Poll: should Freezing Saddles offer "local" teams?

[peterw_diy]

Putting this out to get a sense of the group consensus quickly and without requiring lots more comments to read.

Technical note: looks like the poll is not visible on the “mobile” web pages, you may need to click the Full Site link to vote out see the current tally.

[cvcalhoun]

As you know, I vote no. I’ve got several objections :

1. They are a pain for the person putting together the teams. This in turn makes it harder to find someone to do it. Emma, who did it last year, has left the area.
2. They limit the kind of competitions we can have. The Maryland team, for example, would be at a disadvantage in contests involving crossing bridges or Arlington Strava art.
3. They diminish the social function of the competition, because we are much more likely to end up on teams with the same people, year after year.
4. They aren’t so much offered as mandated. Last year, I asked not to be on a local team, but ended up on one anyway, because they needed to fill out the team.

[peterw_diy]

For me, the local grouping improved the social aspect. I’ve ridden BAFS twice, but only participated in team rides the year I was on a regional team and had rides starting less than 10 miles from home. Sure, I saw more of my teammates than others, but it was nice at least socializing with real people instead of just bickering with jrenaut and hozn online.

[Sunyata]

@peterw_diy 128903 wrote:

For me, the local grouping improved the social aspect. I’ve ridden BAFS twice, but only participated in team rides the year I was on a regional team and had rides starting less than 10 miles from home. Sure, I saw more of my teammates than others, but it was nice at least socializing with real people instead of just bickering with jrenaut and hozn online.

I agree with this. The most fun part of freezing saddles for me was being able to meet up with team members for group rides without having to drive places (we all know how much I hate driving). I really doubt that I would take the time or effort to drive to Maryland for a team group ride or event more than once or twice during the competition. Which means that I would probably not get a chance to really know my teammates that well, which would kind of defeat the purpose.

I thought the team distribution last year was great and hopefully it can be duplicated this year also. As for difficulties for the person setting up the teams, if no one else has volunteered to do it (I have not read the other thread yet), I can do it.

[Anonymous]

Speaking as someone who had access to last year’s registration data, regional teams were actually pretty popular. I’d have to go back and look to be accurate, but I’d guess close to 2/3rds of participants said they wanted to be on a regional team. As nearly as I can tell from the data, Emma assigned all teams regionally, with some necessary supplements to end up with reasonably even handicaps. To be fair, there was not an “I prefer to be on a mixed region team” answer to the question, which you could add this year, in addition to the “I don’t care at all” answer.

I am agnostic on regional teams, as long as someone else is setting them up. (yay Sunyata!)

[DismalScientist]

I think Maryland people should get a regional team only if they keep their damned drivers off our roads.

[KayakCyndi]

If we do regional teams please be sure that the regions are disparate enough to keep Rod Smith and Eric Williams OFF the same team otherwise we should all just give up now!

[Alcova cyclist]

I voted yes but don’t really feel terribly strongly about it. On a scale from 1=”NO” to 10=”YES!” I am a 6.5. My hand isn’t exactly in the air to set up teams, so I’m happy whatever way people want to do it.

Last year was my first BAFS and our team being from northern VA did make it easier to meet up the few times we actually tried to. We also did just fine on side bets even in DC (Capture the Flag World Champion Team 5 (who shall not be named)!)

[cvcalhoun]

Okay, I’m prepared to admit defeat on this one. The question has been added back to the draft registration form.

[Steve O]

@cvcalhoun 128947 wrote:

Okay, I’m prepared to admit defeat on this one. The question has been added back to the draft registration form.

Ultimately it will be up to Sunyata. If she finds it more of a pain to sort through, she has discretion to arrange the teams as she likes. However, asking the question will at least give us the info we need. Seems like one’s zip code would be sufficient to work with for organizing people geographically, though.

[cvcalhoun]

@Steve O 128957 wrote:

Ultimately it will be up to Sunyata. If she finds it more of a pain to sort through, she has discretion to arrange the teams as she likes. However, asking the question will at least give us the info we need. Seems like one’s zip code would be sufficient to work with for organizing people geographically, though.

She seemed to suggest she was willing to do the work to set up local teams. And at worst, if she wants everyone on local teams, she can just work with the Zip Codes and disregard the other question. So I’ll leave it in, and let her decide what to do with the results.

[Bruno Moore]

Regional teams all the way! I still run into and meet up with my fellow Inquisitors out on the trails—which, given that I hadn’t met half of them before BAFS, is kinda impressive. Yes, I know this is Bike Arlington FS, but I also remember having to ask where the @#$% Shirlington was for the opening HH. On the one hand, yes, it might get more Marylanders out in Falls Church and Virginians in Hyattsville (perhaps ending the astonishment people had when seeing how nice biking in my part of the world is during Cider Ride), which would be good. On the other hand, having a team whose members were scattered all around the Beltway and beyond might be a tad tricky. It was hard enough for the Inquisition to schedule meetups at Fishnet and Franklin’s; I can’t imagine how tricky tri-state coordination might be.

[Vicegrip]

the good news it the game and the fun works ether way.

[Author]

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