Updated on July 27, 2020
Defcon Bike Ride 10: Safemode
You may have noticed we never posted any follow up for the Defcon 28 edition of the Defcon Bike Ride. Yea this little thing called a pandemic happened, and we all got busy.
Since Defcon 28 is now totally online, a TON of contests have scrambled to move their operations fully online. Huge high five to all of those working to do this!
Now that we are 10 years into the Defcon Bike Ride, I really can’t imagine not getting up at 6am and going for a bike ride in the desert. In lieu of this, we are going to use Defcon safemode as an excuse to design a new tshirt, and get all you cyclists into some fitness app so we can track you better :).
So – we have decided to resurrect our Strava club, and host distributed rides each day of Defcon. You can ride one of them, or all of them! Just sign up for the ride with the “I’m in!” button on the day(s) you are riding and we’ll see what happens. Here’s the link to the club: https://www.strava.com/clubs/1079
We have also designed a special safe mode tshirt:
You can get one by filling out this form and we will reach out for payment after the con: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfh1Gkeb9kz5vNCdFHiMmlN_eNt8iv_KA2C-ks5-1WgW0_Ilg/viewform
We hope to see you all in 2021 for the next ride in Vegas!
Posted on October 21, 2019
Cycleoverride 2020 – 10th Defcon Bike Ride & #Badgelife (help wanted)
So – Bruce and I were speaking over the weekend and started talking about the fact that it’s the 10 year anniversary of Cycle Override. It all started with some poor communication skills and here we are!
As I’ve been reflecting on this – Bruce and I (and countless others) have done over 20 rides and close to 8000 miles each of riding, but what’s more impressive is the number of hackers/info sec people we have brought together in the name of cycling.
The Defcon Bike Ride in 2019 (the 9th version) had 50 people on the ride. My guess is that almost 300 different people have ridden with us at some point over the past 10 years. To me – if I think of what I would have wished we accomplished with our rides (from every Derbycon except this year, to unplanned winter bike rides at Shmoocon) – is the community the we have enabled. It’s frankly amazing to me how many people have gotten engaged over 6 or 7am bike ride at conferences which go well into the evening.
All the above being said, it’s my desire to make the 10th annual Defcon Bike Ride something special. That means jerseys, tshirts, stickers, of course. But I want to do something a bit more special.
Badgelife
At Defcon 27 – it became clear to me that the Defcon community has embraced the #badgelife scene. I informally counted at least 15 different badges, and I left Saturday, and pretty much camped out at the OpenSoc CTF event at the Blue Team Village.
This tells me there is an interest in badges. Combine that with my ability to sign up with more than I can handle – and Bruce and I have agreed that we’d like to design a badge that has the following themes:
- cycling (duh)
- some sort of challenge system that unlocks more content ( e.g. you need to checkin at the mid point of the bike ride to get the 10th anniversary badge and it’s challenges)
- probably crypto since we both have a <3 for privacy
- Some Blue Team type theme, since we both do blue team work at Syncurity and Expel.io
- NFC
- Anything else that comes to mind
- Have an official 10th anniversary party at Defcon
How will this go down?
So – I need help. What I plan on doing is building out a set of requirements for a board (think of something like your front crank on your bike. Figure out what lights/comms/display/and challenges we want to embed, and outsource the hardware.
How I need help?
I will need help coding the functionality into the badge. I will need a few QA testers. I will need people to help me get the word out so I don’t have to shoulder the entire cost myself. ( We will likely be doing pre-orders with and have a small amount for sale in Vegas. ).
I’m looking for people that want to learn about writing (probably Python) for badges. Doing some cross badge comms, programming some images and who knows what I don’t know about. If you are interested – tweet at us (@cycle_override), email us (info at cycleoverride dot org) or find us somehow.
Finally – thank
To ten years! — the Cycleoverride crew
Updated on July 22, 2019
2019 8th Annual Defcon Bike Ride
TLDR: Ride a bicycle with us at Defcon – signup here. Email info at cycleoverride dot org if you have questions.
TLDR2: Bike shop will meet us at 6:30am to hand out rentals. You do not need to go there ahead of time.
It’s time for the Defcon 27 version of the Cycleoverride Defcon bike ride!!!
The date of this years bike ride is Friday, AUGUST 9th, 2019 at 6am. This is Friday of Defcon. We will meet outside [TBD location] at 6:00am. There [may/will] also be a group meeting at the Tuscany at 6 am.
Registration is here. This is just so we can get a count and arrange comms leading up to the event. It will also give us your email so we can blast out any details needed pre ride, or at 5:25am on August 9th.
Here’s the deal – we have partnered again with McGhies Bike Shop in Las Vegas for our ride. Yes – they will throw your clipless pedals and seat posts on if you insist. They have 3 levels of road bikes: a ~$40 Cannondale Synapse, and a ~$100 Lance Armstrong starter kit road bike (think Madone.) There’s also a $125 level also.
Bike rental is first come first serve — there are about 18 $40 male road bikes and 5 female — after that it’s a hybrid or a $100 bike. You can always ship out your bike for about $100 each way on most airlines.
Here’s what YOU have to do:
You need to go here and reserve your ride. Rent your bike for the Las Vegas location. You will need to pay with a credit card. You should note anything special here and you should indicate you are reserving for the Defcon Bike Ride.
Here is what you should put in the comment box: (your own specs of course)
“Defcon Bike Ride
Size: 54 cm – will bring my own pedals
Need bike at 6am”
And for pick up:
Please select pickup at store – Las Vegas
Use this chart based on your height and inseam to figure out your size and fill the comment box out accordingly:
From mcghies.com
You alone are solely responsible for your bike reservation. McGhies is aware that we are running this event and will support us, but it’s on you to make sure you are all set with a bike.
THE ROUTE
NOTE: This ride may be at a higher altitude than you are used to. (2600-3800 ft)
OK — last piece the route – you can see the route here. This is the same route as last year (and the year before, and the year before that). Basically the route is slightly uphill out – and mostly downhill back. It’s looking like we’ll have a car heading up the back. There may be a bigger loop for those interested – we’ll let you know soon (basically taking the scenic loop around and catching up w/the group on your way back) – but it will likely be unofficial.
We are looking for sponsors so let us know if you are aware of anyone interested in throwing in some schwag or some cash to help support this ride. It will be used for hydration.
What do I do next?
Once you reserve your bike — all you have to do is wait for Defcon 27! Oh and keep riding!
Cheers!
The Cycle Override Team
PS if you have any questions — leave a comment so everyone can see the answer!
Updated on September 25, 2018
Hack the Hat v8
Hack the Hat v8 – Biking at Derbycon.
Update 9/25/2018 – Let us know you are coming.
Most of you know that the first year we did this we actually started in Ohio and cycled our way down to Louisville in the days prior to the con. That’s a bit hard to manage on an annual basis so we settle for doing an early morning ride at the con instead. We’d love for you to join us.
Your best bet for this ride is to bring your own bike if you can. There are places to rent in Louisville and we’ll leave you to your own devices on that front as we generally don’t have enough critical mass for this ride to ask a shop for any deals or special accommodations. Be aware that renting may require you to pick up your bike the day before. Also it appears that Louisville finally has a bike share program so that’s an option as well – especially since there are pick up stations near the con venue.
Ride Details:
- Meet Saturday, October 6th, at 7:30am in the Marriott Louisville lobby. You will meet Tom Tufts and Jim Elliott.
- This is a no drop, no setting speed records ride but hopefully we’ll get about 15-20 miles in before finishing.
- Route is TBD, but there will be no major hills (it’s Louisville after all)
- We likely will NOT be back for the first talk of the day but should return with plenty of time to make that 2nd slot. Sorry Saturday morning speakers.
- All riders need to have a bike, helmet, and water bottle (preferably filled with…you know…water).
- Some of us have had good luck picking up a bike on Friday for the Saturday 7:30am ride from here: http://www.bikecourier.org/ <- about 10 minute walk from Marriott.
If you want to join us – please sign up here. All information gathered will be deleted after the ride is completed. Got questions? Tweet @Cycle_OverRide, or email info at cycleoverride.org. We probably won’t see any comments left here.