Teamwork and flat tires

Bikers battle obstacles on 400-mile journey

Nebraska City, Neb. ? Cathy Knight pedals her bicycle into Nemaha, Neb., with her 15-year-old son, Ben, at her side. They coast up to a Subaru parked in front of the local post office.

Emily, Cathy’s 17-year-old daughter, is behind the wheel, with Dan Smith, a Lawrence resident and Cathy’s friend, next to her. The three Knights stop to check the day’s route on a Border Raiders route map.

“They’re kind of supporting me,” Cathy Knight, a Lawrence resident, said of her two children and friend.

Knight, program director of the Center for Rehabilitation at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, is on the third day of an eight-day, 400-mile bicycle ride.

“I’ve never ridden more than 40 miles in a row in my life,” Knight said.

Working as a team, her son and daughter take turns riding with her. Ben bikes in the morning and Emily takes the afternoon shift. But two flat tires, one each for Ben and Cathy, slowed them down Monday.

“I couldn’t get the (tire) valve off,” Cathy said. “So I was stranded out at mile 60.”

She got a lift in the Subaru for the last 10 miles.

“It’s the first day I didn’t finish,” she said. “But I know I could have. I feel good.”

Across the street from the Knights, in front of Nemaha’s Only Stop, store co-owner Jim Ruby greets cyclist Susan Smith, Lawrence resident, who stands with her 27-speed Steelman road bicycle. Next to her is Ruby’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

“Can I trade you?” Smith joked.

Ruby laughs, and the two discuss Ruby’s 58-horsepower bike and the joys of two-wheeling.

“I don’t know what wattage I put out,” Smith said.

A good southerly breeze Monday added power to all pedalers. “In one stretch of highway, in that tailwind, we were doing 21-22 miles per hour,” Smith said. “We were absolutely cruising. It was awesome.”

The cyclists stayed the night at Nebraska City High School and viewed the film “Touched by Fire – Bleeding Kansas,” a documentary about the first armed conflict leading up to the Civil War. Today, they tackle a 62-mile route to Hamburg, Iowa.