Back in the saddle
n BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
In 1997, Pat Montuore was among the 18 original riders of the
first Unity Tour. A decade later, the year the Tour first surpassed
1,000 riders, Montuore had a difficult decision to make.
“At our 10-year celebration myself and Harry Phillips decided that it would be best for the organization administratively
because of the size of it that we needed to be off the bikes,” he
recalled. “It was for the purpose of making sure the ride ran
properly and that we could give the support needed along the
way and that we could be the eyes and the ears to make sure all
our people were safe.”
Another decade passed with Montuore sending off the Chapter 1 riders from North Jersey each year like a parent watching
his children leave for college.
For the 20th anniversary, however, Montuore dusted off the
same bike he rode in 1997 and for the first time in 10 years
joined the now-2,000-plus-rider Tour. And in a signature moment for the 20th Tour, Montuore appropriately led the pack
into the finish at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“It was an honor to get back on the bike,” he emoted. following the ride. “I don’t even have words for how I felt. It was so
amazing.”
Hard to blend into the crowd, Montuore, who retired this year
as chief of the Florham Park Police Department, found himself
riding next to old friends and new ones who would say “It’s good
to see you back on the bike.” And looking around, the founder
found it hard to believe that so many people travel across the
U.S. and around the world to join in what has become the biggest annual law enforcement ride in perhaps the world.
“Frankly I can’t believe people get on a plane to come here,”
he said. “That says a lot about who they are to do this, then get
back on a plane and go home and do their job.”
On the road, Montuore found support and motivation – the
same inspiration he provided from a support role the past decade – fed right back to him.
“You see the enthusiasm and hear the energy and the spirit of
those who are lost and they give you the energy you need to get
up the hills,” he reported.
Those hills, Montuore emphasized, felt a little bigger this
time around.
“I thought the hills were smaller then,” he joked. “But now
that I’m older and wiser and not in the same shape I was in all
those years ago, I realized that the hills were just what they were
before, but that the challenges were different. And that’s no different than what happens in life. Our challenges change each
and every year and it was seen in the loss of our very close friend
and brother, Joe Franklin. It showed that
anything can change in a moment for
any of the 20,789 names on the wall.
And that’s the profession we chose.” d
www.njcopsmagazine.com
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