the 4000... a 70-day bike ride from Austin to Anchorage, where 50 students from The University of Texas at Austin pedaled bicycles for 70 straight days, riding 4,500 miles and will be arriving on August 10th

As a 70-day ride that travels three routes from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska, the Texas 4000 summer ride is the longest annual charity bike ride in the world. Starting together in Austin the team splits on Day Two into Sierra, Rockies, and Ozarks routes and later reunites in Canada to ride the last nine days together into Anchorage. Each rider logs more than 4,000 riding miles throughout the course of the ride.

The riders arrange all accommodations in advance during the training year. They rely on the generosity of host families, churches, and schools for shelter and are prepared to camp when housing is not available. Riders provide their own “SAG” support, rotating through the duties of driving the support vehicles, setting up rest stops, securing food donations, and preparing meals that are not provided.

Messages of prevention and early detection are shared through educational programs given by riders in many of the towns they ride through.

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Every year Texas 4000 competitively selects University of Texas students for an 18-month program designed to cultivate the next generation to lead the fight against cancer. Texas 4000 empowers each student to raise $4,500, ride 2,000 training miles with his/her team, volunteer more than 50 hours in the community, and play an active role in planning every aspect of the ride to Alaska by attending weekly meetings and taking leadership positions within the team.

We look for students with a passion to fight cancer, previous organizational involvement, good communication skills, and a demonstrated ability to work well with a team. Believe it or not, previous cycling experience is NOT a requirement and the fundraising, training and volunteering all take place BEFORE the summer ride even begins.

The Texas 4000 training program includes a comprehensive curriculum based around our Eight Foundational Skills – Self Awareness, Communication, Resiliency, Efficient Planning, Peer Respect, Situational Leadership, Technical Knowledge & Skills, and Vision and Action. More information about our foundational skills and the riders leadership development program coming soon!

As a result of their full experience, Texas 4000 riders report growth and increased skills in the areas of physical fitness, leadership, accountability, confidence, resiliency, decision-making, conflict resolution, cancer advocacy, community engagement, volunteerism, fundraising, networking, mentorship, nonprofit operations, bike maintenance, nutrition, public speaking, interviewing, time management, teamwork, and more.

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Texas 4000 for Cancer was founded by Chris and Mandy Condit in 2004, both engineering students at the University of Texas in Austin.

Diagnosed at age 11, Chris himself is a Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor. He conceived Texas 4000 as a way to continue the fight against cancer by raising funds for cancer research and sharing hope, knowledge, and charity throughout the continent. Chris felt that creating the longest charity bicycle ride in the world, from Texas to Alaska, would be an appropriate way to fight the nation’s greatest disease threat.

Chris, Mandy and their founding team create the Rockies and Sierra routes, volunteer model and overall structure that has been continued by University of Texas student leaders, a small staff, and an increasingly large team of supporters and volunteers. After the inaugural ride when 43 students blaze a trail from Austin to Anchorage, the student riders present a check to the American Cancer Society for $112,000.

https://www.texas4000.org/