The Krakow Monster and Rowlf at the firehouse before the ride
12 November 2016
Joe and Dave have done the Cranksgiving charity ride since its inception three years ago. This year Jim and I tagged along. The ride benefits the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Participants receive a list of groceries to buy (not all lists are the same), stop at three stores to fill the list, and carry the items back to the start of the ride. The route is only 20 miles, so I rode from home, and Plain Jim tagged along. Jim took loads of pictures and posted them on his blog.
For me, the ride was cathartic. Jim and I spent the 9-mile trip from my house to the West Windsor fire house swapping bewilderments and opinions. We've both come to the conclusion that there really are two Americas, there ain't bupkus we can do about it, and nothing is going to change as long as the party in power gets there by gaming a deeply flawed system.
The political talk continued on the way from the fire house to our first stop at McCaffrey's, as Dave and I (who are not on the same political page) found much to agree upon without either of us getting tetchy.
My mood was further elevated in McCaffrey's, where shoppers and clerks were amused by the ten or so of us clomping through the aisles in our bike shoes and fluorescent gear, shopping lists in hand, looking slightly lost at all times.
I'd only brought a small backpack; the box of instant oatmeal packets took up half of the real estate within. I was glad for the Cranksgiving volunteers outside the store who offered to take the load from me and add it to the pile of bags they'd already collected from other riders.
That left room for the large pack of large socks we picked up at Princeton Pong (whatever that is), and for the pasta and granola bars at Trader Joe's (where nobody seemed to notice our goofy garb).
Today's ride helped clear my head. We got together, had some fun, and helped those who don't have the luxury to pedal around West Windsor on a clear, breezy, November morning.
First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck
A treetop in the wind
A warning sign for literate geese at Carnegie Center
2 comments:
I didn't know they held one of these rides locally. I was kicking around the idea of riding a Philly Cranksgiving ride next weekend...
I'm gonna try to keep track of this. Cranbury to the start is about 7 miles, which would make it a 35-or-so-mile day. Maybe I'll lead a no-pace Cranksgiving ride next year, if I'm not on-call.
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