Annual Carolina Brotherhood Ride launches Monday morning

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — The 7th-annual Carolina Brotherhood Ride is scheduled to launch Monday morning.

The Carolina Brotherhood Ride is an annual bicycling event honoring fallen first responders such as firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel.

First responders from North and South Carolina ride 600 miles from Moncks Corner, SC to Pineville NC over a 6-day period to raise money for the families of those Carolina first responders who have died.

The 2018 ride will honor the first responders who lost their lives in 2016. In 2016, 13 firefighters, 3 law enforcement, and a K-9 unit officer died.

Along the ride route, bikers will be staying overnight in the communities where the fallen first responders were from and they plan to learn more about the first responder and they family they left behind.

Co-Founder of the Carolina Brotherhood Jim Squittieri said a lot of the people who participate in the trip do no train.

"They get on the bikes and your neck is hurting, your back is hurting, your butt is hurting, but you're grateful and thankful to be there," Squittieri said.

Over the last seven years, the ride has raised more than $100, 000.

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