Pointless Prize – ParkFinder

[matteblack]

@Boomer2U 199370 wrote:

If you are referring to my “Success built upon Failure” ride https://strava.app.link/yb1kz1wdT4 then no, I did not tag “Fallsmead Park” for that very reason. I did however, tag the “Glenora Park” next store that did qualify (see below). I visited both parks on the same logged ride. But perhaps you refer to a different park or posted ride?

My post was an attempt to demonstrate both a failed and successful Park find.

And to the best of my knowledge, my rides are not “private” or else FS2020 would not be able to sweep data nor pics from my Strava account. You should be able to see all of my rides in full if you look at the FS2020 club feed on Strava, FYI.

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That works for me; protest retracted!

[camiller]

@matteblack 199279 wrote:

I agree 100%!! It has made FS2020 even more fun and exciting — kudos to camiller for coming up with this pointless prize idea!

If this is a pointless prize next year, I highly recommend those not playing along to participate, it’s gotten me out of the same ol’ route routine, allowed me to rediscover places I had long forgotten and made cycling in NoVA enjoyable again.

Thanks for your kind words. I’m glad people have been enjoying the game. It has been interesting to see the variety of different parks people have found. I have especially enjoyed learning about some of our more unique parks in the area.

[Boomer Cycles]

I visited High View Park in Arlington which is split in two, non-adjacent parcels. The smaller one on Lee Hwy by the Community Center has an interesting and interactive piece of public art, “Memory Bricks/The Family” which is a tribute to the community’s AfroAmerican heritage

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[camiller]

First, I want to thank everyone who participated. We had 46 people participate in ParkFinder. I have heard from a number of people that they enjoyed ParkFinder because it gave them a destination for some of their rides and people have found some interesting parks that they were not aware of before or they had passed many times and never took notice of the park.

I am going to award 3 prizes.

1. Person that visited the most parks: Matt W. road his bike 947 miles visiting 280 parks
2. Person that averaged the most miles per park. I split this into two groups: visited 6 – 30 parks and visited more than 30 parks
   • 6-30 parks was Kilgore T who rode 355 miles to visit 8 parks (average of 44 miles per park)
   • greater than 30 parks was Alan A who road 2063 miles to visit 49 parks (average of 42 miles per park)

I want to thank everyone for playing. I enjoyed seeing and learning about a lot of parks, both in and out of the United States. I hope to visit some of those parks and hopefully you will as well.

[josh]

@camiller 199571 wrote:

• Person that visited the most parks per mile split into two groups: visited 6 – 30 parks and visited more than 30 parks
  • 6-30 parks was Kilgore T who rode 355 miles to visit 8 parks (average of 44 miles per park)
  • greater than 30 parks was Alan A who road 2063 miles to visit 49 parks (average of 42 miles per park)

Aren’t those the people who visited the least parks per mile (for both groups), i.e. those the most miles per park? E.g. Matt W has 3.38 miles per park (or ~.296 parks per mile) so he should be winning the >30 park category (I assume, I didn’t run numbers for everyone). Or is the award for the reciprocal of what you stated?

[AlanA]

@camiller 199571 wrote:

First, I want to thank everyone who participated. We had 46 people participate in ParkFinder. I have heard from a number of people that they enjoyed ParkFinder because it gave them a destination for some of their rides and people have found some interesting parks that they were not aware of before or they had passed many times and never took notice of the park.

I am going to award 3 prizes.

1. Person that visited the most parks: Matt W. road his bike 947 miles visiting 280 parks
2. Person that visited the most parks per mile split into two groups: visited 6 – 30 parks and visited more than 30 parks
   • 6-30 parks was Kilgore T who rode 355 miles to visit 8 parks (average of 44 miles per park)
   • greater than 30 parks was Alan A who road 2063 miles to visit 49 parks (average of 42 miles per park)

I want to thank everyone for playing. I enjoyed seeing and learning about a lot of parks, both in and out of the United States. I hope to visit some of those parks and hopefully you will as well.

Awww, thanks. I really wasn’t expecting to see my name mentioned, but I really did enjoy this. When I was on my trip across the country, I actually went out of my way to do a ride that had a local park. Some were really fun and some were quite lame. But for the most part, I learned that the US has a lot of very interesting parks. Sadly, most of them are shut down right now.

Maybe after all this craziness is over, we can ride to a park together!!

[matteblack]

Thanks, again, camiller, for this awesome pointless prize. As I’ve mentioned before, it got me out of the same old routes I’d take and get me to parts of NoVA that I typically don’t ride — as well as my first trip across the Woodrow Wilson bridge. Boomer and Josh were great competition and kept me going until the last day. (Although if my trip this week hadn’t been canceled due to covid, Boomer probably would’ve laid claim to the title as I would’ve been in the car on Thursday vs. on the bike finding parks.)

I stated early on that I was going to game the system by posting short segments and I’m really embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize how short some would be. I think the shortest was 408 feet (between Rock Creek Park and Georgetown Waterfront Park).

I also had my first random encounter with a fellow Freezing Saddle participant (sorry, that I didn’t catch your name!) on my Dark Star segment.

Again, if this is a sponsored prize next year, I encourage others to try it out!!

[camiller]

@josh 199574 wrote:

Aren’t those the people who visited the least parks per mile (for both groups), i.e. those the most miles per park? E.g. Matt W has 3.38 miles per park (or ~.296 parks per mile) so he should be winning the >30 park category (I assume, I didn’t run numbers for everyone). Or is the award for the reciprocal of what you stated?

Josh, I wanted to recognize the people that, on average, rode the furthest distance to get to each park. I kept stumbling over the wording when I was doing the calculations and I still managed to write it backwards. I’ve corrected the post (hopefully). Thanks for catching my error.

[bigredboiler]

Camiller, thank you for the great idea & inspiration. I didn’t stumble upon the park prize until late January, but it quickly escalated from simply noticing a park on my way home to scouring maps to find new parks and ways to reach them. Luckily, the madness is done as it really became challenging to find new parks for each ride near the end This was definitely the most entertaining and encompassing aspect of FS for me (I had to make a Google Map & XLS to manage). Too bad we can’t meet in person to thank you, but judging by the comments here, you brought much joy to many with your idea! -Kris

[Boomer Cycles]

@matteblack 199588 wrote:

I stated early on that I was going to game the system by posting short segments and I’m really embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize how short some would be. I think the shortest was 408 feet (between Rock Creek Park and Georgetown Waterfront Park).

Kudos @matteblack for taking home the prize, but I think your greatest gaming of the system was not the short distances between rides, but that you uploaded 86 of those rides during the last hour of the competition, and hence, none of us had any idea of how large a stash you were hoarding. Elite gamesmanship!!

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[drevil]

@matteblack 199588 wrote:

I stated early on that I was going to game the system by posting short segments and I’m really embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize how short some would be. I think the shortest was 408 feet (between Rock Creek Park and Georgetown Waterfront Park).

Chuck Brown Memorial park and Langdon park are across the street from each other. We had a hard time splitting that ride in Strava
https://goo.gl/maps/8aU6rEVC3o7H5Ada9

[Steve O]

@drevil 199714 wrote:

Chuck Brown Memorial park and Langdon park are across the street from each other. We had a hard time splitting that ride in Strava
https://goo.gl/maps/8aU6rEVC3o7H5Ada9

Who says you have to take a direct route from one park to another? You could have done a 20-mile loop.

[drevil]

@Steve O 199723 wrote:

Who says you have to take a direct route from one park to another? You could have done a 20-mile loop.

Johnny did.

[Boomer Cycles]

Theses 3 parks in Vienna VA are adjacent to /across the street from another. You can see the park signs of 2 of them when you turn around and look behind you from the 3rd park sign (Stream Valley). So I rode there twice, and logged them separately to, fro and to again;-)

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[bigredboiler]

Doh! I totally missed the Stream Valley Park sign myself
Looks like it was one of the rare green/white signs that actually said “Park” in the name. My general rule of thumb was anything on the map that said “Stream Valley Park” probably wasn’t a park. Well earned! -Kris

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