Austin cycling team rides to Alaska in fight against cancer

This summer, 71 University of Texas at Austin students will take a 70-day journey to Anchorage, Alaska, on a charity bicycle ride that is more than twice as long as the Tour de France.

The students are part of Texas 4000, an organization that hosts the longest charity bicycle ride for cancer awareness in the world. On June 2, the Texas 4000 team will split into three groups, each with their own route to Alaska. The team will sleep in churches, gymnasiums, campsites and homes of host families throughout the trip.

Austin-based Jack & Adam's Bicycles offers the cyclists a discount on their bikes, and most lodging is donated by various benefactors, Texas 4000 Program Director Lance Pyburn said.

At each of their stops, riders will give presentations to inform people about cancer, prevention and healthy living.

"We're trying to inspire people we meet across the country," Pyburn said.

Prior to their departure, students must raise at least $4,500 and ride at least 1,500 miles with their teammates.

So far, rider and cancer survivor Bucky Ribbeck has raised more than $21,000 for the trip with a goal of reaching $25,000. Ribbeck said he does not consider himself to be a cyclist but that Texas 4000 is a good reason to become one.

"It's great because this organization opens up the opportunity for people who aren't necessarily the best cyclists to come out and show that they are willing to become cyclists for an extended period of time to fight this disease," Ribbeck said.

Ribbeck was diagnosed in May 2009 with a bone cancer called Ewing's sarcoma; he was 17 years old. He joined Texas 4000 to be an example to others fighting cancer. Ribbeck reached out to social connections, wrote letters to friends and family, and panhandled on Fifth Street and Lamar Boulevard to raise the funds, he said.

"[It's] being able to fight back and do something to show that 'I'm a survivor, and this is what you can do with your life after you have survived cancer,'" he said. "You can go on and do great things like this. You can give back, and you can live."

As part of the June 1 kickoff for the trip, the nonprofit hosts the Atlas Ride, which allows Central Texans to ride with the team in the first 25, 50 or 75 miles from Cedar Park to Lampasas, Pyburn said.

For information on the Atlas Ride, visit www.texas4000.org.

901 S. MoPac, Barton Oaks Plaza One, Ste. 300, 512-329-1908, www.texas4000.org