Request for alternative scoring systems

@jrenaut 150608 wrote:

Do you have a great idea for a way we could score Freezing Saddles to increase the competitiveness? While nothing you suggest would replace the current scoring system without 600 pages of “discussion”, I’m interested in comparing some alternatives.

I’ve been trying to think of a way to give bonus points for miles when it sucks out – say on the average day, all participants together ride 1000 miles. Today, all participants together only rode 500 miles, so we assume it was a crappy day and give bonus points to those who rode. The only problem with this is that it could really benefit people who were elsewhere. Or maybe VA gets hit with a big snowstorm, but MD only gets a dusting, so MD riders get a bonus for nothing. Not sure there’s a way to do it effectively. Weather data is too unreliable.

I had a similar suggestion last year. I actually think using ourselves as the proxy for how bad the weather is is probably the best way. It has its little quirks, as you point out, but they probably even out over the contest. Some sort of baseline would have to be established and then scoring details “discussed,” but I like this idea.

Using weather data is way too hard. 33 and raining is much worse than 18 and sunny, or even 25 and snowing.

Last year, vvill also came up with the “freeze points” concept. I don’t recall the exact details.

@noodles 150636 wrote:

I’ve got a fat bike, so I’ll find riding during a snow storm easier than someone with just a road bike. And then how does the program that automatically sucks in the ride data account for where someone rode vs how the weather was in that area? It just sounds like a rabbit hole to a big headache to me.

As far as the fat bike goes, it’s a handicap on some of the other metrics (the guys with the ultra-light road bikes can probably ride much farther with the same effort), and a benefit on this one. We’ve never tried to account for differences in bikes in any part of this competition, and I wouldn’t want to start now.

And the whole point of their metric was that it was inexact. It is based on how many people ride that day, which is a rough (but not exact) proxy for how bad the weather was in this area. (People may ride less on weekends, for example, regardless of weather.) And it doesn’t account for people riding elsewhere. But that’s an issue with regular points as well–the guy in Florida can easily maintain a perfect record of riding every day, while the rest of us are busy digging out.

I really don’t care about jrenault’s proposal, one way or the other. But the fact that the measurement is inexact does not trouble me.

TL;DR: This is a friendly competition, in which the typical prize is a decorated paper plate. If something adds a bit of fun to the competition, let’s not get so focused on exact measurement that we lose the fun.

How about alternative charts that use the existing data and show/expose new angles? The distance/elevation/ave speed chart is great fun.

@Vicegrip 150816 wrote:

How about alternative charts that use the existing data and show/expose new angles? The distance/elevation/ave speed chart is great fun.

I love that chart! Can we get a sorta horse race playback chart that replays the the leader board from day 1 to the current day, that’s would be entertainment.

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@SurlyTed1187 150817 wrote:

Isn’t one of the main objectives of BAFS to encourage those participating to keep pedaling through the less desirable winter months?

No. Freezing Saddles is not a form of bike advocacy. Individuals may seek to use it for that purpose. But there is no organization nor mission behind Freezing Saddles to promote anything.

Freezing Saddles is a bunch of friends, um, peers, um well people who bumped into each other at least once at coffee – acting like idiots together because its fun…. um, humorous, um well it beats staying at home and having to talk to the teenagers.

Ergo, the more idiotic schemers make this, the better. Like Coffeuneering, the more rules the better. As complicated as possible! So we wont possibly know who will win until the Russians tell us.

PS: Are we going to have Fantasy Freezing Saddles This Year?

I liked the Freeze Points last year. The more charts in general, the happier I am. More stuff to waste time at work obsessing over!

@QuikAF77 150829 wrote:

The distance, elevation, speed chart is cool. Only problem is Erik B and his “700,000 ft” of climbing in December so far skewing the chart badly

His near daily 20,000 foot climbs between Anacostia and Dupont Circle are amazing, I hope Elon Musk is paying him well