[Kbikeva]

#PublicArtFinder today at Fairfax Corner. This mural is on the corner of Random Way and Palace Way on the Random Way side.

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[Kbikeva]

@Boomer2U 207611 wrote:

I am indeed following [mention]bikesnick [/mention] … to the Crescent Tower plaza in Tysons Corner NoVA (home to MicroStrategy HQ) where he led me to these really cool sculptures for which neither of us can uncover any information about them. Anybody out there got any intel?

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I saw those when I tried to reproduce your public art ride, but just figured you had not put them in pending a second ride … ‘but wait – there’s more!’ I don’t know anything about them. I do have a contact with Tysons Partnership though so I’ll ask when I next see that person if there’s a list somewhere with info about the art as well.

[Kbikeva]

2/11/21 Movie Poster

Who knew this was going to be so sad today looking for movie posters? I think we’re all having the same experience mourning the loss of an entire culture – even if we weren’t big moviegoers ourselves, we knew that world was there for us to take part in when we wished. And now, faded posters and empty buildings.

My favorite cycling movie is The Triplets of Belleville. If you haven’t seen it, grab your favorite beverage and find it to watch this weekend. We can all use a bit of levity and this is FUNNY.

Fairfax Corner – the movie poster is “Monster Hunter”

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(I deleted the first version of this post as it was doing something strange on my end of things – so if this shows up twice, Drevil, that’s why.)

[Kbikeva]

2/11/21 Movie Poster

Who knew this was going to be so sad today looking for movie posters? I think we’re all having the same experience mourning the loss of an entire culture – even if we weren’t big moviegoers ourselves, we knew that world was there for us to take part in when we wished. And now, faded posters and empty buildings.

My favorite cycling movie is The Triplets of Belleville. If you haven’t seen it, grab your favorite beverage and find it to watch this weekend. We can all use a bit of levity and this is FUNNY.

Fairfax Corner

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[Kbikeva]

@CBGanimal 207587 wrote:

2/11/21 – Movie Poster

Same creepiness going on over here…no theater has been open since March of last year!

As for my favorite bike movie…I don’t remember the name but it was about a cyclist that helped the Jews in Italy…he would put paperwork that helped the Jews in his seat tube so no one would find them!

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That was about Gino Bartali. I just recently read his biography, Road to Valor: the True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired the Nation. I’ve not seen the movie, but the biography is EXCELLENT and worth tracking down.

[Kbikeva]

@josh 207591 wrote:

Considering that chuxtr has been the sponsor for these coffee-related prizes the past couple years, I think it’s a fair assumption that the rules described in this thread are the relevant rules for this year’s prize, and not last year’s rules (i.e. no swamp coffee this year). I’m pretty confident that the prohibition on repeats (of a chain or not), has been prohibited for a while. I’m sure he’ll step in to confirm, though.

Yes, I’d love to hear his “final answer” on it. For people new to this, the precedents aren’t always clear. And since the text I quoted that is from the freezingsaddles.org pointless prizes tab was written by *someone* the question is in the air. In the meantime, I’ll go change my hashtags.

[Kbikeva]

@secstate 207585 wrote:

I’ve updated the leaderboard code for this year’s competitions. Just waiting for it to go live. I’ll submit a modification tonight or tomorrow to ensure that both hashtags are counted this year.

But the two hashtags have different rules – that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Do I count every time I stop at my favorite (which might be a chain) or do I count only those individual non-starbucks, etc. rides per coffee snob? One is obviously much easier to attain, if not as fun.

[Kbikeva]

@chuxtr 203735 wrote:

I posted this in the Pointless Prize thread but creating a separate thread just to make sure people are aware.

I will once again sponsor the Coffee Ride pointless prize, but this year I’m calling it the Coffee Snob Ride pointless prize. For your ride to count towards the prize, hashtag your ride name on Strava with #FS2021coffeesnobride (case sensitive) and where you went for coffee (not part of the hashtag). New rule for this year is that you need to include photographic evidence on Strava that you were where you said you went for coffee. The winner (or winners if I feel like having more than one prize) is the person with the most coffee rides.

RULES:

1. Only one visit to a coffee shop counts. Meaning you can’t keep going back to the same coffee shop multiple times.
2. Starbucks is verboten! Yes, I’m a coffee snob.
3. Other chains, e.g., Peete’s, are OK but once you visit one outlet of a chain, that’s it. See #1 above.
4. Same for establishments that have more than one location, e.g., Northside Social. See #3 and #1 above.
5. No “swamp coffee,” e.g., 7-Eleven, Wawa, etc., this year. Yes, I’m a coffee snob.

You can visit as many coffee shops in a day as your body will tolerate caffeine, but for each shop to count they have to be separate rides. That means if you want to ride from shop to shop to shop on a single ride, you’ll need to end your ride, make sure it logs on Strava, and start a new ride at each shop. Make sure to hashtag each ride.

Previous winners of this prize (you know who you are) are welcome to participate but can’t win.

In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker is who rode the least miles.

So confused… there is a #FS2021coffeeride (which is the one in the list under “pointless” on the website) and there’s this one. The other one appears to be just any coffee ride, as long as the hashtag is correct. This one has more rules about no repeats, etc.

So are there really two different pointless prizes for coffee? Do I need to go back and change my #FS2021coffeeride hashtags to this one? Afterall, I’ve been following the rules and everything – thinking they were the same!

[Kbikeva]

@accordioneur 202658 wrote:

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
Photography Contest (Mtansill) –
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

So — the coffee snob prize listed here uses a different hashtag than listed on the freezingsaddles.com site. The site says: Leaderboard for the BAFS 2021 Coffee Ride prize

Note that the hashtag to appear on this list is #FS2021coffeeride, and it’s case-sensitive and subject to review by the offerer of the prize or any other BAFS staff member (which is every participant because this is a volunteer game and we all are in charge (some of us more in charge than others but totally not in a 1984 kind of way))

Since I’ve been using the one on the site, my rides are showing up. Before that … ether

Just FYI

[Kbikeva]

@accordioneur 207545 wrote:

“Mogan” and “Magen” are transliterations of the same word, מָגֵן. They’re both approximations of a word written in a different alphabet. It’s not that “mogen” means “cheap wine” while “magen” translates to “star”.

I didn’t mean they translate directly – just that the little “o” vs. “a” creates a whole different concept. Sort of the very profoundly spiritual vs. the definitely not. When I googled “Magen David” it referred to the magen meaning shield.

At any rate, I definitely defer to your expertise on the transliteration. I only know about the cheap wine. Not recently, but back in the day.

What a fun hunt today. And of course, I now see bubbles, balloons, lightning, etc. wherever I ride! So from tomorrow on, stars will be on that list.

[Kbikeva]

@Nadine 207527 wrote:

Like Accordioneur I was thinking it would be cool to post a pic of a star of David. Well good thing others did because I wad tired and didn’t wanna leave my group ride to detour to the synagogue. (Didn’t even occur to me it might not have one! That woulda pissed me off. Yes I’m Jewish – but not the synagogue attending kinda Jew.)

Luckily my sweet ride buddies kept their eyes open and helped me find a nice 5 pointed star. Good thing others find nice – what’s it called? Mogen Davids? Cvcalhoun is educating a number of us today [emoji38][emoji1360][emoji1364]

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Oh Nadine, you make me laugh. Mogen David is a sweet wine of questionable quality. Magen David is the Star of David (Shield of David).

And I’m not of the six pointed star persuasion, but I might have done a bit of googling plus memories of cheap college wine.

[Kbikeva]

@accordioneur 207511 wrote:

2/10/21 – 5 or 6 point Star (but not on American flag)

“Now we’re playing on my turf,” I thought as I read today’s photo challenge. After all, I’m of the six pointed star variety of people. But it turns out that in Northern Virginia they’re hard to find in the wild. My synagogue doesn’t have any on its exterior, and from what I could tell from Google, neither do any of the (few) other nearby ones in Northern Virginia. I thought about heading to Sixth & I, which has a lovely stained glass example, but decided to instead settle for a five-pointed star, which are abundant. DC United and NE Patriots bumper stickers on cars. Decorative stars on houses. Air Force logos. Five pointed stars are everywhere. I grabbed some five pointer photos, but kept my eyes open while I continued my ride.

Finally, I stumbled upon a six-pointed star on, of all things, a sign advertising dog grooming. Success! Further along in my ride I spotted one of those “Coexist” bumper stickers that has the symbols of all the major religions. That would have provided a more legit mogen david, but I decided to stick with my doggie daycare sign.

Oh, and as I arrived home I noticed a five pointer just around the corner from my house – a Turkish flag sticker on a car. Good thing I didn’t see that on my way out, or I might not have gotten much of a ride in at all.

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“Now we’re playing on my turf,” I thought as I read today’s photo challenge. After all, I’m of the six pointed star variety of people.”

Nice opening. Made me want to read more. Now I’m wondering why the doggy day care has a six pointed star. There’s gotta be a backstory on that! Thanks for making me smile.

[Kbikeva]

@Julie K 207512 wrote:

2/10/21 Stars

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Oooh, very nice!

[Kbikeva]

@LisaE 207522 wrote:

2/10/21 – 5 or 6 point Star (but not on American flag)

I had the intention of keeping it simple and stopping by Starbucks on the way to the pharmacy to pick up Rx. Then I rode by a VA Civil War Trail sign with 3 stars and a bugle. That would work, but those aren’t very unique around here. Instead I came back around to capture a star incorporated into a fence art display at the local elementary school. It was by far the coolest star I saw on my errand run today.

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I love that you held out for something extraordinary! The quest is the adventure!

[Kbikeva]

@bikedavid 207488 wrote:

Elizabeth Taylor mural at Dacha beer garden at 7th and Q St. She was apparently a big supporter of the Whitman-Walker Health Center around the corner which provides treatment to those affected by HIV and this mural is a tribute to her.

Bikedavid – thanks for posting this. I lived here as a teenager at the time and I remember her support being somewhat controversial because politicians were still unsure how to handle the AIDS epidemic. She was married to Senator Warner. Because of her film connections was highly aware of how devastating the disease was, particularly in the creative communities. Her being a politician’s wife, and famous as she was, and outspoken about this helped turn the discussion towards helping rather than judging. It was a glimmer of her as well — she wasn’t just about the facade of Hollywood. I had forgotten all about her support for W-W. I really appreciate this look back!

[Author]

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