monte frank is the organizer and one of the riders of team 26, and he joins us from washington, d.c.ou pulled out that it was raining. what is it like to do this ride in the middle of winter? >> the conditions were horrific. we left baltimore in a torrential downpour and it was 45 degrees. so we--the skies can be clear a little bit. just before we started the event with the congressional delegation but it was pretty cold and nasty coming in. buti talked to him every night on the way down and he said it's great to be on your wheels. they kept saying, we've got 26 angels guiding me along. we were also very inspired by representative gabby giffords when she tweeted to us when your legs get tired keep pedaling. and we did that and we arrived. >> michael: those pieces of inspiration are amazing. it's a somber journey you're taking but there is a great deal of energy that took you to washington and a great deal of resolve. tell me about the mood of the riders. >> well, we had riders, four of us are from newtown of. two of us had children who went to sandy hook elementary school. we have ri

monte frank.s for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> your daughter sarah graduated from elementary school, in middle school now. one of her teachers was one of the teachers killed in the massacre, isn't that correct? >> yes. she had vicki soto as a third great teacher when her regular third great teacher went on maternity leave. it was vicki's first teaching job, brand new teacher, wonderful teacher. my daughter became very close with her. >> and what is it like today in newtown, connecticut in the aftermath of this tragedy. we have been hearing about the connecticut effect in washington, some people saying maybe we just have to wait for the connecticut effect to fade and this issue can go away. others saying the connecticut effect is driving this issue. what is the connecticut effect in newtown tonight? >> i think we've seen the connecticut effect. it is clearly growing. we had a tremendous rally in newtown when we left saturday morning, tremendous enthusiasm. we then -- essentially our ride