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Get Your Bicycle Blessed this Weekend

Georgetown Church will bless bikes at Fletcher's Cove Saturday.

Area cyclists might consider riding along either the C&O Canal or the Capital Crescent bike trail Saturday morning to have their bike blessed. is going mobile Saturday to offer blessings on cyclists at Fletcher's Cove from 8:30 to 10 a.m.

“We want to raise awareness of bicyclists in the area and celebrate the health benefits and enjoyment people get from bicycles,” Rev. Mary Kay Totty said. “We also want to offer prayers for their well being at a time when bike accidents are a frequent worry.”

The church cited increases in cycling in Washington and bike sharing programs as the impetus for their blessing ceremony.

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In a press release, the church provided a little background on bicycle blessings:

Bike blessings are unusual but not unheard of. They are a regular ceremony at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York and at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

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Interested cyclists can take their bikes by a grass treed area near Fletcher’s Boat House for a "brief" blessing, according to a news release about the event.

To get to Fletcher’s Cove by driving, the entrance is about a mile from Georgetown down Canal Road. If bikes are your transportation mode of choice, the blessing area is accessible from both the C&O Canal and the Capital Crescent bike trail.

 “We will pray for the motorists, too," said Rev. Totty.

Dumbarton United Methodist Church is located at 3133 Dumbarton St. NW.


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