"We are concerned about the safety of our soldiers and civilians," McCullar said. Capt. Michael Albano, the squadron's chaplain, asked God's blessing on the motorcycles and encouraged the riders to keep their safety rules in mind even after the blessing.

After the ceremony, everyone walks out to their bike to see if there's actually water on it. You can always hear people say, "Yea! My bike is blessed!". Other people will say, "Shit, and I just washed my bike too!"

Do these blessings really work? Well, I've had it done to my Yamaha Road Star at this BFE Ride, and a couple years later I had an accident on it. Perhaps, it didn't work. Although, I did come out of that accident pretty much scott-free, with nothing more than road rash on my right forearm. Interestingly, after I fell off the bike, the damn thing kept rolling! In fact, it rolled right through an intersection that's normally quite busy. Except, no cars hit it. Maybe the blessing worked.

I dunno. I think these bike blessings are going to become more commonplace as the media reports more heavily on each and every motorcycle accident.

Labels: Bike Blessing, Religion, Safe Riding