Where is the FBC held and where are the segments at?
All the segments in our challenge happen in Southeast Michigan, while the segments themselves move to a different location each week. We aim to change up the specific segments to visit new locations or create new segments at locations we've been to previously. Segments are the same for all classes.
When can I ride the segment?
Each weekly segment will be open from Monday, 12:01am – Sunday, 6:00pm. Your ride must be uploaded and visible in Strava by Sunday, 7:00pm or we can't count it. The cutoff is needed to be able
to pull the data and filter the Strava leaderboard by ‘This Week’ on Sunday night.
I completed the segment, but Strava isn’t giving me credit.
There are a few common scenarios on why a segment doesn’t get captured:
Make sure that your Strava account isn’t private. Specifically, set your ride visibility to "everyone", as "only you" and "followers" will hide you from the leaderboard and we'll miss scoring you.
Under Strava's privacy controls, if you have start/end privacy settings enabled, you may miss triggering the segment on your ride. You can go in and disable that from your ride, or better yet - set an address for the start/end privacy controls so it only happens when you're riding from home, for example.
You may have not followed the segment correctly. Make sure that you follow the map as close as possible.
For more details on how Strava segments matching works, read this article. Please don't ask us why a ride didn't match - Strava offers mapping functionality to see what you may have missed.
Should I use Strava live segments?
If you need navigation, following a GPX or Strava map will be the safest option since Strava live segments have been known to lose a segment in the woods.
Can I use the free version of Strava?
Yes! You do not need to be on the purchased/paid version of Strava to participate.
Can you manually determine my time since I made one wrong turn and didn’t match the
segment?
No, sorry. There will be no manual adjustments to match segments.
My GPS unit didn’t record my ride; can I just use my friend’s since I rode with him at the
same time?
Credit will only be awarded if you have a ride under your Strava account.
Can I still receive credit for a segment that didn’t match in Strava so I can get the free cake?
We will grant a DNF for anyone who attempts a segment if there a Strava ride for that week near the segment, which will be considered an attempted segment for the free cake giveaway. Please email us a link to your Strava ride (see "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page) and make sure you email us the ride link by Sunday's cut off time.
Why am I not seeing my points after a segment in the standings?
You may have missed catching the segment on your ride and we didn't see it. If this happens, please check the "Raw Results" link on the standings page to confirm. There you can see the full data pull of results for a segment. Please email and let us know within three days of the segment closing. Points will be final after that time period.
Can I ride one of the segments early since I will be out of town?
Segments cannot be ridden early or late, however we have had people ride a segment after midnight on "Monday morning" to get their ride in.
My fat bike broke, can I ride my mountain bike instead?
You must ride a fat bike for all segments, there are no exceptions (hint, borrow a buddy's).
Is it allowed to use a shortcut if Strava still matched the segment?
Although there are times where Strava will count a segment even when there was a shortcut, we are expecting that everyone will do their best to follow segment as close as possible. Although we don’t want to police everyone’s ride, we do have the right to penalize or disqualify a ride if there was an obvious shortcut accidently or purposely taken.
Can I ride with other riders during a segment?
Yes! All segments can be ridden with other people, we encourage riding together as it's about having fun, after all. However, going out with the intent to draft and work together to gain an advantage in time, isn't what the spirit of the FBC is about.
What's the best way to contact you with specific questions?
Email is the best. Please don’t use Facebook,
Messenger, texts, etc. - especially when you have segment and point-related questions. See the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page.
