LANSING, Michigan (WLNS) – If you haven’t exercised recently … be ready to feel like a slacker. Nineteen University of Texas students and alumni are cycling 4,000 miles across the country, stopping in Lansing on Thursday.
The group started their journey on June 4th and is on the 27th of the 70th day. The group is part of the nonprofit “Texas 4,000 for Cancer”.
Usually the group travels from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. Since the Canadian border was closed to the USA, they had to take a detour.
“We’ll ride through Pennsylvania Maryland, Washington DC to Atlanta Georgia and then west through the deep south back to Texas,” said Karen Liu, one of the cyclists.
In fact, four groups of cyclists with a total of 85 people are on the road this summer.
Your 4,000 mile mission is only a small part of a larger mission. “We spread hope, we spread knowledge and we raise funds to fight cancer,” said Liu.
The cyclists each raised $ 4,500 and trained for 18 months prior to the trip.
Each of them has their own reasons for driving.
“My grandfather actually died of pancreatic cancer in 2019, so his two years were about a few weeks ago,” said Amanda Martinez, one of the cyclists. “My mother is a breast cancer survivor, so I wake up every day and what gets me out of bed is she who thinks of her and rides for her,” Liu said.
The group spends the night at the RE Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing. Scott Mrdeza, the museum’s manager, said the group called him and asked if they could sleep there. “We have never stayed at the museum in the past … the museum often receives a lot of donations to keep our facility running.
These bikers will sleep in their sleeping bags on the museum’s cement floor, but when you cycle 4,000 miles on a bike there are much tougher things to do.
“Fortunately, I have these teammates and meeting people along the way who are helping me get through this,” Martinez said.
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