It’s Festivus!

[cvcalhoun]

@arlcxrider 202801 wrote:

Is there a way to purge the interlopers from the Strava group? I’d like to see what kind of rides other FS participants are doing, rather than randos in S. Florida, or Brazil, etc. Several people currently on the leader board are unlikely FS riders.

Unfortunately, the only way to purge interlopers would be to go one by one and purge people. And then we’d have to guess which ones were really interlopers. For example, someone now in Florida might be someone who was a previous FS participant, and thus eligible to compete. Conversely, someone in the DC area might be someone with no actual interest in FS, who joined just because they saw someone else join.

And it’s just not that critical. Once the competition starts, everyone on a team will join the Strava club for that team, and the leaderboard will begin picking up from the team Strava clubs rather than the main Freezing Saddles one. The ones who appear on the Friends of BAFS list will be those who:

1. Have joined the Freezing Saddles Strava club,
2. Have authorized Freezing Saddles to read their miles, and
3. Are not on a team.

#2 will get rid of the randos, because they won’t authorize Freezing Saddles to read their miles. And we don’t really consider it a priority to show standings before the competition even starts.

[Alcova cyclist]

@secstate 202689 wrote:

I’ve been back and forth about participating this year. Last year I had a hard time keeping my motivation to ride every day… not in a bad way, just wanted to spend my time another way some days. This year, with no commute, I feel like a total slug, and I have some big ride ambitions for the summer. Can’t promise 10 miles daily but I’ll try to do something every day

I was on the fence too since I am not really riding at all, but hoping the spirit of BAFS will get me back in the saddle — so I registered last night.

I did BAFS for 3-4(?) years before taking last year off in the midst of a job change. During my previous BAFS, I had been a year ’round commuter, so was good for 60-70 miles/week just from that, with mostly short sleazy rides or occasional group outings on weekends. Now my commute is about 100 steps, counting the detour to and from the kitchen for coffee. I need motivation to get out and ride (and be social). If I can get up to 50 or so miles a week, it’ll be a win. If I crack 750 miles in total, I’ll be over the moon.

[JoM]

In for FS21 – looking forward to the virtual fun!

[secstate]

@cvcalhoun 202802 wrote:

Unfortunately, the only way to purge interlopers would be to go one by one and purge people. And then we’d have to guess which ones were really interlopers. For example, someone now in Florida might be someone who was a previous FS participant, and thus eligible to compete. Conversely, someone in the DC area might be someone with no actual interest in FS, who joined just because they saw someone else join.

And it’s just not that critical. Once the competition starts, everyone on a team will join the Strava club for that team, and the leaderboard will begin picking up from the team Strava clubs rather than the main Freezing Saddles one.

Fair enough, though the interlopers aren’t hard to spot. They’re usually 1) overseas and 2) are members of dozens upon dozens of clubs. They really reduce whatever utility there is of open Strava clubs. For example, 7 of this week’s top 15 riders on the BikeArlington group clearly have zero connection to the DC area and are just joining every club available. Wish Strava would cap the number of clubs people could join. In the absence of that, club administrators should do a periodic purge, otherwise what’s the point of the group?

[cvcalhoun]

@secstate 202854 wrote:

Fair enough, though the interlopers aren’t hard to spot. They’re usually 1) overseas and 2) are members of dozens upon dozens of clubs. They really reduce whatever utility there is of open Strava clubs. For example, 7 of this week’s top 15 riders on the BikeArlington group clearly have zero connection to the DC area and are just joining every club available. Wish Strava would cap the number of clubs people could join. In the absence of that, club administrators should do a periodic purge, otherwise what’s the point of the group?

In this case, the point of the group is so the Freezing Saddles website can pull in data for those who are in the group AND have authorized Freezing Saddles to read their Strava miles. Before the competition opens, it is used to verify that registrants have in fact authorized Freezing Saddles to read their Strava miles. Once the competition starts, it populates the Friends of BAFS group. So it’s not really intended to be a “group” in a conventional sense.

And because those are the functions of the group, we’ve never prioritized purging it. It’s more critical to ensure that no one who should be in gets dropped than to get rid of 100 people who shouldn’t be members.

[Author]

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