Courtesy of Arizona Road Cyclist News, Jack Quinn – Editor

In 1981, Fred Sconfienza, then an ex-racer and still an avid cyclist, moved from Tempe to North Scottsdale. Not willing to travel to Tempe to join his former riding companions, he decided to see if he could get a bike ride going in North Scottsdale. He placed a sign in Bicycles of Scottsdale, which was then located on the Southwest corner of Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard, saying he would be at the shop at a certain time Saturday morning ready to ride and inviting any other interested riders to join him. The first Saturday, six riders showed up.

The ride hadn’t yet acquired the name BOS (which stands for Bicycles of Scottsdale, of course). The ride was also not originally envisioned as a ride for active racers. Fred decided that the ride should be for older riders like him, and that the ride should go the crest of Nine Mile Hill and down to Rio Verde. Thus, the ride’s original name, The Over the Hill Gang, had a double meaning.

With time, the ride grew in size, and some of the racing members of the Phoenix Consumer Cycle Club stared to ride along, including some of the juniors. Then, Pima Road was extended to Carefree, and the ride changed destinations. The more lazy riders began to ride to Carefree, and the more energetic cyclists would pedal up to the microwave towers that sat on the hill to the east of Carefree. Then both groups would join for coffee in Carefree and ride back to Bicycles of Scottsdale together. Richard Fisher says that his ride logs indicate that the first time he rode to the towers was August 27, 1983.

As the ride grew in popularity, some of us began driving the younger Phoenix Consumer juniors to Huachaca shopping center to give them a head start on the other riders. Thus, we had many riders of different ages and different abilities all riding to Carefree. The Over the Hill Gang name no longer seemed appropriate, so the ride became known as Bikes of Scottsdale or simply BOS.

Many things have changed in the intervening years. Bicycles of Scottsdale has been closed, and the microwave towers no longer sit on the hill above Carefree. However, both have left their marks on the ride. The ride, now probably the most popular ride on the East Side of the Valley, is still called the BOS ride, and riding up the hill to the east of Carefree is still described as “riding up to the towers”. Oh, and Fred Sconfienza? He’s in his 70s now and still riding his bike.

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