Seniors on Bikes has hosted in Santa Fe one of the three rides of the Texas 4000 challenge for the past 5 years. Students from the University of Texas leave Austin and ride to Anchorage, Alaska,riding 4000 miles and raising about $1 million for cancer research. Our members have met the Sierra Route on their arrival in Eldorado and escorted them to their motel in Santa Fe. We join them for dinner at the Los Compadres Country Club and a presentation by the students.
This year, the group altered the route and instead of Santa Fe, follow I-10 basically to Phoenix and then ride vans to San Diego and ride north from there. But today, May 13, the Texas 4000 has made the difficult decision to cancel the entire ride due to the complications of COVID-19. They postponed the decision as long as possible, but in the end, the logistics of hotels, restaurants and other support necessities are too unstable.
The students each year on the ride will have spent two years preparing for the ride. They work a raising funds, learning how to address large groups of strangers in various settings, learning how to ride 100-mile-day rides. Of the 2000 students each year who join in the program, only 100 are selected for the actual ride. We can empathize with them in this decision, which must be devastating to them
Submitted by Bill Pollock
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