Dublin mayor chats it up with Silicon Valley cyclists

Lord Mayor riding a Portland
made Metrofiets Cargo bike.
photo: Richard Masoner
@ www.cyclelicio.us/

The city of San Jose hosted this last weekend the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland, his First Lady, and a delegation of about ten business persons and educators to several events in the area. Basically it amounted to tours, meetings, and dinners; enough to make you forget what time zone your in.

But it was one two hour event on Sunday that made the trip worthwhile. A crowd of about 300 cyclists met at City Hall Plaza to ride with the Lord Mayor Andrew Montague. Cyclists, some dressed in green and some like me, in tweed showed up at the early hour on all types of rides; cargo bikes, choppers, lowriders, carbon fiber fixies, and just plain old mountain bikes.



Josh Agee, Highland Bagpiper
gets the riders ready to ride.
photo: Richard Masoner
@ www.cyclelicio.us

 Josh Agee, an occasional Bike Party-goer was there to play the pipes as the crowed filed out from City Hall. Wheels hit the street just after 10:00 am with a short ride around the streets and trails of downtown.

What was most noticeable was just how accessible the Lord Mayor was with everyone; chatting it up with children, talking bike share success in Dublin with Jim Bell of VTA's bicycle advisory committee, or discussing the playlist of Irish tunes coming from SJ Rolling Thunder's music trailer.

What really impressed the Lord Mayor was the diversity of bikes as described above. After the ride, as his handlers cautiously looked on as the Lord Mayor rode a chopper, a cargo bike, a Mad Max looking post-apocalyptic cycle, as well as a lowrider. 

Lord Mayor chatting it
up and a traffic signal.
photo: Richard Masoner
@ www.cyclelicio.us

While watching him ride the chopper bike, I was struck at how much fun he was having. This is in addition to the LM having to ride with a two-pound, 400 year old chain necklace referred to as the "Chain of Office". In contrast to local elected officials obligatory hand waves he didn't meet a rider who said they didn't shake hands, pose for a picture, or talk one-on-one with the LM.

The LM was so impressed with Sunday's ride, bikes, and jousting fun that he told the crowd that he planned to start a Dublin Bike Party. So you see instead of just bringing to the world Google, iPads, and Facebook, we are exporting a little bit of bike culture as well.

Who knows, maybe this is the start to a new trend. Whenever one of San Jose's seven sister cities mayor's visit our city we can take the mayor and their delegation out for a little ride.

Thanks to all of you who made it a great success!

For more photos from Richard Masoner, check out his flickr photos or his blog Cyclelicio.us.