Velo Prayers

Image Courtesy of Adventure Cycling

Madonna del Ghisallo
Also known as: Our Lady of Ghisallo; Madonna of Ghisallo. Medieval legend says that Count Ghisallo was travelling near the village of Magréglio when he was attacked by highway bandits. Spotting a image of the Virgin Mary in a roadside shrine, he broke away from his attackers and ran to it. There he took refuge, pled for Our Lady's protection - and was miraculously saved from the robbers. As the story spread, the Madonna del Ghisallo became known as patroness of local travellers.

In more recent times, cyclists would often stop to rest and pray at the chapel, which is a local landmark, and is at the top of a steep hill. After World War II, Father Ermelindo Vigano, pastor at the shrine, proposed Ghisallo as the site of an Italian shrine for bicyclists, and she was given as patroness of cyclists on 13 October 1949 by Pope Pius XII. The chapel has become equal part religious shrine, part cycling museum, with artifacts and photos from the sport.

There is an eternal flame that burns there in memory of the cyclists of are no longer with us, and services each Christmas Eve and the Feast of All Souls commemorate them.

Patronage: bicycle riders, bicyclists, cyclists
More: God love cyclists too, holy places for cyclists


Cyclist's Prayer
Lord, I am a cyclist, Hear me pray

I am just a lowly cyclist
I have freakishly big legs and no chest
But Lord please hear my prayer
I have a few requests
Let us pray

I. O Lord give me fitness
For getting up the hills
I don’t know why I haven’t gotten faster
With my new bike, heart monitor and magic pills
I know what need to work on
It’s my sprinting, (and climbing, flats and downhills),

I hear, I promise I’ll start training
I promise, for sure, next year
Let us pray

II. O Lord grant me harmony
With my significant other
Those personal relationships
Can really be quite a bother
While I understand the problem
It should never interfere

With what we all know is important:
Riding, racing, and gear.
(For us single people: Lord find me a (chick/guy) who rides. Who is hot, and faster than my ex. Or at least someone who’ll let me take off riding. And come back and still get sex)
Let us pray


III. O Lord give me definition
In my calves and in my thighs
And grant me clearer vision
When lactic acid clouds my eyes
And for my eyes give me shades
That I wear even in dark weather
I give me lots of clingy lycra
(In fluorescent euro colours, I think it makes my butt look better)
Let us pray

IV. O Lord give me titanium
For the lightness that it brings
And carbon fiber, and 11 cogs
And new suspension fork springs
And disc brakes, and custom wheels
And two hundred dollar chainrings
And see me through my bankruptcy
When I buy too many things
Let us pray

V. And in conclusion, Lord please forgive me
When I’m dropped off the back or sucking wheel
Or when I crash in a stupid way
Like when I had that banana I was trying to peel
Or when I block people in the singletrack
(Is all that cursing for real?)
I’m trying. I’m getting better.

Now hurry up and give me a new bike.