PUT 2013 Day 6 - Pictures from the Memorial

PUT 2013 Day 5 - Errands and Escorts

Since we are leaving early tomorrow, there seemed to be a lot more logistics to get done in a shorter period of time, so no Granola ride this year.  (random bike ride and sightseeing with a much smaller group than the previous 4 days)

Instead it was packing bikes, moving bike cases and running around.

Still found time to drop in to the Chop House and get my Commemorative glass for Police Week for the Cooper Ale, before getting ready to escort survivors at the Candlelight Vigil.

It was an honor to escort some of the families of Colorado's fallen Officers and I got a chance to meet and spend time with the families of others, including the families of Officers I'd ridden for in years past.

PUT 2013 Day 4 - Mother's Day

 The last day of the ride is my favorite and not just because it means the end of long days in the saddle.  The route from Annapolis to Washington DC takes us through beautiful countryside.  Nothing better than riding through tunnels of trees over rolling hillsides.  As we got to more populated areas, there were a lot of shouts of "Happy Mother's Day" to all the Mothers leaving Church, standing patiently on street corners and possibly a little annoyed sitting in cars.

Once we reach DC, all the Chapters of the PUT converge at RFK stadium.  I took the time there to re-connect with a few people who rode some of the other routes and put a few finishing touches on my bike. 

Skier Barbie kept her hair looking good by hanging out in a plastic bag in my jersey pocket for most of the trip, but for the last leg, she rode proudly on the handlebars.  Glad she brought laughter to those who thought it silly to have her on the ride, but even happier when it brought laughter to a Widow as she arrived for the first time at the Memorial.   

With the new wheel and wheel cover on the bike and Ski Barbie ready to go, we hit the road. 

The final leg into the Memorial takes us by the Capitol and Supreme Court and lots of tourists along Pennsylvania Ave. 

Huge crowds met us at the Memorial and I was able to connect with the families of several of the Officers for whom we rode.

 The most important of those on Mother's day, were the families of Celena Hollis and Mary Ricard, Mothers.



Stats for the day:
Miles ridden:  35
$ raised by the PUT for the Memorial:  1.72 million

PUT 2013 Day 3 - Weather

A wise friend once said "There's no such thing as bad weather, just poor clothing choices."

 I generally agree, but when the forecast is for rain, wind and lightning for our route through the wide open spaces of the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, I'll agree to disagree.  During the bus trip from our hotel on the outskirts of Wilmington to the start of today's ride, we passed through a sampling of the predicted weather and people were starting to pool money to offer to the driver to take everyone straight to Annapolis.

The rain let up by the time we arrived at the start, but the forecast remained the same and the difficult, but safe and right option for the day was chosen.  Today's ride would be cancelled, and, yes, we would be bussed to Annapolis.

 So we packed up bikes...

And played a little frisbee before packing ourselves into any and all available vehicles and driving to Annapolis.  

A few of us went for a quick jaunt around Annapolis and watched the dark clouds and thunderheads over the area we would have ridden through.

The weather for tomorrow is predicted to be warm and dry.  All of us are looking forward to the ride to the Memorial tomorrow.

PUT 2013 - Day 2 - Inconvenience

I've learned that the second day of the Police Unity Tour Chapter 1 ride is the one that generates the most voice mail and e-mail of any of the days of the tour...and not in a good way.  Apparently people are inconvenienced in their daily commutes by us riding south through New Jersey.

Yes, we got up at o'dark thirty, got our bags in the luggage trucks by 0530, ate yet another breakfast of runny powdered eggs and bacon and got on our way just as the fog was lifting. 

Yes, we messed up traffic a bit for people's morning commute. 

Yes, we were loud too.  Playing taps at a roadside memorial. 

And yes, we were loud again, playing taps at a NJ State Police Barracks.

 And to add insult to injury, we rode through Burlington Twp NJ, where they took up a bunch of parking spots with the fire truck.

After about 90 miles of riding, including the infamous ascent of the Commodore Barry Bridge, we rode through Chester, PA, delaying the school kids from getting home on time this afternoon.

I suggested that the outgoing voice mail message for the office should be changed to:

"You have reached the Office of the Police Unity Tour.  The 300 mile bike ride to Washington DC probably inconvenienced your commute and/or errands today.  We apologize in advance.  If you would like to leave a further message, please wait while we read the names of the 321 Police Officers killed in the line of duty whose names will be added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial this year..."

The natives of the great state of New Jersey had a different suggestion for the outgoing message...

Stats for the day:
Miles ridden:  94
Hours in the saddle:  7+
Sunburns on this glorious hot day:  a bunch, but no worries, it's gonna rain again tomorrow.

PUT 2013 Day 1 - It's not about the bike.

Some of you have seen my new-to-me-bike that I'm riding this year.  It's a Surly Steamroller, pretty much the same as the my daily ride to work and the bike I've ridden in all but one of my 8 Police Unity Tours.  This one is a little different.  Thanks to Spectrum Powderworks in Colorado Springs, the frame is a beautiful black with a thin blue line, the PUT logo and We Ride For Those Who Died on the downtube.  

But the PUT is not about the bike.  It's about Those Who Died.  2012 was a rotten year for Law Enforcement in Colorado, but an exceptionally good year nationwide.  The fewest number of Officers killed nationwide since 1959, but the most in Colorado since 1974.

I'm riding with six bracelets on my wrists for the Colorado Officers killed last year.  Since it's a new-to-me-bike, I'm still a bit sensitive to odd rattles and noises.  In the first few miles of today's ride, I figured out that the rattle was not the bike, just bracelets for Matt, Jeremy and Celena banging together as we bounced around the rough roads of NJ.

Its not about the bike, but the Officers who died and those who remember them.

Stats for the Day:
Miles ridden:  53
Inches of rain:  more than what falls annually on the riders from Las Vegas
Individuals who missed the point complaining about their bus being delayed:  1

PUT Eve, 2013

My first Police Unity Tour Ride was in 2006.  The ride in 2006 started off with a breakfast at Florham Park Police Department.  Lots of bikes were sitting around, among them was mine.  I had stickers on my bikes of the names of all the Officers who died in Colorado in 2005.  While standing around waiting to start, another rider noticed the sticker for Donnie Young.  She said she remembered hearing about his death at the send off Ceremony the year before at Livingston NJ.  During that Ceremony the recognized Officers recently killed in the line of duty, including Donnie, who was killed that day, May 8, 2005.

I finished my first Police Unity Tour and took a picture of my bike at the panel where Donnie's name is engraved.

In October of 2012 I ran the Ride and Run to Remember to benefit the memorial and took this picture of Donnie's name on the wall.  Unfortunately the memorial will never be complete and there are now three more lines of names under Donnie's.

On the 8th Anniversary of his death, I'm helping to get things ready for tomorrow's departure and happy to know that his daughter will be graduating from college on Friday.  

And so it begins

We flew out a little early again this year to help out.  With several vehicles and trailers to upgrade, maintain and outfit, we are now on a first name basis at Florham Park Hardware and an East Hanover Auto Parts store.  Home Depot hasn't quite figured out our names, but they do seem to run and hide when we show up looking for some obscure part they don't have.

Installing a new countertop in the bike repair trailer

Some of the many bottles of gatorade ready to load in a break team trailer

Laminating 2800 luggage tags and putting together the welcome packets for the 700 members riding and supporting Chapter 1.

Out of state and out of country riders are starting to arrive.  Can't wait for everyone to get here so we can hit the road and Ride For Those Who Died!