To take on a 600 mile bike ride that not only spans New York City, Philly, DC, but also over the Shenandoah Mountains takes lots of practice time on the bike many hours in the gym. But nothing can prepare you for the emotions from the people you ride with who have experienced the death of their friend, partner, colleague or family member from a line of duty death.
This is the third year for me to ride and words can not begin to express the level of support and friendship from the people I have been riding with the past three days.
I will try to recap the events from the past three days but to really understand the importance of the ride you will have to ride with me next year.
We arrived in New York City (well actually just outside the city) – very good to see many of the riders from the past two years! The ride began in National EMS Memorial Bike Ride fashion an hour late, though not to the rides fault. Our police escort was late, very late –. Once we were to start we were told we would need to make up the time – with 130 some odd cyclist with cycling experience varied from beginner to expert this was not going to happen. We leave the hotel ride into to Jacobi Hospital and FDNY EMS station for a formal ride kick-off. After the EMS chief spoke, the ride director and a few others, we were sent off by blessing from the FDNY Chaplin. The motorcycle police of NYC did another outstanding job of taking us thru the streets of NYC – Harlem, the Bronx, Manhattan, along the Hudson River to the Staten Island Ferry.
If you have never been to NYC the streets not only jam packed with people and cars but POTHOLES. Riding with a 130 riders gets harry when you are trying to watch out for the said people, cars and POTHOLES. At one point we were at a stop in Time Square when a lady weaved her way thru the three rows of cyclist and tripped over the rear wheel trip…she got up cursing and swing her purse in rage.
Riding along the Hudson River I couldn’t help but think of the airplane that landed in the River. Hearing about it on the news I knew this was a miracle event but seeing the river, the river’s current, the water temperature it is an unbelievable event.
We ate lunch at the Staten Island Ferry, boarded the ferry, and rode past the statue of liberty to the Staten Island. We got back on our bikes and road to the last FDNY fire/EMS station in NYC. I didn’t hear that this was to be a quick stop for water and bathroom brakes only. Well the good FDNY people made several pasta yummy homemade casseroles, lots of other good food. Me and a handful of the FDNY riders sat down to a plate of the goodness. Before we know it the firefighters stationed there came into the kitchen and said the ride had left. We raced to our bikes and tried to race down the group. It was too late they were nowhere in site. We get a ride on one of the dedicated FDNY CPR buses (yes that is right FDNY has a whole fleet of buses just for their CPR program!) to where the riders were staging at the Outerbank Bridge. The bridge was shut down to for us to ride over. The site was amazing. Just over the bridge we arrived in New Jersey.
Perth Amboy, NJ hosted the first rest stop in NJ. The Perth Amboy Rescue family is a wonderful group of people and I enjoyed very much seeing them again. They are all so welcoming and encouraging for us to keep riding.
The day completed with 75 miles, 40 of it in NYC. We arrived at our New Brunswick Hotel late that night. We shower and catch a bus to our hosted dinner spot….only to find that the food had already run out. Hungery very tired and now mad we get back on our bus and ride 20 minutes back and eat dinner at Ruby Tuesday. In bed at 12:30.
Day Two – UP at 5:00am, we leave only about 15-20 minutes late…not a bad start. It is raining and cold. We put on layers and layers of clothing plus rain gear. The route was missed marked and we never make it to the first rest stop. We make it to rest stop number 2 starving and very thirsty – plus we all needed to go to the bathroom. After a little rest we hit the road….. We have a very meaningful memorial stop in Grove, PA. Best lunch – lots and lots of good food. Meatball sandwiches, ham sandwiches, salad, fruit, desserts. After lunch there was a very touching memorial service for a member of their service who died in the line of duty this past year. …the ride continues to Philly. We are escorted by the EMS Chief thru the city…..on the other side of Philly we are picked by another escort, do a drive by Collingdale and ride to Tinicum Rescue….in Tinicum we leave our bikes in their truck bay and are bused back to Collingdale to eat a wonderful dinner….we enter the community center just off the Fire/EMS station and are handed a beer! And a plate full of wonder food…..and then no less than four tables with as many homemade desserts you can think of…….I swear we gain weight after the ride. We are treated all too good by our hosting rescue squads. I couldn’t do the ride without their support and kindness. Total miles 98. Get back to the hotel. Shower it is 10pm, and just too tired to go with the Blacksburg guys into Philly to go to Gino’s for an authentic cheesesteack sandwich this will make three years in a row I have been to Philly I and I have yet to get one….next year.
Day Three. We ride thru all three counties and thru the entire state of Delaware and rack up a total of 105 miles. Delaware had two line of duty deaths. We had two separate memorial services. Many DE EMS medics are riding with us today and the family members of the line of duty death ride with us for the last couple of miles to Sussex County Square (one of the riders maybe five years old another was so small he rode in a bike trailer on the back of bike being driven by his father – this is why we ride 600 miles). Every stop in DE we met the greatest people. Today we rode 105 miles.
Day Four. A mess. No way to describe it. Both Mark and I were feeling tired…plus we didn’t have any clean bike shorts (I miss you cupcake!) we took off for the morning leg of the ride. We missed a wonderful memorial for an air medical accident in Maryland. We meet the group in DC. My plan for the day was to spend in DC catching up on the blog and resting……this was supposed to be an option for the riders at least that is what the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride website said and is what I signed up for at check-in. When we arrived at the Capital the ride was in a state of disorganization. To keep it simple I decided to get on a bike and finish the afternoon half of the ride. I quickly change into bike shorts and a jersey in the back of Texas Team’s trailer…took a quick bathroom break and ride to the train station to catch a train to VA. At the last train stop we all hope off the train dressed alike – with helmets bike shoes and spandex shorts and hit the hills of VA. The route was less than bike friendly. We rode on a road as bad as if not worse than 360 only without a shoulder. When we arrived at the first rest stop we could get to the ride organizers canceled the rest of the days ride due to safety concerns. Good call to close the course. Bad call with the planning. It happens….. We are bused into Woodstock. Have another great dinner hosted by Woodstock. BBQ chicken!
For the first time since I left Texas I am rested – and can type our adventures and misadventures. By the time we get back to the hotel, shower, eat I can’t even think about typing……just sleeping.
