Local Cop Bikes From Ground Zero to Pentagon—Raising $4,000 Along The Way

As towns across the country held ceremonies recognizing the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,  officer Michael Shep pulled up to the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, on his road bike, having cycled nearly 300 miles to get there. 

Shep was one of 250 riders who participated in the Tour de Force, a four-day bike ride from Ground Zero in New York to the Pentagon--both sites were struck by hijacked airliners. Each rider also raised funds for the nonprofit, which supports the families of police officers who are killed in the line of duty.

“Personally, it was really rewarding for me,” said Shep, who made the 13-hour drive to New York along with a handful of other police officers participating from the area. 

Earlier: 

“It represents the entire police department, the community as well,” said Northbrook Police Chief Charles Wernick.

The ride began with a ceremony on Sept. 8 at the site where the World Trade Center once stood. It was Shep’s first time at Ground Zero—as well as his first visit to New York City. 

“That was pretty surreal, thinking that there were 110-story buildings there 10 years ago,” he said. 

From Ground Zero, the riders were ferried to New Jersey. As they passed the Statue of Liberty, they received an aquatic salute from fire department boats lined up to shoot water in the air. Once in New Jersey, a crowd of people, fire trucks and police cars with their lights flashing were there to meet the cyclists.

“A lot of them had flags, and a lot of them were saying ‘Thank you,’ ‘We love America,’ that kind of stuff,” Shep recalled. The riders took off from beneath an arch created by two fire trucks with ladders extended, crossing overhead.

Over the course of the four-day ride, Shep and the other cyclists saw the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, traveled through Atlantic City and saw historic Annapolis, MD. When they arrived at the Pentagon, there was no ceremony, however—the building was cordoned off due to heightened security measures for the anniversary of 9/11. 

Ten years before that day—on Sept. 11, 2001—Shep was also set to be on a bicycle. He was headed to work as a member of the bike patrol in Evanston when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. 

“I remember thinking to myself, what kind of dumb pilot would crash into a building?” he recalled.

Sixteen minutes later, the second plane hit the other twin 110-story tower, and everything changed.

“We all knew, this isn’t an accident,” he said. “And then Evanston went on a lockdown, because nobody knew what was going on.”

While the ride served as a commemoration of the attacks of 9/11, something Shep said, “we should never forget,” it was also a way for him to help out families of law enforcement in the area.

“Being in police work for 38 years, I’ve been to enough funerals,” after he signed up for the ride in February.

Money raised locally will come back to the families of slain Chicago-area officers through the Tour de Force fund. Shep was able to raise $4,000, while Tour de Force raised $400,000 total, he said. 

“The generosity of people in Northbrook and other places is great,” Shep said.

This past year, Tour de Force funds benefited the family of Chicago police officer Michael Flisk, who was shot in the head while investigating a burglary, and Schaumburg police officer Roy Reininger, who died in a car accident.

For Shep, the ride was more than a fundraiser and a commemoration of 9/11, however—it was also a personal challenge.

“Sitting down is a little hard, but I’m glad I did it,” he said.

Getting ready for the ride required getting in shape, he told Patch in February. To train, Shep biked to and from work at the , rode around the north suburbs on the Green Bay Trail and took classes at in Highland Park.

A longtime biker, Shep trains police officers throughout the area on bike patrolling and was a member of Evanston’s bike patrol unit for 13 years before he joined the Northbrook department. Still, he said, getting in shape for the ride was tough—and completing all 280 miles was an even bigger challenge.

“What I learned is I might have a mindset of a 30-year-old, but a body of a 61-year-old,” he said. “I basically rode as far as my body let me. 

“I think I did pretty good,” Shep added.