Wis. firefighter bikes across U.S. for 9-11 victims

Christopher Harley Rupp, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee senior and part-time firefighter and EMT in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, completing a 4,000-mile bike ride across the U.S. to honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

Rupp, 23, started his journey, dubbed Fire Ride: Tribute 2011, on July 18 in San Francisco and made it to New York City on September 8. By stopping in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and Ground Zero in New York City - the crash sites of three planes hijacked by terrorists a decade ago - Rupp paid his respects to the victims as well as the firefighters and first responders who died or put their lives at risk that day.

Rupp worked closely with fire departments across the country and specifically with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, a non-profit organization that honors America's fallen firefighters and provides assistance and support to the survivors of these heroes. By arriving in New York City on September 8, Rupp was able to join cyclists from eight other organized cross-country group rides that converged there.