Team 26 and the Connecticut Effect: An interview with Monte Frank

Team 26 riders supporting a team member up a long hill
Photo Credit: Becky Frank On March 9, Team 26 cyclists left the Reed Intermediate School in Newtown, CT with an important first stop at the Sandy Hook Fire Department to remember the 26 people slaughtered on 12/14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Four days and 400 miles later, they arrived in DC with an escort from the Virginia Tech Victims Cycling Team to deliver a message about gun responsibility from Sandy Hook families to the politicians in Washington who need to act. Important rallies along the way included mayors and a VA Tech victim's family, and a key stop was in the city of Baltimore to link suburban and urban gun responsibility issues in a tangible way.

The message? Forget about politics. Just get it done.

These elite and dedicated cyclists rode not just for Newtown (where I live) but for Connecticut and all of America. You can retrace their progress on their Facebook page, or by clicking the Team 26 tag here on Daily Kos, where a miniblogathon chronicled their progress.

Some examples of the excellent coverage the ride got can be found here and here.

Having arrived back in Newtown, we are delighted to present an interview with Team 26 leader Monte Frank. Follow us below the fold for a talk with the Newtown resident responsible for creating Team 26.