BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bless

I hope they're talking about definition 7.

7 : endow, favor

Who wouldn't want their bike to be well endowed?

I dunno, I think that would slow you down on the hills. I've seen some guys that are such weight weenies, they've even drilled their earlobes.

OK, I want to try and do this this year. I'm tentatively announcing April 30, probably at around 10 or 11 a.m., somewhere in the East End.

That would be awesome... Do rider and bicycle have to both be Catholic?

I'm in for this.

Excellent, from the responses last year (no offense) I didn't think there would be much interest.

@ ejwme - The organizer of the NYC Blessing is Jewish, and on the website he makes a point of making it open to everybody with any faith or no faith. As a non-Catholic myself, I'd love Catholics and non-Catholics (in all their varieties) to come.

Ian - Awesome idea. Perhaps the Unitarian church on Ellsworth would be a good fit, it's the first that comes to mind. The giant church on Penn in East Liberty seems to be pretty open minded as well.

^ plus it's on a major commuting path

After being reminded of the NY event last year, I consulted a co-worker who is also a minister about perhaps doing sometning like this in Pittsburgh. He was more or less non-responsive/uninterested. But I'd participate.

There's that Hot Metal Bridge church, I don't know anything about it, but they had something to do with bringing in that framebuilder, Ezra Caldwell, last year.

http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/ride-talk-with-ezra-caldwell-saturday-march-27-2010#post-28719

i will attend only if said priest is dressed as a spaghetti monster and suspended in mid air.

Ramen.

any monster of noodley origin is acceptable. but it must fly.

Just be careful. Dressing up a priest as a spaghetti monster (regardless of any possible augmentation of his altitude) could be considered sacrilegious, and might cause the invisible pink unicorn to start smiting folks.

Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping would be great for this. (bicycle reference at approx 1:58)

Count me in!

Pastafarians always seem to want their deity 'high'.

I think it'd be cool if we could get a whole interfaith contingent of clergy to bless the bikes - the more the merrier. Any flavor of christian, jew, muslim, hindu, buddhist, pastafarian, everybody. There's something to be said for hedging bets when it comes to protecting one's commute.

@reddan: I thought it was al dente. Learn something new every day.

May the Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in his noodly appendage.

so what about us humanists? can somebody give a reasonable and rational appraisal of the bikes for us? pink unicorns and pasta based deities (and maybe someone representing bob to give us some slack on the road) would be good, but still not quite representative of the faithless.

Let's be truly inclusive.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

well what blessing ceremony would be complete without the elder gods?

EXCUSE me! That's "chronologically enhanced" gods.

I know the pastors of the Hot Metal Church... Pastor Jim rode the bike trail to DC in 4 days or something. He might even be willing to wear a spaghetti monster costume! (but don't count on it...haha) Want me to make an initial contact Ian? I like the idea of an interfaith blessing...and the idea of a bike check for the more humanist/atheist amongst us also sounds like a great idea.

This whole post makes me smile.

If I would pray for something, it would be that people will begin to see the humanity of others on the road. That a supernatural force would squelsh any feeling of entitlement or animosity that can tend to rise within us while we are on the commute.

FWIW, the clergy of the FSM are pirates. No noodly costumes needed.

Below is a message I just sent to attendees and invitees. Please note especially the call for names of the injured and killed to be remembered, as well as pallbearers for the riderless bicycle. I have a couple names (Albert Varacallo, Don Parker) but I know there are more ghost bikes out there. You can either PM me (here or on Facebook), reply on the Facebook event wall, or leave them on the board on this page to be compiled.

Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116688651744161

Info about the event:

The Blessing of the Bikes

Time

Saturday, April 30 · 10:00am - 11:30am

Location

Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

5700 Forbes Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA

Created By

Ian Everhart

More Info

Inspired by the Blessing of the Bikes at New York City's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, this first-ever Pittsburgh Blessing of the Bikes will start off the riding season with a short service, including sprinkling (asperging) of holy water over cyclists and their bicycles and a commemoration of those killed while riding.

All ages and all faiths welcome! Riders of other non-motorized vehicles should come out for the blessing as well--scooters, skateboards, etc.

After the blessing, we will go on a ride through Schenley Park!

The Rev. Mike Wernick will preside.

The Church of the Redeemer is located at 5700 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217, between Murray Avenue and Wightman Street, and can also be accessed from Darlington Road.

Message sent:

Hi everyone--

I hope you're all (finally) enjoying the summery weather and getting ready for a wonderful bike riding season. I hope many of you will be able to join us on Saturday morning for the first-ever Pittsburgh Blessing of the Bikes at the Church of the Redeemer in Squirrel Hill. I know some people have to work or are out of town, but absolutely everyone is welcome and I hope to see many of you there!

If you have not already RSVP'd, please do so soon, even if it's just a "regrets," so we can have some sense of how many people to expect. I am contacting various media outlets hoping to get some coverage and want to have a good turnout!

Please send me the names of people close to you who may have been killed or injured while bicycling as we will be remembering them during the ceremony. Please also let me know if you would like to be a "pallbearer" as we bring forth a riderless bicycle in their memory.

Spread the word and invite your friends! RSVP if you haven't! See you Saturday and RIDE SAFE!

Ruihui Lin

http://ghostbikes.org/pittsburgh/ruihui-lin

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09217/988590-53.stm

It looks like I won't make this after all. I think I am commmitted to working all weekend.

I am super psyched and totally there. My parents, neither of whom have been on a bicycle in about 45 years, are going just 'cause it looks interesting to them (as supportive pedestrians). This is gonna be so much fun.

In terms of the memorials, I'd suggest that Marissa Mazur, the 14 year old Chippewa Township (Beaver County) girl be added to the list. She was killed while riding double on a bike and the rider lost control of the bike and they were thrown down an embankment.

Similarly, I'd ask that Robert Anderson be added. He was the 44 year old Maine resident killed while mountain biking at Brady's Run Park. He was a former Beaver County resident, and was killed while here visiting his family.

I think Tyrique Snowden was on a bike, but the story doesnt mention it. Tragic in any case.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10154/1062838-56.stm

Yes to Snowden, whose name is either Tyrique Snowden Hill or Tyrique Hill Snowden -- paper has it both ways.

PITTSBURGH -- A 6-year-old boy in the hospital since being hit by a car while riding his bike in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood on May 23 has died.

Tyrique Snowden Hill was taken off life support and passed away at Children's Hospital on Tuesday night.

Thanks everyone, we'll add all those names to the list.

I got a call from a Tribune-Review reporter who will be there, and we also notified other news outlets which may be there as well.

Anyone who wants to be a "pallbearer" can either contact me or just let me know when we show up. If someone has a spare white ghost bike, I'd love to use that or we can just use a regular bike, too.

From this post from 2005, there is this name:

Last Saturday, Francis Andrews, 36, of Pittsburgh, was killed when he was hit by a car on West Park Road in Worth, Butler County. State police said Andrews was pedaling north about 9:45 a.m. when he saw a southbound car approach. He applied his brakes, lost control and skidded into the path of the car.

Two companions, Ralph Juhascik, 54, of Pittsburgh, and Courtney Scott, 27, of Annapolis, Md., also fell. Scott suffered minor injuries. Juhascik wasn't injured. Police said the trio was riding in a fund-raiser to benefit multiple sclerosis research.

Did you know that the google street view of this church has a cyclist going past? I'll try and be there if it's not raining.

It's supposed to be super nice tomorrow. I have too much going on and can't make it, but I can't wait to hear how it goes.

Thanks to Marko82 and everyone else who showed up! We had a nice turnout and beautiful weather for a lovely ceremony.

We should have stories in the Post-Gazette and the Tribune-Review tomorrow.

News coverage FTW!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_734875.html

At the risk of being overly self-promotional, I thought it was a great event and look forward to doing it again next year!

Missed it, wish I hadn't. Thanks for making this happen!