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HomeNewsWounded Warrior gearing up for 9/11 Ride2Recovery

Wounded Warrior gearing up for 9/11 Ride2Recovery

Written by Kimberly Tiscione
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Public Affairs

Fort Campbell KY, 101st Airborne Division160th Soar - Night Stalkers

Fort Campbell, KY – Team Linfoot is training up to cycle hundreds of miles in the Ride2Recovery 9/11 Challenge.

Retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Linfoot, a Night Stalker and Wounded Warrior, will be on his hand cycle and Mari, his wife, on her bicycle. Together, they’ll conquer 530 miles in eight days beginning September 11th.

“We hope to prove to ourselves that we can accomplish such a lofty goal and in doing so, show others in similar situations and with similar injuries that there is life beyond the injury,” he said. “The important part is to just keep moving and to take that first step. ‘Adapt, improvise, overcome and never quit’ will be our mantra.”

Team Linfoot Training Photo 2011: Retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Linfoot and Mari, his wife, before a training ride. Together, they’ll conquer 530 miles in eight days during the Ride2Recovery 9/11Challenge beginning September 11th. (Photo courtesy of The Linfoot Family)
Team Linfoot Training Photo 2011: Retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Linfoot and Mari, his wife, before a training ride. Together, they’ll conquer 530 miles in eight days during the Ride2Recovery 9/11Challenge beginning September 11th. (Photo courtesy of The Linfoot Family)

Not quitting is a mantra Linfoot knows well. While serving as a Little Bird pilot in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, he was paralyzed in a helicopter accident while conducting operations in Iraq in 2008. In true Night Stalker fashion, Linfoot didn’t quit. His road to recovery and adapting to a new lifestyle for himself and with his family includes cycling.

The family decided to embark on this adventure in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. It also provides an opportunity to inspire and support other Wounded Warriors, their Families and organizations who assist them through challenging life transitions.

Linfoot said the ride and its route are very symbolic to his family, allowing them to pay tribute to those that lost their lives that fateful day while remembering and honoring all those who gave their lives in the wars that resulted from the attacks.

“When our family witnessed the attacks 10 years ago, we knew immediately that I would be involved in combat operations somewhere; however, we never could have imagined then how that one event would affect us as a family,” he said. “In some way I think seeing these memorials, seeing where it all began, will help us make sense of it all and accept what has happened to us as a family and help us get closure.”

The team will be among the 350 total riders traveling the symbolic route starting from the Liberty State Park in New York City, where they can see the World Trade Center site. They’ll head west to the United 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, and finish at the Pentagon Memorial. Along the way, riders will pass many other historical sites.

Ride2Recovery supports mental and physical rehabilitation programs with a cycling focus for wounded veterans including spinning recovery labs and outdoor cycling programs across the United States.

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