Cranksgiving 2023

A Food Drive on Two Wheels! All donations go to the CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank and Table to Table!

Cranksgiving is a food drive on two wheels: part bike ride, part food drive, and part scavenger hunt. It’s been held annually in New York City since 1999. Every year, throughout the country, Cranksgiving events help provide thousands of needy families with a wealth of food during the week of Thanksgiving. This will be Iowa City’s 5th year of joining this national movement!

Come join your cycling friends at 11:00 am on Sunday, November 19th at Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City. Register online (strongly preferred, link coming soon) or on-site at 10:00 am on the day of the event.

Bring your bike, a helmet, a bag, a lock, your internal GPS, and around $20-$30 to buy food and/or other necessities. You’ll be provided with a manifest listing various items to buy from specific grocery stores around town, as well as some optional destinations of your choosing. Take the time before the official start to plan and strategize your route, or just wing it if you wish!

At 11 am, or when everyone’s ready, we’ll blow the starting whistle and it’ll be up to you to reach as many ‘checkpoints’ as possible and to grab the items off the list. Don’t forget your receipt(s) as they will be needed to tally your total at the end! There will be a prize drawing at the end for those who finish. You don’t *have* to race, you can go at your own pace as you like – just remember to return to Big Grove by 2:00 pm with whatever you were able to acquire.

–TEAM TIME TRIAL EVENT–

Are you part of a racing team and have at least 4 members? (or can make several groups of 4?) We will have the option of a team time trial (TTT) where teams of cyclists will race against the clock to try to acquire the fastest time while completing the manifest. The winning team is determined by comparing the times of the fourth-finishing rider on each team. This will require a balance of speed and efficiency so that the team can mostly stay together from beginning to end.

Unlike a traditional team time trial event, there will be no staggered start times and you will start at the same time as the other groups.

Team members will *each* need to complete the manifest (not one manifest per team) so there should be 8 items (or more) PER team member.

However, the bonus buys/items will be PER team, so you cannot stack bonuses just because you have more than one of an item (for the bonus items/buys, you don’t need to have four of them, just one will be acceptable).

–AFTER EVENT PROCEEDINGS–

Afterward, we’ll have presentations, the raffle, and an after-party at Big Grove Brewery on the patio to socialize and mingle in celebration of your charitable good!

Have questions about the event? Contact the event manager, Nick Maddix, at nicholas.s.maddix@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for supporting Cranksgiving in Iowa City!