Twenty two students from the University of Texas are taking a rest day in Prince George today, on their way to Anchorage, Alaska.
The Texas 4000 is an annual ride which raises money for cancer research by sending a total of 67 riders on three teams on three routes from Texas to Alaska. The three routes are titled; Sierra, Rockies and Ozarks.
The team in Prince George today is on the Rockies route (see right), which has taken them through Colorado and Utah into Calgary and through Banff and Jasper National Parks.
The team has been faced with desert heat and mountain ranges – but rider Andrew Coulter says he will never forget a storm that hit them on the Icefields Parkway between between Lake Louise and Jasper.
“The road wrapped around this mountain like a corkscrew and right as the group started hitting it just started pouring down rain, so everyone was just biking up going; ‘we are freezing, but we are going to do this’ and just kept going” he said laughing while his team mates relaxed in a Prince George backyard before heading Ness Lake for the day.
Although the weather didn’t cooperate, many of the riders found the beauty of the Rockies hard to comprehend.
“Some of the glaciers and the areas that are in Banff and Jasper – you just sit there and go ‘this is a real place?’”
The whole journey will take an expected 70 days, with the team staying in churches, community centres and homestays along the way.
“Physically and especially mentally after a month of biking and doing this stuff, it starts to take a toll on you. I think that’s what overall is hardest.” Coulter said “We definitely have a lot of fun and have a really good group of people but everyone has a bad or grumpy day once and awhile.”
The Rockies team hopes to raise $825,000 and have already reached $550,000. Riders are required to raise at least $4500 to take part, but Coulter says some have raised as much as $50,000.
They are scheduled to meet up with the other two teams in Whitehorse on August 3rd and reach Anchorage on August 12th.
You can follow the journey at Texas4000.org
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