'Branta Claus' Rides Into Antelope County

The corner of his eyes crinkled as he laughed and recalled old stories with his friends.

Relaxing near his tent in Neligh’s Riverside Park, he reclined in his lawn chair wearing a tie-dyed Captain America shirt, red Santa Claus suspenders and khaki shorts.

Al Roeder pulled at his long, white beard.

“The beard has changed,” he chuckled. “It used to be red when I started. Every year since, I’ve grown to look more and more like Santa Claus.”

This was Roeder’s 39th year participating in Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN). He hasn’t missed a single year since BRAN began in 1981.

Roeder, 72, of Omaha said his dentist and a BRAN founder, John Wupper, asked him if he would like to participate in BRAN if they got it going.

“I said I’ve never done anything that long of a distance, but it sure sounded intriguing,” he said.

Roeder said he liked the challenge that a cross-state bike tour presented.  

“I decided I’d like to find out if I could do it,” he said with a grin. “It turned out I could. And for a long time.”

The first ride was from Fremont to Scottsbluff. It cost just $5, but you had to find your own ride back home. BRAN now costs $250.

“But, there was a lot less support,” Roeder said. “I never saw a SAG (support vehicle) for the first two years. So your 5 bucks got you a T shirt—a really, really thin T shirt. Oh, and you got a patch.”

Changes in technology have made things more convenient for riders as well, including the widespread use cell phones.

“If you wanted to call home back then, you would sit on the curb next to the phone booth, waiting in line for your turn,” Roeder said. “If there wasn’t a phone booth, you could maybe convince a tavern owner to let you use their phone and reverse the charges.”

He said only 65 people signed up for the first BRAN tour.

“It was very much like a family,” Roeder said. “There wasn’t one person on that ride that had done a long distance ride.”

He said he really enjoyed the first ride, but there was “no guarantee that there would be a second ride.” When the next year rolled around, Roeder said he was all in. Originally, he thought he would participate for about five years.

“Five years came, and well, what the heck?” he recalled. “Six years came and then at seven years, Shannon started riding with me, and boy, did we ever have fun.”

Shannon is his daughter who started riding on the back of his tandem bike at age 9.

“With the combination of having Shannon riding with me and riding with these people here, the social part was really fun,” he said.

Now a retired Central High School science teacher, Roeder said BRAN turned into a summertime tradition, and one he treasured. His daughter rode tandem with him for 30 years. Last year was her final tour due to her struggles with the heat.

“Thirty years of riding with my daughter was special,” Roeder said.

Another benefit of the BRAN tours is the varying routes they take across Nebraska.

“You get to see a lot of the state,” he said. “I like to feel the power of the land and see the open beauty of the sky, it’s pretty fantastic. This particular route in the northern part of the state is so pretty. The Niobrara River valley is one of my favorites.”

Why has Roeder signed up for BRAN year after year?

“Insanity,” he chuckles. “Seriously, friendship is a really big part of the comeback.”

Roeder said some surprising friendships have formed during his BRAN rides.

“There were three college girls who seemed kind of lost during their first ride, so I kind of took them under my wing,” he said.

Roeder later found out that the girls had started calling him “Branta Claus.” They even presented him with a pair of Santa Claus suspenders that he now only wears during BRAN.

After 39 years, he no longer doubts his ability to complete the rides.

“I don’t wonder anymore if I can do it. I know that I can,” Roeder said. “I don’t know how long I can do it, but I’ve done it a long time already. I’ve established that I’m not too bad for an old guy.”

He has been through all kinds of weather for these tours, saying he loves “a good thunderstorm in a tent,” but BRAN39 may have been one for the record books.

“Weather-wize this has probably been the best year yet,” Roeder said. “You just can’t write a script better than the one we have here. We never get four days in a row of tailwinds. It’s been beautiful weather this year.”

He said the beautiful weather made BRAN39 “such an easy year.”

“You can ride fast and long when you’ve got a tailwind,” Roeder said. “This has been an amazing BRAN.”

He admitted that if the weather was like this every year, it might be difficult for him to walk away after BRAN40.

“I have said — and I continue to think this is the case —that I’m going to do it one more year after this and call it an even 40,” Roeder said. “That’s the plan right now, but it might change.”