To celebrate the US Air Force’s 75th Anniversary and to raise money for the Wounded Airman Program, the US Air Force Cycling Team plan to ride their bicycles from the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, NC to the USAF Memorial in Arlington, VA.
Their 4-day ride will begin on September 15th at 7:30am with a 90+ mile ride to their first overnight stop at a hotel in Chesapeake, VA.
The National Park Service (NPS) will open the Wright Memorial’s main gate on Route 158 at 6:45am for the cyclists who will then have a group photograph taken by local photographer Chandler Tillett, of Island Time Photography, and begin their 4-day 330-mile ride at 7:30am. Chip Cowan and his team of mechanics of Outer Banks Bicycle will providing maintenance support to the cyclists.
In addition to the NPS, the first day’s ride has been coordinated with the Police Departments of Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, the Sheriff’s Department of Currituck County, NCDOT, and the Police Department of Chesapeake, VA all of whom will provide support to the cyclists as they pedal through each jurisdiction. All have been very supportive for which the AF Cycling Team is very grateful.
This year’s ride is the inaugural M2M. The AF Cycling Team plans to make the M2M an annual event eventually involving thousands of cyclists. The inaugural event, however, is limited to 80-100 cyclists to provide learning experiences for the cycling team and to establish close relationships with NC and VA State and local governments and law enforcement authorities. While the ride is hosted by the Air Force Cycling Team, it is free and is open to all cyclists.
For full details about the USAF Cycling Team and the Memorial-to-Memorial (M2M) Bike Ride go to US Air Force Cycling Team (US Air Force Cycling Team (afcycling.com). The M2M specific page is https://afcycling.com/m2m-ride/ where cyclists interested in joining can register.
If you would like to help the team support the Wounded Airmen Program that supports wounded Airmen and Guardians and their families, you can do so at https://www.afa.org/?form=M2MRide.