Pedaling for a Purpose

BY EMMA WILLE, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

5,258. That’s how many miles stretch between Austin, Texas and Anchorage, Alaska on the Sierra route. For Avery Wong (Alpha Phi, The University of Texas at Austin) that number also represents a lifechanging experience. Over the course of 70 days, she made that journey to not only impact her own life but also make a difference for others.

Growing up in Austin, Avery remembers her first interaction with the organization Texas 4000 for Cancer when she was in eighth grade riding in the car with her parents. “I saw this group of college-aged cyclists biking around Austin with jerseys proclaiming, ‘Fighting Cancer Every Mile,’” she explains. The group piqued her interest, since her dad had been biking Avery’s whole life.

“Every year my dad would do a two-day charity bike ride from Houston to Austin. As a kid, it was a dream to be able to do a bike ride like that with my dad one day. Back then, it felt like an unattainable goal since I was barely biking without training wheels,” she says. So, when she saw the young group of college students biking together for one mission, the dream of following in her father’s footsteps felt like maybe one day it could be real.

Soon Avery found herself in high school, where she developed a close relationship with her teacher, Mrs. Kirsten Mulligan.

“She is a contagious, energetic ray of sunshine,” Avery says. “Even on the longest days of the year, she never failed to energize my day, put a smile on my face or make my difficult days a little better.” In the fall of Avery’s senior year, Mrs. Mulligan lost her husband to cancer. Even in her mourning, she still chose to show up for her students and continue to be a source of positivity for her students. Her strength inspired Avery.

After her freshmen year at UT Austin, Avery applied for the Texas 4000,dediucating her entire journey to the teacher that made an impact in her life.

According to the Texas 4000 website, the event is the world’s largest annual bike ride, with several routes participants can follow from Austin to Anchorage. The organization selects UT Austin students like Avery for an 18-month program that helps them train for the bike ride and empowers them to volunteer and raise funds for the fight against cancer. The riders are self-sufficient for the 70-day journey and rely on the generosity of local communities for places to sleep along the way.

After countless hours of training and raising funds, Avery was ready to take on the Texas 4000 in the summer of 2024. Her team took the Sierra route, hugging the southwest desert and along the Pacific coast, eventually entering Canada in Vancouver. As you can imagine, the journey wasn’t always easy.

“Every day brought struggles,” Avery recalls. “Sometimes it was finding out our accommodations for that evening fell apart; some days our ride included a 12-mile steady climb in dry, desert heat; other times the struggle was living a nomadic lifestyle; and in some moments, the struggles were inevitable accidents on the road that come with biking alongside cars or in areas of no cell service.” However, these obstacles only kept pushing Avery forward, helping her grow with each and every mile. In fact, some of the most challenging days turned out to be filled with the best memories.

On day 11 of the trip, the team faced the most challenging ride yet, biking from Page, Arizona to Kanab, Utah. With a 10-mile climb, ferocious headwinds and over 100 degrees of heat, everyone was completely exhausted. Looking forward to their next rest stop, Avery had no idea what was in store. “We stayed with the sweetest couple; they welcomed our team wearing funny circus hats and the biggest smiles,” she says. “We had initially planned on stopping there as a rest stop, but as we stayed longer at their house, we started puzzles, did some laundry and got some access to Wi-Fi. But even more than the amenities they offered, they showered us with love. After asking nicely, we ended up spending the night at their house and slept on their roof. We got to fall asleep under the Milky Way surrounded by the Zion canyons.”

When things felt nearly impossible during the ride, Avery kept reminding herself why she took on this challenge. On day 35, in Portland, Oregon, Avery’s dad gave her the surprise of a lifetime by joining her on her route. Biking together, Avery felt like her dream all those years ago finally had come true.

“He found us halfway on our route into Portland, and I got to finish the last 25 miles with him,” she says. “As a kid, I always watched my dad cross the finish line of various bike rides. It was my dream to one day be able to do those rides with him.”

Finally, after 70 grueling days, Avery biked across the finish line in Anchorage, Alaska. Waiting at the end of the route were the people who had motivated her for the entire journey: her dad and Mrs. Mulligan. The feeling was surreal, especially since Avery didn’t have any idea what to expect after the 5,258-mile journey. “There were a lot of emotions,” she says. “On one hand, I was happy that the ride ended because I was exhausted, but at the same time, I had just spent every waking moment for 70 days with the same 24 people, and within hours we went our separate ways.”

Avery’s journey was much more than just a physical challenge. Through it all, she was able to honor the ones she holds close and raise awareness for the fight against cancer. And while the ride may have ended in Anchorage, the lessons and experiences will stay with her for a lifetime.