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 students make a 70 day, 4,687 mile bike trek from the Texas campus in Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. 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.
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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 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.
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Sierra
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Rockies
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Sierra ('11)
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Rockies ('11)
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Sierra ('10)
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Rockies ('10)
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Sierra ('09)
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Rockies ('09)
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Sierra ('08)
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Rockies ('08)
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Sierra ('07)
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Rockies ('07)
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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.
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.