Pointless Prize Thread 2021

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Hi all! It’s time for the funnest part of Freezing Saddles, the Pointless Prizes. These are fun activities – both crazy and mundane – that add a little something extra to the winter riding experience.

First of all, anyone can sponsor a prize – you can sponsor a prize, your friend who isn’t playing can sponsor a prize, even your mom can sponsor a prize. Second, Pointless Prizes can be about anything! They can be objective (like most miles ridden on New Years Day), they can be subjective (like Sock Game). They can be embarrassing (like rider with the most falls) and they can be heartwarming (Bike Samaritans, helping others in need). Check out last year’s thread for more examples.

Here is the current list of Pointless Prizes:
Prize Name (Sponsor) – Description #Hashtag
Elevation per mile prize (QuikAF77) – Most elevation per mile on average for the entire competition NA
Public Art Finder (Boomer2U) – Any display of art (graffiti, mural, sculpture or any sort of artistic expression, loosely defined), permanent or temporary installation, that is freely accessible to the public and includes a bicycle somewhere in the picture frame #publicartfinder
CalvinBall (rcannon100) – Calvinball is a hot-potato cycling game that celebrates creativity and stoopidity
Lite Brite Prize (sarahbee) – Ten categories of cool photo prizes #LiteBrite
Photo Caption Competition (SteveO) –
Civil War History Prize (BicycleBeth) – #CivilWarMarker #CivilWarStreet.
LakeFinder (Boomer2U) – #lakefinder
Wormhole (LuisFilipe) – Ride using “Wormholes” – unexpected connections from Point A to Point B #fswormhole
Daily Photo Scavenger Hunt (drevil) – Find and photograph the object/concept of the days
4 Point Pointless Prize (Char Miller) – Visit the four corners of the DC boundary
Quaxapalooza (rumipumi) – Supporting your local small businesses on your bikes (aka Quaxing) #BAFS2021SmallBiz
Bike Infrastructure (smb9600) – Share info about the cool bike infrastructure being built to make our cycling lives easier. #BikeInfrastructure
TandemStyle (elizsnyder) – Spot tandems in the wild #tandemstyle
New Deal Landmarks (historygeek) – Find New Deal related sites
Extra Mile (epilsk) – Overcome obstacles to ride
Deflated (LuisFilipe) – Most flats during FS #Deflated
Loopy for Arlington (bentbike33) – Most Arlington Loops
Top 3 Women Riders (Fast Friendly Guy) – Most BAFS miles, pronoun “she”
Slowest Mile (Bort McFly) – Slowest average speed – 1-2 mile rides #slowmile
Parkfinder (camiller) – Discover and visit local parks #Parkfinder
Coffee Snob (Chuxtr) – Ride and drink froufrou java #FS2021coffeesnobride
STEM (bikesnick) – Show your bike at a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) site
Sock Game (Jessica Hirschhorn) – Best socks
Errandeering (BeeTinDC) – Use your bike to run errands – not commuting, not fun stuff. Sometimes pronounced Errandaneuring. #freezingerrands2021
Drop the Pandemic Pudge (Cwaggon) – Ride your bike to burn off those extra pounds you may have accumulated during the pandemic #DropThePandemicPudge
Team that rides the most days (SteveO) – Team that rides the most days, regardless of miles
Meh-diocrity (SteveO) – Prize for the individual/team who ends up exactly in the middle of the pack
Mailbox Collection (bigredboiler) – Find interesting mailboxes #Mailbox
Heroes Work Here (bikedavid) – Ride to a spot with a “Heroes work here” sign #HeroesWorkHere
Honoring MLK (tomacsh) – Ride your bike to volunteer service (thorugh 1/31)
Wikipedia 20th (snugglefestival) – One day only – ride to a site with a Wikipedia page #Wikipedia20

Topic

[QuikAF77]

Posted my updated for 2021 elevation per mile thread here.

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@CWaggon 203783 wrote:

Anyone interested in a pointless prize for shedding the pandemic pudge?

#DropThePandemicPudge

I like this idea – and as SteveO notes, it’s an idea with a noble provenance in Freezing Saddles. I recommend you create a separate thread where competitors can check in.

[CWaggon]

@accordioneur 204015 wrote:

I like this idea – and as SteveO notes, it’s an idea with a noble provenance in Freezing Saddles. I recommend you create a separate thread where competitors can check in.

I’d love to create a separate thread. Do you know how were have a link to instructions on how to make another thread.

[smb9600]

Wise pointless prize folks- how do I get #BikeInfrastructure created for the leader boards? [emoji851]

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[Catedrew]

@camiller 203467 wrote:

PARKFINDER Pointless Prize

Back by popular demand, I will sponsor a ParkFinder Pointless Prize. There will be at least two categories:

– Person that visits the most parks
– Person with the most average miles per park

Per Dictionary.com a Park is defined as “an area of land, usually in a largely natural state, for the enjoyment of the public, having facilities for rest and recreation, often owned, set apart, and managed by a city, state, or nation”.

Therefore, it must be a public park. It can be a local, state or national park. The word Park must be in the sign (last year I came upon a few parks that did not have a sign) and it must be the kind of park used for recreation. (for example, no cemeteries, parking lots, businesses with park in their name, or neighborhood names unless it is a park in the neighborhood with the same name.) You all know the kind of park I am looking for for the game.

You can only get credit for one park per ride and you cannot repeat any park during the game. You must take a picture of your bike with the park sign and then post it in your Strava feed. Be sure tag your ride with #Parkfinder in the title so it can be counted the computer wizards.

Last year’s winners were Matt W, Kilgore T, and Alan A. Since we did not have an ending Happy Hour we still need to find each other so I can give you your prize. You can also send me a private message with your address and I can mail it to you.

#ParkFinder – Lyon Park Community Park, Arlington, VA

I pass by this park almost everyday on my cycling rides.

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[Hancockbs]

@CWaggon 204084 wrote:

I’d love to create a separate thread. Do you know how were have a link to instructions on how to make another thread.

Started one for you.

[camiller]

@AlanA 203483 wrote:

Will you be allowing multiple parks per day like last year? Personally, I like the idea of only one per day to avoid the spamming of rides. It’s just a bit annoying when someone posts 20 rides in one day.
One of these days we’ll have another happy hour. I can wait for my prize! And plus, the postal service would probably lose it.

Your comment about the postal service makes me laugh. I am still waiting for a package that started in Ohio on DEC 19. It has been to Warrendale PA, District Heights MD, Hyattsville MD, back to District Heights MD, Merrifield VA, Dulles VA, and now it is in Baltimore MD. I finally sent a note to the Post Office as the package is now getting further away from me. It should have been sent to the Fairfax Post Office from Merrifield. Kind of sad…. (I won’t even talk about the fact that I ordered several items from the same company on the same order on Dec 3 and all of the rest of the items have been here for weeks.

Regarding how many parks can be submitted, I left it open ended, but one can only get credit for one park per ride. I don’t know how to stop the spamming of rides at the end of the competition.

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@smb9600 204090 wrote:

Wise pointless prize folks- how do I get #BikeInfrastructure created for the leader boards?

The Freezing Saddles site hasn’t been updated with this year’s hashtags yet. All of the prizes posted there are still from last year. The tech team has been advised to use the list at the top of this thread (which includes #BikeInfrastructure) when they update for this year.

[smb9600]

@accordioneur 204135 wrote:

The Freezing Saddles site hasn’t been updated with this year’s hashtags yet. All of the prizes posted there are still from last year. The tech team has been advised to use the list at the top of this thread (which includes #BikeInfrastructure) when they update for this year.

Thank you!

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[Sophie CW]

#freezingerrands2021
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[Sophie CW]

#freezingerrands2021 Dropping off some mail after leaving my car at the auto shop (which I forgot to take a photo of):
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[Bilsko]

I didn’t search back through the thread, but is there a Wandrer related prize. Someone who rides the most new-to-them miles during the competition.

Search for ‘wandrer.earth strava’ to understand what it is if you don’t know.

[Sunyata]

@Bilsko 204388 wrote:

I didn’t search back through the thread, but is there a Wandrer related prize. Someone who rides the most new-to-them miles during the competition.

Search for ‘wandrer.earth strava’ to understand what it is if you don’t know.

Thanks, Bilsko… I just went down a rabbit hole. 😎

[Boomer Cycles]

@camiller 204130 wrote:

I don’t know how to stop the spamming of rides at the end of the competition.

How about the following qualification to address what happened last year:

“#parkfinder rides must be uploaded on the leaderboard within [24] — or pick your time limit — hours of having been found. Any sandbagging (multiple uploads) towards the end of the game will result in disqualification???

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[Brownws]

@Jessica Hirschhorn 203479 wrote:

Okay I have been crowd shamed into sponsoring this pointless prize again. Last year we had over 150 entries. I made it much more complicated that it needed to be, so will simplify it this year.

1. Take a photo of your socks. Preferably with cycling shoes but whatever.

2. Post on this thread.

3. On the first day of Spring, I will choose my 10 favorites. I will randomly choose ONE and that ONE is the winner. Prize to be determined by me but certainly sock or sock related.

4. And 3-2-1… GO.

5. BOOMER you are limited to ONE ENTRY per WEEK. The Queen has spoken.

Regards, Jessica

Sock of the day for me. Cute (and warm darn toughs)

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[Author]

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