do any teams need subs? -Laurie

http://app.strava.com/athletes/302448

[Bilsko]

Perhaps trainer rides could be worth fewer points – or only count up to a certain percentage of a team’s total? (ie. trainer miles can’t contribute more than 20% of a team’s total – all trainer miles above that amount dont count).

It is the Freezing Saddles competition, after all.

[Greenbelt]

@Bilsko 39099 wrote:

Perhaps trainer rides could be worth fewer points – or only count up to a certain percentage of a team’s total? (ie. trainer miles can’t contribute more than 20% of a team’s total – all trainer miles above that amount dont count).

It is the Freezing Saddles competition, after all.

I think trainer rides should qualify for full points if the trainer is set up outside. In the elements. With video. Sort of like in Breaking Away.

[Bilsko]

@mllwhnp 39098 wrote:

Is too late to get in on the game? Do any teams need subs? -Laurie

http://app.strava.com/athletes/302448

There may still be one last straggler team thrown together – as long as the mileage totals for its participants aren’t way off of the numbers for the other teams. I think there are one or two others, in addition to yourself, who are in that position.

[ronwalf]

@mllwhnp 39098 wrote:

Is too late to get in on the game? Do any teams need subs? -Laurie
http://app.strava.com/athletes/302448

There was talk of starting Team 11 with MegaBeth?

@Bilsko 39099 wrote:

Perhaps trainer rides could be worth fewer points – or only count up to a certain percentage of a team’s total?

I was initially against counting trainer rides, but I’ve come around:

• As Mark said, it’s just a different kind of suffering.
• It’s only significantly affecting the score of one person.
• I can’t programmatically distinguish between activity types, so any rule we set is going to be difficult to implement well.
• As a corollary to the above point, if you ice skate across the arctic ocean, that will count towards your score.

But most of all, this is a fun, low-stakes, friendly competition. If the winning team rusted out five bikes with sweat on trainers, or if Greenbelt’s team only won because he swam the English Channel, we’ll all have a good time heckling them on podium.

And if that isn’t enough? You can run your own scoreboard! At the bottom of the scoreboard is a link to the code needed to create your own – and at the end we can all arm wrestle over whose rules rule.

[hozn]

@ronwalf 39102 wrote:

I was initially against counting trainer rides, but I’ve come around:

• As Mark said, it’s just a different kind of suffering.
• It’s only significantly affecting the score of one person.
• I can’t programmatically distinguish between activity types, so any rule we set is going to be difficult to implement well.
• As a corollary to the above point, if you ice skate across the arctic ocean, that will count towards your score.

But most of all, this is a fun, low-stakes, friendly competition. If the winning team rusted out five bikes with sweat on trainers, or if Greenbelt’s team only won because he swam the English Channel, we’ll all have a good time heckling them on podium.

I agree with others that you can’t call the competition “freezing saddles” if someone can look outside at the foot of snow, get a top off on their coffee, and head to the basement to leisurely crank out 40 miles while catching up on missed TV.

But that’s just me. If trainers are allowed, I know that it’ll mean I can crank out some miles before the roads are plowed if it does dump a foot of snow on us.

One thing I think *would* be interesting for next year’s competition would be to integrate weather data using weather api (e.g. wunderground.com) and increase points for inclement weather — e.g. precipitation, windchill, etc. That would be more in the spirit, I think. I volunteer to help with the software.

[Bilsko]

@ronwalf 39102 wrote:

I was initially against counting trainer rides, but I’ve come around:

I’m not saying that I’m for or against counting trainer rides – I agree, this is a fun, social competition that shouldn’t get too bogged down in minutiae. I was just throwing a couple ideas out there for a scoring mechanism that might accomodate those who think trainer rides should be included and those others who are against them.

I’m not sure I care too much one way or the other, as I suspect the competition itself might be be motivation enough to get people up and out and on their bikes on days when they might otherwise hop on the trainer.

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