Rides We Like: REI’s #optoutside 2024 Campaign

There has been a strange realignment in the cycling scene lately, and it’s all for the better. Over the past few weeks, I have managed to ride with every single former teammate from a particular team that stopped racing about ten years ago. Meanwhile the headlines that old races are returning to next year’s calendar have excitement building for 2025. While outdoor supplier REI encourages people to partake in physical activity other than shopping on Black Friday, I was plying the pedals with reliable group riders.

Nearly eight years ago, a teammate and I made the trip to Upstate New York to have one last go at the Queen of the American Classics. It was a ritual, a rite of passage for the competitive season to pass through before the summer race season could start. There were feeder events to prep riders up and down the eastern seaboard for the Tour of the Battenkill. 

In between those final miles and today, teammates bought houses, made families, opened businesses, and took irresistible jobs. The team cohesiveness was unsustainable and we all went our separate ways. Some of us stayed with the road cycling scene while others broke off the team ride and were never seen again. I would say this is life, but recent events would confound even the staunchest Alan Watts fan.

A few weeks ago, I labored along the canal tow path with several of our old team. We even joked about not knowing what year it was. The next day I wound around Valley Forge National Park with another former team member, bringing the total to four riders. I wasn’t done yet. Happy hour brought out two more former riders. Tomorrow one last teammate confirmed to ride, bringing the experience full circle. This accelerated reunion has been a happy progression.

In the midst of reestablishing connections, Anthem Sports announced the opening to the Tour of the Battenkill for 2025. It was one of the first major events our team trained for. In 2018 the race was bought out, converted to a grand fondo experience, and like our team, never really found that old guard stature. Even if a few of the former teammates make the trip to Cambridge, NY, the event rejuvenated the team text message chain that had lain dormant for some time. We piled on the jokes about what year it was.

For Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving when people are lured into shopping for deals, I pedaled to the traditional meeting point of a group ride. Typically a Wednesday and Saturday affair, the group adds holidays when it sees fit. One of the former teammates suggested I meet up, if for nothing but to motivate me to ride. It worked. And, unsure what year we were in again, I found myself hanging on wheels of riders I haven’t ridden with in a long time. 

About halfway through the ride, I uttered the magical statement, “I’ve definitely never been on this road before.” The teammate who had invited me responded, “Yeah. These rides are good for that.” Instead of freewheeling when the effort got difficult, a sense of maintaining pace kept me honest at a time when I could have stayed indoors. I had opted outside with a handful of other riders doing the same thing.

Eventually I broke off from the group and headed home, taking old gravel paths long forgotten. The sunny weather turned overcast. The overcast turned dark and a slight rain came down. Wind blew as the temperature dropped to near freezing. No matter. It was great to be outside. I even pointed the bike toward a notorious berg to finish off the ride. The cycling apps told me I logged 22 new miles. 

I hope the realignment of cycling continues beyond the new year. The group's motivation to get out the door fulfilled the desire to get on the bike and ride. If all these factors fall into place, here’s to hoping the speed from a decade ago returns. That might be a little too much to request.