[DCAKen]

I rode up through Rock Creek Park from Woodley Park to Silver Spring.

The trail, as expected, is unusable. Hopefully the warm rains on Wednesday will get rid of most of the ice and snow on the trail. Beach Drive was an adventure. The northbound lane wasn’t getting much car traffic, so there was still many slushy and icy spots on the road. The road was closed from Joyce Road to Wise Road due to a downed tree just south of Wise Road. On the hill up to Wise Road, Beach Drive was a sheet of ice. The water was dripping off the trees and since there were no cars to break up the ice and warm up the pavement, it was freezing on the road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0HzNbRGyl8

[DCAKen]

@hozn 105598 wrote:

I think this is bringing up a correct bug in the algorithm. I think “we” are just averaging the averages, which obviously is completely wrong — or at least has a very different meaning.

I seem to remember having a discussion with you about this two years ago in the first Freezing Saddles.

[DCAKen]

@americancyclo 103646 wrote:

…

This is the notice I get

Client IP: 205.156.36.105
URL: http://seandersonphoto.com/noaacycling/ (209.200.227.230)
URL Categories: Malicious Sites* [Looked up via GTI]
Reputation Score: 127
Geolocation: US:United States [US:United States]

[DCAKen]

@creadinger 102976 wrote:

Well this is a major bummer…..

The Freezing Saddles leaderboard is now flagged as pornography on the NOAA network.

Did y’all do something funky to the webpage this time around?? Or did some ‘entertainment’ site buy the domain for certain cold weather fetishists?

This is the same filter that blocks a website that a NOAA employee set up for ordering sanctioned NOAA-branded clothing.

[DCAKen]

This is the same filter that blocks a website that a NOAA employee set up for ordering NOAA branded clothing.

[DCAKen]

I apologize to my teammates for putting on another layer on sunscreen as I recline poolside on my February Caribbean cruise while you put on another layer of clothes as you shiver through another February polar vortex.

[DCAKen]

@DCAKen 73190 wrote:

I finished with just over 4800 miles, so I think this year’s goal will be 5000 miles. And maybe ride a century for the first time this century.

Unfortunately, I didn’t meet my mileage goal this year. I passed the 4600 mile mark, but I was off the bike a few weeks on injured reserve back in May. However, I did ride that century.

[DCAKen]

I’m planning on coming to meet my new teammates.

[DCAKen]

Although some have asked if my screen name means I work at National Airport, I chose DCA (in addition to my first name) to indicate that I like aviation and my favorite local airport code makes it obvious that I live in DC.

[DCAKen]

@jrenaut 102126 wrote:

It was definitely a challenge to do every day last year. My favorites were a 2 mile ride starting at 12:01AM the day I knew we were going to get a big snow and another 2 miles on my dad’s old Falcon with no brakes because our bike rack broke the morning we were leaving for an overnight trip.

I did a couple of just past midnight rides on the days I had an early morning flight. And I always made sure I did more than 2 miles to avoid getting included in the Sleaze Day list.

[DCAKen]

@Arlingtonrider 102085 wrote:

Please know that nearly all of us will have times when we can’t ride. Very few manage every day during the competition, lots of us have trips when biking is not a viable option (although sometimes we’ve found ways to do it – like befriending a hotel worker) and many of us are fairly low mileage. We just make the effort to do what we can.

A surprising number of participants did all 78 rides last year. That was one of my goals last year, but this year I won’t be able to do that. I don’t think I’ll have a bike available to me on a week long cruise in February…

[DCAKen]

My normal ride home from work takes me through Rock Creek Park as I head from Silver Spring to Dupont Circle. I always turn off at the Ranger Station, going up Ross Drive to Glover Road as a hillier and quieter alternative to Beach Drive.

Last night at about 6:00 pm, as I turned onto Ross Drive, I passed a tow truck standing in the lane with the gates closed. I was wondering if there was a tree down or maybe a crash on the road ahead. Since no one said anything as I passed the truck, I happily climbed the hills, knowing the road would be all mine. It was clear sailing almost all the way to the intersection of Broad Branch Road and Glover Road, where the gates were also closed with another truck sitting there with its flashers on. As I passed that, I also noticed another truck standing on the connector trail with two park employees on the road. As I waited for cars to pass the intersection, one of the workers called me back, asking how I got on the road and if anyone stopped me.

It turns out this was one of the nights they closed down the roads for “deer management“. I suggested that they make it obvious that the road is closed by positioning the trucks in front of the gap between the gates. Whenever there is ice or snow on the road, the gates are closed, but cyclists are able to ride this segment when it is closed for cars. I was assuming this was the case…not knowing that hunters were on the loose.

I’m not against thinning the deer population, especially with a few close calls I’ve had with them, but I wonder why they’re closing the roads at 5:00 pm, instead of later in the evening, after normal commuting hours.

[DCAKen]

I leave my lights all the time, thanks to my Schmidt dynohub. I will have the occasional person let me know that my lights are on, but that just means they see me

[DCAKen]

Just to put another spin on all the handicapping discussions…

The number of days that a participant gets the daily bonus is never taken into account. Those ten points can be a substantial percentage of the points earned…and I had several 13 point days during those bitter cold spells only because I didn’t want to end up on the Sleaze Days list. How much of an effect does the daily bonus have on a team’s ranking?

[DCAKen]

You: Westbound on P Street nearing the 15th Street intersection
Me: Ditto

You nearly right hooked me as we both tried to beat the red light. Then you called out, “Didn’t you see me?” as we both cruised up 15th Street. I replied, “Did you use your turn signal?” mostly because I didn’t remember seeing it. I could have been mistaken, so I had to review the tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRZrbDn8CU4&list=UUUsoKmxcvDc8d-vn_9CnuqA

Nope, you didn’t.

That said, I normally don’t like to pass cars on the right near intersections, so a certain amount of blame fall upon me, too.

[Author]

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