Bikers on a Mission
Jim Misunas, area reporter for the Great Bend Tribune, covers The Ride as the path runs through Kansas. Kevin Mincio’s incredible journey started with 9-11.
He worked a few blocks away from the World Trade Center as a vice president at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan when everyone’s world changed forever on Sept 9, 2001. “9-11 changed me forever – and it changed me for the better,” he said. Mincio’s time after the disaster was invested in restoring his company’s computer systems. But he could never get the image of nearby rescue workers and everyday people searching for answers. “What I experienced -- the sights, the sounds, the smells, all of the emotion -- ultimately, that’s what made me realize I had to enlist.”
Ten years later, Team Jesse Foundation co-founder Mincio will return to Ground Zero following a 4,200-mile cross country bicycle ride. They spent time in Larned Saturday and Sunday before heading east Monday morning.
U.S. Army veteran Mincio and Matt Sauri, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, are cycling across America to provide education and help for families of fallen soldiers and to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9-11. The 95-day, 4,200 mile journey began at the gravesite of SSG Jesse Williams in Santa Rosa, Calif.
Before SSG Jesse Williams was killed during combat operations in Iraq, he and Mincio served together as members of the 5-20 Infantry Regiment, which has the battalion motto of “Tant Que Je Puis,” that translates, “To The Limit of Our Abilities.” Mincio and Sauri have chosen this as The Ride theme to motivate them in remembrance of those who gave it all for their country.