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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.bikemn.org/
X-WR-CALNAME:Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota
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BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:MEC-3af3d94fb6259a153cde3f009b02a81a@bikemn.org
DTSTART:20260821T230000Z
DTEND:20260821T230000Z
DTSTAMP:20260817T183400Z
CREATED:20260817
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817
PRIORITY:5
TRANSP:OPAQUE
SUMMARY:Celebrating The 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps – 1897 Missoula to St.Louis
DESCRIPTION:\nOverview\n\n\n\n1,900 Miles. 41 Days. They Didn’t Expect to Finish. In 1897 the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps — all-Black, steel-framed, no gears, no fears\n\n\n\nThe U.S. Army wanted to know whether the bicycle could replace the horse. So it handed the question to the 25th Infantry — a Black regiment — and sent them into the Rockies to find out.\n\n\n\nIn the summer of 1897, twenty soldiers left Fort Missoula, Montana on single-speed steel bicycles loaded with rifles, bedrolls, and rations. Forty-one days later they rolled into St. Louis, roughly 1,900 miles behind them: gumbo mud, unbridged rivers, mountain passes, and the low expectations of a nation deep in the Jim Crow era. They averaged better than 45 miles a day on roads that mostly weren’t.\n\n\n\nThe Army got its answer and shrugged. The men got no promotion, no parade, no lasting credit. History moved on. We’re moving it back.\n\n\n\nTonight is a collaboration with the Minnesota Historical Society, and it comes with something you can’t get from a book: period gear from the era of the journey, up close. We’ll trace the 25th Infantry’s Minnesota chapter — the regiment’s years stationed at Fort Snelling — and follow the thread to the soldiers and families who eventually made Minneapolis home.\n\n\n\nThen we ride. Because the point of remembering people who rode is to ride.\n\n\n\nExpect historians, artifacts, and a route that connects the telling to the ground it happened on. Bring someone who thinks history is boring. Let the bikes handle it.\n\n\n\n▸ RIDE DETAILS\n\n\n\n\nProgram: 6: 00 PM gear exhibit & talk · Dinner 7:15 PM\n\n\n\nStart/Finish: Venture Bikes, 2834 10th Ave S (Greenway Level, Midtown Bike Center)\n\n\n\nFeaturing: Minnesota Historical Society staff + period equipment\n\n\n\nBring: Helmet, water, lights, and questions\n\n\n\nGood for: History heads, families, anyone who’s never heard this story\n\n
URL:https://www.bikemn.org/events/celebrating-the-25th-infantry-bicycle-corps-1897-missoula-to-st-louis/
CATEGORIES:Black Bike Week,Rides,Social
LOCATION:1000 Midtown Greenway
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.bikemn.org/wp-content/uploads/Cultural-Wellness-Center.jpg
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