He’s known for driving 18-wheelers, but now Burnaby city councillor Nick Volkow says he will get to carry out the “auspicious cutting of the ribbon” for a new bike bridge over Still Creek on Saturday (June 12).

Don’t expect the veteran councillor to show up on a bicycle to the event.

“I doubt very much that I will be,” Volkow told the Straight via cellphone. “I gotta be upfront with you. The only reason I’m going down there and cutting the ribbon is because I’m chair of the Burnaby transportation committee. So anyways, as part of that, the cycling issues and everything else comes through this committee.”

Volkow said he’s on a hiatus from truck driving.

The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition is organizing two rides—one from Hyack Square in New Westminster and one from the Sperling SkyTrain station in Burnaby—that will meet at the ribbon-cutting point at 12:30 p.m.

“I’ve chaired the transportation committee, of which we have a subcommittee, the bicycle advisory group,” Volkow said. “As I said to the late [former Burnaby] mayor [Doug] Drummond, who put me on to that thing, ”˜This is a pretty weird sense of humour. You’re nominating an 18-wheeler to chair a two-wheel committee.’”

More details on the event are available at www.greatrides.ca/.