4th Annual Blessing of the Bikes

[Velocivixen]

I saw an event that I thought would be interesting, so I went. It was the 4th Annual Blessing of the Bikes at St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland. It was in the courtyard of the Cathedral. They served cookies & lemonade, had a written program and on the back was a sticker (for your bike if you like) of Patroness of Bicycling, Madonna del Ghisallo or Our Lady of Ghisallo. They also blessed all bike riders and those who died in bicycling accidents this past year. There were about 50 cyclists and even two Bicycle Police Officers.
Here's the website if you're interested: http://www.archdpdx.org/newsrel/blessing-bikes.htm

[Tri Girl]

That's super cool!! As a Catholic, I appreciate special blessings like these. I've never heard of the blessing of bikes before- might have to mention that to my priest. Heck- we need all the extra help/protection we can get out there!
Does the cathedral have bike racks out front for those that ride to mass?

Really cool- thanks for the link!

[Velocivixen]

Good morning Tri Girl, I did not see any obvious bike racks, however I wasn't looking. The Priest who did the blessing said that he commutes by bike most days and the church is on the conner of a major "bike boulevard" with another just a couple of blocks away. He said that the Catholic parish really appreciates all that those who cycle, in any capacity, do for society.
We also had five high profile deaths on bicycles in the past year, so they were included by name.

[Crankin]

Anytime I have seen this around here, bikes=motorcycles.

Although I did ride near a place in Italy where there was a "shrine" for cyclists to say a prayer to.

[jlnc]

That is such a nice event VV!

[jdubble]

oh i've always wanted to go to that. one of these days i'll make it.

along the lines of a bike blessing, when my boss went to japan last year, she brought back a "bike safety charm" for me from a shrine in kyoto that she visited.



i keep meaning to put it on my bike but haven't it yet. maybe i'll do that this afternoon! any bit of additional safety/good luck is ok in my book.

[Velocivixen]

The Patron Saint of Bicycling: Madonna del Ghisallo actually has a Facebook page! Who knew?!

[Tri Girl]

The Patron Saint of Bicycling: Madonna del Ghisallo actually has a Facebook page! Who knew?!

Interesting. She'd be so... proud???

Now I'm off to go "like" it!

[PamNY]

I've always wanted to go get my bike blessed but haven't made it yet -- the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is huge, and cyclists bring the bikes inside. There's also a hawk nest on the cathedral so it must be extra good luck.

Glad you got to go Velocivixen!

[Velocivixen]

Thanks. I was impressed that two Portland Bike Police were there-not to keep law & order, but to just be part of it like everyone else. I think, all in all, there were about 40 or 50 people and even small children on bikes.
As an aside we rode to N. Portland for an event called Cirque du Cycling and so I learned some new routes that I would definitely ride again on my own. I'm always more brave when I'm with DH, because he's familiar with a lot of these routes already. At the Cirque event there was a parade, with a drum corps, crazy bikes - tall bikes-one guy had bull horns on his really tall handlebars and a real horse saddle instead of a bike saddle. A whole group of guys on these old sting-ray types of bikes with banana seats and flippin' tall handlebars doing all sorts of synchronized riding and tricks, then cargo bike races where they had to carry actual building parts down and back-like actual kitchen sinks, etc. Pretty good stuff.