Today, Anne and I participated in Cranksgiving, a charity bicycle ride whose purpose is to help restock the local food banks. We’ve participated in this event before, but have managed to miss it for the last couple of years. This year, with the impending reduction in food stamp benefits, this kind of event is even more important than normal. This year’s ride was the eighth anniversary of this event. Cranksgiving is sponsored by Bicycle Works, an organization whose primary purpose is donating refurbished bicycles to poor children. The ride’s route passes a virtual who’s who of the local grocery store chains. Each rider is encouraged purchase $20 worth of canned goods and then hauls the goods back to the finish line. Since, we have done this ride before, we know well enough to wait until the end of the ride and make our purchases then. I know that sounds like cheating, but trust me, both Anne and I are good and tired anyway tonight. We didn’t need to act foolishly on top of all that. After the ride, Anne and I split a brat and a beer at the Schlafly Bottleworks. There were plenty of Team Kaldis friends on the ride and afterwards too.