WYMORE - This town rolled out the welcome mat - and the old bicycles Wednesday - for more than 600 riders and about 150 support staff from Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska.

Old bikes welcomed the BRAN invasion and pointed riders to Arbor State Park, the campground for the third leg of the 29th annual cycling tour.

Riders spent Tuesday night in Superior and rode 83.3 miles Wednesday to the southern Gage County town of Wymore.

Three churches and the American Legion prepared food, and the town put on music in the park and offered free movies and swimming.

"It's been a lot of work, but it's actually been a lot of fun," said Rhonda Brownawell, president of the Gage Community Pride Group.

Host towns along the route each get a $500 high school scholarship, plus one gets a second if riders vote it the best host town.

They get much-needed business, too.

Brownawell predicted a $10,000 to $16,000 economic boost for Wymore, population 1,656. Wymore last hosted BRAN in 1996.

"By the time you get 700 people buying supplies and anything else around town, I think it's a good promotion for the city," she said.

When Brownawell put an ad in the paper asking residents to donate old bikes, she got more than she bargained for.

She placed a second ad the next week: No more bicycles!

Her father, Terry, and his wife, Pat, welded some of the bikes into an arch at the entrance to the park.

On Wednesday, Kent Baker, 53, of Lincoln and John Richardson of Kirksville, Mo., were the first two male riders to arrive. They left Superior before 6 a.m. and made several stops before rolling in about 11 a.m. It was Baker's 17th consecutive BRAN ride and Richardson's fourth.

"It's had its good days and it's had its hard days," Baker said. "Yesterday was a hard day."

Wind gusting to 20 mph, rain pelting riders and a milled highway surface for the last four or five miles before Superior made the ride tough, they said.

"I'm kind of hooked, I guess," Richardson said. "It's kind of neat riding with 600 people who share a common interest in bicycling and a love for cycling."

Becky Kinloch of La Vista pedaled in by noon, her goal for the day.

"I'm not fast, just steady," said Kinloch, who took a spill on her new Madone when she hit a patch of gravel.

This BRAN was special for her. Her dad died last year after a five-year illness. She took care of him and postponed some of the things she loves, like bicycle trips.

He left her some money and a note saying, "You got your life back. Go ride!"

So this week, the longtime teacher is on BRAN and next month she'll be in Iowa for RAGBRAI, an annual trek across Iowa.

Arbor State Park, home to the swimming pool and Wymore Southern High School football field, became a tent city by Wednesday afternoon.

Some riders were still pulling in. Others searched for their luggage on the partially flooded basketball court, headed for the showers or rode a hayrack to the Dog House Bar and Grill, where cook Doris Vanderkuur was serving up beef stew on biscuits.

"It means a lot to us," Vanderkuur said.

The noon crowd was slow, but she hoped to see more people for an spaghetti dinner.

BRAN riders travel light on their bikes, but about 40,000 pounds of clothing, tents and other gear is along for the ride in a semi-truck driven by LeRoy Leist of Omaha.

The trailer's doors serve as a message board: lost and found, personal messages and the occasional bike-riding joke.

In Wymore, the football team unloaded the truck Wednesday. Riders will fill it back up when they leave Thursday for Humboldt.

Dick Galusha of Omaha runs BRAN's traveling office and sells official BRAN T-shirts and other things riders need, like Monkey Butt, also known as talcum powder that prevents chafing, and Chicken Poop, a lip gloss.

The theme of this year's ride is "Pirates of the Plains," and Andrew Koziol of Fullerton got into the spirit, hoisting a tattered Jolly Roger on a van owned by his son Vince.

"It's been really nice," said Andrew Koziol, who was riding with two of his sons. "It's been really relaxing. Nice people. It's nice to be with the boys."

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at (402) 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.