Hundreds of motorcyclists rode approximately 50 miles from Franklin Park Zoo in Dorchester to the Dudley L. Brown VFW in Onset on Sunday, September 18 to promote diabetes awareness and to remember a friend.

Rick Graham, a 24-year Boston firefighter, died on July 21, 2001 after suffering a diabetic coma while riding his motorcycle.

For the past nine years, his family and friends have organized and participated in the Rick Graham Diabetes Awareness Memorial Ride, an effort to raise money for the American Diabetes Association and other charitable causes, as well as to honor all motorcycle enthusiasts who have passed away.

"'Rick' is the name [the ride] is under, but it's in memory of all the bikers in New England" who have died, said organizer Fitz Allen.

The end of the event, which features tons of food, raffles, and activities for children, was moved to the VFW from Carver three years ago and organizers say they remain thrilled to be in Onset.

"We've gotten hands down the best support," said Adrian Drakes, another organizer of the event. "We're very appreciative."

This year's event was particularly difficult for the organizers, however. They lost one of their own - their chaplain - on August 13.

Francis Davis was visiting Onset to attend the Cape Verdean Festival when he sustained serious head injuries and died after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a telephone pole on Onset Avenue shortly after he left the event. It is unclear what caused Davis to crash, Allen said. Davis was reportedly traveling at a low rate of speed.

"We had to memorialize [Davis] and get ready for [the Rick Graham ride]," Allen said.

Davis, 64, died less than a mile from the VFW, where he would end the Rick Graham motorcycle run with his peers each year. In recent years, Davis would say a prayer aloud in Dorchester for all of the participants before they began the trek.

Though remembering recent and past losses of friends, the Rick Graham ride was not somber on Sunday. It was a celebration of life.

The riders revved their engines and beeped horns as they pulled into the VFW, to the delight of bystanders who had emerged from their homes at the sound of the engines and event attendees who lined Onset Avenue to welcome the motorcyclists.

Cars stretched down Onset Avenue while Wareham Police and the Onset Fire Department stopped traffic so the riders could safely make their turn on to Gibbs Ball Park Road.

"Our biggest thing is for people to have a good time and be safe on the way down here," Drakes said.

The bikes filled the VFW parking lot and spilled onto the adjacent field. Riders mingled with each other, reunited with old friends, and danced to music played by DJ Lady K.

And in an effort to save others' lives from diabetes, the event offered free diabetes testing, which Drakes said was noticeably utilized more this year than in the past.

It was appropriate, because as Allen noted, everyone came together for a common cause: "To remember and memorialize ... and to fight diabetes."