Southern California firefighters are scheduled to arrive in New York City Friday after a challenging, but rewarding, cross-country bike ride -- more than 3,000 miles dedicated to the memory of those who died on Sept. 11, 2001 and servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The firefighters are from the LA city and county fire departments, and the Fullerton Fire Department. They left July 24 from downtown LA.
LA City Firefighter/Paramedic Jorge Ostrovsky said Thursday the group has been riding 100 to 150 miles per day.
"It's hard work," Ostrovsky said. "I didn't realize it would be this hard, but the rewards that I'm getting from this are incredible.
"(We want) to let New Yorkers know this wasn't just an attack on New York, this was an attack on America, and the rest of the country has not forgotten what happened that day. I thought by riding across the country I could maybe spread the word and make sure people don't forget."
The cyclists set up a live tracking page on their website. They were in Maryland Thursday and in New Jersey early Friday.
Their journey followed Route 66 to Chicago, then on to Shanksville, Penn. -- site of the United Flight 93 crash. The ride went through Washington, D.C. before heading north to New York City.
Most of the rides began early in the morning to avoid the summer heat.
The riders are raising money for The Leary Firefighters Foundation and the Wounded Warrior Project.
Click here to watch video from the journey.
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Flight 93 from Ride for 9-11 on Vimeo.
