See the links below for a few pictures from Friday registration and lots of pictures from Saturday and Sunday's rides. If I mixed up or messed up anyone's name, let me know! And also read my posts from the ride and advance stories leading up to the ride on bikingbis.com.

Note: The photo gallery controls are not exactly intuitive. For best results, click on the toolbar icon farthest to the right to enlarge the images, and then use the forward arrow to scroll through the images.

Friday, April 27: Face of America 2007 registration and kickoff dinner. 

Saturday, April 28: The ride gets under way.

Sunday, April 29: Day 2, Frederick to Bethesda

April 11, 2007: On April 27, 2007, I will be traveling to Gettysburg, Pa., to take part in a bike ride called Face of America 2007, and I will be posting text and images along the way to www.bikingbis.com.  When I return home, I will post image galleries here as well, so watch this space!

Below is an article I posted to bikingbis.com, along with more information about the Face of America Ride, which is being sponsored by World T.E.A.M. Sports to bring able-bodied and disabled cyclists together to honor U.S. soldiers who have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Be sure to check out World T.E.A.M.'s website, bikingbis.com and other links below.

Face of America 2007

If you are looking for a cycling event that will lift your spirits as well as your heart rate, check out the “2007 Face of America” ride April 28-29 that honors U.S. soldiers severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The two-day, 110-mile ride from Gettysburg, Pa., to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., is being sponsored by World T.E.A.M. Sports -- T.E.A.M. stands for The Exceptional Athlete Matters --whose mission is to use “the powerful platform of sports to bring together the disabled and able-bodied communities.”

As an able-bodied rider, you will be cycling through the rolling Pennsylvania countryside with disabled athletes, many of whom are soldiers who lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan and who will be riding hand-crank bikes and two-wheeled bikes with the aid of prostheses.

“This ride offers the unique opportunity for anybody to ride side by side with these heroes and personally encourage them and let them know that they can still be active athletes,” according to World T.E.A.M. Sports, a nonprofit organization that has sponsored similar athletic events worldwide.

The organization has formed teams of disabled and able-bodied athletes to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and to ride the length of Vietnam with a team of veterans from both sides of the Vietnam war.

In 2002 World T.E.A.M. sponsored a ride from Ground Zero to the Pentagon in honor of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.About 1,500 cyclists, many injured during the 9/11 attacks, participated in the three-day ride along with friends and family members who had lost loved ones on 9/11.Others from around the world who had been injured as a result of terrorist acts, also took part in the ride.

I was fortunate to be a part of the Ground Zero to Pentagonride, and it was like no other cycling event I had ever participated in.It was humbling and uplifting all at the same time, and I met some remarkable people I will never forget.If this year’s Face of America ride is anything like the Ground Zero ride, it will be an amazing experience.

If you are an active-duty member of the military, able-bodied or disabled, there is no charge to participate in the Face of America ride. For everyone else, there is a $500 minimum fundraising goal. All monies raised will be used to pay for the active-duty participants, including accommodations, food and use of bikes, according to World T.E.A.M. Sports.

If you can’t participate in the ride physically, you can still experience it virtually.If I get my technology act together, I will be filing live posts along the way to bikingbis.com, which will include text and images.And when I return from the ride, I will post images on my website, www.bpfphotography.net.

For more information about the ride, including the route and travel logistics, visit World T.E.A.M.’s website at www.worldteamsports.org.