Freezing Saddles

A friendly winter riding competition for bike riders in the general DC area, organized by random people who talk to each other on the Washington Area/ Bike Arlington Bike Forum.

(paraphrased text from the Freezing Saddles information page):

Freezing Saddles has always run from January 1 through the last full day of winter. In 2016, people were divided into teams of 13 people (slightly smaller teams in previous years). Each team is a mix of riders who typically ride enough to qualify as insane, people who ride regularly but like sane people, people who ride occasionally, and people who have never ridden through a winter before. An attempt is made to keep the mix roughly comparable for all the teams so they are approximately evenly matched and everyone has a chance to be on the winning team.

Strava is used for data collection and team organization. A leaderboard application developed and maintained by awesome forum member hozn is used to report on team and individual points and all kinds of other cool riding metrics with team/individual standings. Plus pictures. People also offer up Pointless Prizes, prizes for whatever kind of random things strikes the fancy of the person offering the prize.

A happy hour is held near the start of the game to formally announce teams and after the end of the game to hand out prizes. These are fun, but attendance is not mandatory.

Forum Introduction

 * Freezing Saddles: Winter Bike Challenge (sign up open) http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?3500-Freezing-Saddles-Winter-Bike-Challenge-(sign-up-open)

Links

 * Freezing Saddles: http://freezingsaddles.com/
 * Bike Arlington Forum: Freezing Saddles 2016 Important Information http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?9384-Freezing-Saddles-2016-Important-Information