Rides We Like: REI’s #optoutside 2023 Campaign
(2023) Outdoor supplier REI’s message appears to be catching on - to opt outside on Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving, and avoid the equivalent to the Running of the Bulls at a big box store that pits customers against each other for a random item. REI began the #optoutside campaign in 2015 and continues the event to this day. No REI stores are open on Black Friday. Instead, employees are encouraged to go out and enjoy all nature has to offer. Here at the creakybottombracket.com office, that message is heard loud and clear.
Black Friday is a mix of workers who automatically have the day off, workers who took the day off, and employees who still report to work and are angry about it. To ride a route where people are at peace with a road cyclist can be tricky. This past Thursday a normally busy road - Dark Hollow Road - was selected in hopes the workday crowd would be light, if not nonexistent. This road is a bit deceptive as it appears to drop in elevation toward the Delaware River. Those who have ridden can recall numerous false flats along with uphill ramps. No bother, on a light traffic day, this should go just fine.
As the winding turns were negotiated, the car count piled up. Perhaps the route should be recalibrated from the next turn off of Dark Hollow Road. Considering the route bisected River Road, another heavier trafficked thoroughfare, there was the question of navigating the tricky road duo. As if by the last minute, and at the same time as passing a Christmas tree farm, the notion to turn off the paved road came to mind. A technical meander onto the gravel uphill experience that is Mount Airy Road would be the perfect peaceful route for this REI #optouside campaign. Sure enough, the route was recalibrated just before meeting the Delaware River.
Mount Airy Road is quintessentially Bucks County. The directions include a hard turn after a lone cabin along a creek. In the winter, the shale cliffs feature dramatic icicles. Today there was no one at the cabin, but the turn was just as intense. From paved to gravel there are several potholes as well as an immediate incline. Off the pavement, over a small bridge as well as gravel onto a long uphill segment is how Mount Airy starts. Today it was damp from recent precipitation. On previous attempts, specifically during the tail end of the Fools Classic, the gravel has been dry and dusty. The climb heads into the forested region of Bucks as the plateau is reestablished heading south.
The climb feels neverending, but for all its effort it is worth it to finally have some space. A lone car kicked up dust as it headed in the opposite direction, but otherwise the decision to opt outside worked. Here were the quiet driveways of houses unseen. Eventually the road rejoins a paved route, but should one lust for more gravel, a simple turn after the next intersection yields two more gravel roads. Today, though, the course was set south and to home.
To disconnect from the digital world often requires a bit of traveling, be it to a remote region by car or by bike. Today’s route started and ended in the bustle of motorists. Yet the middle portion was as peaceful as it gets. A couple playing tennis was observed at a court that’s never hosted a person in all the years we’ve ridden by it. It’s as if a small group of people know just how quiet upper Bucks County can be. Eventually the route became choppy again. Roads were followed in decimals of distances instead of long time frames. Instead of riding for minutes, the route had turns every couple of seconds. Stop lights slowed the average speed. We opted outside, yet this was the tradeoff to get to those quiet gravel roads.
Once back to the creakybottombracket.com office, the old familiar dance resumed. The winter kit was shucked, the shivers set in, the hot hot shower did little to help, and the pantry was raided over the course of an hour. All this happens when the outside is the only suitable option.
Not a lick of holiday shopping happened on Black Friday, and that’s okay. The illusion of urgency was translated into riding up steep gravel and asphalt climbs whilst being passed by those hurrying to stores for deals they think apply to them. Meanwhile I was able to visit an old friend of a road, sun coating the newly-revealed forest floor, and pedaling to my own content knowing I had opted outside.
