Winter Bike Challenge

[dcv]

@Rod Smith 36967 wrote:

I guess I’m a ringer but I know commuters who put in similar miles just getting to and from their full time desk jobs. I’m envious of that kind of work ethic. I just ride around at my own pace on my own time. Should I volunteer to captain the slacker team?

Cutters

[consularrider]

Might as well include me too since I’ll be out riding most days. Oh, and I am a Cutter, grandfather was worked for limestone companies in Bedford and Bloomington. We called ’em stonies back in the day – and no, not that kind of stonie.

[Rod Smith]

You’re a ringer too.

[Arlingtonrider]

Until my perfect gps-based mapping system is invented, I’m probably going to be doing manual entries. I’m guessing that I’ll average about 50/week over the winter. Hard to tell. I ride frequently though. Slacker? Or maybe semi-slacker?

[Mikey]

Much to the “BIG” 10’s envy, we now have 16 members!

We now have enough for 4 teams of 4 riders!

Let’s keep it going the more the merrier.

[Greenbelt]

I’ll probably do a lot of miles this winter, so happy to join the challenge. Did it go up on Strava?

I’m still working on my streak of no driving or Metro to work — up to about 18 months, since April before last, although I’ll probably break the streak sometime this winter… I wonder if my old Farecard still works?

[Amalitza]

oh, why not. I’m determined* that this year will be the year I ride all through the winter. Just in case the insane amount of money I’ve spent on things to keep my fingers, toes, ears, and nose warm is insufficient incentive, maybe the fear of embarrassing myself in front of strangers on the internet will be the extra push I need.

I’ve been averaging probably around 50/week since evening daylight went away. Last year, I rode not at all between new years eve and daylight savings time. (poor, lonely, bored bike). So… somewhere between zero and 50 per week could be expected from me? The possibility of zero seems to suggest slacker team…

*for the… third? fourth? year in a row

[dcv]

everyone wants to be on the slacker team, that makes me grin.
you’re going to have one super team of slackers and maybe one small team of ringers.

[rcannon100]

People are asking where to sign up, so I am bumping the summary of where we are at. This is still a draft open to mucking about.

My one thought is the snow day bonus. On a snow day, if you bike 1 mile, you get the 10 points for biking that day – and most other people wont be biking. I love the snow day bonus idea – but I am thinking the 10 points for getting in the saddle will probably be enough as it is????

When we have consensus, we can draft this up as a stable description and circulate it (those of us with blogs and post it to our blogs). Again, I can create a Google Docs sign up for purposes of sign up and assignment to teams. I think we could have consensus by next week (I dont see much quibbling about the game itself right now)

Title: Freezing Saddles: Winter Bike Challenge

Time span: January 1 Until Last Day of Winter (March 20)
March Madness Playoffs (does that mean the regular season ends a few weeks before March 20??)
Happy Hour at end with pointless trophies (anyone wanna volunteer to hit up bike shops?)

Participants: Right now with a straw poll we have 17 interested. Assume will get more when we announce.

Teams:
* Composed of 5 riders or less
* Volunteer Captains (captains will address any data problems, negotiate any confusion as to the rules or game; and motivate the slackers);
* Assigning riders based on self declared weekly mileage average (ringers must be separated on separate teams) – I will create a Google Docs sign up form for this purpose. Teams will be created so that each teams average weekly mileage is as close as possible.
* Because riders will be assigned to teams based on this weighted system – late sign ups can not be permitted.
* Interested cyclists must sign up by DATE LATER IN MONTH – Teams will be announced within a couple days of that date.
* No baggage (baggage is a term for signing up for teams with a best friend or a significant other – baggage is uncommon in winter leagues – during the summer natl bike challenge you could sign up with a group of friends)

Points: 10 points for each day ridden and 1 point for each mile
Minimum ride is 1 mile.

Backend: STAVA (if you dont have an account, you might want to sign up and play with it)

This is a self organized activity among friends. No one is in charge or running this thing. Participation is entirely at your own risk.

[Dan_ator]

I am down for this as well. Assuming I can ride every day to work, my total would be around 225 a week. As an aside, I started biking to work a few weeks ago, from Dupont to Reston. Based on what I see, most people commute the opposite. Does anyone go my way?

[ronwalf]

@rcannon100 37001 wrote:

People are asking where to sign up, so I am bumping the summary of where we are at.

I’m just beginning to poke at the code a bit. Here’s my suggestion: Have teams managed as Strava clubs. I can pull the membership (and more importantly, id numbers) programmatically through the Strava APIs.

Also, would anyone mind having everyone in the BikeArlington Strava club be a de-facto participant? That would make the individual scoring and prizes easy, especially for those who don’t find a team.

[Arlingtonrider]

Maybe an extra point or two for making it to some sort of maintenance class, happy hour, Proteus pot luck, Steve-led winter ride, or other special event? (Just an added thought for the general chaos department.)

[Certifried]

@ronwalf 37003 wrote:

I’m just beginning to poke at the code a bit. Here’s my suggestion: Have teams managed as Strava clubs. I can pull the membership (and more importantly, id numbers) programmatically through the Strava APIs.

Also, would anyone mind having everyone in the BikeArlington Strava club be a de-facto participant? That would make the individual scoring and prizes easy, especially for those who don’t find a team.

Slackers can use this team if they want I created it some time ago. http://app.strava.com/clubs/i-crit-my-pants

[rcannon100]

The clubs need to be drafted, weighted based on average weekly mileage. Otherwise the teams will be unbalanced and it wont be much of a challenge. Thus I recommend the creation of new teams for this challenge. It will be difficult to know how many teams we have until we have the sign up and see how many people sign up.

In other words, the current bikearlington team cannot be a defacto team.

B

[rcannon100]

@Dan_ator 37002 wrote:

I am down for this as well. Assuming I can ride every day to work, my total would be around 225 a week. As an aside, I started biking to work a few weeks ago, from Dupont to Reston. Based on what I see, most people commute the opposite. Does anyone go my way?

Yes. I think its GuyContinental.

[Author]

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