Esty, Blumenthal Join Send-Off for Team 26's Ride to Washington D.C.

NEWTOWN, CT--- Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra was joined by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, Team 26 and dozens of supporters on a brisk Saturday morning to send-off the group of cyclists who will took off on their fourth ride to Washington D.C. to prevent gun violence.

On Saturday they rode from Newtown to Ridgefield, then on to Peekskill, NY, ending up in New Jersey to push for "common sense gun laws."

Nelba Marquez, mother of Ana Marquez-Green who lost her life in the Sandy Hook School shootings, spoke at the send-off.

"I feel like this is the epitome of love winning. These guys who don't know us would come out and not just remember Newtown but would remember Chicago, Baltimore, Hartford, Bridgeport. This is incredibly special," Marquez said on NBC Connecticut News.

Team 26 honors the lives of the 20 children and six educators who died on December 14, 2012 in the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Team 26 was founded by Newtown resident and activist Monte Frank who said on their website:

"We will arrive at the Capitol at 3 p.m. on April 12. During the journey, we will meet with mayors, a governor, federal and state lawmakers, dads, an army of moms demanding action for gun sense in America, college students, and everyday Americans who are just trying to live free from the fear of getting shot in a classroom, movie theater or at the mall. Our nation's colleges, universities and K-12 schools should be safe havens for learning and growth, where students, faculty, staff and visitors need not worry about the threat of gun violence on their campuses. The petition calls on our federal elected representatives to make it more difficult for people to carry concealed weapons on our campuses across the country. (Sign the petition here). Team 26 will ride again because we promised the families in Sandy Hook that we would continue to honor their lost loved ones. We made the same promise to the many victims' families we have met since then in Baltimore; Bridgeport, Conn.; Harlem, N.Y.; and the District of Columbia. While we established Team 26 for Sandy Hook, Team 26 could just as easily be named for the victims of gun violence in Chicago on a given weekend. In fact, gun violence is so prevalent that we could be called Team 26,000 and that number would fall short of the number of gun deaths each year in America."

This year the team has collected 38,000 signatures on a petition to ban concealed weapons on college campuses, according to NBC Connecticut News.

Below is the schedule of their ride. Click the links for more information:

Sunday April 10:
8:30 a.m. Send off from Morristown
Fellow Cyclists: Ride with us from Morristown, NJ
3:00 p.m. Rally at City Hall in Philadelphia, PA
(details and locations)

Monday April 11:
10:15 a.m. Fellow Cyclists: Ride with us from Curtis Mill Park to the University of Delaware
10:30 a.m. Rally at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE
4:00 p.m. Rally at City Hall in Baltimore, MD
(details and locations)

Tuesday April 12:
11:30 a.m. Meet up at Proteus Bicycles in College Park, MD
Fellow Cyclists: Ride with us from Proteus to Washington, DC
​1:30 p.m. Rally in Southeastern Washington, DC
3:00 p.m. Arrive at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC
(details and locations)