KIRSTEN BECKERMAN
impromptu
AS A CHILD GROWING UP in Somerville, N.J., John Locke each year looked forward to the international “Tour de Somerville”—one of the oldest continuously running bicycle races in the United States. “I watched as my heroes competed for the winning position and dreamed of someday competing in the race,” he says today. By high school, Locke was regularly riding 60 miles roundtrip from his home in Somerville to New Hope, Pa., just for the sport of it. The teen, who aspired to ride professionally, strengthened his legs by biking up hills with a friend perched on his handlebars. Locke was a good cyclist. But he was a great musician. And in the end, music won. The BSO percussionist’s love for cycling never ceased, and he rode whenever he could. When his son John Edgar was born 14 years ago, Locke hoped the boy would share his passion for the sport. John Edgar got his first two-wheeler for Christmas when he was 5. “He was a natural,” Locke says. Six months later, the little boy was riding without training wheels. First the duo rode in their neighborhood.
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Before long they were biking together on the North Central Trail in Baltimore County. These days, on Sunday afternoons when Locke doesn’t have a concert, you might find the pair biking near Loch Raven Reservoir or cycling to New Freedom, Pa., stopping for pizza or ice cream before they turn around to come home. Sometimes they talk as they ride, but not always. “It’s just nice to be together and to have that kind of quality time you don’t have with your kid when there’s a video game around,” says Locke. Over time their roles have reversed. “I used to beg him to go,” Locke says. “Now he’s always suggesting it to me.” And when they race against one another, which they sometimes do, Locke finds himself digging deeper and deeper to keep up. “As I get older, he’s getting better and better.” Locke, 50, doesn’t mind the competition. In fact, he loves it, he says. “It’s pure joy to be with him.” — Maria Blackburn