Texas 4000 Reaches Their Goal In Alaska

By randyramirez in Blog on August 13, 2010 at 1:33 pm | 1 Comment

A 70-day, 4,687-mile bicycle ride and cancer awareness tour comes to a close today as 53 UT students reach their finish line in Anchorage, Alaska.

This year marked the seventh annual Texas 4000, founded by cancer survivor Chris Condit, BS ’04. “The grueling journey from Austin to Anchorage is nothing compared to the ordeal of fighting cancer,” Condit says. “The ride is our opportunity to contribute to the fight that so many people wage every day.”

The riders train and raise funds throughout the school year. A few days after classes end, they pedal out of Cedar Park and head north. The cyclists customarily break up into two routes, coastal and Rockies.

Along the way they stop at hospitals, churches, and organizations, where they give presentations about the ride, their fundraising, and cancer fighting and prevention.

Each member of the team is required to raise $4,500 — $1 for every mile they will ride. This year’s team went beyond that goal, bringing in around $350,000, which will be donated to innovative cancer research centers around the country.

Going twice as far as Austinite Lance Armstrong did in this summer’s Tour de France, the Texas 4000 is the world’s longest charity ride. On that ride, the 2010 Sense Corp Texas 4000 for Cancer team ate around 6,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, slathered on four gallons of sunscreen, changed about 350 flat tires, and felt inspired by countless people they met.

Visit Texas 4000’s website for more information on the ride, including profiles of this year’s riders and blogs they wrote during their training and throughout the summer.

Update: the team sent in a photo from their dedication (below) before the final leg of their trip.