Rides We Like: REI’s #optoutside
(2019) More is not necessarily better. More items stocked for the sole purpose of meeting the demand for a one-day sales bonanza does not attract us. Stating that purchasing a television will save money has us wondering why not purchasing anything saves us more. For the cultish queueing that is Black Friday we thought spending it elsewhere was a foreign idea. A couple of years ago REI, the outdoor supply store, made a huge ad campaign to encourage people to go outside; don’t stand in line for material things. And we have backed it ever since.
We are aware of our last post, the #creakybottombracket 2019 Holiday List, and can own the inconsistency. Sure there will be sales tomorrow. But tomorrow is better identified as an extension of hanging out with family and friends. Setting up a tent at the local electronics superstore to wait in line for hours for a television at a sale price is attractive, but then again so is getting on a bike and riding for the same amount of time. Yes we advertise Black Friday deals in our last post, but mostly we want to wave to you on the ride.
When REI, one of the leading outdoor stores in America, announced it was swimming upstream by closing on Black Friday, people took notice. Would-be shoppers validated concerns that seemed to prioritize sale prices over time with friends and family. Big stores love the chaos and urgency of Black Friday; small businesses chug along with the hope Small Business Saturday will set them ahead of last year’s sales.
That leaves us with the sense that tomorrow we should air up the tires, spin the cycling computer ninety degrees into the mount, clip into the pedals and push ourselves across the countryside while thinking about the people who opt to sit in line. Even if people wait in line for three hours, an average cyclist could have toured approximately fifty miles of countryside, and there is little that can replace such an experience. Or even more attractive: spending three hours with family in the backyard can clear the mind a lot better than a tent on a sidewalk complete with camping chairs. We don’t even have to wake up early for tomorrow’s opting outside.
While a capitalist society requires consumers to hand over money regularly, we doubt the outdoorsmen and women will have an effect on the big box store bottom lines. We could even make a point to ride past as many country-wide stores as possible to remind ourselves what everyone else prioritizes on a Friday when work is optional. We can then think about how much money we retain for Small Business Saturday and propping the local shops who invest in our community. As for us, we will roll across regular roads without a care for distance. As a famous cyclist once said, ride as little or as much as you’d like, but whatever you do, ride. More mileage is not a requirement.
As we gear up for tomorrow’s blustery conditions we are already reminded that riding in cold weather is so much better than waiting for the next sale. We have a theory that most people waiting for big box sales are shopping for themselves. Therefore wasting a Friday on a sidewalk is void of a day. Look for us on the roads tomorrow. Better yet, we will look for you. The more riders we see, the more we will believe opting outside is a thing, and it’s catching on.
