Freezing Saddles is a winter riding competition for bike riders in the
general DC area, organized by random people who talk to each other on
the Washington Area/BikeArlington Bike Forum.
[BAFS] probably most closely resembles organizing a game of freeze tag
on the grade-school playground
— Steve O
Freezing Saddles runs from January 1 through 1 second before midnight
on the last full day of Winter (March 19 in 2025). We divide contestants into teams of 10 or
so people, striving for competitive parity. 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.
The competition is for contestants to ride their bikes outside all
winter,
in the cold,
in the dark
and
in the snow.
The farther you ride, the
more points you earn. The
colder it is, the colder you'll be. Not everyone can ride every day,
but many do, and everyone is encouraged
to ride more than they would otherwise.
In addition to the points competition, teams and individuals compete
and play for Pointless Prizes, of which there are many, both serious
and silly. For many, these "reindeer games" are the primary
reason they join and play Freezing Saddles.
Registration typically opens around Thanksgiving and closes on
Christmas Eve, and/or when we have reached the participation limit. We
use Strava for data collection and team organization, which means that
to play, you will need a Strava account and some sort of GPS device or
smartphone to track your rides. We have in-person happy hours near the
start of the game to formally announce teams and after the end of the
game to hand out prizes.
Come join us, it'll be freezingfun.
