CHERRYVILLE  — A Cherryville woman who's been out of work for a year and a half went to marathon lengths to apply for a job.

Kimberly White rode her bicycle on a 26-mile round trip to Lincolnton to apply for a job earlier this month, The Gaston Gazette reported.

The 39-year-old mother of two had been laid off as an administrative assistant at a propane company in February 2011. Months of updating her resume and filling out applications hadn't worked.

White had been walking to the Cherryville library each day to look for a job.

So when she saw a job for a payment center with a utility company, she wasn't going to let her broken down car keep her from getting the application filed.

The round trip on her daughter's bright pink mountain bike took about three hours.

"It boils down to, I guess, just not having a car, not having access to a car," White said. Her Toyota had more than 200,000 miles and one of the cylinders was broken.

"You get creative when you get poor," she said.

"I never thought twice about hopping on the bike and trekking up there," White said. She said she did start having second thoughts about halfway to Lincolnton.

She's waiting to hear about the job. She hopes sharing her struggles will provide motivation and encouragement to others in her situation.