This Saturday: Food Bank Biking

Here's what I want you to do. It's very simple: take your bike to your local grocery store at noon on Saturday, buy food and bring it to the closest food bank. 

Really, I mean it. 

If you live in Stamford, this ride is being organized by Bike Stamford which created that great Friday night ride through downtown last month.  For this ride, which is co-hosted by People Friendly Stamford, cyclists are meeting at  Fairway (which is once again hosting the annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot put on by Pacific Swim Bike Run) and riding to the same food bank I did my DIYBIKING.COM Thanksgiving Dinner Challenge at two years ago: The Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County at 461 Glenbrook Road in Stamford. It's a very short ride away. 

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a big and direct connection between cycling and food. Sometimes we're expected to buy and eat food that is marketed to us, including miniaturized waffles and stuff that looks like what Peter Venkman scraped off the card catalogue in 'Ghostbusters.' In spite of how it looks, some of these things are rather tasty. 

But most of the time, we just crave real food that we make ourselves or cooked by a loved one. If we know a major ride is imminent, we may eat more. When we are done with a big ride, we may order the kind of food at a diner that comes with a free T-shirt to whoever manages to finish it in one sitting. 

So food has done and continues to do a lot for us as cyclists. Let's do something for food by making sure some gets into the hands of people who will love and appreciate it even more than us. 

Thanksgiving is next week. That means watching a parade...

...and eventually eating food. When you sit down at the table, don't you want to quietly think to yourself that you're thankful you are well-fed enough to fill a panniers bag, E.T. basket, bike trailer or cargo bike with food to bring to someone less fortunate?

I do. 

So if you are in Stamford, please meet at Fairway Market at noon on Saturday, November 23rd. Either buy your food there are bring your own, and carry it safely on your person or with your bike.

If you are not in Stamford and reading this, please tell a friend about a ride you are doing from your own grocery store to your own local food bank. Post a picture of your bike at a food bank and post it on Twitter (#foodbankbiking). Let's make this like the Sketchcrawl of cycling events. 

We can't make any given city a better place to bike overnight nor can we protect every cyclist from an accident, but we can put food on someone's table who needs it more than we do. And we can do it on vehicles that don't pollute and do not take up a lot of space in a food bank's parking lot. Let's do this. Spread the word. Thanks for reading and thanks for riding.