POLICE UNITY TOUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY
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On the road with Chapter I
After 20 years of expansion that started with 18 riders to nearly 2,000 riding this year representing nine chapters from across the country and beyond, catch up with the flagship Chapter I as it gets ready to ride …
“ It’ s charged two to three days beforehand,” declared Chapter 1 President Tim Quinn, for whom 2016 is his 15th ride.“ We’ re a big chapter and we also have riders coming from 20 other states to ride with us.”
On Departure Day minus 1, Chapter I hosts a large get together – a“ meet and greet homecoming” as Quinn, a retired Morris Township officer, describes – when riders can reconnect with friends they haven’ t seen in a year at least.
Following inspiring speeches from the Tour’ s founders, 600 cyclists get behind Brian Murphy, the Unity Tour’ s Director of Support Services, in the lead vehicle and a sea of blue jerseys is unleashed like a dam breaking.
Along the way, memories of torrential rainstorms, flat tires and sore muscles do more to motivate than hinder Chapter I riders. And when they think they can’ t pedal one more rotation, Chapter I’ s expert ride marshals give just the right amount of encouragement to remind riders why they ride.
By Day 4, Chapter I meets up with the rest of the Unity Tour’ s six different routes at RFK Stadium in Washington, D. C. At that point, here is what Quinn says every rider is feeling:
“ You’ ve ridden 297 miles and you have three more to go( to get to the Memorial),” he explains.“ You’ re happy you did it but you don’ t really understand until you ride into the Memorial. Even after 15 years it still sends chills up my spine.”
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The pre-finish party
Unless you have ridden the Unity Tour, you have never seen the magnificence of all participants gathering at RFK Stadium to stage for the run to the finish line. Thousands of riders – thousands of officers – come together from the various routes, and it underlines how there is nothing in the world like the Unity Tour.
Everybody there has just completed three days and nearly 300 miles, and all riders are getting ready for the final three miles. And even though it’ s typically a hot sunny May day and the black top of the parking lot boils above 100 degrees, the atmosphere can be like the red carpet at the Academy Awards or some similar pre-party. Unity Tour Chief Operating Officer Jim Waldron likens the scene to a family reunion with riders from the nine chapters seeing each other for the first time since last year’ s run.
“ The 1,800-plus riders want to get behind the pickup truck so they can be the first ones to arrive at the National Law Enforcement Memorial,” quips NJ State PBA President Pat Colligan who has ridden the Tour several times.“ Then you start to calculate all the work that went into getting to this point, the effort of the cops and everything that goes into those final three miles, and it’ s really impressive.”
The riders who do get to leave RFK first are typically spouses of officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Garden State Concerns of Police Survivors President Lisa Preslar has been one of those survivors the past nine years riding for her husband, Lakewood Local 71 member William Preslar who was killed in 2007. She finds her own reunion at RFK.
“ There’ s about six or seven or maybe even 10 of us who are widows riding the Tour that meet up at RFK,” she confirms.“ We come from California, Pennsylvania and other states. We line up, take a group picture and then we all ride in together. We help each other get to the finish line.”
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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ MAY 2016