Story from Gear Junkie: "Little-Known Heroes: All-Black 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps"

No gears, heavy bikes, washed out roads, among other challenges and they rode nearly 2,000 miles from Fort Missoula, Montana to St. Louis, Missouri.

In June of 1897, the all-black company of the 25th Mobile Infantry, under command of a white lieutenant and accompanied by a medic and a journalist, embarked on a journey across America’s heartland — from Fort Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis, Missouri — to “test most thoroughly the bicycle as a means of transportation for troops.”

Their trek would span 41 days and 1,900 miles and pit the men against sandhills, the Rocky Mountains, rain, snow, poison, and more. Decades before Dr. King had his famous dream, these men were sweating together, bleeding together, and biking together as a team.

Their trip proved two truths that we should hold self-evident today: 1) All men are created equal; 2) All men are nowhere near as tough as they were in 1897.

Hour-long PBS documentary about the Bicycle Corps.