Bikers on 1,350 mile Underground Railroad ride stop in Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-Four weeks. 1,350 miles of biking. 

“The weather has been great. We’ve only had rain once,” said rider Sandi Remson. 

About a dozen bikers are on an Underground Railroad bicycle ride following Southern slaves historic path towards freedom. 

Two weeks into their journey they are now in Bowling Green, after biking 72 miles from Nashville.

“There’s 20 miles between rest stops so we tell people that are on their first ride, you only have to ride 20 miles to each rest stop and then you can rest and eat and then ride another 20 miles, break it down to its simplest component step,” said rider Mark Murphy. 

Even though they average around 63 miles a day, they’re not on just a biking mission.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to help people out,” said Remson. 

The riders raise money for the Fuller Center…an organization that helps fight poverty by building affordable homes for those less fortunate. 

In fact, these riders will hop off their bikes to help lay the foundation for five homes at stops along the way.

“Part of the ministry is that the recipients of these homes have to put in sweat equity. So they typically come out and work with us and build with us. If they don’t have building skills maybe they’ll feed us. But generally we get to meet them and their families so generally it’s a good part of the process,” said Murphy. 

A process highlighted by the significance of the Underground Railroad…that began on the Gulf Coast and ended on the shores of Lake Erie. 

“I can’t even begin to imagine because we were down in Mississippi seeing the swamps and all these inhospitable places where they would have to hide and try to get out of there. And honestly on my bicycle I thought, `I could not imagine how much guts it took to do that’,” said Murphy.