Cascade Firefighter Among Cyclists Leaving for Ground Zero Friday

Jonathan Mason still remembers the devastion of Sept. 11, 2011, like it was yesterday. A graduate student living in Brooklyn at the time, Mason turned on the television and "just saw it like everyone else."

The next day, Mason read in the New York Times about the firefighters who died in the terrorists' attacks.

"What impressed me was how ordinary they looked," said Mason, a 1993 Morehouse College graduate who also has a master's degree in cultural anthropology from New York University.

Fast forward a decade. The former New Yorker is now a firefighter living in southwest Atlanta. He chose his current career, in part, because of the compelling 9/11 stories over the next few months about the brave firefighters who sacrificed their lives.

Now, he is about to return to New York, to Ground Zero, to honor the fallen heroes on the 10th anniversary of September 11th.

Mason is one of 20 Atlanta firefighters who have trained and prepared for two years to travel 1035 miles on their bicycles in rent-to-own merchant Aaron's Freedom Ride 2011.

The cyclists will leave Atlanta from Terminus, Cafe Street, 3280 Peachtree Rd., in Buckhead, at 9:11 a.m. and head for Elijay.

From there, they will average over 100 miles a day and travel through North Carolina and cross over through the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains. Before the trip is over, the crew will have traveled through Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and, finally, New York where they will attend a commemoration.

Mason said he is making the trek because he sees the ride as a way to commemorate the lives of the 343 firefighters and paramedics killed in the tragedy.

"This is an opportunity to acknowledge the service of those guys," Mason said. "I appreciate the invitation" to ride.

In addition to honoring the firefighters who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks, the riders also seek to raise funds and awareness for the Atlanta Fire Foundation and a New York 9/11 fund.

To support the Freedom Ride and follow the group's blog, please visit the Freedom Ride page on the Cartecay Bike Shop website.