Chance Meetings

In 2007, I took this picture of Bill and Barb Lyons.  Bill was doing support and Barb was riding for her son, Oregon State Trooper Scott Lyons.  Scott was killed on September 2, 1997 and Barb's last conversation with Scott was over the upcoming Cycle Oregon event they planned to ride.  Instead, Barb rode to Washington, DC to honor Scott.

Through Facebook, I knew that Bill and Barb were going to be at the Memorial for this year's Police Unity Tour arrival.  I was hoping to see them when we came in.  But finding someone in the huge crowds that were gathered at the arrival was not an easy task, so I missed them.  

Saturday night I ended up, as usually happens this week, wandering back to the Memorial to listen to the Emerald Society gathering celebrate the legacy of Irish immigrants who have filled the ranks of public safety.  While walking around the Memorial, I ran into Kim Weigand, mother of fallen Officer Michael Weigand.  My friend Ian rode the 2009 PUT for Michael and I remember Ian talking about him.  I introduced myself to Kim and she talked about how much she appreciates all Ian did for her.  We took a selfie and sent it to Ian, who responded that he still wears the pin Kim gave him to remember Michael.

I was getting ready to leave after the pipers played Amazing Grace.  I went by the west side of the Memorial and spotted a familiar face.  

Barb plans to ride again with us in 2017 to mark 20 year's since Scott's death.  My conversations last night at the Memorial with both Kim and Barb reminded me of the impact that the Police Unity Tour has on the surviving families.  It has been an honor and a pleasure to have opportunities like these to help the survivors and make sure their fallen heroes are not forgotten.

DAY 3 Musings

For those of you who’ve been following the blog, you’ll notice i’ve not been keeping up as well as in past.  Due to a variety of circumstances, I’m not riding this year, but serving in a support role.  I’m still hanging out in the back with the ride Marshals, but in a car, making sure the riders that fall back get into the vans and not get left on the side of the road. Not many cool or interesting pictures to post from the car, so you’re going to get a few random thoughts along the way.

With the all of the activities and memorials and ceremonies leading up to police week, I was recently reminded of how these events, which are meant to help, don’t always.   Any death is difficult, but law enforcement deaths are inherently harder because of the very public nature of the mourning.  Any line of duty death is a loss to the public.  We lose a valued public servant and with that, we lose a sense of safety and security.  The surviving family members may get lots of public attention, and sometimes un-warranted scrutiny.  With that, they lose the chance to mourn privately.  Law Enforcement deaths are also frequently followed by long and grueling criminal processes, that just prolong the hurt and further delay mourning and adaptation to the new normal.  I know that this time of year is difficult for many, but hope that it brings comfort to the survivors to know that We Ride for Those who Died.

We Ride For Those Who Died

Detective Donald Ray Young  

EOW May 8, 2005

Ranger Jeffrey Christensen  

EOW July 29, 2005

Special Agent Greg Ray Boss

EOW November 8, 2005

Detective Jared Scott Jensen

EOW February 22, 2006

Agent Michael Del Thomas

EOW September 20, 2006

Officer Kenneth Chua Jordan

EOW December 5, 2006

Officer Doug Byrne

EOW March 26, 2007

Trooper Zachariah Earl Templeton

EOW October 12, 2007

Officer Nicholas Heine

EOW June 21, 2008

Sergeant David Kinterknecht

EOW July 25, 2009

Deputy Sam Brownlee

EOW November 23, 2010

Officer Jay Sheridan

EOW March 9, 2011

Patrolman David Roberts

EOW May 27, 2011

Detective Jeremy Bitner

EOW May 28, 2012

Sergeant Warren Watts

EOW June 16, 2012

Officer Celena Hollis

EOW June 24, 2012

Officer Matt Tyner

EOW July 24, 2012

Captain Leide DeFusco

EOW August 31, 2012

Sergeant Mary Ricard

EOW September 24, 2012

Agent James Davies

EOW November 9, 2012

Executive Director Thomas Clements

EOW March 19, 2013

Sergeant David Baldwin

EOW January 26, 2014

Sergeant Sean Renfro

EOW January 3, 2015

Trooper Taylor Thyfault

EOW May 23, 2015

Trooper Jamie Jursevics

EOW November 15, 2015

Officer Garrett Swasey

EOW November 27, 2015

PUT 2015 - All good things must come to an end.

Before wrapping up the 2015 blog series, I'd like to thank each one of my sponsors.  Your donations go to support the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial.  In times like these, support and recognition of law enforcement is even more important than in the past.

The candlelight vigil had more visible security and more media coverage than I remember.  Fortunately there were no protests and the evening was spent honoring those who died in the line of duty.

After the drive back to NJ with trucks and trailers,

I was back on an airplane home.

PUT 2015 - Day 4; Annapolis to the National Law Enforcement Memorial

Due to the ongoing unrest in Baltimore and the impact it is having on law enforcement staffing throughout Maryland, today's ride will be in busses and trucks and vans.  One group of the Unity Tour's ride goes directly through Baltimore and could potentially be a target for the protesters.  Because our ride from Annapolis depends so heavily on the local jurisdictions for help with road closures and other safety measures, our ride would also heavily burden the locals during a time when they need all the support they can get.  All the chapters that were supposed to ride through Maryland today are cancelling their ride and standing in Unity with local law enforcement.

We all got various rides to RFK stadium, our usual gathering place, to join up with all the chapters before the final few miles into the memorial.  Even though we weren't on bikes, we still got to help change a flat.

Once we got to RFK, everyone found their bikes and we got ready to ride to the memorial.  PUT founder Pat Montoure gave some inspirational words before we were led off by the survivors who were riding with us.

After arriving at the Memorial, we were able to track down Dave Baldwin's widow and get a group picture with her.  I also left the spoke card that I rode with at Dave's name on the memorial.

During the arrival ceremony, it was announced that the Police Unity Tour donated:

PUT 2015 - Day 3 Wilmington Del - Annapolis, MD

Each morning and at the end of every break, the ride marshals line up to try and get the riders to go out in an orderly fashion.  We aspire to ride 2x2, but that lasts about 2 minutes before the inevitable accordion effect of hundreds of cyclists slowing and accelerating brings about random chaos.  Fortunately we don't have too many wrecks from cyclists overlapping wheels or hitting each other.

After riding through downtown Wilmington, we leave big cities behind and head out to one of my favorite landscapes of the ride.  We weave our way across the open farmlands of the eastern shore of the Chesapeake.  Our first rest stop is at the David Lokey Center, a day facility for disabled adults.  We always love meeting with the clients and they always come up with some new ways to recognize what we do.

As beautiful as the landscape is, it can get windy, causing big breaks in the group and a lot of riders ending up in the sag wagon because they get caught out in the wind and can't make it back to the shelter of the main group.  It can be a big logistical nightmare when the trailers and sag wagons fill up, so we do what we can to keep the group together so we can meet the schedule for the road closures.

Despite the number that sagged, it was a good day of riding.  Temps in the 60s and 70s and 94 miles ridden before we bussed over the Chesapeake and into Annapolis.

PUT 2015 - Day 2 Somerset NJ - Wilmington Del. - No Mother's Day Mayhem

Day two started off a bit foggy and gloomy.  For an unusual change of pace, I rode near the front.  Since my first year I've gotten to opportunity to ride with the Officers who ride ahead to play Taps at Police Departments and Memorials along the way.  This year we rode by the New Brunswick Police Department to honor one of their fallen Officers.

The fog lifted and we had a fairly uneventful ride south through New Jersey.

We leave New Jersey via the Commodore Barry Bridge.  It's the biggest climb of the day, 292' feet over 2 miles...not really a climb, but the descent can be a bit dangerous because of bike tire eating expansion joints, so we're limited to about 8-10 mph.

Once out of New Jersey, we pass briefly through Pennsylvania before ending up at our homes for the night in the outskirts of Wilmington, Del.  Given the current political climate and anti-police rhetoric, it's especially nice to see folks out along the route giving us support.

Temps today went from the upper 50s to low 70s.

I logged 91 miles.  It was a good day to ride for those who died.