This is the third year running that Recreational Equipment
Incorporated (REI) closed its stores on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday,
encouraging its employees, members, customers, and others to #OptOutside with
friends and family rather than spending the day in retail stores shopping for bargains. What started as a
moment in 2015 has become a movement as more and more retailers, especially
those in the outdoor industry, have joined the #OptOutside movement by encouraging
outdoor loving folk to post photos of their Black Friday outdoor activities on
social media. When #OptOutside participants did so, using additional hashtags,
they qualified to possibly win prizes from various retailers and organizations
and to have their photos and videos featured on various web sites.
Three years ago I thought REI's #OptOutside decision was a bold move and I participated by going hiking the day after Thanksgiving. Now that I am a part-time REI employee, I REALLY appreciate #OptOutside because I not only have the day off to enjoy the great outdoors but also get paid for it.
My only #OptOutside quandary was to decide what outdoor activity
I would engage in and where. Would I kayak at Cross Creek County Park in
Washington County, Pennsylvania, paddling my Zydeco 9.0 of Necky Chatam 17 on
Cross Creek Lake? Would I slip into my Merrill Wilderness hiking boots and throw
a day pack on my back to meander along any number of the trails at Western
Pennsylvania’s Raccoon Creek State Park?
Rather than hiking or kayaking I opted, instead, to cycle my
Trek 8.3 DS Hybrid over twenty five
 |
| At the beginning of my 25.2 mile #OptOutside #Cycling @railstotrails ride |
I hit the trail around 1:30 in the afternoon. The sky was a
cloudless azure. The sun's rays blazed through mostly leafless trees. The temperature
was slightly above 50°. In other words, the weather was nearly perfect for a
fall ride.
 |
| Yes, it was that windy |
At first I seemed to be dragging ass, which I attributed to
the previous day’s Thanksgiving dinner and not having been on my bike for ten
days. Rather than cycling at my usual 12-15 mph pace I was struggling to
maintain an 8-12 mph pace. As soon as I saw the flags at Pike Island Dam,
however, I knew it wasn’t my lack or recent cycling activity or the previous
day’s turkey with all the fixings that was slowing me down. It was the steady northerly
wind blowing up the Ohio River valley.
After a little over twelve and a half miles, I stopped for a
break. Sitting on a bench beside the trail and overlooking the Ohio River, I
watched a coal barge slower plod north as I basked in the warming sun and felt
the breeze brush across my face. I was glad to be enjoying the outside rather
than shopping in some mall or retailer, or sitting in front of a big screen
television watching football.
As soon as I climbed back on my bike and started cycling
north I felt like the peddling was easier. I looked down at my speedometer/odometer
and saw that I was easily maintaining my usual 12-15 mph pace. As soon as warmed
back up, cleared the wind break of nearby trees, and was out in the open, my
pace picked up to 17-18 mph thanks to the tail wind. My return ride northward was
easier and quicker than the ride southward.
I saw perhaps a dozen other cyclists during my afternoon
ride though I might have counted some riders twice. All but one other rider were heading in the
opposite direction. I passed no one and only one rider passed me in the same
direction. One cyclist was even wearing short sleeves and shorts! I was wearing
my cycling shorts but was also wearing riding tights over them. I was also wearing
a lightweight SmartWool toboggan under my helmet, a neck warmer, a cycling
jacket over a long sleeved cycling jersey, and long fingered riding gloves. I
was warm, but not toasty or overheating.
As other cyclists and I passed, I wondered how many of them were
also posting their #OptOutside #cycling selfies on social media.
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