More than 150 cyclists including injured veterans — men and women from all branches of the Armed Forces — and their supporters will be participating in the Fifth Annual Ride 2 Recovery (R2R) Challenge this month, and for the second year the route will take the group through Newtown.

This year’s Challenge begins in Waltham, Mass, and will take riders into New York City. Cyclists are in for a 355-mile ride, covering five states and both rural and city riding with plenty of hill climbing in Connecticut and New York.

Cyclists will travel through five states in the Third Minuteman Challenge. The ride will begin in the Boston suburb on September 7, then travel through Providence, R.I., on day two; Hartford and Danbury on day three/September 9; to West Point and Newburgh, N.Y., on day four; to New York City on September 11; and then in Fort Lee, N.J., on September 12.

Ride 2 Recovery, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, helps injured veterans improve their health and wellness through individual and group cycling. Cycling has proven to be a catalyst in the recovery process by providing a new physical challenge while concurrently helping to cope with psychological challenges. From indoor spinning training at military installations to multiday, long-distance rides, R2R helps injured veterans heal through the challenge of cycling long distances using hand cycles, recumbents, tandems, and traditional road bikes.

The public is encouraged to gather along the daily ride routes, at rest stops, or at the hotels where the group will be staying to support the cyclists. The route will be marked with orange arrows painted onto the road, and the group will be escorted by American Legion Riders for most of each day.

The R2R group expects to arrive at the Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue main station, at 18-20 Riverside Road, around 2 pm Tuesday for a 30-minute stop. They will be staying at the Crowne Plaza in Danbury for the September 9–10 overnight.

To see daily stops and events along the route, along with the full route (which is subject to change), visit Ride2Recovery.com.

Note that the online schedule currently shows that the group will be traveling through the Purchase section of Southbury in order to reach Glen Road in Newtown, and then following Glen into Sandy Hook Center.

cyclists ended up detouring early, and following River Road (Route 6) in Southbury, and passing into Sandy Hook from that direction. The group then turned left onto Cherry Street, and then took a right onto Riverside Road to reach the Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue main station.Last year

The Cherry Street-Riverside route is not laid out on this year’s route, but it does stand to reason that the same route will be followed on Tuesday to reach the firehouse. When they left the firehouse, riders continued on Riverside to Church Hill Road, rode the full length of Church Hill, turned right onto Main Street. From there, they followed Main Street to Mt Pleasant, continuing into Bethel and then Danbury.

The day three route, which includes the Newtown stop, will cover more than 65 miles.

Highpoints of the 2014 Challenge include a stop at Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots; a welcome on the streets of Hartford by thousands of UnitedHealthcare employees (UH is a major sponsor of the event); a ride through West Point, lunch at the 9/11 Memorial in Rockland County, and breakfast at Macy’s.