Motorcycle Ride Honors Village Firefighter

A 140-mile memorial bike ride, spearheaded by Keith Gambino, brother of Babylon Village firefighter and 9/11 victim Thomas Gambino Jr., is both a personal tribute and a public tribute to everyone whose lives were changed by the catrosphic events 10 years ago.

The ride will begin at the Montauk Point Lighthouse and end at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. It is a joint effort between Gambino, a Farmingdale resident, the Long Island Chapter of the US Veterans Motorcycle Club and Full Throttle, the motorcycle enthusiast magazine.

The Montauk journey is the first relay leg of a longer trip: Gambino's sister Valerie Gambino, of Florida, will be at the finish line waiting to start her own 530-mile cycling trip as part of the Ride 2 Recovery 9/11 American Challenge charity ride, which will raise money for wounded veterans.

Keith Gambino wants to symbolically hand off his brother's FDNY helmet and shield to his sister so she can deliver it to her final destination, the Pentagon, after stopping at Shanksville, Pa. during her leg of the journey.

This is the first year for the event, which kicks off at sunrise on Sunday, September 11.

The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has spurred a plethora of New York and Long Island memorial events and rides and races. Gambino said he wanted to honor his brother's memory by starting in Montauk, where memorial benches have been placed in his memory, as Thomas loved the East End. But the ride's course across Long Island is also meant to symbolize the united effort to help those affected by 9/11.

"We want to pick up riders as we go. It's about unity: everyone across Long Island came together and did something to help after September 11th. Thomas loved Long Island and he loved helping people," said Gambino.

Thomas Gambino, Jr., of Babylon Village, was survived by his wife Janet and two sons, Thomas III and Brian. He was a member of Rescue 3 in the Bronx.

No registration for the motorcycle run is necessary. Any interested riders can join along the way and also depart at any point. The run will travel along Route 27 west to County Road 111, head north up to the Long Island Expressway, where the ride will travel west to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway before heading into Manhattan and onto New Jersey.