KENT: A group of California firefighters bicycling to New York City logged 2,650 miles before pulling into Kent late Tuesday afternoon.After a 12-hour, 140-mile day, they confessed that it helped to have 150 flag-waving residents cheering them on as they pulled into the Home Savings Bank Plaza downtown.“We never expected this. It’s so nice of people to come out and see us,” John Marasco said as he paused from shaking hands and smiling for pictures.Marasco is one of nine Los Angeles-area firefighters who started their journey more than a month ago to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. On their cross-country adventure, they are collecting donations for the Wounded Warrior Project and the Leary Firefighters Foundation.The men plan to arrive at ground zero on Sept. 9, after which, Marasco quipped, “I’m going to sleep and sell my bike immediately.”The cyclists left Toledo at 6 a.m. Tuesday, then made a brief stop in Akron where Mayor Don Plusquellic and City Hall employees and local firefighters greeted them.Not knowing when the group would get to Kent, residents started turning out around 3:30 p.m. The crowd was informed regularly of the group’s progress and patiently waited more than two hours until the riders arrived, traveling beneath a ladder truck arch and escorted by police and fire vehicles from Kent, Brimfield Township and Stow.They immediately hopped off their bikes and melted into the crowd to chat with individuals. Afterward, a bagpipe and a Kent American Legion honor guard formally celebrated their arrival and they were introduced on stage.One of the cyclists, Adam Loeser, is a Roosevelt High School graduate and the reason the group stopped in Kent.“I grew up with many of you,” Loeser told the crowd. “Thank you for welcoming me back to my hometown.”Loeser is a Fullerton, Calif., firefighter. He and two other cyclists flew to Chicago and joined the team there; the other six set out from Los Angeles.All are using vacation time to make the trip.The firefighters were then given dinner and invited to spend the night at Kent Fire Station No. 1 before leaving this morning for Pittsburgh.Jack and Marilyn Zeman of Kent took their 3-year-old great-grandson, Cooper Casto, to the event. Cooper held flags in both fists.“We just wanted to see them and support them and wish them well on their journey,” Marilyn Zeman said.Jennifer Cannon and her daughters, Sydney, 15, and Josie, 10, held a sign that read: “We remember. Thank you!”The girls made the sign in the car as their mom whisked them to the event right after school.The girls’ father, Sean Cannon, has served three tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and “we felt strongly about supporting what they’re doing,” Jennifer Cannon said.Los Angeles firefighter Jorge Ostrovsky said he and many of the others had never ridden more than 100 miles at a clip, and the journey is pushing them to the limit.But what better way to remember 9/11 than by doing what the doomed passengers of Flight 93 said before they retook their hijacked plane and crashed it rather than allow terrorists to take it to the nation’s capital.“They said, ‘Let’s roll,’ and that’s what we say every morning,” Ostrovsky said. “Let’s roll.”Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.