Cyclists riding from Texas to Alaska

Annual charity ride, billed as the longest in the world, raises cancer awareness

A team of cyclists from Texas passed through Saskatoon on its bike marathon to Alaska to raise awareness for cancer research.

The Texas 4000 is a 70-day bike trip that goes from Austin, Texas, to Anchorage, Alaska. The organization’s website calls it “the longest annual charity bike ride in the world,” and riders make stops along the route to speak about the importance of early detection for cancer.

The cyclists split into three different routes for the trip, reuniting in Canada before making their way to Alaska together. Kyler Heintz, the ride director for the Ozarks cycle route that includes Saskatoon, said it’s a huge challenge — but they help each other get through the tough days.

“It’s the teammates,” he said. “You can certainly rely on the teammates that we have to push you through those tough times, and refocus why we’re doing this.”

Heintz said his views on cancer changed drastically in the past year when his grandmother was diagnosed with cancer.

“We were visiting her ... and you could just see the effects the cancer and the treatment was taking on her body,” he said. “And in that moment ... it all kind of aligned.”

All the Texas 4000 routes are much longer than 4,000 miles, and the cyclists have to occasionally cover small portions of the trip in vehicles in order to stay on schedule. But, by the end of the ride, every cyclist will have ridden more than 4,000 miles.

According to their website, Texas 4000 selects students from the University of Texas to be part of training programs and fundraising initiatives. Heintz, 22, was one of those students who raised $4,500 for the charity organization.

Heintz said every cyclist on his team has had tough, tiring days, but they ’ve been able to help each other keep going through the toughest parts of their trip. The Ozarks route is the longest and newest of the three Texas 4000 routes, taking the riders as far east as Chicago before winding through Wisconsin and Minnesota into Canada.

And Heintz was able to stop and visit his grandmother along the way.

“It made sense,” he said. “There was something I could do about my grandmother’s diagnosis ... there was an action I could take.”