Prince George is playing host to a group of cyclists making a long journey from one of the United States’ most southern states, all the way to the country’s most northern state.
The Texas 4000 for Cancer is a student-led cycling team raising funds and awareness for cancer research, bringing students on a 4,000 mile journey from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska.
“There’s a lot of adjusting that you do physically, emotionally, mentally, just to the challenge of not only biking those 4,000 miles, but also just being in a group for 70 days with 19 other students and kind of going through those issues, and entering rural territory as very urban students, that can be very challenging,” Texas 4000 Community Engagement Chair Leah Tharakan.
Tharakan added the elevation changes since entering Canada have brought a considerable challenge as well.
“We’re from Texas, so the sea level, we’re very close to sea level,” she said. “So as we started to enter Colorado and then Utah, and then slowly started to work our way through the US and the Canadian Rockies, I think we’ve all been adjusting to the altitude and the elevation which has been challenging, not only for our legs, but also for our breathwork, and that’s been difficult, but we’ve been enjoying it so far.”
Another challenge Tharakan said she was having was around sleep, with the sun setting much later in parts of B.C. than she’s used to.
“As we’ve gotten further and further north, the light is on for a lot longer,” she explained. “I think at 10 p.m. the light is still on, and at 4 a.m. it seems like the light is turning on, and because we ride for so long, the exhaustion is to no end, and my sleep just does not catch on.”
For new rider Saylor Black, he feels the group is continuing to get closer and closer, especially after crossing the border.
“There’s not a whole lot out here, it’s pretty rural, very woody, forests as far as the eye can see, so it’s a lot of, we have each other and that’s it,” he explained. “We get on each other’s nerves, we lift each other up, we’ve seen each other cry, we’ve make each other laugh, we’ve done all of it as a team.”
Black is taking part in the ride for his grandfather Eddie, who passed away at the age of 47 from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
“When he passed away at age 47, he was in the middle of repurposing an old shipwreck and building it into a brand new sailboat, that is who I’m named after,” Black said. ”
“I’m riding for him and how cancer kept me from ever getting to meet him and getting to see that legacy that I was named after, but I can channel that adventurous spirit by doing something like this, and feel like he’s really with me and following his footsteps and his willingness to just drop everything and go towards the unknown.”
Over the course of the 70-day ride, 19 students from the University of Texas at Austin commit to raising a minimum of $7,500, with all proceeds granted to cancer research and support services.
“Once we finish the ride, we enter a grants committee, and we’re able to decide where this money is allocated and advocate on behalf of the organizations that we visit throughout the ride, and decide where we want to put this money towards” Tharakan explained.
While raising awareness and funds for cancer research is the main goal, Tharakan said volunteering in the communities they pass through is also a large part of the journey.
“In Dallas alone, we volunteered at Medical City Dallas, we worked on creating cards for patients, and we also worked on delivering those cards to patients and speaking to cancer patients specifically about their backgrounds, what’s affecting them, and how we can be more better suited to communicating with them,” she said.
From Prince George, the riders will head west along Highway 16, making their way to Kitwanga, where they will turn north towards Dease Lake on their route to Anchorage.
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