Cyclists riding from California to New York in honor of 9/11, stop in Idaho Falls
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS — Ten cyclists are pedaling roughly 3,700 miles across the country from California to New York so they can honor 9/11 first responders.
They made a stop in Idaho Falls Tuesday.
The cyclists are current and retired firefighters as well as US military veterans who have ridden at least 600 miles so far. They are on their 10th day of cycling. The group left on Aug. 1 from the San Francisco, California Bay Area. They are riding their bicycles to the Brooklyn Bridge and Ground Zero for the 20 year anniversary of 9/11.
It will take them over a month to get to Brooklyn.
On Tuesday, the cyclists came through Arco to Idaho Falls and stopped at Fire Station 1 to eat and rest.
“I couldn’t miss something like this,” said Dewey Ray from Arizona. Dewey retired from firefighting and decided to go on the journey called “Bay2Brooklyn2021” with his son Aaron Ray.
RELATED | ‘From town to town’: Cross-country cyclists honoring 9/11 firefighters stop in Boise
The trip sounds like a grueling one. The cyclists must average around 100 miles a day on a bike in order to make it in time for 9/11, but for the cyclists, it’s worth every moment.
“When fire service brothers and US military veterans, when we come together, it’s very easy for us to fall in and to be ourselves,” Dewey said.
This is Dewey and his son’s first time ever doing a ride like this. Dewey says this is a bucket list item that he is happy to be doing.
He explained that he was working as a firefighter in Arizona the day of 9/11 and it was difficult for him to watch.
“I was stuck in Arizona trying to do my job. Initially, we all hunkered down and prepared for what was next. It was difficult for me to be in Arizona and not be able to help, that was tough. So this is an opportunity for me to give back a little bit and to go rub shoulders with some of those guys and let them know that I’m behind them,” said Dewey.
Dewey has been wearing a hat along the way that says “Brooklyn” on it.
“This is my motivation. This hat has about 3,000 miles on it right now, just from my training. This is my training hat and I couldn’t give it up. I just had to keep wearing it,” he said.
The cyclists have checked into a hotel for the night in Idaho Falls. On Wednesday, they will be riding from Idaho Falls to Jackson, Wyoming which is about 89.8 miles.
If you would like to follow their journey, click here. If you’d like to see who is on the team and learn about each of them, click here.