9/11 Airline Bike Ride Across America Report

[Doug Taylor]

This is my pal Bob Nadelberg's (757/767 FO) report on his experience taking part in the "9/11 Airline Bike Ride Across America"

Here goes:

(posted with Bob's permission)

Pilots from United and American Airlines, most of whom lost loved ones on 911, began a cross country bike ride in order to raise money for the construction of a 911 memorial for airline victims. The route went from Los Angeles through Dallas to Shankesville, PA, to NYC, then on to the Pentagon. It took a month to reach New York. Most of the riders suffered flat tires while crossing the George Washington Bridge due to rough expansion joints.

Many people, often time airline employees themselves, offered support to riders along their route. During their Dallas ride, about 100 persons from American, Southwest, Delta and Northwest rode alongside with the cyclists to show support. I was able to attend this event.

Today I was able to join up again with the riders as they made their way through New York City. There were other pilots there to show support from USAir, in addition to me, the lone Delta guy.

We began our ride in Manhattan, at Columbus Circle, then made a loop through Central Park.



At the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park.
From right to left: Me, a pilot from USAir, and an American pilot.

We were planning on riding down 8th Ave with a police escort, but that fell through for some reason. The traffic in NYC is insane….especially if you are on a bike. We decided to take the Hudson River bike trail instead. This is a wonderful ride, I highly recommend it. We rode the trail down the Hudson from 61st St all the way down to ground zero at the World trade Center.

We were escorted inside of the ground zero site by the port authority police.



The leader of the ride, Capt. Tom Heidenberger, whose wife perished aboard one of the planes, places a wreath at the memorial site with another flight attendant.



The cross country riders.



Me inside ground zero. It is amazing the construction going on down there. The police on duty told us some amazing stories from 911. They had all lost friends and co-workers that day.

[SoFlo]

Very cool. Very.

[Nick]

the Hudson River bike trail instead. This is a wonderful ride, I highly recommend it.

Yes -- it is! I did "Bike NYC" last year (this years was this past Sunday) and rode on that trail beforehand. It's great and separate from the auto traffic.

I'd love to ride across the coutnry like that someday. I was talking to someone about it a few days ago actually, and the one month timeframe is what we estimated. Neat to see a group actually do it.