A 3,000 - MILE TREK FOR FALLEN OFFICERS.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Weary and feeling every ache from three weeks on the road, they pedaled into Oklahoma City early last week fighting 35 mph headwinds and keeping a close eye on the dark skies overhead for tornados that had touched down only the day before.

The handful of Los Angeles Police Department officers had bicycled 170 miles a day through rainstorms, over hills that felt like mountains to their legs, and across hot, barren stretches of desert and flatlands that most people wouldn't want to tackle in an air-conditioned car.

They were dog-tired, but the officers had a date to keep. There was nothing Mother Nature could throw at them now that was going to stop them from riding into Florham Park, N.J., Monday to shake Patrick Montoure's hand.

It was 10 years ago that Florham's assistant police chief thought this country needed a memorial in Washington, D.C., for law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty every year.

A few guys from his department got the ball rolling by riding their bikes the 300 miles from Florham Park to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness and funds for a National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

What started with 18 riders and no money in the bank a decade ago has grown to more than 800 police officers from departments across the country riding in the Police Unity Tour Cross Country Bicycle Ride that has raised $2.2 million to build the memorial.

Dawn Devine-Pelt and Steve Gottschalk, sergeants in LAPD's Van Nuys Division, have been on the road the last three weeks making the 3,000-mile-plus ride. So has Pat Rudolf, an LAPD Metro Division officer from Canoga Park.

On Dawn's wrist is a bracelet with Ron Ives' name on it. He was a San Bernardino Sheriff's Department motorcycle officer killed in a traffic accident trying to make a stop a few years ago.Last year, Dawn met the Ives family for the first time after riding only the final 300-mile leg of the trip from New Jersey to the memorial in Washington, D.C.

``When they found out I was wearing a bracelet with their son's name on it, they burst into tears, and so did I,'' Dawn said.

It touched her so deeply she decided to make the whole 3,000-mile trek in honor of Ives' widow who will meet Dawn at the police memorial later in the week.

It will be just one of many emotional moments for all the riders, each wearing a bracelet in honor of a fallen officer.

The Los Angeles officers are also carrying LAPD batons they've given to local police departments along the way that have welcomed the riders and held community ceremonies to support the memorial and unity ride.

``It's been overwhelming and emotional, all the support and love we've gotten in every town - big and small - we've ridden through,'' Rudolf said Saturday, pulling into Allentown, Pa., for the night.

The officers are using their vacation time to make this trip, and there isn't one of them who doesn't think it's the best vacation they could ever take.

Before they left, they each dipped the front tire of their bikes in the Pacific Ocean. In New Jersey, they will dip their rear tires in the Atlantic Ocean.

``We've seen the country on a bike for a noble cause, and been treated like heroes wherever we stop,'' Rudolf said. ``What's a better vacation than that?''

Nothing that I can think of.

Physically, though, the grueling ride has taken a toll, Dawn said.

``The first couple of weeks felt like forever because you're in a different city every day. You forget where you're going or where you've been, get kind of a dazed feeling pushing on every day.

``But now we're getting close and are fully energized. It's just been the most amazing experience.

``One day we're a ragtag team of bike riders, but in a few days we'll be standing at the memorial at attention in dress uniform, watching the families of slain officers getting off buses to meet us.

``That's when it becomes clear, so clear, why we are doing this,'' Dawn said.

Those LAPD dress uniforms for each officer will be flying to Washington, D.C., Thursday in the care of LAPD Assistant Chief of Police James McDonald.

McDonald was there to wish his officers good luck when they dipped their tires in the Pacific the morning of April 15, and he wants to be there at the end of their journey at the police memorial.

``I can't tell you how proud I and the whole department are of our officers making this ride,'' McDonald said.

``It's one of those once-in-a-lifetime things, and something that spreads good will among police departments and police families across the country.''

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) LAPD's Police Unity Tour team rides through Tennessee on its way to the East Coast. The group's 3,000-mile trek will take it to Florham Park, N.J., where the Angelenos will join about 360 other law enforcement officers from across the country on a bicycle tour to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

(2) Sgt. Dawn Devine-Pelt, of the LAPD's Van Nuys Division, is cycling wearing a bracelet with Ron Ives' name on it. Ives was a San Bernardino officer killed in a traffic accident while trying to make a stop.