Pointless Prize Thread 2023

[Serdar]

Dear Freezing Saddlers, check the first page of this thread for some fabulous pointless prizes you might be unaware of.

[Overtone]

4D Hyperloop Pointless Prize for Freezing Saddles 2023!

This one is for you route planning fanatics out there, as an alternative to Strava Art. This is a prize for the loop ride that crosses itself the most times on Strava without actually intersecting in the real world.

Rules
1. It must be a loop ride: start and end at the same place, don’t reuse a street segment.
2. Places where the Strava path crosses or touches itself have to be over, under, or through the 4th dimension.
3. Different corners of the same intersection can be used in the route if the path pixels don’t touch each other (in the zoomed-out Strava image showing the whole route).
4. Using the two sides of the same street segment disqualifies the route, even if the two parts of the path are visually distinct on Strava.
5. Special exception to rule 4: the two sides of the Key Bridge count as different streets.
6. Places where you can ride under or over a different segment of your route for a distance count as one crossing, not multiple (if you wobble back and forth) or infinity (if you get it precisely aligned).

Tag your Strava ride #hyperloop and post an image in the dedicated pointless prize thread along with your case for how many self-crossings it counts as. The winning route is the one with the most self-crossings. The judge’s decisions on interpretation questions will be arbitrary, final, and subject to bribery.

Prize: a Klein bottle.

Happy looping!

-John

PS this is my first time sponsoring a FS PP. Any suggestions for how to improve the above rules or process will be appreciated. I will create a separate thread for this… posting here for Serdar’s list.

[Steve O]

@Overtone 222008 wrote:

4D Hyperloop Pointless Prize for Freezing Saddles 2023!

This one is for you route planning fanatics out there, as an alternative to Strava Art. This is a prize for the loop ride that crosses itself the most times on Strava without actually intersecting in the real world.

Rules
1. It must be a loop ride: start and end at the same place, don’t reuse a street segment.
2. Places where the Strava path crosses or touches itself have to be over, under, or through the 4th dimension.
3. Different corners of the same intersection can be used in the route if the path pixels don’t touch each other (in the zoomed-out Strava image showing the whole route).
4. Using the two sides of the same street segment disqualifies the route, even if the two parts of the path are visually distinct on Strava.
5. Special exception to rule 4: the two sides of the Key Bridge count as different streets.
6. Places where you can ride under or over a different segment of your route for a distance count as one crossing, not multiple (if you wobble back and forth) or infinity (if you get it precisely aligned).

Tag your Strava ride #hyperloop and post an image in the dedicated pointless prize thread along with your case for how many self-crossings it counts as. The winning route is the one with the most self-crossings. The judge’s decisions on interpretation questions will be arbitrary, final, and subject to bribery.

PS this is my first time sponsoring a FS PP. Any suggestions for how to improve the above rules or process will be appreciated. I will create a separate thread for this… posting here for Serdar’s list.

I have been thinking about this, and I think it’s a cool idea. A couple of questions/issues:
– Re: Rule 5: How about including both sides of the Memorial Bridge, too? It has separate facilities on both the upstream and downstream sides.
– I’m a bit worried about plagiarism. I could spend many hours devising a really complicated and cool loop. Then someone else could take my route and add a little, bitty extra section and steal the lead.

[bikingjenn]

@Serdar 221053 wrote:

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Pointless Prize Thread 2023!

For the first-year participants who wonder what Pointless Prizes are, I am happy to share that Pointless Prizes (AKA Reindeer Games) are entertaining activities the Freezing Saddlers enjoy in and out of a saddle. Below are the answers to some questions you might have.

Question
Who can participate in Pointless Prizes?
Answer
Any participant of the Freezing Saddles 2023 can participate in Pointless Prizes.

Question
Who can sponsor a Pointless Prize?
Answer
Anyone can sponsor a prize. In addition, participants and non-participants of the Freezing Saddles 2023 can sponsor a prize.

Question
What are Pointless Prizes about?
Answer
Pointless Prizes can be about anything! They can range from serious topics like Immigrant Heritage to fun ones like Daily Photo Scavenger Hunt. What unites all topics is that every pointless prize is educational. So rest assured that you will learn, share your knowledge, and have fun by playing along.

Check out last year’s thread to see examples.

On this thread, I will keep a list of the Pointless Prizes 2023. If you have an idea for a game and need some help posting it, please feel free to direct message me on this forum. I will be happy to help you post a new thread.

As for now, we have only one Pointless Prize announced, and I am thankful to Jessica for being a leader. Please, see her pointless prize below and sponsor yours.

Prize Name (Sponsor) – Description #Hashtag

1) Socks fs 2023 (Jessica Hirschhorn) – post photos of your socks #socks

2) Meh-diocrity (SteveO) – the team and individual who end up exactly in the middle of the standings

3) The Taco Ride (Robbie Rob) – ride to as many taco eateries as you can #thetacoride

4) Tandem (NoVaNoobGA and shirag) – most tandem rides #tandem

5) Extra Mile (epilsk) – the most compelling stories of how they overcame challenges to get their daily mile(s) recorded – no hashtag, participants post their entries in this thread

6) Singlespeed (jlamb) – most singlespeed rides #singlespeed

7) 2023 Photo Scavenger Hunt (Janet and Serdar) – on your ride, find the requested item(s), and post photos on this forum and your Strava feed #scavhunt

Bicycle Bingo (bigredboiler) – ride your bike and play Bingo #Bingo

9) Ross Hill Loop (randomduck) – the most laps of the Ross Hill Loop segment in Rock Creek Park #rosshillloop

10) Expand your horizons (420) (AlanA) – find one of the cannabis dispensaries on your bike ride and take a picture of it #420

11) PublicArtFinder (Boomer2U) – RIDE your bike AT LEAST 10 MILES and share the discovery of any art form #publicartfinder

12) Old Georgetown Bike Lane (Jessica Hirschhorn) – ride some or all part from Cedar Lane to Pike & Rose in Bethesda #oldGeorge

13) Biathlon (lordofthemark) – ride your bike to a WINTER sport #biathlon

14) Top 3 Women Riders based on BAFS miles (Fast Friendly Guy)

15) Stupid Silly Bike Tricks (Judd) – for the best Stupid Silly Bike Trick

Thanks,
Serdar

My Pointless Prize-Vehicle ABCs #abc is not on the above list…Jenn

[Steve O]

@Overtone 222008 wrote:

4D Hyperloop Pointless Prize for Freezing Saddles 2023!

This one is for you route planning fanatics out there, as an alternative to Strava Art. This is a prize for the loop ride that crosses itself the most times on Strava without actually intersecting in the real world.

Rules
1. It must be a loop ride: start and end at the same place, don’t reuse a street segment.
2. Places where the Strava path crosses or touches itself have to be over, under, or through the 4th dimension.
3. Different corners of the same intersection can be used in the route if the path pixels don’t touch each other (in the zoomed-out Strava image showing the whole route).
4. Using the two sides of the same street segment disqualifies the route, even if the two parts of the path are visually distinct on Strava.
5. Special exception to rule 4: the two sides of the Key Bridge count as different streets.
6. Places where you can ride under or over a different segment of your route for a distance count as one crossing, not multiple (if you wobble back and forth) or infinity (if you get it precisely aligned).

Tag your Strava ride #hyperloop and post an image in the dedicated pointless prize thread along with your case for how many self-crossings it counts as. The winning route is the one with the most self-crossings. The judge’s decisions on interpretation questions will be arbitrary, final, and subject to bribery.

Here’s my test drive hyperloop. I’m working on a bigger one, but wanted to post this one to make sure I understand the rules.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]29717[/ATTACH]

Three crossings. Note that this hyperloop is time limited. In the not too distant future two of these crossings will no longer exist.

[Steve O]

@Overtone 222008 wrote:

4. Using the two sides of the same street segment disqualifies the route, even if the two parts of the path are visually distinct on Strava.
5. Special exception to rule 4: the two sides of the Key Bridge count as different streets.

Rules clarification:

A separate sidepath is distinct from the street alongside which it runs, correct?
E.g., one can ride the Custis Trail down the Rosslyn Hill and also ride on Langston Blvd. itself – either up or down, since they are distinct transportation facilities. Correct?
However, I assume that does not apply to a regular old sidewalk.

And what about frontage roads that are distinct roadways from the main line?

[Serdar]

@bikingjenn 222528 wrote:

My Pointless Prize-Vehicle ABCs #abc is not on the above list…Jenn

I am sorry, Jenn. I added your prize now. Thank you for sponsoring such an engaging one!

[bikingjenn]

Looking for the Hyperloop Thread???

Ride 1/18/23 #hyperloop 11

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rumipumi]

Please add this new team competition prize to the top if you can @serdar

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?21054-Team-Challenge-FEEDING-SADDLES

THANK YOU!

[Serdar]

@rumipumi 222805 wrote:

Please add this new team competition prize to the top if you can @serdar

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?21054-Team-Challenge-FEEDING-SADDLES

THANK YOU!

Hi Rumi, I added your prize to the list. Thanks for sponsoring it.

For the fastest way to reach me, please, DM me. That way, I will get an email notification that someone messaged me and reply as soon as possible.

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