Athletic senior citizens, spandex-wearing toddlers, and everyone in between brought their bicycles, tricycles, and roller skates to the world’s largest cathedral, St. John the Divine, for a Saturday morning blessing of the city’s toughest, sweatiest commuters.
The 11th-annual Blessing of the Bikes ceremony inside the Gothic cathedral included a reading from the Bible, a splash of holy water, and hundreds of cyclists and their eco-friendly bicycles.
After all the riders carried their bikes up the steps and congregated in the 600-foot-long cathedral, the Rev. Thomas P. Miller said, “We bless things that are good. You and what you do are good.” Later quoting the Bible, he said, “The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheel.”
Miller then attempted to splash every bicycle with his holy water, adding, “Oh yes, we are not timid,” as some flinched at the large spatters.
The generally lighthearted, celebratory event was not without its serious moments, though.
“There are many places in the city where we are not welcome. This is a place where we are welcome,” Glen Goldstein, Blessing of the Bikes coordinator and founder, said.
The event included the walking of a ghost bike and the readings of the names of bike riders who lost their lives in traffic accidents last year.
“It is the one time a year that all bikers can come together—commuters, racers, messengers all here at the same time for a brief moment before everyone parts and goes their separate ways,” Goldstein said in an interview after the event.
Goldstein, who called the day his favorite of the year, said that he was initially uncertain about the idea, and its setting in a church. “I was born into a Jewish family and raised Jewish,” he said. “I had this idea, and I thought they were going to tell me to get right out of here. I thought, are we allowed to do this? But they thought it was great."
Eleven years later, the event had the largest turnout since its creation, Goldstein said.
Among the riders seeking blessings were a few Columbia alumni returning to the neighborhood.
“I need all the blessing I can get,” Steve Boss, CC ’71, said. “I bike seven-and-a-half miles to work everyday, and I have had some pretty close calls. It is a jungle out there, but it is wonderful,” he said.
“It made me like the cathedral even more, and I am not a religious person at all,” Claire Frisbie, CC ’03, said. “It was definitely worth getting up at 7:30 a.m.,” she added.
The event, many noted, was timely both in the growing popularity of the green movement and in an economy of rising gas prices and proposed Metropolitan Transportation Authority fare hikes.
“Biking has definitely become more stylish in certain circles,” Ed Ravin, president of Five Bike Borough Club, said.
“With more cyclists, there will be more facilities built, and then more facilities means more cyclists,” Ravin said of the cyclical growth of city cycling.
“It really creates a community, puts a smile on peoples faces,” Ravin said of New York bikers. “This is a huge benefit that nobody measures.”
Many bike organizations have reported increased interest and participation in their programs, a trend evident in Saturday’s blessing.
“It is something employers are taking more of an interest in,” said Hannah Borgeson, communications director of Bike New York, who bikes three miles to work every day. “People who arrive on bikes are early and alert.”
Borgeson—who noted that Bike New York’s annual five-borough bike tour sold out this year earlier than it ever has—said that more people were becoming aware of the practicality of biking. “They see other people biking to work, and there is this realization, I can be doing that too. I don’t have to pay five dollars every day to get to my job.”
Even with expanded bike lanes in Manhattan, Borgeson noted that the city infrastructure could be more conducive to biking. “I think it takes a certain amount of gumption to get out there on a bike in the streets,” she said.
José Gratereaux, employee at Champion Bicycles on 104th Street, said he noticed increased bikers in his daily sales.
“We’ve seen a noticeable change, more people riding,” Gratereaux said. “People are trying to save money and lose a couple of calories,” he added.
Even delivery men spoke fondly of biking, some calling it a perk of the job. Alfredo Bautista, a Thai Market delivery man, said, “I feel healthy, I feel young. I like it.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Hannah Borgeson's name. Spectator regrets the error.