Events: Riding Cranksgiving p/b Doylestown Bike Works

Cover photo courtesy of Brian Boger.

(2021) I am not one to poach rides but felt jumping into a ‘free’ event was within the realm of acceptance. While those registered received ride instructions for the ninth annual Cranksgiving, a group ride that visits local grocers for food pantries, I was still in the parking lot helping myself to coffee. Backyard Beans supplied Cranksgiving presented by Doylestown Bike Works, and I concluded it would have gone cold without my help. The ride departed for either the 27-mile full length route or the 10-mile family route. I kept sipping my coffee. It felt great on the cold autumn morning with rolling gray clouds and tumbling wind.

Bike Works’ team showed up to set the pace both in riding and spending. Photo by Brian Boger.

After joking with the sag crew, it was time to catch up to the group passing through the southern end of Doylestown Borough. Blinking red lights en masse gave a hint this was more than a group ride and motorists gave us the right-of-way. Passing churchgoers departing morning services, the group buzzed out of Doylestown and headed into the pastoral countryside of farmhouses and older developments. The Doylestown Bike Works race and club team lead the way as salutations were made for riders who haven’t shared roads recently.

Cranksgiving is a national movement where recognized rides are promoted to collect goods for in-need local families. The day before, Montgomery County-based Instigators cycling club completed their forty-mile route for the same cause. Today, Doylestown Bike Works was looking to push past 20,000 pounds of collected food to reach the fifty ton-mark since the ride’s inception. The cause combines local routes with local help. Bike Works’ Cranksgiving benefits the Bucks County Housing Group.

First stop of Cranksgiving 2021 was Giant in Plumsteadville, PA. Here riders are both departing and arriving.

The group remained together until a couple of major road crossings followed by hills. From Doylestown to the first shop stop in Plumsteadville, it’s almost all uphill. This stretched the large cycling population as it accessed Old Easton Road. The route certainly took the sights of central Bucks County into consideration.

The first stop is where the curiosity happened. With a Fred Beans rental van and bikes parked nearby, riders click-clacked their way into the Giant grocery store and took to ransacking the shelves. Baby items were hit first. It was a couple aisles over one of the participants was overheard explaining to a shopper what we were all doing. This soft contact could help those who were in long checkout lines perceive cyclists as helpers to the community. Yours truly grabbed coffee then grabbed bags of rice and cans of tomatoes. Bike Works provided a list of items participants should stick to, and our arms were full of listed goods. As we checked out, riders were rolling up with full shopping carts ready to add to the event total.

The lead group ascends Valley Park Road shortly after the first grocery stop.

Cranksgiving is not a race. Though the earlier events were competitive, this year riders milled around the rental van as it was loaded up. As of some giant bison herd, one rider finally announced if we were ready. Everyone snapped to it and made our way to the stop light to head downhill into Doylestown. Descending Old Easton Road was a sight to behold as dozens of riders buzzed downhill past scores of uphill-riding participants. 

The route wound its way back to Doylestown, this time the northern portion. Here is where the route would stop at Acme and Weiss and the totals would be bumped further. Before reaching the final two stops is where the route would cross the twenty-five mile mark. All things considered, the roads were relatively peaceful. 

The Fred Beans rental van filled up with donations from the 2021 Cranksgiving event. Photo by Brian Boger.

As usual we rolled into the finish area. Riders helped themselves to hoagies supplied by Doylestown Bike Works. Since Cranksgiving isn’t a race, chances were high that fund-raising groups were still going aisle to aisle in the grocery stores, loading up carts, guiding miles-long receipts out of the checkouts, and handing them off to volunteers. Similarly, those who finished already were likely discussing riding longer. Staying still in the cold never works well.

It’s always an exciting time when Cranksgiving’s totals take a while to calculate. It could mean that the amount of food is taking a while to add up. In the meantime keep checking Doylestown Bike Works site for totals announcement, and if you felt like you missed out, check out cranksgiving.org to find any remaining rides for the year. Then again, you could always ride the route and donate on your own time. Donating is a year-round thing.