Volunteers, aid workers keep BRAN rolling through Nebraska

AINSWORTH -- Not long after the last of the bicyclists leave Dunning early Monday and turn north toward Brewster on Nebraska 91, a black SUV pulling a trailer drives past.

Riding shotgun is Kelly Smith. He is wearing a coonskin cap, shouting encouragement to the late starters and enthusiastically using what he refers to as his “clapper.“

The clapper �” a stem with three plastic hands that sound almost like a snare drum when shaken -- was a gift last year from one of the organizers of the Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska, which is now in its 28th year.

If a BRAN rider (which Smith would call a BRANinimal) looks tired, if the wind is blowing or the sun is beating down, Smith believes in one simple remedy. “You give them the clapper.”

Smith has been along for 11 of those rides, counting this year’s.

Smith doesn’t ride on BRAN, at least not much. He, along with several other employees of The Bike Rack, a bicycle shop in Omaha, tag along to fix flat tires, replace broken spokes , and to generally act as a maintenance crew.

Several other bicycle shops also offer repairs and equipment to BRAN riders. And BRAN’s organizers set up multiple aid stations for each leg of trip, which are staffed by volunteers and stocked with water, fruit and snacks.

“It’s everybody helping each other out here,” Smith said.

Kathy Graham of Alliance volunteers at one of the aid stations (better known as SAGs, which Graham believes stands for Service On the Go) and has for the past 22 years.

To riders, she’s better known as “Sunbonnet” because she often wears a sunbonnet and because in the days before cell phones, the SAGs communicated with each other via CB radios. Sunbonnet was Graham’s name.

A man from Saunders County goes by “Kolace.”

Graham started SAGging (as it’s referred to on BRAN) a few years after her husband started riding on the tour each year. She brought their daughter, then 3, along, too.

Another SAG also had small children, and they began referring to their kids as raisin BRANs, since they had practically grown up on the ride.

Three years ago, Graham had surgery two weeks before BRAN. She decided to SAG anyway, because she figured she’d be better taken care of with the riders and other SAGs (her husband is a SAG too) around.

“It was much more pleasant than staying home for a week by myself,” she said.

Some of the SAGs Graham started with have retired from their annual duties. Another pair, who got married on BRAN 16 years ago, are retiring this year. The other SAGs -- and the riders too -- will miss them.

“It’s a family,” Graham said.

Smith, for his part, plans to keep on riding along and repairing bikes forever.

He’s accumulated a large collection of hats �” including the coonskin one he wore on the way to Ainsworth Monday morning -- from BRAN riders thankful that he takes care of their bikes.

That’s the way BRAN is, he said.

“It’s all about the BRAN riders taking care of us, too,” he said.