Cranksgiving

Yesterday was Trinity Bicycles' first Cranksgiving charity alleycat. The goal was to collect food for the Tarrant Area Foodbank. We were given a manifest with addresses of Fort Worth grocery stores and descriptions of the items to be purchased at each location. We were then sent out across the city. The first person to visit each location and return to Trinity Bicycles with all required items and corresponding receipts would win the one of a kind Cranksgiving trophy.

I showed up at the shop and managed to catch a photo of the two fastest guys in this event, Michael O'brien (2nd place), in the red jersey, and Jeremy Shlacter (1st place), in the white and blue jersey.

The 1st place trophy

I overheard one of the other contestants talking about the trophy. Apparently it was part of a musuem display (Texas Cattlemans Museum?). At one time there was a cowboy kneeling on the calf preparing to brand it, which is why it is in the strange position that it's in. Somehow one of the guys at Trinity got ahold of it and found a truly creative use for this thing. It will be passed on to next years winner, kind of like the Stanley Cup. It's quite a conversation piece.

This awesome piece of American machinery was parked around the corner from the shop.

Bernie and Bryan provided instructions and handed out the manifests. We were given 10 minutes to review the maps before the start of the race.

1st stop in east Fort Worth. We were instructed to pick up three cans of vegetables at this store.

I initially started the race alone. I didn't have my glasses and had trouble reading the maps. Thankfully I crossed paths with a group of three kind individuals (Keith, Robin, and Jenette) who invited me into their group. I stayed with them throughout the remainder of the event.

Jenette and Keith at our second stop, Target on 7th Street. I never did get a good photo of Keith.

Robin and Jenette

Third stop in west Fort Worth.

Reviewing the maps.

Last stop in south Fort Worth. This group showed up just as we were leaving.

This was the scene at check-in. We were finished pretty far down on the list. The Trinity guys arranged for some free post-race food at T&P Tavern. Everybody had a great time.

Awesome! Paul Moore, a.k.a. Twister, took this photo of Jeremy and his new friend. Paul finished in 6th place. Obviously his job as a Fedex driver was a benefit as far as navigation was concerned.