FS 2025 Pointless Kids prizes

[chill-dad]

Saddleros con Saddlitos,

I’m sponsoring the Pointless Kids prizes this year:

1. Pointless Kid, for the kid (13 and under) who rides the most miles with a Freezing Saddles contestant
2. “withkid” for the Saddlero who rides the most miles accompanying kids who are riding under their own power
3. “Kidical” for the Saddlero who carries or tows kids the farthest.
4. “Kidathon” for the most impressive act of riding with kids, as determined by contributors to this thread.

Rules:

Pointless Kid: To get credit, you’ll need to pick a secret identity for your little gorm and tag your rides #withkid<secret name>.

For example, a ride like this would be tagged #withkidvisimo, since that cute monster’s secret name is “visimo”

His brothers would get credit if I added “#withkidebop #withkidpudge” to the ride title.

I’ll accept rides on kickbikes because this is the Freezing Saddles competiton, but not scooters for the same reason.  Occasional use of a Towee or similar still counts as “withkid” since the kid still has to balance and you still have to worry about where they are.

withkid: Saddleros automatically get credit for rides they tag towards the “pointless kid” prize.  You only get credit for one withkid mile per mile ridden, regardless of how many kids you’re escorting.  It doesn’t seem fair since you’re the one who got them into their gear, tuned up their bikes, and ponied up for the cookies or hashbrowns for bribes.  This year the Kidathon will try to address that concern.

If you’d rather not have your kids’ miles tracked or have to deal with titles that run to four or five lines in your Strava app, you can still compete for “withkid” by tagging your ride “#withkid”

Kidical: This category is for Saddleros who are riding for two. Or three, or more. Unlike “withkid”, there are no secret identities here because the grown-up is doing all the work.

If you’re using a FollowMe Tandem, GatorBar, dedicated bike trailer, or seats attached to your bike, those are Kidical rides.

Kidathon: In past years, the Kidathon prize went to the Saddlero with the highest sum of “withkid” and “kidical” miles, as long as both were greater than zero.  In practice, this meant doubling the prize for the Kidical winner, who was generally doing a preschool drop off most mornings (#kidical) and would log a couple miles on a kickbike at some point (#withkid<secret name>).

This year, I’m going to try making this prize more like the “Extra Mile” pointless prize.  Please share your best stories of the joys, struggles, and bribes that come with making sure we have another generation of Saddleros!

 

[jrenaut]

Thank you for taking these over. My kids are high school now so I can barely get them near a bike AND I’m the worst prize sponsor ever, so much better you than me

[Serdar]

Thank you for sponsoring. I added your prize to the Pointless Prize Topic 2025.

[Indiana]

Thanks for sponsoring!

[chill-dad]

Thanks for playing!
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[chill-dad]

I had a thought for prizes this year: for parents, towels with BAFS2025 <PRIZE> CHAMPION written on them.

Towels are the ultimate accessory for riding with kids, whether it’s drying off wet slides, sopping up spilled drinks or making sun-heated seats bearable.  Last year I found an Etsy vendor who does really good embroidery, so these can even look good (until pressed into sopping duty).

For the kids, I’d like to award a helmeted Lego Minifigure on top of a stack of bricks that represents the grown-up riders the withkid would have bested this year.  The top two will get minifgures on Lego bicycles.

For example, the current #2, “ebob” would get a minifigure on a bicycle on top of a stack of 21 bricks (Saddlero #229 rode 15 miles, ebop rode 16.6).

I know @jrenaud had to stop bribing his kids with Legos, but mine are just starting their journey with bricks.  What do other withkid riders think?

[Indiana]

Cute!

[chill-dad]

It looks like this year’s Kidical competition is going to be the Bunch Bike vs. the long tails, and right now the Bunch Bike is crushing it!

[Alison M]

Longtail checking back in now that there’s less ice on the road

[chill-dad]

@alison-m, I was going to say that’s probably a better measure of where snow gets cleared and the trail network is complete.   There are no slackers in this year’s group of parents.

[Indiana]

kidSnowy was wondering how kidebop got so many miles Saturday!

[chill-dad]

ebop and family moved about six miles west last December, but he still wants to ride to swim practice at the Franconia Rec Center and his reading time at the Sherwood Regional Library.  Now that ride is 12 miles longer and includes lunch and dinner at Kingstown shopping center if dad is too chill to pack food.

 

[Indiana]

Nice bike-swim biathlon, then!

[chill-dad]

Saddelitos wranglers!

I meant to get this posted before the last weekend of FS, but I’ve been busy for the obvious reasons (four of them, to be precise), but better latte than never (b/c caffeine).

We have a tight race for the Pointless Kid!  Kid ebop and Kid Snowy have overtaken each other several times this week, and who knows what combination of cookies and cajoling will lead to victory? Also, my kids and I built the Lego Eiffel Tower, and as we take that down I’ll take a page from the Paris Olympics and use the bricks as part of the kids’ prizes.

For the Kidical prize, Team Bunch looks set to crush Team Longtail.  There is no match for the powerful combination of comfy ride and excellent infrastructure.  For those of us who live around hills that are too steep for a Bunch, this is more motivation to get involved with our planning commissions and local pols to make us more competitive.  The prize is pointless, but the joy of riding is the point.

That leaves the kidathon prize. I’ve heard a few great stories, but I’d like to see them here. Have you changed iron- hard ebike tires in the cold and rain while the kiddos took shelter nearby?  Have you taken a withkid on a group ride that most of your grownup friends would struggle to finish?  Have you shepherded or dragged kids on a dozen miles of rough trails at night with an unscheduled stop for pizza to ward off teeth chattering? Who pedalled for the first time, learned they could ride in the cold, or otherwise secured the future of Freezing Saddles?

 

[tdp]

I’m here repping Team Bunch! Yes, please do get involved with your Planning Commission (hi! 😀), Transportation Commission, transportation planning efforts, local advocacy groups (SusMo), etc. for more and better bike infrastructure. And about those hills… I definitely plan my routes around big hills. My kids do classes at Barcroft CC and I once tried (and failed) to get up Walter Reed from S Four Mile Run. Haven’t done that again…

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