Richard Keith Bellar

The weather forecast was partially correct for today's 92 mile ride from Edison, NJ to Wilmington, DE.  The forecast was for clear, sunny, warm with northwest winds.  When we got up, it was raining and in the 50s, by the time we started to ride, it was sunny.  And it did get windy...not Colorado Front Range windy, but a steady, draining wind.  Didn't get as warm as predicted either.

The wind did make the flags fly at New Jersey State Patrol Troop C Barracks where the Police Unity Tour placed a wreath to remember Trooper Marc Castellano.  Taps was beautifully played as the group rode past.

The wind took it's toll on the riders, with many ending up in the sag wagon.  The 'epic' part of this day is always the Commodore John Barry Bridge over the Delaware river from New Jersey into Chester, PA.  This year was no exception.  You know the wind is tough when you have to peddle to make forward progress downhill!

After getting safely up and down the bridge, we made our way through Chester, PA and into the outskirts of Wilmington, DE for the night.

Standing in line for room keys, I congratulated two new riders from Louden County, TN for completing a pretty tough near-century ride today.  One of them then told me about the Officer he is riding for, Dickson County Sheriff's Deputy, Richard Keith Bellar.  He was shot an killed after stopping for what he believed was a traffic accident.  It wasn't.  It was a domestic in which the estranged husband ran his wife (a dispatcher) off the road.  Keith stopped to help and was shot by the estranged husband and died the next day.  That's the story that made the news.  What I learned today was that Keith would think nothing of hoping on his bike and riding 51 miles just to have lunch with his wife.  The Louden County Deputy figured today would have been just another ride for Keith and that was what kept him going in less than perfect riding conditions.