AUSTIN, Texas — Dozens of University of Texas at Austin students took off from the Forty Acres Friday morning for a bike ride with a purpose.
The group of 85 fully vaccinated UT students left to begin the Texas 4000, a 70-day, 4,000-mile bike ride across the U.S. that aims to raise awareness, hope and funds for the fight against cancer. It is the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.
Organizers said the Texas 4000 team is excited to get back on the road after the cancellation of the physical ride in 2020. This is the first journey for this group of cyclists.
"We've been training for the past year, year-and-a-half, and fundraising and volunteering. So, we've done the work to get here, so we're excited to start the ride and do what we set out to do," Amanda Dennis told KVUE.
Typically, the ride goes from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska, but due to the pandemic and border crossing, the riders will stay in the main 48 states this year.
The riders will make daily stops until they complete their roundtrip back to Austin.
Since 2004, more than 980 students have completed the ride, raising over $12.1 million and logging more than 5.3 million miles, according to Texas 4000 organizers.
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