A 2010 graduate of Bangs High School and now University of Texas student Brittany Petty will begin a 4000 mile journey biking from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska on Saturday, June 1st in the 10th annual Texas 4000.
Texas 4000 is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and fighting cancer. Each year a team of dedicated University of Texas students brave the elements to complete a more than 4,000-mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska sharing hope, knowledge and charity along the way. Their goal is to cultivate the next generation to lead the fight against cancer through this cornerstone event.
Three teams, taking three different routes to Alaska will begin their journey to Anchorage on Saturday. The teams travel routes through the Sierra, Rockies or Ozark mountain ranges. Petty is on the Ozarks team. She stated that all 69 riders will travel together to Lampasas and then split into three groups taking their own routes. One team will travel through Brownwood on Saturday afternoon. Her team will double back to Houston where they will be accepting a proclamation of June 1st as “Texas 4000 Day in Houston” from Houston Mayor Parker at City Hall before heading through the Ozark route.
For Petty, this is a huge adventure because she just started seriously biking when she joined the team in the fall of 2012. She stated that to be on the team, there is a long application process and then an interview process. Once accepted to a team, the rider must pass a “century test” proving they can ride at least 100 miles in a 10 hour period. She stated that she was accepted the first time she applied; however some riders have applied multiple times before actually being selected to the team. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity because a rider is only allowed to participate once.
They are also responsible for raising a minimum of $4500, some individually have raised more than $25,000. Their website states that “Texas 4000 riders train, fundraise and develop as leaders and servants in the community and to date have contributed approximately $4 million to the fight against cancer.” Petty has been fundraising since last fall and is nearing her goal, just $500 shy of the $4500 as of Wednesday afternoon. She stated that many people in the Brown County area aren’t aware of the Texas 4000 ride and that in Austin, the team even does some “pan handling,” for added exposure for the team. Each rider must purchase three sets of shirts and shorts, buy 2 spare tubes for the trip, and have their own bike in addition to the fundraising. They must also complete 45 hours of community service throughout the year before the ride.
In her fundraising campaign, Petty sent out letters asking for support of her ride. In fact, she even sent one to President Obama, although it remains unanswered, she said she at least hopes to get a response – she joked about possibly a signed photo of the 1st family and their dog.
According to Petty, the funds raised are donated to a pediatric unit at MD Anderson and the University of Texas Health Science Center’s biomedical engineering. The riders also do some public relations for cancer awareness by visiting hospitals, organizations and local churches to talk about their ride, what they are doing to fight cancer, and how the public can help prevent and beat cancer.
She stated that several riders will bike with others riding in a van as they need to rest between legs of the journey. They will travel in a caravan of riders and two vans pulling a trailer of equipment. Each rider is limited to a 1x1x2 foot bag for their clothes and supplies for the 70 day trip which will end on August 10th.
A senior studying sociology and pharmacology at the University of Texas, she is a part of a diverse crowd of students and appreciates the diversity of the backgrounds of the riders on her Texas 4000 team.
“I feel like everyone on the team are members of different organizations or have different majors and wouldn’t normally hang out together, but we are all the same kind of person and we all just clicked,” she said.
She was surprised at the first team meeting to find that two people she had met during her freshman year at UT were also on the team. One part of the adventure Petty most looks forward to is meeting people along the way that have inspirational stories of surviving cancer.
Petty stated that alumni of Texas 4000 warn the current riders that they may experience T4K syndrome, a term they use to explain the emptiness of not being able to participate more than one year. The team, over the 70 days of the trip, forms a tight bond and after the event, is sad to part ways.
One of the main reasons Petty joined the Texas 4000 was because so many members of her family have been affected by cancer, including her own dad (who is a survivor), her mom’s uncle and her grandfather, who taught her to ride a bicycle. Personally knowing the battles cancer patients face, she stated that she wanted to participate.
“I look at people with cancer and think if they can battle cancer, I can ride a bike,” said Petty.
To donate to Brittany Petty’s ride and to support cancer research and awareness, CLICK HERE.
Pictured above is Petty at the Bike Peddler after she got a tune up in preparation for the Texas 4000 journey. Vonne Cornett, co-owner of the Bike Peddler is a passionate supporter of the Texas 4000 and helped the 2008 team find lodging in Brownwood.
