Cyclists take to the road to help hungry in Berks

Dave and Beth Hinkel likely turned a head or two Saturday morning.

The Oley couple spent a few hours on a bike ride. Only it wasn’t quite typical.

The Hinkels cruised around Berks County on a tandem bike, matching their balance and pedaling speed in a act of complete coordination. And oh yeah, they just happened to be dressed as skeletons.

While a random passerby might have thought the couple looked strange, they fit right in with the rest of the cyclists who gathered Saturday to ride for a special purpose. They were taking part in the 10th annual Cranksgiving, a food drive done completely on bicycles.

Cranksgiving — an event held all across the U.S. — was brought to Berks a decade ago by Jim Borden.

And avid cyclist, Borden said he thought the event was a great way to bring together the county’s cycling community to do something meaningful.

“We want to pay it forward, to give back to the community while also having a good time,” he said.

About 60 or 70 cyclists — many dressed in costumes like Spiderman, Guy Fieri or Chewbacca — gathered for the event Saturday outside Victor Emmanuel II Beneficial Society in Reading. Just after 10 a.m. they headed out, given two-and-a-half hours to bike around the county, stopping at grocery stores to buy food for Thanksgiving meals.

They then biked back to Victor Emmanuel to drop their items off. All of the food collected — as well as cash donations — was set to be donated to Helping Harvest, an organiation that fights hunger in Berks and Schuylkill Counties..

Last year, the event gathered more than 5,000 pounds of food. And in its 10-year history, it has collected more than 30,000 pounds of food for Helping Harvest.

Borden said the event is meant to be a fun experience for cyclists while creating some challenges.

“It’s not very easy to put a 20-pound frozen turkey in a backpack on your back and ride with it,” he said.

The event also features a host of awards for participants, another way to increase the fun. Borden said riders can win awards for bringing back the biggest turkey, collecting the most total items, visiting the most stores or for completing other tasks.

“There are some pretty serious riders here who have won big cycling awards,” he said. “Most of them have their Cranksgiving awards up on the shelf with their other awards. They’re proud of them.”

Karen Rule and Kelly McClennan weren’t focused on the awards as they prepared for their ride, though Rule admitted she had pursued them during previous Cranksgivings. Instead, they were locked in on their strategy for hauling the most food they could manage.

“I enjoy the accomplishment of putting a lot of food on your back and getting it back here,” said Rule, who lives in Shillington and was taking part in her fourth Cranksgiving.

Rule said the key is to save the heaviest items for last.

“My first year I got a lot of canned goods at the first stop,” she said. “That was a bad idea.”

McClennan, Wyomissing, was taking part in the event for her fourth time as well. She said she loves the camaraderie of the event as well as the challenges it poses.

“I’m trying to do a complete meal,” she said of her collection goal.

To help with that, McClennan bought a cooler for her husband, Bob, that he could tow behind his bike. The new addition was meant to help Bob achieve his goal for the day.

“He likes to get as big a turkey as he can get,” his wife said with a laugh.

Like Rule, the Hinkels were hoping to use their experience from previous Cranksgivings to help their effort on Saturday. It was the second year they had used the tandem bicycle for the event, and this time they upgraded the shelf and basket on the back of it.

“The one we had on last year was aluminum, and it bent a bit with the weight of the food on it,” Dave Hinkel said. “Every time we hit a bump it would hit the tire.”

Dave Hinkel also said he hopes to make a better choice for pick where he gets his items.

“Last year, some of us went to the Redner’s at the end of Sinking Spring to get turkeys,” he said, explaining that the location was the farthest anyone traveled. “Some of us didn’t do it the smart way.”

This time around, he and his wife planned to be a little more discerning about their strategy, he said.