Newbie thread — drop by and say hi!

[DCAKen]

@consularrider 168639 wrote:

Just like a velodrome (or short Hains Point)

If the ship is moving, it wouldn’t be a simple loop.

[cvcalhoun]

@NovaEbike 168710 wrote:

For us newbies, is it essential to get snow/studded tires for commuting in the winter and participating in BAFS? My commute is along the W&OD from Vienna to DC. I generally take the W&OD to 4mile run and then the MVT north by the airport but can also take the Custis trail since I’ve heard that they plow the snow from it.

Remember that we typically don’t have all that many days when snow tires are essential. Riding every day is not mandatory. And I’ve managed perfect attendance several years without snow tires. On bad days, I’d carry my bike to the nearest plowed road for a sleaze ride.

[creadinger]

If your options are:
A) sleaze ride on an icy, snow covered road/trail in the cold and dark with significant potential for a fall with spring-season ending injuries like wrist or collarbone.
Don’t do the sleaze ride, lose out on 11 points and live to fight another day.

ALWAYS choose B!

[CBGanimal]

@cvcalhoun 168728 wrote:

Remember that we typically don’t have all that many days when snow tires are essential. Riding every day is not mandatory. And I’ve managed perfect attendance several years without snow tires. On bad days, I’d carry my bike to the nearest plowed road for a sleaze ride.

Agree! I have done FS for 3 years with perfect attendance without snow tires or studded tires…timing is every thing. What I have done is a midnight ride in advance of impending bad weather…or waited out a storm!
But recently got a mountain bike with studded tires on the cheap and I’m dying to try it out for fun!

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[consularrider]

@CBGanimal 168741 wrote:

Agree! I have done FS for 3 years with perfect attendance without snow tires or studded tires…timing is every thing. What I have done is a midnight ride in advance of impending bad weather…or waited out a storm!
But recently got a mountain bike with studded tires on the cheap and I’m dying to try it out for fun!

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Snow showers in the forecast for Frankfurt for Friday morning and Sunday night into Monday morning. Just saying if you need a #BAFS warmup … plus the Weinachtsmarkt has opened.

[musclys]

@CBGanimal 168741 wrote:

Agree! I have done FS for 3 years with perfect attendance without snow tires or studded tires…timing is every thing.

By perfect attendance, do you mean at least one eligible mile every day Jan. 1 to March 19? Does this earn you a pointless prize, or is it so common as to go unnoticed?

[consularrider]

@musclys 168746 wrote:

By perfect attendance, do you mean at least one eligible mile every day Jan. 1 to March 19? Does this earn you a pointless prize, or is it some common as to go unnoticed?

Yes, at least one mile every day of the (not a) competition. Bike Arlington has usually given those with perfect attendance some sort of swag, there’s been a BA cap, a scarf, and I can’t remember the others at the moment.

[CBGanimal]

@consularrider 168747 wrote:

Yes, at least one mile every day of the (not a) competition. Bike Arlington has usually given those with perfect attendance some sort of swag, there’s been a BA cap, a scarf, and I can’t remember the others at the moment.

Not to mention maximum points possible for you and your ream!

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[consularrider]

@CBGanimal 168748 wrote:

Not to mention maximum points possible for you and your ream!

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]15770[/ATTACH] :rolleyes:

[musclys]

Perfect attendance might be a bit tougher to come by this year. From Capital Weather Gang:

A La Niña event, indicated by colder-than-normal water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, is underway, and past such events have featured “a lot of winter-weather volatility”

[Erin Potter]

@NovaEbike 168710 wrote:

For us newbies, is it essential to get snow/studded tires for commuting in the winter and participating in BAFS?

To echo what other folks have said about timing, I wrote a blog on this, and the data is pretty impressive.
Averages of the past Four Winters
12 (out of 121.25) days had snow on the ground
5 (out of 121.25) days it was actually snowing
Freezing Temps
93% had a high above freezing***
56% had a low above freezing***
More here.

[accordioneur]

@musclys 168746 wrote:

By perfect attendance, do you mean at least one eligible mile every day Jan. 1 to March 19? Does this earn you a pointless prize, or is it so common as to go unnoticed?

Freezing Saddles has a certain number of people who fixate on riding every day of the contest. The rest of us don’t care. It just so happens that there’s a high correlation between the people who feel the need to ride everyday and the people who are on the forum every day, so you are seeing an over-representation of “perfect attendance” people in what you’re reading here relative to the FS population as a whole.

I remember the day of the big storm in 2016, as I was headed down to the W&OD to do some cross-country skiing I bumped into someone carrying a bicycle down to the trail in hopes that it had already been plowed so he could get a ride in. I missed riding that day, but I think I had more fun. The following day I did bike to work and was one of only two people to make it into the office since the roads were still impassible.

[jrenaut]

@accordioneur 168754 wrote:

It just so happens that there’s a high correlation between the people who feel the need to ride everyday and the people who are on the forum every day, so you are seeing an over-representation of “perfect attendance” people in what you’re reading here relative to the FS population as a whole.

I resent…er…resemble that remark.

I think the key to Freezing Saddles is finding the level of competition/insanity/frostbite you’re comfortable with, and then pushing it a little bit. For many people, that’s easier and more fun with a few friends along. If that’s not you, that’s cool too.

[rcannon100]

Just skip like the second day of FS – and then that’s it. No “perfect attendance” anxiety.

[Josh184]

Hi,
I’m new to the area and looking forward to freezing saddles. This will be my first time commuting in the winter, but not my first time riding in the winter.

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