Remember 9-11 Ride '2003'
On September 21, 2003, the 2nd Annual Remember 9-11 Ride took place. We were blessed with a beautiful day for this event and this was my first time taking part in this ride. Here is my recollection of this day.
It was the evening of September 20th and my mind was continually thinking forward to the next day when I would be making a trek to Ground Zero with a group of bikers from all across New England with the purpose of honoring those who died on September 11th, 2001. One of my friends was on Flight 175 that crashed into Tower II, so the decision to make this ride was an easy one.
I left my home in Milford, NH at 4:00am. The sky was crystal clear with the moon and the stars shining bright. There was a slight chill in the air as I started on my way. I seemed to be the only one on the road at this time and I took this opportunity to reflect on the meaning of this ride. I eventually reached my first stop to meet up with some guys from the Gate City HOG Chapter. There were 8 of us in my group and by 5:00am we were heading down to Hopkinton, MA to the starting point of this ride.
Everyone was anticipating a group of about 500 bikes or so. The previous year's ride had about 200, so this was a reasonable guess. We arrived in Hopkinton around 6:00am and there was already a good crowd of bikes topping off their tanks at the local stations. We followed suit and then proceeded into the parking lot for registration. There was already at least 500 bikes there with a lot more streaming in. By the time we left, there must have been at least 1500 bikes. What a sight this was...
Around 7:30am we left Hopkinton and headed to the Mass Pike. Thanks to the local and state police, this went fairly smoothly. It was an amazing sight seeing the row of bikes stretching for miles along Route 495 as we headed to the Pike. This year, getting through the tollbooth was simplified by paying during registration. We just rolled on though as an attendant tried to count the bikes. Good luck! As we continued down the Pike, another group of bikes was waiting to join in. There must have been around 100 or so.
We eventually got off the Pike and headed south on Route 84. It was time to gas up for most so we pulled off the highway at the designated exit. There were 2 stations trying to accommodate a multitude of bikes. It became slightly chaotic and we eventually dried up the tanks at each of the stations. Fueled up now, we hopped back onto 84 and headed south to a rest area that was the next staging area. There was already a crowd here, so my group of 8 decided to head to Wallingford, CT where the next group was meeting.
We pulled of the highway in Wallingford and we were directed to the Wal-Mart parking lot. It was completely full of bikes. There must have been at least 1500 bikes there waiting to leave and we got there just as they were ready to do so. So back onto 84 and heading south to Route 15 and Greenwich, CT where the last staging area was.
It was now around 12:30pm and we were at the final staging area in Greenwich. The parking lot was a sea of bikes and the Hopkinton group was still 30 minutes away, so we decided to head on in to Ground Zero. This final leg of the trip was wild. The troopers did their best to keep the cars away from us, but there were just too many bikes and a lot of angry car drivers. But we made it into New York City without incident. Many overpasses contained on-lookers who cheered us on. Around Ground Zero we did our best to keep the line of bikes intact, but the cabbies and pedestrians were getting a little anxious. The bikes seemed to get scattered at this point, so many just found whatever parking they could and walked around the Ground Zero site. Some continued onto the fire station, others did not. It was a somber moment to look at the place where these 2 majestic buildings stood and where thousands of souls were lost. After a couple of hours we headed home.
At 11:00pm I rolled into my driveway back in Milford, NH. A long day for sure, but a very rewarding one. I can't wait for 2004. If you would like to see photos of this day, click here.