A Bike Ride Across NebraskaFive hundred miles across Nebraska – on a bicycle? Why would hundreds of people do this year after year? Nebraska Life’s Steve and Bobbi Olson decided there was only one way to find out. Story and photos by
Bobbi and Steve Olson |
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| Click on the image below for a slide show of Bobbi and Steve Olson's photos. |
“You really expect to ride all
the way across Nebraska on that little seat?” Bobbi said. Dressed in winter-weight
bike clothes, Steve rolled his bike down the gravel driveway and out onto Highway
2. It was late March, and though we enjoyed a few 50 and 60 degree days, most
days we still felt a chill in the air. But if we were going to do it, it was
time to begin training for the 500-plus mile Bike Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN)
in June.
In 1981, three members of the Rotary
Club of Omaha Northwest founded the week-long bicycle tour as both a community
service project and as a fun and safe way for bicyclists to discover Nebraska’s
beauty. The tour has gone through all 93 Nebraska countries and enjoyed the
hospitality of hundreds of towns along the route. BRAN has awarded more than
$250,000 in scholarships since 1986, including a $1,000 scholarship each year
to the host town voted the “friendliest” by participants. In 2005,
BRAN’s 25th anniversary tour drew 565 riders from 35 states and several
foreign countries.
Bobbi hadn’t yet worn the new
off her bike, the first she’d owned since she was a teenager. She admitted
that the ride sounded like a great way to see the Nebraska countryside. But
there was also the reality – contrary to what some people think –
that Nebraska is not flat.
In the end, adventure won out. We both signed up for the ride. We wanted to see for ourselves what draws so many bicyclists to the event.
(The complete story appears in the May/June 2006 issue of Nebraska Life Magazine.)