The University of Texas students participating in the Texas 4000 arrive in Santa Fe on Friday, June 9. This is the third year that the group has ridden to Santa Fe on its way to Anchorage, Alaska. There are 4 different routes that over 100 students take, and there will be about 33 students on the route that passes through Santa Fe. These are upper division and graduate students who have dedicated one preliminary year to developing leadership skills and raising funds to battle cancer. Of the 1000 students who participate in the first year, a little over 100 are selected for the ride to Alaska. Those 100 students spend a second year continuing to raise funds for cancer treatment and research and putting in long miles on their bikes to prepare for the almost 4000 miles they will ride.
Seniors on Bikes have welcomed the Texas 4000 as it arrives. We meet them at Eldorado and lead them to their motel in near the Railyard. This is a lot of fun. We have two advantages with which to meet the challenge of riding with 20 somethings. We are acclimated to the altitude and we will not have ridden the distance on June 9 that they have. It is exciting to ride down Old Santa Fe and to the Plaza as a group of about 50 riders. The students are wearing specially designed jerseys and with our jerseys, the public at the Plaza are impressed. You will be feeling great to be a part of the arrival. Last year, the Giant Bicycle Company donated identical bikes to each student. That added to the impressions on the Plaza.
After the ride, we and our spouses, partners, and friends join the students and University of Texas alumni living in Santa Fe for a fabulous dinner at the Las Campanas Golf Club where we sit and eat and talk with the students, finding out about them, and their plans for the rest of their ride to Alaska. When one talks with these students, it is guaranteed that you will wish you were riding with them. They are confident, developed personalities that enjoy conversation. Being enrolled at the University, there are many who have come from all areas of the world.
This is the first announcement about the Texas 4000. More will come in the weeks ahead to remind you and to invite you to participate. The students arrive in Eldorado about 1:30 p.m. The Happy Hour at Las Campans begins about 6:00 with dinner shortly after. Many of the SOBs have ridden from the DeVargas Center to Eldorado, so we get about 26 miles of riding. The program at the dinner is several of the students describing what their motivation is for the ride. Many are survivors of serious cancer treatments themselves. Others ride to honor family and friends. And all ride to raise money for cancer research.
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