Riders Travel Long Distance For 'Remember The Removal' Bike Ride

On Friday, nine members of the Cherokee Nation finished a 1,000-mile bike ride along the Trail of Tears to honor their ancestors. 

The Trail of Tears is the route the Cherokee nation and other tribes took when they were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands but on Friday, it's the ultimate symbol of determination for the nine "Remember the Removal" cyclists.

"This reminds us of where we came from and really because these are young people, it reminds us that we got a bright future because it's in their hands," Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin said. 

These riders cycled 1,000 miles in 3 weeks. They started in Georgia and finished in downtown Tahlequah, and they all say they couldn't have done it without each other. Hoskin says the riders are an example of how all Cherokee should come together.

"That's really what I think Cherokee can rally around....that we can have each other's back...that we can take care of each other, and that we do have a bond," Hoskin said. 

Rider Kaylee Smith says the ride was therapeutic for her.

She says before the ride, her mental health was so bad that she didn't think she would be alive to make the ride.

But after finishing the ride, and with the help of her teammates, she says she is a much stronger person than she realized.

"After this three-week-long journey, I realized that I could put anything that I set my mind to," Smith said.

Smith also says after riding and walking on the same ground her ancestors walked, she's never been prouder to be a Cherokee.

"Being able to connect with my culture is something I'm going to cherish forever," Smith said.