Somerville Bicyclist Rides from Ground Zero

During the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2011, Massachusetts Remembers September 11, complete with music from the Boston Pops Brass Ensemble and a huge American flag mural, will take place at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade in Boston.

The event will open when over 100 bicyclists ride in front of the Hatch Shell, and one of those riders, Dan Shugrue, is from Somerville.

Shugrue, 40, will begin his 270-mile bicycle journey from Ground Zero in New York, and the journey will take three days.

He's making the bicycle ride as part of a fundraising effort for Beyond the 11th, a nonprofit group that works to support widows in Afghanistan who have been affected by war, terrorism and oppression, according to the organization's website.

The organization was founded by two Boston-area women who lost their husbands in 9/11. Shugrue became friends with one of the women, Susan Retik, who was seven months pregnant with her third child when her husband, David, was killed on American Flight 11.

In the wake of 9/11, Retik and Patti Quigley, who was eight months pregnant with her second child when her husband died on United Flight 175, received an outpouring of support from friends, family and strangers. But as the national attention began to focus on war in Afghanistan, they realized Afghan widows received virtually no support.

"They saw that [there were] many many more widows in Afghanistan, and there's very little a widow can do for herself in Afghanistan," said Shugrue. Women without husbands in Afghanistan have trouble feeding, clothing and sheltering their children, the organization's website points out.

Retik and Quigley decided the widows of Afghanistan needed the sort of compassion and support they received as 9/11 widows, so they founded Beyond the 11th.

"Together, they decided to do something more than grieve," said Shugrue about Retik and Quigley's decision to found the organization.

One of Beyond the 11th's fundraisers is Beyond the Bike, where people like Shugrue raise money by bicycling. 

"Believe it or not, I've never been to Ground Zero," Shugrue said. His first time there will be when he sets off on his 270-mile journey on Friday.

Shugrue has always enjoyed biking, but he's never done something like this. "What Susan is doing moves me and speaks to me, and I'm honored to be part of that," he said.

The money he raises with his bike ride will help Beyond the 11th teach Afghan widows basic income-generating skills, such as raising chickens.

Ceremonies at the Hatch Shell are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday, and anyone interested in learning about Beyond the 11th or how to donate can do so at the organization's website, www.beyondthe11th.org.