Moss left Sergeant Mingo Sanders in temporary command while he pushed ahead with the cook and two soldiers, “intending to reach Moorcroft an hour or more before the command and have supper ready as soon as they arrived.” Poor road conditions, however, forced Moss and his men to dismount and push their bicycles. Darkness descended before they reached town. “While almost feeling our way along a road wet and muddy from a rain from the previous day, we walked and walked and walked, pushing our wheels before us,” noted Moss. “The night air was damp, chilly, and penetrating, and we were cold, hungry, and tired . . . I was really sleeping on my feet.” After several hours of walking, the men were overcome by sheer exhaustion. They collapsed on top of their tents, covered themselves with their blankets, and fell asleep. When the four men awoke the next morning, they saw the town of Moorcroft about a mile away.

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The soldiers regrouped and continued on through the southwest corner of South Dakota, arriving in Crawford, Nebraska, on July 3 as the town’s residents were enjoying an early Independence Day celebration. Boos reported that “The Fourth of July celebration was at its height when the 25th U.S. Infantry Bicycle Corps arrived at Crawford. The entire town was full of people and the corps was given a hearty welcome . . . .”

As the men continued east over the Nebraska plains in extreme heat, water problems intensified. In one instance they rode 50 miles without water, their lips parched and tongues swollen. Daytime temperatures were so high that the men began their trek at daybreak and rode until mid-morning. They rested through the hottest hours of the day and continued on in the late afternoon. If road conditions were good, the corps frequently pedaled by moonlight.

About nine miles out of Alliance, Nebraska, Lieutenant Moss was “overcome from the effects of alkali water, and taken back to town. For the next four days the corps was under the command of Asst. Surgeon J.M. Kennedy.” Moss remained in Alliance to recover, then rejoined the riders by train.

During the four days under Dr. Kennedy’s command, the soldiers endured some of the highest temperatures of their journey. Making matters worse, their bicycles sank eight to ten inches deep in Nebraska’s Sand Hills, forcing the men once again onto the railroad tracks, where they rumbled along for 170 miles. Moss recalled that this distance was covered in four and a half days “by almost superhuman effort. On July 7 the thermometer registered 110 degrees in the shade, and over half of the corps were sick . . . .” Fortunately, the journey was nearing its end.

Twenty-three miles west of St. Louis, newspaper reporter Henry Lucas camped with the bicycle corps and prepared to escort the riders into the city. He relayed word to the St. Louis Star that the men were in top physical condition, and their spirits were high. He further reported, “It is no uncommon sight for residents of this city to see a company of wheelmen . . . but in today’s visitors there is a distinctiveness which will mark them at once as different from other riders . . . . All belong to the African race except the Lieutenant.”

On July 24 hundreds of St. Louis cyclists rode out to meet the approaching regiment, and large crowds greeted the weary travelers as they made their way into the city. During the next few days thousands of spectators visited the corps’ campsite and watched exhibition drills. The St. Louis Associated Cycling Corps even sponsored a parade in honor of its military guests. This was “the most marvelous cycling trip in the history of the wheel and the most rapid military march on record,” reported the St. Louis Star.

Moss was particularly proud of his unit’s persistence. “There was no condition of weather we did not endure, no topographical obstacle that we did not overcome,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In his official report, Moss commended his men for the “spirit, pluck and fine soldierly qualities they displayed.” He stressed that “some of our experiences, especially in the Sand Hills of Nebraska, tested to the utmost not only their physical endurance, but also their moral courage and disposition.”

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