The Livestrong Texas 4000 for Cancer or Texas 4000 is a 501(c)(3) Federally registered non-profit organization and the longest annual charity bicycle ride in the world. Each year a new group of almost 60 University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

 students make a 70 day, 4,687 mile bike trek from the Texas campus in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 to Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...

. Each rider meets training and community service expectations as well as a $4,500 fundraising goal that goes toward Texas 4000's mission of Hope, Knowledge and Charity from Austin to Anchorage. To date, Texas 4000 has donated over $2.5 million to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the American Cancer Society

American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...

.

History

Texas 4000 was founded by Chris Condit in 2004, then a student at UT Austin, as a student organization inspired by riders of the Hopkins 4K (4K for Cancer, Inc.). Diagnosed at age 11, Condit himself is a Hodgkin's lymphoma

Hodgkin's lymphoma

Hodgkin's lymphoma, previously known as Hodgkin's disease, is a type of lymphoma, which is a cancer originating from white blood cells called lymphocytes...

 survivor. He conceived Texas 4000 as a way to continue the fight against cancer. In 2004, co-founders Mandy Creecy, Abram Grae, Dan Obenour, Carly Sturdivant, Brandon Magsamen and Adriano Vieira worked with Condit to create the route, volunteer model and overall structure that has been continued by University of Texas student leaders and an increasingly large team of supporters and volunteers.

Current Riders

Sierra Chloe Banks Meryl Carey Royce Chang Nora Davidson Ross Davis Nick De La Cruz Jillian Domingue Laura Garcia Rachael Gaydos Jamie Hill Leah Horsch Do Soon Kim Leah Kressin Daniel Laprea Rojesh Maharjan Christine Manthuruthil Nadia Nadesan Uzo N. Ogu Lauren Rego Julia Shatilo Danielle Taimuty Brooke Willard Jeff Zhao

Rockies Ruel Bobet Brian Cervenka Bethany Dalby Adiel Escobedo Agustin Fierros Marcelo Flores Shea Flynn Taylor Foreman Jessica Friedman Omar Ghani Neel Gupta Georgene Hergenroeder Kaitlyn Hunt Diana Johnson Katie Koehler Jonash Loh Katherine Luethcke Nick Meriwether Erin Miller Adriana Oxford Mansi Raythatha Sarah Sykes Gabriela Torres

Previous Riders

Sierra ('11) Melissa Abrantes Molly Allender Kelly Bahng Sarah Fernandez Lane Follmar Tanu Garg Jessica Hanna Alanna Iverson Maria Rafik Langlois Chelsea Lawson Sam Markoff Denny Mathew Amanda McCarty Kylee Olson Adam Petri Ben Phillips Will Ragan Sarah Rupe Erin Scott Ryan Sherman Steven Trenfield Tommy Vinyard Spencer White

Rockies ('11) Jeremy Benavides Rachel Brenner Aaron Curtis Shiyam Galyon Nahil Hamam Steward Keltner Shannon Kintner Ilya Kuperman Adam Laurenzo Melody Liao Whitney Mangold Bijal Mehta Brooke Milbauer Taylor Ortiz Liz Peters Ana DeMetz Pope Tyler Shaw Matt Song Edward Standefer Amanda Taylor Danielle Villasana Benjamin Wagman

Sierra ('10) Arvin Akhavan Nathan Boes Basia Borodziewicz Gabriel Cintron Ana Coronell Mariana Fanous Kathryn Flowers Michael Gaydos Alec Herzog Jackie Hwang Amira Jensen Andrew King Angela Loya Tyler Mann Leah McAleer Jared Muston Emily Overfield Krisztina Petz Erica Plummer Charlie Saginaw David Santino Taylor Smith Paul Tavakolian Karen Wood Taylor Yong Yijiao Zhuang

Rockies ('10) Andrea Ausitn Dytar Bentz Joel Bixier Brett Bowlin Jordan Deathe Ashton Dippel Kelsey Edmondson John Fitch Kristen Hattaway Wilson Ho Natasha Immaraj Brittany Kinard Samuel Kutscha Jinyang Liang Mahek Mehta Shilen Patel Kate Petty Andrew Porter Allie Rathert Jack Reynolds Kathryn Simpson Roseann Trevino Austin VanTine Lauren Waldrop Daniel Walk Kelly Webeck Whitney Yang

Sierra ('09) Sheila Bagir  Megan Braunlin  Eric Chen  Sarah Coyle  Jenna Crutsinger  Colin Doyle  Joel Farris  Richard Geffen  Zaid Hassan  Steven Hirsch Julian Jones Michael McMillin  David Navar  Max Polansky  Lance Pyburn  Emily Sawtelle  Mari Bryn Snyder  Jon Stringer  Daniel Tesfay  Joe Weismantel  Kathryn Yeager

Rockies ('09) Jawad Ashour  Benjamin Atkins  Ben Baron  Lauren Bissey  Jeff Boes  Carolina Canavati  Susan Davis  Lisa DeLosso  Andrew Hsieh  Susan Linn  Edlin Maldonado  Michael McAllaster  Brian Menegaz  Emma Miller  Audrey Neville  Thaison Nguyen  Jan Ongpatanavutikun  Emily Parham  Greg Raaberg  Sarmed Rashid  Allison Sandlin  Courtney Somerville  Kate Steinhebel

Sierra ('08) Javier M. Alarcia-Mencia  Benjamin Bass  Kacie Baugh-Wessling  Alaina Bissey Todd Bondy  Lauren Briscoe  Daniel Culotta Clay Dalton  David Francis  Troves Gilbert  Val Hope  Brooke Ives  Amy Lalicker  Dylan LeBlanc  Jose Lozano  Joe Moore  Rocky Rhodes  Kyle Schaefer Rebecca Sholiton  Ben Vial Pamela Wiebusch  Dan Yuan

Rockies ('08) Geoff Abraham Scott Admire  Pete Bataillon  MJ/Emily Bollinger  Peter Bouck Michael Casey  Dane Edwards  Kasaundra Heiberger  Evan Holtzman  Stella Jang  Trent Johnson  Katherine Kuang  Julio Lucero  Trisha McAndrew  Amy Nguyen  Abby O'Connor  Alberto Portillo  Rob Secker  Geeta Shukla Ivan Valentine

Sierra ('07) Oleg Balter Peyton Coker Rachael Cook Miguel Corona Jody Cross Eric Estrin Michael Glass Darlene Gou David Haase Ryan Hill Timothy Hofstra Kevin Ko Elyse LeBuffe Emily Ochoa Katrina Perry John Poynor Tyler Rambeau Elyor Sebbane Jordan Smotherman Shelley Vinyard Michael Vitek

Rockies ('07) Amy Albin Alex Chang Nelson Chang Usman Cheema Michael Choate Daniel Kietzer Allison Krisak Eric Marlowe Chris McCraw Alex Menzies Claire Olsen Vinoj Pillai Collin Ratcliff Natalie Rovira Choate Alex Schliker Ellen Soper Katy Stafford Shawn Walker

Routes

The trip takes two simultaneous routes: Sierra and Rockies. The Sierra route heads west across New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California. Riders then travel north through Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and the Yukon. The Rockies route heads north to Oklahoma, northwest through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta and British Columbia. The routes separate after Day 1 and converge in Whitehorse, Yukon on Day 60. The last 10 days are ridden west to Anchorage together. Mileage for a typical day ranges between 50 and 100 miles, averaging roughly 65 miles/day with a few days' mileages reaching past the century mark.

ATLAS Ride

In 2005, the ride organizers conceived the ATLAS ride as an additional event and fundraiser. Each year, the community is invited to join the Texas 4000 cyclists for the first day's ride from Cedar Park, TX to Lampasas, TX. The ATLAS event has grown to several hundred participants who ride 50- and 70-mile routes.