About 60 people, dressed in a variety of black Harley Davidson T-shirts, blue jeans, leather vests and boots, rolled into the parking lot of RJB Contracting off Winsted Road for the second annual Douglas Cook Fallen Rider Memorial. With their motorcycles lined up and shining in the afternoon sun, the riders-- many of them friends of Cook -- gathered with Bike Week organizer Ed Buley for an emotional tribute to six men who shared a common passion for motorcycles and the open road.

For many in the crowd motorcycling is more than a hobby or sport - they see it as a brotherhood that automatically creates a bond - even if they have never met the person.

"It’s a common love for the machine and the road," Peddlar Bridges, Connecticut Bike Week’s poet laureate, said. "When you’re out there, you’re involved with the wind, the elements, road hazards ..so you get this common bond."

The tradition of opening Bike Week with the memorial service was started last year, shortly after Cook was killed in an accident while riding his motorcycle home from work.

His employer, Anne Borghesi, owner of Whitehawk Construction in Canton, decided something needed to be done to remember him. She said Sunday he was a "great employee and a happy soul" and she wanted his memory to live on.

"When I talked to Ed (Buley), I thought it would be the right thing," Borghesi said of the fallen rider memorial. "It will continue on. I’m going to make sure it will continue."

This year five new names were added alongside Cook’s. Jeff Stannard of Torrington, Colin Boibeaux of Norfolk, Bobby Hallocks of Torrington, Bruce Zimmerman of Winsted and Phil Gilbert were all remembered Sunday. As each name was read, a motorcycle was started, revved three or four times, and then shut off as a salute. "As a biker in heaven, I’m sure this sound is reaching them," Buley said during the ceremony.

After Cook’s name was read, all of the bikers mounted up, fired their engines and rolled out of the parking lot -- "into the wind where they were together again," Buley said.

Buley said he hopes the tradition and crowds will grow as five new names are added to the Douglas Cook Fallen Rider Memorial each year on the first day of Bike Week. He also hopes the memorial service will be able to stay clear of the controversy that has surrounded Bike Week this year.

The celebration, which has had hard times before, hit another speed bump this year when city officials denied the permits and security needed for the traditional block party on East Main Street. The Torrington Police Department says Buley owes $15,000 for past Bike Weeks’ police overtime bills and refused to shut down the street until it is paid.

Even though the crowd was barely a shadow of what it had been in past years, Buley said he was pleased to see the crowd in the parking lot Sunday.

"It’s a stripped down version of Bike Week," Buley said, "but it’s one of the most compelling and essential parts of it."

He said the memorial service draws attention to safety before Bike Week begins and it serves as a way for other riders to remember those who have died in motorcycle accidents.

He said it was a good way to start Bike Week, which will be celebrated on an individual basis until Friday, when Big Mike Griffin plays the blues during a weekend engagement at the Brass Horse Café in Barkhamsted.

Despite the struggles, Buley remained optimistic that Bike Week will return to the days of drawing thousands of people to Torrington.

"We’re going to build Bike Week back up again," he said.

Doug Jaggers can be reached by e-mail at newhartford@registercitizen.com.