Register for Freezing Saddles 2027

Freezing Saddles is a winter riding competition for cyclists in the general DC area.

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.

Freezing Saddles runs from January 1 through the last full day of Winter (March 19 in 2027). 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. Points are awarded for miles ridden outdoors. The more miles, the more points.

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. 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.

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.

Rules

1. Scoring: Points are heavily weighted to the early miles of each ride.
   • 10 points for each day of 1 mile+.
   • Additional mileage points as follows: Mile 1=10 points; Mile 2=9 pts; Mile 3=8 pts, etc. Miles 10 and over = 1 pt each.
   • There is no weekly point cap or distinction between individual and team points. Ride your hearts out.
   • Rides are added for the day, so several short rides count as one long ride. Fractions of a mile count.
   • 0 points for any day you ride less than 1 mile in total.
   Cheat Sheet for the Mathematically Challenged:

   Miles	<1	1	2	3	…	8	9	10	11	…
   Points	0	20	29	37		62	64	65	66

2. Dates: Game runs January 1, 00:00:00 through March 19, 23:59:59. All rides starting from January 1 on count, even though teams may not be assigned for a few days. If you are planning to get a super-early start and be out riding your bike as the year changes, be aware that rides starting before midnight will not be counted by the leaderboard. You need to stop your recording device and restart a new ride after midnight for your miles on January 1 to count. Similarly, you will need to end your last ride before midnight for it to count.
3. Stationary trainer rides don't count. Take your bike outside and ride it some distance across the surface of the earth in order to earn points. Manual entries will also not be accepted.
4. Rides made while traveling out of the area do count. On vacation somewhere warm? Lucky you! Find a bike and ride it for some points. Somewhere extra cold? So, so sorry. Find a bike and ride it for some points!
5. Rides made on e-assist (but not solely electric/motor powered) bikes do count, except that rides on an Elf do not. There was once an inane e-bike debate.
6. Anyone can award a Pointless Prize for anything. Check out Discord for what people are offering, and feel free to join in and award something yourself. These are typically small fun or cute or symbolic things, not high dollar prizes or anything. But whatever you want! No one will probably argue about you throwing money or new bikes at them if you so desire.

7. Friends of BAFS are people who would like to participate in events, etc., but not compete as part of a team. In many instances, they are also permitted to participate in Pointless Prizes (although the rules for that are up to each sponsor of a Pointless Prize).

   If you want to be a Friend of BAFS, just follow the normal registration process but when you get to the registration form, stop and don't fill it out. You will be registered as a Friend of BAFS and not assigned to a team.

If you're lost, or have questions, Contact the Cabal (the game leadership). And if all the Reindeer Games and Pointless Prizes are not enough to keep you busy riding in blizzard season, see this Freezing Saddles unofficial calendar for “bikey” events, other meetups, and Freezing Saddles happy hours. This calendar is also found by scrolling down on the home page.

Remember, the competition is to ride your bike outside, in the bleak mid-Atlantic winter, when it's cold and wet and dark. If that sounds like fun to you, then welcome!