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 the last full day of Winter (March 19 in 2026). 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.