Australian cyclist’s go-slow goes viral after blocking DC truck convoy

Australian lawyer Daniel Adler made headlines after he made a snap decision to place himself in the path of a convoy of trucker-led activists and Donald Trump loyalists

AUSTRALIAN DANIEL ADLER would never have guessed that being a lone cyclist could turn you into an American internet sensation overnight.

That was until last week, when the 49-year-old father of two made a snap decision to place himself, and his bike, in the path of the so-called “People’s Convoy” - the trucker-led activists and Donald Trump loyalists inspired by the Canadian protests against Covid restrictions.

For weeks, out-of-town drivers in rigs, cars and campers had been disrupting the lives of Washington residents, circling the Capital Beltway - a 102-kilometre highway that surrounds the city - before zigzagging in and out of residential streets to air their varied grievances.

Adler was on his bike getting groceries when he heard their horns in the distance and decided to intervene.

“It was a spontaneous reaction to these huge diesel semi-trailers running through our residential streets where our kids are playing and people are going about their lives,” he tells The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age from his home in Dupont Circle, in the city’s north-west.

“That’s not a form of peaceful protest. That’s dangerous,” said Adler, whose Jewish grandmother survived the Holocaust in Hungary.

As the sound of horns became louder, Adler took a detour from his usual Saturday afternoon shopping run to find the truckers in the hope that he could somehow take a stand.

He had previously seen footage of motorists on the highway breaking up the convoy by driving between the trucks, and decided to do the same with his bike, making his way to the front of the line before defiantly peddling as slowly as he could.

FULL STORY How Australian cyclist ‘Bike Man’ went viral by blocking DC’s truck convoy (SMH/Age)

Meet the Bike Man who brought the trucker convoy to a crawl (Washington Post)

Photo: Daniel Adler’s go-slow (Twitter)