Six motorcyclists from the area plan to take their places in a 12-mile string of cycles that will follow a road of remembrance from Somerset, Pa., to the Pentagon and Ground Zero in New York City.

The police escorted ride is to support first responders -- police, fire and emergency medical services personnel -- and recall the terrorist acts of Sept. 11, 2001.

Making the trip are Tom Wright of Jefferson, Roger and Teresa McKinstry of Thompson, Terry Healan of Painesville, Renee and Andy Spacht of Saybrok and Phil Adinaro of Mentor.

The America’s 9/11 Ride to the three crash sites of 9-11 is sponsored by the America’s 9/11 Foundation. This is the eighth year for the ride, which started with a Nov. 2001 ride from the White House to New York City by 250 motorcyclists who wanted to assist the Big Apple’s economy. The ride was moved to August the following year and expanded to include all three crash sites of the 9/11 attacks.

This year’s ride is Aug. 14 to 16. Roger McKinstry says they will gather at Somerset, Pa., that day and attend a ceremony at the Flight 93 crash site. The next morning, the cyclists will begin their 700-mile journey to the Pentagon. The riders will stay in Washington, D.C., that night, then ride to the site of the World Trade Center. They plan to stay overnight in New York before heading back to northeast Ohio, about 1,400 miles round trip.

The ride raises money for the foundation, which provides scholarships for children of first responders across the nation. It has allocated $30,000 for 2008 scholarships.

The foundation also placed a granite memorial in Shanksville, Pa., at the crash site of Flight 93, and has assisted with Katrina relief and sent T-shirts to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The riders going from Ashtabula and Lake counties are not first responders themselves, but eel a patriotic obligation to assist and remember.

“ ‘Never forget’ is their motto,” Roger McKinstry says. “It struck me that the money goes for a very good cause.”

Roger went on the ride last year; and this ride will be Terry Healan’s third.

“This is an annual thing for me,” Healan says.

“When Phil and I went the first time, we said we’d like to do this once. But when we got back, we said we got to do this again,” Roger says.

He and his wife saved up for the trip all year -- Teresa says she signed on after hearing her husband’s review of the experience. They say it costs each rider between $500 and $750 to participate -- the registration fee alone is $100. Add in the motels, fuel and incidentals (corporate sponsors provide some of the meals along the route), and the ride becomes a costly excursion.

Each participate is also asked to raise at least $1,500 for the foundation, usually through pledges from individuals and businesses.

“People who ride get sponsored and all the money goes to the 9-11 Foundation and they divide it up,” says Roger, who’s raise about $700 thus far.