CUMBERLAND — A survivor of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers is a regular participant in the annual America’s 9/11 Ride, and he said that as the motorcycle convoy approached Cumberland on Friday morning, he began to get chills — but not from the cold rain that had soaked the riders most of the way from Shanksville, Pa.

“I get goose bumps,” said Rich Pinnavaia, who lives in Long Island. “I know what kind of reception we’re going to get in Cumberland.

“I tell the first-timers on this ride they won’t believe the way people in these small towns will turn out to meet us,” he said.

Even though it rained hard for most of the morning, Pinnavaia said people still lined Mechanic Street to greet the riders, and it was no different at Allegany College of Maryland, where they pulled in for a brief pit stop.

Some who were on hand to greet them said they had the same reaction when the convoy began approaching, the thunder of their engines clearly audible for some distance. They got goose bumps, too.

Uniformed contingents from the Cumberland police and fire departments, Chapter 172 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Mountainside Marine Detachment 1071 and the Mountainside Young Marines lined the road that enters the college, as did a sizable number of civilians and a few elected officials — some standing under umbrellas, some not.

A bucket truck from the fire department held an American flag over the entranceway to the college. The Vietnam Veterans and Young Marines handed out bottles of water to the riders, most of whom said they were as dry on the inside as they were wet on the outside.

Roger Flick of Damascus, one of the 9/11 riders, said some people had asked him why he and the others kept pressing on during the rain.

“They want to know if we’re crazy,” Flick said. “I tell them we do this in honor of the nearly 3,000 people who died on Sept. 11, 2001.”

Many of the riders wore rain suits, but some were clad only in T-shirts, jeans, helmets and boots.

One member of the Vietnam Veterans Color Guard said he counted 388 motorcycles, most of whom had a driver and a rider.

“I was just standing here in the rain and didn’t have anything else to do,” he said. Like those of the others in his unit, his black beret, white uniform blouse and olive drag pants were soaked.

Many of the veterans stood at attention and snapped a salute when the police escorts started coming past and held it until the very end of the convoy where the emergency services and support vehicles accompanied the bikers. Some of the riders returned those salutes.

Flick said he was particularly impressed by the Young Marines, teenagers in sharp, neatly pressed uniforms who stood at attention in the rain and saluted the whole time.

“They’re Marines,” Harlan Smith told him. “That’s what we do.” A Vietnam-Era Marine veteran, Smith is the local coordinator for the 9/11 Ride reception.

“It’s an amazing day, and I’m proud and honored to be here,” she said.

Flick said one of the Young Marines told him that some of the Mountainside Marines, World War II veterans among them, also stood and held their salutes the whole time, so he couldn’t do anything less.

Pinnavaia, a veteran, said he was working on the 35th floor of Twin Tower No. 2 on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was on the phone, talking to my wife, when the hijacked airliner struck it,” he said, “and that’s when the phone went dead.

“I survived,” he said. “I’m not going to let people forget those who didn’t.”

Before coming to Cumberland, the 9/11 riders visited Shanksville, the crash site of Flight 93, whose passengers regained control of the airliner and may have kept it from being used to strike the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

They next were heading to the Pentagon, where another hijacked airliner was crashed, and then will proceed today to the Twin Towers site in New York City.

In addition to reminding Americans about 9/11, the ride also raises funds for scholarships that are given to children of emergency medical service responders, police officers and firefighters.

James Goldsworthy can be reached at jgoldsworthy@times-news.com.