Totally. My girlfriend also thinks it's sexist because it grants FCN points for having a beard, which she can't grow; and for having unshaven legs, which make a very different statement on a woman than on a man, bike or no.

And what's with the beard derision? I'm not sure that facial hair should count until it becomes so large and magnificent that it actually starts to slow you down. BikesnobNYC mocks beards frequently, and I can't for the life of me figure out why.

Ditto, almost. I rarely ride as hard as possible, but I certainly ride hard enough to sweat and breath heavily. And it turns out that this is faster than most people ride, in the city at least. Sometimes I'll come up behind someone who's riding barely slower than me, and as often as not I'll just slow down and hang behind them until our paths diverge rather than hammer down so that I can pass within a reasonable passing distance.

It's a hipster affectation. ;) And since I see you're in Alaska, 'hipsters' are faddish and pretentious kids in NYC who ride tarck fixies.

They probably cant grow one,all they got is fuzz.

im a 5 on my 1x7 and a 4 on my fixed. i have no beard.

I think a lot of the discrepancy in fixie FCN is in how they word their scoring (I find quite a few holes in their scoring). I think they mean real track bikes score ahead of hairy legged roadies, and 75% of our fixies, no matter how fashionable do not. Though I may have white V's and other steezy gear, I give myself the benefit of a higher FCN due to treating my bike like a beater. This may be the most ridiculous four sentences I've ever written, but just sayin...

Waiting at the stop light of a major intersection. Fellow on a shiny new specialized city bike/hybrid blows the light. Immediate primal attack instinct kicks in as I wait for the light to turn. Green light, uphill sprint, locked onto target ~90m away. I overtake and continue on my way. Victory #1.

Me: FCN 13 (MTB skinny slicks, street clothes, beard, platforms, backpack)

Well, well, on my Dahon commuter with helmet, beard, briefcase on a rear rack I counted as a pannier, and ordinary nerd clothes I have an FCN of 14. It would be 15 if I flip the pedals and go without the PowerGrips which I counted as toe clips. Most of you better hope I never pass you 'cause you will not only lose The Game, the Earth will open up and swallow you! Virtually everyone out there is tasty prey. Alas, no one rides my route at the same time I do so no Game for me.

Recreational riding doesn't count but my favorite passing story was on a ride from my home to our Saturday lunch restaurant on a local bike trail. I did not know about the Game at the time and technically I was the one that got passed, but you be the judge. I was riding along and noticed someone who would have been a 5 or less ahead of me. The odd thing was that I seemed to be gaining on him and without making any effort to do so. Due to some turns and an underpass I lost sight of him and then suddenly there he is and I am shooting right past him. Ok, he had pulled off at a rest stop and was sitting as I passed, no glory for me! I continue on my way negotiating a few busy road crossings at lights and then open up my pace a bit on a long road free section of the trail. As I am well into that I hear "On your left" and my roadie friend slides past at a pace I would expect from the species. But he gets about 10 meters in front of me and stalls and I am still not changing my personal effort to affect the outcome of this encounter. And he is really stuck there, we go this way for a few miles without any change in relative position. At one point I deduct style points from him because he hits a dead squirrel, with both wheels, that I easily dodge even though my view of it was blocked until the last moment by his wheezing carcass while he should have been able to see it a long way off. Just before I reach the point where I need to turn off towards the restaurant he does manage to open the gap to about 50 meter, but by cheating. We overtake a rolling roadblock of a dad, a couple of moms, and a cloud of orbiting offspring. He bullies through while I announce my presence, slow to allow them to reign in the young-'uns, and then pass only when the way is cleared. It is less than a mile before my turnoff now and he undoubtedly scores this as a victory but I note that now that I am not only 10 meters behind him to remind him of how frail his grasp on victory is his pace has dropped off again and that 50 meters is steadily shrinking....

Ken

the beard: it's wind resistance. you're un-aero. shaaaaaave it SHAAAAAAAAAVE FOR THE WIND RESISTY

yes, i said resisty.

those of you who think the game takes the enjoyment out of the ride: don't take it too seriously :) imagine you're a giddy shark (a cannibalistic breed, they are) and you see other giddy sharks. You're riding along teehee la lala CHOMP!!! time to maniacally eat your rival *dances* it's all in good fun and there's no need to break out the crazy on every other cyclist. the roadie hate* is funny because there's a lot of racing out of context there. there's no telling how long they've already been at it, or how long they have left on their rides.

*-roadie hate: only as serious as you make it. "if i can beat him, i must kick ass!"

I'm a 12 it looks like.

My story's similar to ACHOO's

I once caught a carbon cervelo (didn't note the shave factor) on a mup pulling a trailer with my 3 year old. I could hear my BB disintegrating as I did it, too. That has to be extra points... my FCN was growing with every revolution! :)

, Hearing the loud crunchings of my bearings, he turned around surprised and said "I would have gone faster If I knew you were there." I said "I know." and eased up.

It's a fun game. I think I knew the rules even before seeing that link. My house rules include apparent age as a factor.

Bah...
You whupped him. He should have taken his defeat gracefully..:D

Sweet, i'm a 16. That's pretty bad, hey? Seems pretty skewed though, and it doesn't account for a lot of stuff..

I mean in the UK where e-bikes are limited to 20kph, sure, maybe they belong at the bottom. But here for instance, they go up to 35kph, and accelerate and hold that speed easily. That puts e-bikes well above the bottom of the list.

And yeah, its not balanced for the sexes either.

In the end though, isn't it silly anyways?

Of course I chase people down. It's fun!
Since more people are riding now, I have more chase chances. It's no fun in crappy weather when all I'm doing is trying to get somewhere in one piece. But nice weather, it's on! Usually I can pass all the other women on my route, except for one but she doesn't count b/c she's all kitted out with no luggage (but if I wasn't commuting...hehe). I tend to try to chase down the men b/c it's more of a challenge. I can catch some of them on the hills because I'm a pretty good climber and that is always a sweet victory, passing someone on a hill and they never get caught up...yessssssssss!

Didn't know it was official, but I've always said there's two rules to bike commuting.

1. Never let on when you're racing.

2. You're always racing.

I'm guilty as charged since I will commuter race at times with other cyclists, but mostly it's the urban combat commute with motorists that keeps pushing my limit all the time. My commuter bikes and I are definite wolves in sheep's clothing when all the stops are pulled out, since those rush hour motorists won't wait around long for any lollygaggers.

So, once again this morning... 1 other cyclist the whole route. A girl, riding to middle school.

I'm facing a serious lack of prey here, people!

If lint can get stuck in it, it's a beard.

It appears that I rate as a 9... no-sus MTB FG with drops and skinnier than stock tires, cages, Chucks, torn pit-stained t-shirt, backpack and helmet. Sure I play the game, to an extent. If I see someone ahead of me then I'll push myself to catch up. If I can continue the pace and open a gap ahead of them, then I'll pass while singing something stupid like the theme to "HR Puffenstuff" and break mid-song to say hi. Otherwise I'll hang back. But if I do pass, then I certainly don't take that as a victory because for all I know the rider is on mile 80 of a 120 mile ride.

But I'm sure you smoked her none the less. ;)

Monday AM, 4/19/10

rhm ...................13 + 4 - 0 = 17

Once you start keeping your score, you realize just how complicated --and subjective-- scoring is. I slowed down to take a right, and just as I'm making my turn a girl on a road bike passed, going straight. Had I gone straight, she would have passed me (or I would have been compelled to go faster). Should I have counted her? Similarly, when I made a left off that same street: I had to turn left, so I waited for the light to go red, then I turned and rode... and now another commuter goes by on the road I just turned off of (though I'm still in the middle of it). Did he pass me? Not legally, at any rate....

Couldn't really play the game even if I wanted to. I see absolutely no one else on a bike on my 20 mile commute. It's all on back country highways that are very isolated from anything or anyone else. I kinda like it that way though, very serene and quiet.

FCN 12 on the commuter, 8 on the Raleigh. I almost never see anyone else on my commute though. The one or two times I have, they were going in the opposite direction. Good to know the rules just in case!

To keep things challenging, I'd give the "points" to the "opponent" or just call it a wash.

I would venture to guess that we all underestimate the FCN's of others, while we are all very well aware of all the points that might add numbers to our place in the food chain. Acknowledging a few extra defeats probably makes up for any of this.

I had a bit of a cat and mouse pass and re-pass thing going on for a mile or three with a local fixie rider. (Only one I've ever seen in Milford). I was observing red lights, he was not. I also had the excuse of having ridden all the way from the next county and having had the unpleasant experience along the way of being both almost arrested and intentionally hit by a car at a red light.

Not sure how to judge the exchange overall. I think I'd need a calculator. I guess if I have to think about it that much, I consider it a check in my "loss" column.

That is against rules. "No passing at Lights/Junction/Crossings, if you do, it doesn’t count" Full points for you.

Are we supposed to take the other cyclist's FCN into account? I missed that part of the game rules. It makes sense, but in a practical sense... if you're busy passing someone, you're not checking out their equipment.

LOL in true SCR fashion, I shouted "Mornin!" to her as I sped off into the distance...

What? I'm not racing... I'm just faster than you... :)

If she'd pass me, I would've hit her with my spiderman lunchbox......