Freezing Saddles: Winter Bike Challenge (sign up open)

[Greenbelt]

Nope — best I could do was to squeeze in an hour or two of extra riding around a business meeting! http://app.strava.com/activities/45222197

I never realized before, but Bowie is a really nice area ride, if you stay off the car sewers. Never ridden all the way through before. Race Track Road is pretty good riding, 450 isn’t bad (there’s a sidepath in parts, but the road isn’t bad in low traffic), and they have a nice path along 197 between 450 and route 50 with a bike/ped overpass over the highway to get to South Bowie.

[jopamora]

Aw geez, I just noticed Bilsko hasn’t recorded his afternoon ride.

[rcannon100]

Kel

Yes, first look at your seat height. I am always raising my seat.

Second, look at your cleats. Those with knee probs are recommended to have cleats with lots of float. I use Speedplay Frogs and absolutely love them. At first they are weird because they have so much float. But it means your knees are not locked into one position but can move a lot.

[Rod Smith]

If saddle height is the problem, pain in the back of the knee would suggest the saddle is too high. I’ve had kneecap tracking issues (a more common cycling related knee problem) and other injuries that have kept me off the bike or severely limited my riding, so I know how disconcerting that can be. I hope you get better soon.

[KelOnWheels]

Thanks for the advice all! Maybe I’ll keep lowering my saddle until the front of my knee hurts instead

[Greenbelt]

One of my legs is a little longer than the other — also, one “ducks” out more to the side than the other. They both “roll”.

Fortunately, all of these things can be corrected or at least aided by good fit work with the pedal/cleat interface: wedges, shims, angle changes etc.!

I used to notice leg soreness and knee glitches when I walked after a ride, because my leg position when riding was different from my walking position. Now, with lots of tweaks to the fit, no more soreness ever (even after long rides).

For years I thought that micro-fit stuff was hocus pocus, but now I’m a believer! -Jeff

[rcannon100]

It is 9.30 pm. The race for first place has come to an end.

[Justin Antos]

GROUP POST, 9:35PM:

Team 9 wishes to congratulate Team V on an awesome and amazingly FUN Freezing Saddles bike riding competition this winter. You guys are impressive! We, along with all the competitors in Freezing Saddles, rode long, we rode through snow, WIND, sleet, and rain, we saw sights we’ve never seen, we explored places we’ve never been, and most importantly – we got outside and exercised in the dead of winter, rather than sitting indoors.

Many thanks to Bob, Ronwalf, ACL, Kathy, Tim, Hozn, Eminva, the captains, all of Team V, and everyone who made this happen.

And with that, we happily concede… and we look forward to the Happy Hour tomorrow!
Regretfully,
-Team 9 Bollard Busters (Jeff, Peter, Steve, and Justin)

[vvill]

@Greenbelt 46995 wrote:

One of my legs is a little longer than the other — also, one “ducks” out more to the side than the other. They both “roll”.

Fortunately, all of these things can be corrected or at least aided by good fit work with the pedal/cleat interface: wedges, shims, angle changes etc.!

I used to notice leg soreness and knee glitches when I walked after a ride, because my leg position when riding was different from my walking position. Now, with lots of tweaks to the fit, no more soreness ever (even after long rides).

For years I thought that micro-fit stuff was hocus pocus, but now I’m a believer! -Jeff

Yeah if it’s not saddle height it could be something like this. I think Bilsko recently had one femur diagnosed as longer than the other and so had a shim put in a shoe. I should probably get a fit too because I feel like my right leg is longer somehow.

With the repetitive motion of cycling, if something is off only a little bit, it can manifest itself pretty easily.

[rcannon100]

Congratulations to Team V for Victory for its fantastic ELITE winter riding. For winning our contest, you have won Carl Kasell’s voice on your answering machine!!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2562[/ATTACH]

Never Give an ELITE rider an Even Break!!

Well done!

[vvill]

@Justin Antos 46997 wrote:

GROUP POST, 9:35PM:

Team 9 wishes to congratulate Team V on an awesome and amazingly FUN Freezing Saddles bike riding competition this winter. You guys are impressive! We, along with all the competitors in Freezing Saddles, rode long, we rode through snow, WIND, sleet, and rain, we saw sights we’ve never seen, we explored places we’ve never been, and most importantly – we got outside and exercised in the dead of winter, rather than sitting indoors.

Many thanks to Bob, Ronwalf, ACL, Kathy, Tim, the captains, all of Team V, and everyone who made this happen.

And with that, we happily concede… and we look forward to the Happy Hour tomorrow!
Regretfully,
-Team 9 Bollard Busters (Jeff, Peter, Steve, and Justin)

On behalf on Team V, thank you. You guys rode so consistently strong that we had to push out some monster miles in the last 5 days to guarantee Victory!

We’d also like to thank all the aforementioned organizers, coders and every participant, as well as hozn for his excellent work, and Mike Essig for coming up with the idea. And we’re looking forward to tomorrow too – DismalScientist said he might show up in a wheelchair. Bilsko’s Disc Trucker is probably looking forward to some time off.

Everyone rode like crazy and it’s amazing what a little peer support (and healthy competition) can do, even with below freezing headwinds and unpredictable icy conditions. I’ve done quite a few Strava challenges myself as well as last year’s NBC but the format of this made it far more interesting.

[Arlingtonrider]

Did I mention that the restaurant is up a flight of stairs? No worries – there’s an elevator too. .

I’ll be posting a little more helpful info about tomorrow night on the happy hour thread in the morning, but nothing of great importance.

This was fantastic fun. Loved every minute of it. Really looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

[Arlingtonrider]

Did I mention that the restaurant is up a flight of stairs? No worries – there’s an elevator too. .

I’ll be posting a little more helpful info about tomorrow night on the happy hour thread in the morning, but nothing of great importance.

This was fantastic fun. Loved every minute of it. Really looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow! Ronwalf and Mike Essig – we’ll miss you but will be thinking of you!

[vvill]

Yes, and ronwalf’s work is even more appreciated since he had his baby during the challenge!

One last person I’d like to explicitly thank, and he’s not even a participant in this (although his mileage is right up there) – Dirt!

I’m sure we’ve all benefited from his infectious enthusiasm for riding, but I know for a fact that Bilsko and I have also logged many miles while being pulled by Dirt on rides during this challenge. Looking forward to many more (although not this weekend!)

[KLizotte]

I’m surprised no one has brought this up yet but today is the first official day of spring. So….today’s miles didn’t occur in winter!

[Author]

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