Kentucky bicycle tour honoring fallen first responders makes stop in Covington

Dozens of first responders are riding their bicycles throughout Kentucky for a four-day bicycle tour in honor of their brothers and sisters who passed away in recent years.

On Wednesday, several people biked through Covington wearing matching colors to represent the Kentucky Brotherhood Ride. Their helmet choices — either bicycle or firefighter helmet — depended on the rider.

"They see the camaraderie and what being a firefighter or police officer and that brotherhood is all about when we make these stops," said Becky Oesterritter, a firefighter in Clarksville, Indiana.

The Covington stop was just one of many on the Kentucky Brotherhood Ride, which spans 350 miles. The bicycle ride kicked off Wednesday in Alexandria with Covington marking stop two of the tour.

Every bicyclist is either a police officer, firefighter, EMT or a family member of those groups. They're honoring 14 first responders who passed away.

"And then we make honor stops along the way to honor that family," Oesterritter said.

Emotions were present, as some participants were seen wiping away tears, embracing each other and talking about people such as Dave Studer.

Studer, an engineer with the Covington Fire Department, died in 2022 due to COVID-19 complications.

"He truly was one that is never could be replaced," said Covington Fire Chief Corey Deye. "He always had our back, we had his."

Deye talked about him as not only a mentor, but someone who joked around and made you forget about the trauma they experience on the job.

"You spend Christmas thanksgiving together, so by default it's a family, not everybody loves everybody equally you know you got that brother who annoys you and the sister you love, but at the end of the day, it's a family and we all stand up for each other and we're always there when we need each other," said Covington Fire Deputy Chief Jimmy Adams.

The bicycle ride is expected to end Saturday in Georgetown. Throughout the dozen or so cities the riders will be stopping in, they'll be hearing stories about the people who made their departments special.