Freezing Saddles: Winter Bike Challenge (sign up open)

[rcannon100]

Freezing Saddles: Winter Bike Challenge
Never Give an ELITE Cyclist an Even Break

Official Frozen Scoreboard

NOTE: Excluded activities: If you post an activity to Strava during the competition period which is not an outdoor bike ride, then it should have the string “#NoBAFS” in the activity name.

Freezing Saddles! The Epic Adventure of a band of ELITE Cyclists, facing the challenges of the wild wild wild bike paths. Confronting the darkest of evenings, the coldest of mornings, and the stupidest of Ninjas – these brave cyclists challenge each other because, if they didnt, they might have to actually do some work during the day.

The saga runs January 1 until the last day of Winter, March 20. It will conclude with a March Madness Playoff that someone will probably design. There will be a Happy Hour at the end with many pointless trophies.

Tribes (teams):

• Composed of ~5 riders or less
• For riders from the #bikedc, Washington DC Bike Forum general community (Washington DC greater metropolitan area)
• Volunteer Captains (captains will address any data problems, negotiate or cause confusion, and provide motivational seminars);
• This is a ten-gallon hat tournament. Riders will be randomly assigned to tribes based on self declared average weekly mileage and days cycled. Tribes will be created so that each tribes’s average weekly point score is roughly equal to everyone else’s. To achieve this, tribes may be composed of differing numbers of riders.
• No late sign ups.
• Interested cyclists must sign up by December 25 Midnight – Tribes will be announced within a couple days.

Scoring: Riders will receive 10 points for each day and 1 point for each mile ridden. Minimum ride is 1 mile. The tribe’s score will be the sum of the tribe members (indoor trainers do not count- you must be freezing in the saddle outside).

Backend: STRAVA (please sign up for an account, and join the “Bike Arlington” club on STRAVA – you should be able to enter data manually or automatically. Additional information will be posted here on the forum.)

This is a self organized group activity based on consensus. No one is in charge or running this thing. Participation is voluntary and entirely at your own risk.

Be Brave. Be Bold. Be…. questful! In the words of Hedley Lamarr:

Men, you are about to embark on a great crusade to stamp out runaway decency on the bike paths. Now you men will only be risking your lives, whilst I will be risking an almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Here are the teams with the new subs

Team one
http://app.strava.com/athletes/126281
Matthew Whatley
Shawn Dread
443749
John Fisher – 608636

Team Two
Pete DeNitto – 768183
Steve Appel
James Hoofnagle
Jason Kyzer
Mega Beth – http://app.strava.com/athletes/136523
Joe Birkenstock – 1154396

Team Three
Trish Newberg
randy napiza 313677
Mark Blacknell
essigmw
obenlandk@gmail.com – http://www.strava.com/athletes/1564295

Team Four
EKR
Kel Moore
Chris Shue
Crystal Bae
Elizabeth MacGregor

Team Five
http://app.strava.com/athletes/benbhsu
307483 (Mark Williams)
Christopher Niebylski
vvill
Kevin Ulrich – http://www.strava.com/athletes/kevin_ulrich

Team Six
Arlingtonrider
sjclaeys
ejwillis@yahoo.com
http://app.strava.com/athletes/302448
feomike@gmail.com – http://www.strava.com/athletes/feomike

Team Seven
Henning Schulzrinne
klizotte
Brad Hancock
Ron Alford
Chris Randall

Team Eight
Ken Buja (1224809)
Kevin Williams, Strava # 580756, BA “GuyContinental”
Lena Varuolo
Hans Lellelid

Team Nine
Steve O
jopamora
Justin Antos (Strava 1473093)
http://app.strava.com/athletes/488016

Team Ten
certifried
strava name Karen Smith (forum poster acl)
Cyndi Janetzko
Rod Smith

Team Eleven (Freezing Saddles Team Mongo (11) on Strava)
Greg Ba
cptjohnc
rcannon100
mdevoll
Sarah Dots
Sean Chisham

Team Twelve
Calpike
BonzaiBuckaroo
Daniel Alexander
ochsendorf@gmail.com

Topic

[KLizotte]

I’m in favor of including trainer rides for the following reasons:

1) It promotes *fitness* for everyone. Not everyone on the forum is a commuter; therefore, it will be harder for some folks to get miles in during the week given that it is winter. I, for one, am not about to risk life and limb after 7:00 pm, by myself, on an icy trail or when it is really cold out (hypothermia can set in if you get hurt). After breaking my thumb over the summer from a splat on a boardwalk far from home, I have learned the hard way how these nasty surprises can occur.

2) Some folks live in areas that get more snow/ice than we city creatures.

3) In case you haven’t tried it, trainer riding is deadly boring, even with the best of TV shows to watch. If given the choice, I’ll ride outside in the cold/wind but if I think there is a good chance I’ll go splat on ice/leaves, the trainer gets the workout.

I’m really hoping for a mild winter; the trainer is a torture device.

[KLizotte]

@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’m in! Just name time and place.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Looking back at the original post, I fear I imagined the agreement on banning trainers. So train away I guess.

But I remain unconvinced by any of the arguments for them. I can’t recall anyone ever holding a mid-winter “polar bear” swim in an indoor pool, with the justification that swimming laps is boring and therefore just as torturous as an icy lake.

[dcv]

Which team is the slacker team?

[IMG]http://www.teamnameshirts.com/thumbteam.php?name=SLACKER&font=freshman.ttf&color=000000&prod=1[/IMG]

http://www.teamnameshirts.com/products.php?name=SLACKER&font=freshman.ttf&color=000000

I’m so jealous of all your riding

[TwoWheelsDC]

@ShawnoftheDread 39107 wrote:

Looking back at the original post, I fear I imagined the agreement on banning trainers. So train away I guess.

But I remain unconvinced by any of the arguments for them. I can’t recall anyone ever holding a mid-winter “polar bear” swim in an indoor pool, with the justification that swimming laps is boring and therefore just as torturous as an icy lake.

I agree in principle, but I fear we’re all on the verge of overthinking this whole thing. But maybe Team1 can make a “no trainer” pledge, which doubtless will make our victory even sweeter.

[Arlingtonrider]

A slight change of subject – I had lunch at Cap City today and was given a number of $10 door tickets to their New Year’s Eve party that I want to offer to Freezing Saddles participants or wanna bes. (Note that the buffet costs extra) I plan to go there for a drink with a couple of cyclist friends around 9 or 10 p.m., but will probably not stay through midnight. If anyone would like to go or to join us there, please send me a PM and we’ll get you in the door for free. We’d be happy to have you join us! Details follow below.

Kathy

Ring in 2013 with Capitol City Brewing Company
December 31, 2012 –
9:00 pm – 2:00 a.m.
Capitol City Brewing Company
4001 Campbell Avenue
Arlington, Virginia 22206
Maps/Directions | Website
Three – two – one…Happy New Year! Ring in the New Year at Capitol City Brewing Company. Capitol City’s Shirlington location will host an evening of entertainment with a scrumptious appetizer buffet from 9:00 p.m. – midnight for only $30. There will be a $10 door fee starting at 9:00 p.m. that includes a champagne toast at midnight, party favors and music spun by the highly celebrated DJ Julius.
For more information on Capitol City Brewing Company please visit: http://www.capcitybrew.com.
WHO: Capitol City Brewing Company
WHAT: New Year’s Eve Bash
DJ Spun Music and Dancing
Champagne Toast and Party Favors
Live NYE Countdown Coverage and Dinner Specials
WHEN: Monday, December 31
9:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.
COST: $10 Door Fee starting at 9:00 p.m. – Both Locations
$30 Appetizer Buffet from 9:00 p.m. – midnight (Shirlington Only)
WHERE: Village at Shirlington Downtown DC Location
4001 Campbell Avenue 1100 New York Avenue, NW
Arlington, VA 22206 Washington, DC 20005
(703) 578-3888 (202) 628-2222

[crysb]

I won’t be able to make the New Year’s Eve party at Cap City, but sounds fun!

For those who want to grab New Year’s pho the next day on Tuesday, January 1st (day #1 of competition!), we’ll meet at 1pm at Caphe Banh Mi near Old Town Alexandria. The place isn’t very big, so we may have to wait for a little bit outside depending on the size of the group, but I called to confirm they’re open. Hopefully a 1pm meeting time leaves plenty of people to sleep in that morning and maybe even a couple daylight hours to ride afterwards.

This is an invite extended to members of any team

[ShawnoftheDread]

@TwoWheelsDC 39109 wrote:

I agree in principle, but I fear we’re all on the verge of overthinking this whole thing. But maybe Team1 can make a “no trainer” pledge, which doubtless will make our victory even sweeter.

I agree with this. It’s not a big deal either way, really.

[Subby]

I actually like to run to and from work some times, so if we are counting trainers, I am totally not feeling guilty about running.

(But actually willing to follow whatever guidelines Team FourCuattroPhoFUUUUUU wants me to follow).

[Rod Smith]

@mllwhnp 39098 wrote:

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

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

Join team 11!

[vvill]

I think we should start a Team 11 – if it doesn’t fill up, no big deal. Having Laurie and Megabeth would be a formidable duo to begin with anyway.

I don’t have an issue with trainer rides since this is just a fun comp. If they’re included it will probably be motivation enough to actually get on my trainer.

(If it were a serious comp and trainer rides were supposed to be an equivalent “suffering” to riding in the winter, I would consider scoring it based on time rather than distance since distance is not a reliable measure across trainers, assuming time data is available. Say, 15 mins to get the base score and then every additional 10 mins is 1 point, or something like that. And perhaps capping the number of points available from a single day’s trainer rides.)

[vvill]

@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. 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.

Nice. Maybe we can have officially sanctioned bonus point event days. Those willing to participate go to eat pho, visit a brewery, etc. and then ride x miles afterwards for a certain % point bonus on those days.

[Arlingtonrider]

Deleted. Was just musing about whether unclaimed spots on existing teams might be filled before starting a new team.

[GuyContinental]

Sorry Ochos, I’m out of the country (lounging on a beach, logging swims)- just joined the team but won’t be riding until week 2… Hans will represent for me, I’m sure…

[GuyContinental]

On trainers- I’m all for them, provided that they are set up outside

[Author]

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