Dave Jordan will be buried Friday in the Bronx, not far from where he grew up, a bull of a New York kid who wanted to go fast. He was a bike racer, and close to his final resting place are the sharp, punchy climbs and hurried avenues where he loved to ride, often in darkness, becoming strong and confident and mastering a sport that would transport him across the ocean to the muck-filled cow paths of France and Belgium, but always, eventually, back to his city.

He is the end...