After the Civil War, in an experiment by the U.S. Army to determine the effectiveness of moving troops by bicycle, the all-Black 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps was commissioned to embark on an expedition nearly 2,000 miles from Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis, Missouri. 

The 1897 journey was dubbed “The Great Experiment” in national newspapers that cared to pay attention to the 41-day adventure, which crossed through some of the harshest conditions and terrain in the American West, spanning Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Missouri. 

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of this experiment and to start a movement to identify these brave men and bicycle travel pioneers, in 2022, Erick Cedeño, aka the Bicycle Nomad, retraced the route and history of the All-Black, bicycle-mounted 25th Infantry.