Bikes Looks Funny in Wrapping Paper

With the glaring exception of Hanukkah, what's the next national holiday that comes after Black Friday?* Christmas Eve, of course!(Hours of in depth research goes into every iamtedking.com post. Over the course of research for today's post, I just spent a bit of time perusing this indubitably scholastic site to learn where Americans are blowing our billions, plus assessing how and why more people celebrate Halloween than Thanksgiving. Quite fascinating and a touch puzzling, really.)With the success of the first annual pop up Black Friday Don't go shopping unless it's at a bike shop; Go ride bikes instead ride, I decided that the commercialism of Christmas Eve needed that same two wheeled rejuvenation. Perhaps courtesy of my ridiculously good wordsmithing, or maybe it was the forecast of 70 degrees on the 24th day of December, whatever it was, it brought out seacoast NH/ME cyclists in droves!Whereuponst you look at this photo and you don't see many people dressed for 70 degree bike riding, well that's astute. That forecast was just a touch offbase, somewhere to the tune of 30% overly optimistic. Backtrack a month, I was shocked at the turnout of the initial Black Friday ride -- not knowing who was in town, out of town, who had to go shopping, I figured we would pull in a dozen riders. Nope, 50+ souls later, we had an formidable peloton.So sure sure, we had success on that ride, but rolling out the door on Christmas Eve, I knew that with temperatures in the low 30s and with mist so thick that it segues from mist to what we often call "drizzling", I just know that there will only be a dozen this time around. Nay, Two Wheeled Ebenezer Scrooge, once again I was blown away to arrive to the Exeter Cycles parking lot and see just shy 50 of my best friends, most of whom appropriately dressed... although not all. And then we grabbed another six on the way to Lil's.Ready? GO! ...and stop 10 feet into the ride at a stoplight. When in doubt, string it out. What's great about the holidays? Besides absolutely everything, there is the overindulgence of tasty foods. And friends. And beverages. And camaraderie. And family. And sneaking in some sort of exercise, regardless of the weather -- a walk, a stroll, an annual run, a first annual Christmas Eve ride to Lil's, something. Americans seem to enjoy getting their heart going around the holidays (question: do other nationalities exercise on holidays with as much vigor as Americanos?).Anywho, these sorts of celebrations are great. They are a reason to think about the world in a different light now and again throughout the year, appreciate various facets of life that might otherwise be taken for granted, or just called another day. Look, I recognize that not everyone has such sugar and spicy views of the festive holidays in these final two months of the year, but I hope that there is something positive to be gleaned from these celebrations. Plus Buddy the Elf is a hoot and eggnog would be gross in July. Here's our outdoor crowd. You'll note everyone, coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers alike are clenching their paper cups in an attempt to soak in just a few degrees of extra warmth. Except Harrison who was shivering and downed his coffee (or his first cup anyway) in a few brief seconds. In an effort to not bother non-bike-nerd civilians, normally we stay out of Lil's and hang in the outdoor seating. However it was about 29 degrees and everyone is soaked to the bone at this point, now half-way into the ride, so a few in our peloton splintered off the front and indoors. Generously, the Lil's owners, management, employees, and patrons are friendly and they embraced our spandex clad attendance. So coffee ingested and cruller ravenously eaten, after rallying the troops, we circled back to Exeter and ended up at our starting point, Exeter Cycles. There was a steaming vat of chili to warm the heart and soul, plus coffin sized cooler chock full of beer to cool our noon-on-Christmas-Eve-thirst.This, THIS, is what cycling is about. It's friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers congregating and enjoying time on a bike. It's riding fast, it's riding slow, it's baring the elements, and enjoying the time together. It's cohesive -- maybe with the cohesion of gluten found in a tasty baked good, midride -- it's community. Cycling is awesome, all the more so around the holidays. Plus a well timed delivery from the friendly UPS woman, who I'm convinced is Santa in brown clothes. She had my Slate arriving a full four days early. Stoke factor at this point is pegging around eleven point two. *I encourage you to save you time and don't tell me that Black Friday is not a national holiday. I haven't shopped on the final Friday of November in probably two decades.