Giving thanks for our 7th Annual Cranksgiving

Photo credit: Azania Rizing Photography

This year's Cranksgiving was happily a mixture of the “old” and “new”.  Last year, after rethinking how such a dynamic event could happen safely admist COVID-19, we were grateful to combine some of the elements for this year’s 7th Annual Cranksgiving. And our community showed up in large numbers!

• 210 riders participated in 56 teams

• 43 volunteers checked riders in, and counted & organized food

• $2500+ of groceries donated

• 1400 pounds of fresh fruits from Hungry Harvest donated

• $440 dollars raised directly for Moveable Feast & the Franciscan Center

• 4 checkpoints run by partners

• 22 local businesses donated prizes

• 6 sponsors provided funding for the event

Last year gave us an opportunity to be a little more creative with how Cranksgiving would logistically happen. We adopted a two manifest arrangement of stops so riders could end directly at one of our food partners - The Franciscan Center or Moveable Feast. Manifests were sent out virtually, and participants rode home after dropping off their food.

This year’s Cranksgiving allowed us to keep what worked last year; we kept the two manifests, meaning that we had a total amount totaling 17 checkpoints across the city — we'd like to believe that this is just one minute contributing factor to having more exposure and visibility of cyclists of all types on the road across the city for such a valuable cause.

This also meant this year’s event needed more support than ever to make possible, and we are so grateful for the volunteers, businesses, and their creativity that really made the event. Hungry Harvest joined us for a second year to set up a produce pick-up checkpoint, REI hosted a cornhole at the Washington Monument, Cutlass Velo hosted a ringtoss checkpoint at St. Mary’s Park, and A Few Cool Hardware Stores set up a checkpoint at Waverly Ace Hardware to promote their PPE Drive for Moveable Feast. Volunteers stationed at parks ran challenges from guessing a word in American Sign Language to naming parts on a bike.

Cranksgiving is truly a community event. It was an idea originally planted in a Facebook group, planned by friends, filled with support from Baltimore businesses — all to benefit those facing food insecurity this winter, and done by people on bikes. Bikemore is really grateful we get the chance to harness your energy into a positive force for Baltimore.

Check out photos from the photobooth on Facebook!

Love community events like Cranksgiving? You can keep them going by supporting our work Bikemore and making a donation today.

Cranksgiving Sponsors

Prize Sponsors

cranksgiving benefits

Special thanks to

Charm City Meadworks for hosting our after party, Hungry Harvest for donating produce, Cutlass Velo for hosting a checkpoint, REI for hosting a checkpoint, and a Few Cool Hardware Stores for hosting a checkpoint. Thanks to Brian O’Doherty for taking Cranksgiving photobooth pics!

Sharing community through Cranksgiving

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While we were preparing for Cranksgiving this year, we were excited to continue the now five-year-long tradition of bringing the bike community together to have fun, ride bikes, and benefit our greater Baltimore community through donating food to local organizations. 

But Cranksgiving this year was so much more than we had imagined! 

213 people rode.
61 teams participated.
5 teams had at least one youth rider.
7 teams participated in our WTF (womens/trans/femme/non-binary) category.
27 volunteers shared their time to make Cranksgiving a reality.
26 business supported us through cash sponsorships and donations.
10 people without a bike borrowed one from Rec and Parks.
At the end of the day, we packed up our van with over 1200 food items and over 1300 pounds of food to donate!

While we’ve always held fast to our rule of giving out scores based on purchasing each item on the list, rather than the total quantity of items, many people earned good karma points by bringing back multiples of each item. A volunteer scored one team that had five of each item! 

We started Cranksgiving as a way to bring together the biking community to give back, but it’s become much more. Riders who have never gone grocery shopping on their bike before tried it for the first time. People who came to the ride solo found teams and new friends to ride with. We’ve strengthened our relationship with Moveable Feast and the Franciscan Center, helping us to deepen the conversation around the intersection of transportation and the meaningful community work they do.

As Bikemore continues to grow, our programs grow, and the community we bring together through Cranksgiving grows.

We are grateful for the businesses, organizations, and people that contributed to making Cranksgiving a success through donating money, space, food, and prizes. Our volunteers took complete charge of running the logistics of Cranksgiving, from registering the 85 people on-site to stamping manifests to counting up food and scores.

Thank you to all who participated in Cranksgiving this year, and we hope to see you riding with us next year! 

Check out the full photo album here.

EVENT SPONSORS

Prize Sponsors

With Support From

Benefitting

Brought to you by

Road construction company P. Flanigan & Sons invests in Baltimore's bike community

Pierce Flanigan (left) with Liz Cornish, Bikemore’s Executive Director, and Jon Laria, Chair of Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Commission, at the Big Jump Block Party last August.

P. Flanigan and Sons is a road construction company that has been in business in Baltimore for over 100 years. Pierce Flanigan, a Baltimore City resident who loves riding his bike, is the fifth generation to lead the company. 

This year we are thrilled to be welcoming P. Flanigan and Sons as our title sponsor of Cranksgiving for a second year. P. Flanigan and Sons supports many causes and events across the City, and we appreciate their generosity and commitment to building a better Baltimore. Many employees at P. Flanigan and Sons live in the City and ride bikes. They know first hand the importance of building streets that prioritize the safety of all users. Bikemore is grateful for their work as the lead construction crew on many of Baltimore’s protected bike lanes.

Cranksgiving early bird registration closes Friday!

video by Corey Jennings

Cranksgiving is an annual event that takes place in cities across the country, and it’s all about having fun and giving back. In Baltimore, this scavenger hunt/bike race/food drive sends teams of riders across the city to collect food items to benefit Moveable Feast and the Franciscan Center. Basically, it's all about collecting food for people and riding bikes with friends, new and old. This is Bikemore’s 5th Annual Cranksgiving!

Where is the food being donated? 

This year, we’re continuing to work with two partner organizations. Moveable Feast fosters a community that cares for men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses by preparing and delivering nutritious meals and groceries and providing nutritional counseling and other services. The Franciscan Center is Bikemore’s neighbor, and provides emergency assistance and supportive outreach to persons who are economically disadvantaged, including community meals and pantry bags, job readiness training, healthcare, transportation assistance and much more. 

How can I register? 

The best way to register is online before the event.

• October 28 - November 8 | Early bird online registration
  This is the only way to purchase a Cranksgiving t-shirt!

• November 8 - November 22 | Online registration
  Makes check in at event way quicker!

• November 23 | On site registration

  If you forget to register online or convince a friend last-minute to join, don’t worry — they can register on-site on the day of the ride.

If you have a team in mind already, make sure to mark your teammates names on your registration form. Or, sign up as a free agent and meet some new friends to ride with at the event.

How much does it cost to participate? 

By design, Cranksgiving is and will always be a free event — meaning Bikemore will never charge registration cost to participate. We do ask that each person on a team bring $10-15 to help purchase food items on the list. But how much you are able to spend is entirely up to you! 

What should I bring?

• Working bike (if you have one)

• Toolkit for repairing your or your teammates bikes (if you have one) 

• Bag to carry purchases (backpacks, panniers, baskets — whatever you have!) 

• $10-15 for purchasing food items we will donate

• Bike lock for stopping at grocery stores

Don’t have a bike?

Don’t worry! RecnParks will be partnering with us and will be lending bikes at the event. To make sure we have a bike for you, register online and note on your form that you need to borrow a bike.

How far is the ride? Is there a set route?

We provide a list of specific grocery stores, and it’s up to each team to strategize and come up with a route. If you go to all the stops, your team might ride 15-20 miles, but many teams don’t make it to all the stops. And there are a lot of fun ways to get extra points that mean it’s not just the fastest teams that win!

Who can ride? 

Anyone that can ride a bike - Cranksgiving is all about having fun! Of course, winning teams in their respective categories will be winning some sweet prizes from our sponsors (see below). We’ll also have special team categories for Youth/Family for teams with a rider under the age of 16, and a WTF category for women, trans, femme and non-binary teams. 

What do you win?

Thanks to our prize sponsors, you could win prizes from any of these local companies!

I’m still confused. Who should I contact? 

Check out the full FAQ here, and feel free to drop a line with Danielle, our Director of Community Partnerships at danielle@bikemore.net. 

See you at Cranksgiving! Keep up with our social media to get updates on what fun prizes to expect (in case you or a friend needs the extra motivation to participate and win ;)).

Cranksgiving FAQs

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This Saturday is Cranksgiving — and we CANNOT wait! But maybe you’ve never participated in food drive/bike ride/scavenger hunt before? We’ve put together some of the questions we hear the most below! Don’t see your question answered? Email danielle@bikemore.net!

Can I come by myself?

Of course! Lots of people come solo, and we’ll help connect you with other people looking for a team. Cranksgiving is ridden in teams of 3 or 4, because we find that’s the ideal number to be able to ride together and stay safe. Plus — riding with new and old friends is way more fun!

Who wins?

The team that make it to the most stores on the list, collects the most food items on the list, and in the fastest time wins! We’ll have a first, second, and third place. This year we also have prize categories for WTF teams (teams where all team members self identify as women/trans/femme non-binary), and Youth + Family teams (where at least one team member is under 16!).

Do I need to register beforehand?

This year we have an online pre-registration, to make check in the day of really easy! But if you decide last minute to come, you can still register on-site day of. As always, registration is free, but we ask that you bring ~$10-15 to purchase the food to donate.

What do I need to bring?

• Working bike

• Bag to carry purchases (backpacks, panniers, baskets — whatever you have!) 

• $10-15 for purchasing food items to be donated

• Water, layers, and anything else that will make you more comfortable riding for a couple of hours around Baltimore

Can my kiddos ride?

Yes! This year we are having a new youth + family category for teams with at least one kid! For this category we'll be providing a suggested route map that is mostly on bike lanes and quiet neighborhood streets. The basic route for the youth category is ~6 miles, with options to make it shorter or longer depending on how your team is feeling.

Keep in mind that the ride is not supported and you’ll be navigating on your own to the grocery stores, so be sure to bring anything you and your kids would need to ride for an hour or two. Definitely bring some extra snacks, water and layers! If you’re riding with a kid that you are not the parent or guardian of, be sure to have their parent or guardian fill out the online registration or bring a signed waiver with them.

Can I ride my commuter bike? My mountain bike? My cargo bike?

Ride whatever bike you have! The key is to be able to carry groceries and ride something that’s comfortable to ride around the city for about 2 hours. On Saturday you’ll see tons of different types of bikes, and lots of different methods for carrying groceries.

What’s the route?

There is no official route! At the start of the ride we’ll give you a manifest that has a list of grocery stores on it. It’s then up to your team to devise a route that makes the most sense for you, keeping in mind that you get the most points by going to the most stores.

Will there be food?

Yes! The Mexican on the Run food truck will be at Charm City Meadworks after the ride! Food and drink are pay as you go.

Why does Bikemore host Cranksgiving?

Cranksgiving is an opportunity for the bike community to give back to organizations that do so much for the city we love. And supporting our friends and neighbors in whatever way we can is at the heart of Bikemore. Plus, it’s a good excuse to get together, ride bikes, strengthen the bike community, meet new people — and maybe someone will even discover that carrying your groceries on your bike isn’t too hard!

More details about Cranksgiving are on the event page.
Don’t see your question? Email danielle@bikemore.net.