A special thank you to those people who were part of our team :

Angelo Ciraolo, Al's Uncle
Angelo is the one who kept after me about the pictures. Originally, Joshua Gallo and I were going to make a dvd, but that project fell through. Angelo said I had to share the pictures and put me in contact with Monica Carraretto. Angelo is the seed that started this whole project.

Edward and Nancy Starkman of Star Print Brokers
Nancy and Edward Starkman made this book possible. Nancy did the beautiful graphic design of the book and did not charge me for all of the hours she spent on rewrites and changes. She donated part of her time in the spirit of the book. Edward made sure I got the highest quality book at the lowest price, and even upgraded the cover of the book to a heavier weight paper at no charge! Working with the two of them made the impossible seem easy!

Joanna Collar, a Graphic Designer
When I was in a panic and needed a graphic designer, Dara Greenberger of Big Brothers Big Sisters, put me in contact with Joanna. She too was invested with the project and proceeded to design the first 80 pages of the book. Although it turned out that magazine design is different than book design and we could not use most of the pages due to margins, it gave us a base for the book. She too made the book possible!

Monica Carraretto of Eikonglobal
I was put in contact with Monica by Angelo Ciraolo, Al's uncle. I did not know what I was going to do with the pictures at that time, only that I wanted to share them. Monica and I discussed doing a dvd or a book and decided that a book would be the best way to honor the ride. Not knowing anything about writing or producing a book, or computers for that matter, Monica was the go to person for everything. The time and expertise that she donated was what made the book possible.

Creative Momentum
Marion Trent and her husband Thomas Winckler were recommended by Monica Carraretto to redesign our Web site, to construct the e-commerce aspect of the site and to be responsible for the search engine optimizations and submissions.

Zach Fink
A 16-year old computer genius who helped us by designing our brochure and anything computer related. He spent many, many hours contributing to our project. "Thanks, Zach for watching my back!"

Joshua Gallo, Engine 258 FDNY
Joshua worked for over a year and a half to organize this wonderful cross country bike tour. He worked with fire departments in each town to make sure we had accommodations, meals, and press coverage, as well as police and fire escorts throughout. Thank you Joshua!

Joe Morstatt, retired FDNY

Joe was a last minute save. He offered his time as well as his camper as the lead support vehicle for the ride. His leadership was invaluable to the safety of our riders. Joe kept us on course and wrote the beautiful foreword for the book. Joe is on the Board of Directors for the Injured Marines Fund. www.injuredmarinesfund.org