Texas 4000 for Cancer: The World’s Longest Charity Bike Ride, Part 1

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Intro

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Intro
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Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

00;01;22;05 – 00;01;54;13
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

00;01;54;15 – 00;01;58;24
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

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Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Shaun. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

00;02;10;18 – 00;02;38;15
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

00;02;38;16 – 00;03;08;19
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

00;03;09;01 – 00;03;14;16
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

00;03;14;16 – 00;03;16;01
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

00;03;16;01 – 00;03;34;21
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

00;03;35;06 – 00;03;59;15
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

00;03;59;15 – 00;04;22;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

00;04;22;15 – 00;04;46;20
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

00;04;46;22 – 00;04;55;12
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or

00;04;55;12 – 00;05;16;23
Kristen Wynn
the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

00;05;16;25 – 00;05;44;15
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

00;05;44;17 – 00;06;08;25
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

00;06;08;28 – 00;06;16;11
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

00;06;16;13 – 00;06;38;05
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

00;06;38;07 – 00;06;57;08
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

00;06;57;11 – 00;07;01;27
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

00;07;01;29 – 00;07;29;09
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

00;07;29;11 – 00;07;56;27
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

00;07;56;27 – 00;08;07;12
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

00;08;07;19 – 00;08;10;06
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

00;08;10;06 – 00;08;32;10
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

00;08;32;12 – 00;08;38;00
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

00;08;38;00 – 00;08;49;19
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

00;08;49;19 – 00;08;51;05
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

00;08;51;05 – 00;08;57;29
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

00;08;58;02 – 00;09;00;08
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

00;09;00;11 – 00;09;02;14
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

00;09;02;16 – 00;09;21;11
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

00;09;21;11 – 00;09;31;11
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

00;09;31;14 – 00;09;46;10
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

00;09;46;17 – 00;10;08;06
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

00;10;08;09 – 00;10;23;25
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

00;10;23;25 – 00;10;47;07
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

00;10;47;07 – 00;10;55;27
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

00;10;55;27 – 00;10;59;29
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

00;10;59;29 – 00;11;37;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

00;11;37;17 – 00;11;38;12
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

00;11;38;14 – 00;11;53;05
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

00;11;53;08 – 00;11;53;28
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

00;11;54;01 – 00;12;12;29
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

00;12;13;02 – 00;12;33;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

00;12;33;05 – 00;12;42;02
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

00;12;42;03 – 00;12;44;13
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

00;12;45;04 – 00;13;01;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

00;13;01;19 – 00;13;02;22
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

00;13;02;22 – 00;13;06;25
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

00;13;06;27 – 00;13;10;12
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

00;13;10;15 – 00;13;14;18
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

00;13;14;21 – 00;13;16;05
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

00;13;16;07 – 00;13;18;29
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

00;13;18;29 – 00;13;22;20
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

00;13;22;23 – 00;13;22;26
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

00;13;22;27 – 00;13;28;26
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

00;13;29;00 – 00;13;29;12
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

00;13;29;12 – 00;13;29;20
Kristen Wynn
Three.

00;13;29;20 – 00;13;37;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

00;13;37;11 – 00;14;00;27
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

00;14;00;27 – 00;14;19;23
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

00;14;19;23 – 00;14;41;28
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

00;14;42;01 – 00;15;14;26
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

00;15;15;01 – 00;15;32;11
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

00;15;32;15 – 00;15;51;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

00;15;51;00 – 00;16;22;09
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

00;16;22;11 – 00;16;50;27
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

00;16;50;27 – 00;17;03;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

00;17;03;07 – 00;17;04;17
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

00;17;04;18 – 00;17;25;06
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

00;17;25;08 – 00;17;46;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

00;17;46;17 – 00;17;59;04
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

00;17;59;07 – 00;18;21;03
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

00;18;21;05 – 00;18;25;26
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

00;18;25;27 – 00;18;59;20
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

00;18;59;20 – 00;19;17;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

00;19;17;19 – 00;19;44;20
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

00;19;44;23 – 00;20;13;15
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

00;20;13;17 – 00;20;39;17
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

00;20;39;19 – 00;21;11;00
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

00;21;11;02 – 00;21;29;22
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

00;21;29;24 – 00;21;50;07
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

00;21;50;09 – 00;21;52;15
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

00;21;52;18 – 00;22;13;03
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

00;22;13;03 – 00;22;25;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

00;22;26;01 – 00;22;51;17
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

00;22;51;19 – 00;23;16;22
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

00;23;16;25 – 00;23;43;20
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

00;23;44;08 – 00;24;14;06
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

00;24;14;12 – 00;24;46;14
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

00;24;46;15 – 00;25;09;20
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

00;25;09;20 – 00;25;12;06
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

00;25;12;07 – 00;25;14;03
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

00;25;14;06 – 00;25;33;17
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

00;25;33;27 – 00;25;50;17
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

00;25;50;17 – 00;26;06;14
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

00;26;06;29 – 00;26;08;03
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

00;26;08;03 – 00;26;14;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

00;26;14;02 – 00;26;16;19
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

00;26;16;19 – 00;26;25;27
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

00;26;26;03 – 00;26;48;02
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

00;26;48;02 – 00;27;20;23
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

00;27;20;23 – 00;27;42;26
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

00;27;42;28 – 00;28;05;03
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

00;28;05;03 – 00;28;27;01
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

00;28;27;01 – 00;28;46;14
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

00;28;46;17 – 00;29;06;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

00;29;06;00 – 00;29;25;00
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

00;29;25;02 – 00;29;28;21
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

00;29;28;22 – 00;29;31;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

00;29;31;26 – 00;30;10;10
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

00;30;10;12 – 00;30;38;05
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

00;30;38;08 – 00;31;11;02
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

00;31;11;02 – 00;31;19;11
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

00;31;19;11 – 00;31;20;04
Intro
Pipeline.

00;31;20;07 – 00;31;55;27
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

00;31;55;29 – 00;32;29;18
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

00;32;29;20 – 00;33;02;00
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

00;33;02;02 – 00;33;06;11
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

00;33;06;13 – 00;33;18;01
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

00;33;18;03 – 00;33;46;00
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

00;33;46;01 – 00;34;16;04
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

00;34;16;16 – 00;34;22;01
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

00;34;22;01 – 00;34;23;16
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

00;34;23;16 – 00;34;42;06
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

00;34;42;21 – 00;35;07;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

00;35;07;02 – 00;35;29;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

00;35;30;00 – 00;35;54;05
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

00;35;54;07 – 00;36;24;08
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

00;36;24;10 – 00;36;52;00
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

00;36;52;02 – 00;37;16;10
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

00;37;16;13 – 00;37;23;26
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

00;37;23;28 – 00;37;45;20
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

00;37;45;22 – 00;38;04;25
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

00;38;04;28 – 00;38;09;12
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

00;38;09;14 – 00;38;36;24
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

00;38;36;26 – 00;39;04;14
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

00;39;04;14 – 00;39;14;27
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

00;39;15;04 – 00;39;17;21
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

00;39;17;21 – 00;39;39;25
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

00;39;39;27 – 00;39;45;15
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

00;39;45;15 – 00;39;57;04
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

00;39;57;04 – 00;39;58;20
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

00;39;58;20 – 00;40;05;14
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

00;40;05;17 – 00;40;07;21
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

00;40;07;24 – 00;40;09;27
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

00;40;09;29 – 00;40;28;24
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

00;40;28;24 – 00;40;38;24
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

00;40;38;27 – 00;40;53;23
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

00;40;54;00 – 00;41;15;21
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

00;41;15;24 – 00;41;31;10
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

00;41;31;10 – 00;41;54;22
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

00;41;54;22 – 00;42;03;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

00;42;03;14 – 00;42;07;16
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

00;42;07;16 – 00;42;45;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

00;42;45;02 – 00;42;45;27
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

00;42;45;29 – 00;43;00;22
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

00;43;00;25 – 00;43;01;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

00;43;01;18 – 00;43;20;14
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

00;43;20;17 – 00;43;40;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

00;43;40;20 – 00;43;49;17
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

00;43;49;18 – 00;43;51;28
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

00;43;52;19 – 00;44;09;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

00;44;09;04 – 00;44;10;07
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

00;44;10;07 – 00;44;14;10
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

00;44;14;12 – 00;44;17;27
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

00;44;18;00 – 00;44;22;03
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

00;44;22;06 – 00;44;23;20
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

00;44;23;22 – 00;44;26;14
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

00;44;26;14 – 00;44;30;05
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

00;44;30;08 – 00;44;30;11
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

00;44;30;12 – 00;44;36;11
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

00;44;36;15 – 00;44;36;27
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

00;44;36;27 – 00;44;37;05
Kristen Wynn
Three.

00;44;37;05 – 00;44;44;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

00;44;44;26 – 00;45;08;12
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

00;45;08;12 – 00;45;27;08
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

00;45;27;08 – 00;45;49;13
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

00;45;49;16 – 00;46;22;11
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

00;46;22;16 – 00;46;39;26
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

00;46;40;00 – 00;46;58;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

00;46;58;15 – 00;47;29;24
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

00;47;29;26 – 00;47;58;12
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

00;47;58;12 – 00;48;10;20
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

00;48;10;22 – 00;48;12;02
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

00;48;12;03 – 00;48;32;21
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

00;48;32;23 – 00;48;54;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

00;48;54;02 – 00;49;06;21
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

00;49;06;24 – 00;49;28;18
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

00;49;28;20 – 00;49;33;11
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

00;49;33;12 – 00;50;07;05
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

00;50;07;05 – 00;50;24;25
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

00;50;25;02 – 00;50;52;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

00;50;52;06 – 00;51;21;00
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

00;51;21;02 – 00;51;47;02
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

00;51;47;04 – 00;52;18;15
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

00;52;18;17 – 00;52;37;07
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

00;52;37;09 – 00;52;57;22
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

00;52;57;24 – 00;53;00;02
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

00;53;00;05 – 00;53;20;18
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

00;53;20;18 – 00;53;33;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

00;53;33;16 – 00;53;59;02
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

00;53;59;04 – 00;54;24;07
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

00;54;24;10 – 00;54;51;05
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

00;54;51;23 – 00;55;21;21
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

00;55;21;27 – 00;55;53;29
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

00;55;54;00 – 00;56;17;05
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

00;56;17;05 – 00;56;19;21
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

00;56;19;22 – 00;56;21;18
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

00;56;21;21 – 00;56;41;02
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

00;56;41;12 – 00;56;58;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

00;56;58;02 – 00;57;13;29
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

00;57;14;14 – 00;57;15;18
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

00;57;15;18 – 00;57;21;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

00;57;21;17 – 00;57;24;04
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

00;57;24;04 – 00;57;33;12
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

00;57;33;18 – 00;57;55;17
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

00;57;55;17 – 00;58;28;08
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

00;58;28;08 – 00;58;50;11
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

00;58;50;13 – 00;59;12;18
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

00;59;12;18 – 00;59;34;16
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

00;59;34;16 – 00;59;53;29
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

00;59;54;02 – 01;00;13;13
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

01;00;13;13 – 01;00;32;13
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

01;00;32;15 – 01;00;36;04
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

01;00;36;05 – 01;00;39;07
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

01;00;39;09 – 01;01;17;25
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

01;01;17;27 – 01;01;45;20
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

01;01;45;23 – 01;02;18;17
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

01;02;18;17 – 01;02;26;26
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

01;02;26;26 – 01;02;27;19
Intro
Pipeline.

01;02;27;22 – 01;03;03;14
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

01;03;03;16 – 01;03;37;03
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

01;03;37;05 – 01;04;09;15
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

01;04;09;17 – 01;04;13;26
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

01;04;13;28 – 01;04;25;16
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

01;04;25;18 – 01;04;53;15
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

01;04;53;16 – 01;05;23;19
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

01;05;24;01 – 01;05;29;16
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

01;05;29;16 – 01;05;31;01
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

01;05;31;01 – 01;05;49;21
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

01;05;50;06 – 01;06;14;17
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

01;06;14;17 – 01;06;37;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

01;06;37;15 – 01;07;01;22
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

01;07;01;24 – 01;07;31;23
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

01;07;31;25 – 01;07;59;15
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

01;07;59;17 – 01;08;23;25
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

01;08;23;28 – 01;08;31;11
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

01;08;31;13 – 01;08;53;05
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

01;08;53;07 – 01;09;12;10
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

01;09;12;13 – 01;09;16;27
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

01;09;16;29 – 01;09;44;09
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

01;09;44;11 – 01;10;11;27
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

01;10;11;27 – 01;10;22;10
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

01;10;22;17 – 01;10;25;04
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

01;10;25;04 – 01;10;47;08
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

01;10;47;10 – 01;10;52;28
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

01;10;52;28 – 01;11;04;19
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

01;11;04;19 – 01;11;06;05
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

01;11;06;05 – 01;11;12;29
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

01;11;13;02 – 01;11;15;06
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

01;11;15;09 – 01;11;17;12
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

01;11;17;14 – 01;11;36;09
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

01;11;36;09 – 01;11;46;09
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

01;11;46;12 – 01;12;01;10
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

01;12;01;17 – 01;12;23;06
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

01;12;23;09 – 01;12;38;25
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

01;12;38;25 – 01;13;02;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

01;13;02;09 – 01;13;10;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

01;13;10;29 – 01;13;15;01
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

01;13;15;01 – 01;13;52;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

01;13;52;17 – 01;13;53;12
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

01;13;53;14 – 01;14;08;07
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

01;14;08;10 – 01;14;09;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

01;14;09;03 – 01;14;27;29
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

01;14;28;02 – 01;14;48;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

01;14;48;05 – 01;14;57;02
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

01;14;57;03 – 01;14;59;13
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

01;15;00;06 – 01;15;16;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

01;15;16;19 – 01;15;17;22
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

01;15;17;22 – 01;15;21;25
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

01;15;21;27 – 01;15;25;12
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

01;15;25;15 – 01;15;29;18
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

01;15;29;21 – 01;15;31;05
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

01;15;31;07 – 01;15;33;29
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

01;15;33;29 – 01;15;37;20
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

01;15;37;23 – 01;15;37;26
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

01;15;37;27 – 01;15;43;26
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

01;15;44;00 – 01;15;44;12
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

01;15;44;12 – 01;15;44;20
Kristen Wynn
Three.

01;15;44;20 – 01;15;52;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

01;15;52;11 – 01;16;15;27
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

01;16;15;27 – 01;16;34;23
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

01;16;34;23 – 01;16;56;28
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

01;16;57;01 – 01;17;29;26
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

01;17;30;01 – 01;17;47;11
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

01;17;47;15 – 01;18;06;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

01;18;06;02 – 01;18;37;09
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

01;18;37;11 – 01;19;05;29
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

01;19;05;29 – 01;19;18;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

01;19;18;07 – 01;19;19;17
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

01;19;19;18 – 01;19;40;06
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

01;19;40;08 – 01;20;01;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

01;20;01;17 – 01;20;14;04
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

01;20;14;07 – 01;20;36;01
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

01;20;36;03 – 01;20;40;24
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

01;20;40;25 – 01;21;14;20
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

01;21;14;20 – 01;21;32;10
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

01;21;32;17 – 01;21;59;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

01;21;59;21 – 01;22;28;15
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

01;22;28;17 – 01;22;54;17
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

01;22;54;19 – 01;23;26;00
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

01;23;26;02 – 01;23;44;22
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

01;23;44;24 – 01;24;05;09
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

01;24;05;11 – 01;24;07;17
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

01;24;07;20 – 01;24;28;03
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

01;24;28;03 – 01;24;40;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

01;24;41;01 – 01;25;06;19
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

01;25;06;21 – 01;25;31;22
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

01;25;31;25 – 01;25;58;20
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

01;25;59;08 – 01;26;29;06
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

01;26;29;12 – 01;27;01;16
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

01;27;01;17 – 01;27;24;20
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

01;27;24;20 – 01;27;27;06
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

01;27;27;07 – 01;27;29;03
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

01;27;29;06 – 01;27;48;17
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

01;27;48;27 – 01;28;05;19
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

01;28;05;19 – 01;28;21;14
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

01;28;21;29 – 01;28;23;03
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

01;28;23;03 – 01;28;29;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

01;28;29;02 – 01;28;31;19
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

01;28;31;19 – 01;28;40;27
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

01;28;41;03 – 01;29;03;04
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

01;29;03;04 – 01;29;35;23
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

01;29;35;23 – 01;29;57;26
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

01;29;57;28 – 01;30;20;01
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

01;30;20;01 – 01;30;41;29
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

01;30;41;29 – 01;31;01;14
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

01;31;01;17 – 01;31;20;28
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

01;31;20;28 – 01;31;39;28
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

01;31;40;00 – 01;31;43;19
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

01;31;43;20 – 01;31;46;22
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

01;31;46;24 – 01;32;25;10
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

01;32;25;12 – 01;32;53;05
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

01;32;53;08 – 01;33;26;02
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

01;33;26;02 – 01;33;34;11
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

01;33;34;11 – 01;33;35;04
Intro
Pipeline.

01;33;35;07 – 01;34;10;29
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

01;34;11;01 – 01;34;44;18
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

01;34;44;20 – 01;35;17;00
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

01;35;17;02 – 01;35;21;11
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

01;35;21;13 – 01;35;33;01
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

01;35;33;03 – 01;36;01;02
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

01;36;01;03 – 01;36;31;04
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

01;36;31;16 – 01;36;37;01
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

01;36;37;01 – 01;36;38;16
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

01;36;38;16 – 01;36;57;06
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

01;36;57;21 – 01;37;22;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

01;37;22;02 – 01;37;44;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

01;37;45;00 – 01;38;09;07
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

01;38;09;09 – 01;38;39;08
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

01;38;39;10 – 01;39;07;02
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

01;39;07;04 – 01;39;31;10
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

01;39;31;13 – 01;39;38;26
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

01;39;38;28 – 01;40;00;20
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

01;40;00;22 – 01;40;19;23
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

01;40;19;26 – 01;40;24;10
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

01;40;24;12 – 01;40;51;22
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

01;40;51;24 – 01;41;19;12
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

01;41;19;12 – 01;41;29;25
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

01;41;30;02 – 01;41;32;19
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

01;41;32;19 – 01;41;54;23
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

01;41;54;25 – 01;42;00;15
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

01;42;00;15 – 01;42;12;04
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

01;42;12;04 – 01;42;13;20
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

01;42;13;20 – 01;42;20;14
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

01;42;20;17 – 01;42;22;21
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

01;42;22;24 – 01;42;24;27
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

01;42;24;29 – 01;42;43;24
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

01;42;43;24 – 01;42;53;24
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

01;42;53;27 – 01;43;08;25
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

01;43;09;02 – 01;43;30;21
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

01;43;30;24 – 01;43;46;10
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

01;43;46;10 – 01;44;09;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

01;44;09;24 – 01;44;18;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

01;44;18;14 – 01;44;22;16
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

01;44;22;16 – 01;45;00;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

01;45;00;04 – 01;45;00;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

01;45;01;01 – 01;45;15;22
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

01;45;15;25 – 01;45;16;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

01;45;16;18 – 01;45;35;14
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

01;45;35;17 – 01;45;55;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

01;45;55;20 – 01;46;04;19
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

01;46;04;20 – 01;46;07;00
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

01;46;07;21 – 01;46;24;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

01;46;24;04 – 01;46;25;07
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

01;46;25;07 – 01;46;29;10
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

01;46;29;12 – 01;46;32;27
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

01;46;33;00 – 01;46;37;03
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

01;46;37;06 – 01;46;38;20
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

01;46;38;22 – 01;46;41;14
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

01;46;41;14 – 01;46;45;05
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

01;46;45;08 – 01;46;45;11
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

01;46;45;12 – 01;46;51;11
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

01;46;51;15 – 01;46;51;27
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

01;46;51;27 – 01;46;52;05
Kristen Wynn
Three.

01;46;52;05 – 01;46;59;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

01;46;59;26 – 01;47;23;12
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

01;47;23;12 – 01;47;42;08
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

01;47;42;08 – 01;48;04;15
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

01;48;04;18 – 01;48;37;11
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

01;48;37;16 – 01;48;54;26
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

01;48;55;00 – 01;49;13;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

01;49;13;17 – 01;49;44;24
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

01;49;44;26 – 01;50;13;12
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

01;50;13;12 – 01;50;25;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

01;50;25;20 – 01;50;27;00
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

01;50;27;01 – 01;50;47;19
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

01;50;47;21 – 01;51;09;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

01;51;09;02 – 01;51;21;19
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

01;51;21;22 – 01;51;43;16
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

01;51;43;18 – 01;51;48;09
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

01;51;48;10 – 01;52;22;05
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

01;52;22;05 – 01;52;39;25
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

01;52;40;02 – 01;53;07;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

01;53;07;08 – 01;53;36;00
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

01;53;36;02 – 01;54;02;04
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

01;54;02;06 – 01;54;33;15
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

01;54;33;17 – 01;54;52;07
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

01;54;52;09 – 01;55;12;24
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

01;55;12;26 – 01;55;15;02
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

01;55;15;05 – 01;55;35;18
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

01;55;35;18 – 01;55;48;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

01;55;48;16 – 01;56;14;04
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

01;56;14;06 – 01;56;39;07
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

01;56;39;10 – 01;57;06;07
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

01;57;06;25 – 01;57;36;21
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

01;57;36;27 – 01;58;09;01
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

01;58;09;02 – 01;58;32;05
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

01;58;32;05 – 01;58;34;21
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

01;58;34;22 – 01;58;36;18
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

01;58;36;21 – 01;58;56;02
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

01;58;56;12 – 01;59;13;04
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

01;59;13;04 – 01;59;28;29
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

01;59;29;14 – 01;59;30;18
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

01;59;30;18 – 01;59;36;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

01;59;36;17 – 01;59;39;04
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

01;59;39;04 – 01;59;48;12
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

01;59;48;18 – 02;00;10;17
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

02;00;10;17 – 02;00;43;06
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

02;00;43;06 – 02;01;05;11
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

02;01;05;13 – 02;01;27;16
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

02;01;27;16 – 02;01;49;14
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

02;01;49;14 – 02;02;08;29
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

02;02;09;02 – 02;02;28;13
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

02;02;28;13 – 02;02;47;13
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

02;02;47;15 – 02;02;51;04
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

02;02;51;05 – 02;02;54;07
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

02;02;54;09 – 02;03;32;25
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

02;03;32;27 – 02;04;00;22
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

02;04;00;25 – 02;04;33;17
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

02;04;33;17 – 02;04;41;26
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

02;04;41;26 – 02;04;42;19
Intro
Pipeline.

02;04;42;22 – 02;05;18;14
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

02;05;18;16 – 02;05;52;03
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

02;05;52;05 – 02;06;24;15
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

02;06;24;17 – 02;06;28;26
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

02;06;28;28 – 02;06;40;16
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

02;06;40;18 – 02;07;08;17
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

02;07;08;18 – 02;07;38;19
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

02;07;39;01 – 02;07;44;16
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

02;07;44;16 – 02;07;46;01
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

02;07;46;01 – 02;08;04;23
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

02;08;05;08 – 02;08;29;17
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

02;08;29;17 – 02;08;52;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

02;08;52;15 – 02;09;16;22
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

02;09;16;24 – 02;09;46;23
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

02;09;46;25 – 02;10;14;15
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

02;10;14;17 – 02;10;38;23
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

02;10;38;26 – 02;10;46;09
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

02;10;46;11 – 02;11;08;05
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

02;11;08;07 – 02;11;27;08
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

02;11;27;11 – 02;11;31;25
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

02;11;31;27 – 02;11;59;07
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

02;11;59;09 – 02;12;26;27
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

02;12;26;27 – 02;12;37;10
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

02;12;37;17 – 02;12;40;04
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

02;12;40;04 – 02;13;02;10
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

02;13;02;12 – 02;13;08;00
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

02;13;08;00 – 02;13;19;19
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

02;13;19;19 – 02;13;21;05
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

02;13;21;05 – 02;13;27;29
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

02;13;28;02 – 02;13;30;06
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

02;13;30;09 – 02;13;32;12
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

02;13;32;14 – 02;13;51;09
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

02;13;51;09 – 02;14;01;11
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

02;14;01;14 – 02;14;16;10
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

02;14;16;17 – 02;14;38;06
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

02;14;38;09 – 02;14;53;25
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

02;14;53;25 – 02;15;17;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

02;15;17;09 – 02;15;25;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

02;15;25;29 – 02;15;30;01
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

02;15;30;01 – 02;16;07;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

02;16;07;19 – 02;16;08;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

02;16;08;16 – 02;16;23;07
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

02;16;23;10 – 02;16;24;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

02;16;24;03 – 02;16;42;29
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

02;16;43;02 – 02;17;03;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

02;17;03;07 – 02;17;12;04
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

02;17;12;05 – 02;17;14;15
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

02;17;15;06 – 02;17;31;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

02;17;31;19 – 02;17;32;22
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

02;17;32;22 – 02;17;36;25
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

02;17;36;27 – 02;17;40;12
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

02;17;40;15 – 02;17;44;18
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

02;17;44;21 – 02;17;46;05
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

02;17;46;07 – 02;17;48;29
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

02;17;48;29 – 02;17;52;20
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

02;17;52;23 – 02;17;52;26
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

02;17;52;27 – 02;17;58;26
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

02;17;59;00 – 02;17;59;12
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

02;17;59;12 – 02;17;59;20
Kristen Wynn
Three.

02;17;59;20 – 02;18;07;11
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

02;18;07;13 – 02;18;30;27
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

02;18;30;27 – 02;18;49;23
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

02;18;49;23 – 02;19;12;00
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

02;19;12;03 – 02;19;44;26
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

02;19;45;01 – 02;20;02;11
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

02;20;02;15 – 02;20;21;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

02;20;21;00 – 02;20;52;07
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

02;20;52;09 – 02;21;20;27
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

02;21;20;27 – 02;21;33;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

02;21;33;05 – 02;21;34;15
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

02;21;34;16 – 02;21;55;04
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

02;21;55;06 – 02;22;16;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

02;22;16;17 – 02;22;29;04
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

02;22;29;07 – 02;22;51;01
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

02;22;51;03 – 02;22;55;24
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

02;22;55;25 – 02;23;29;20
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

02;23;29;20 – 02;23;47;10
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

02;23;47;17 – 02;24;14;20
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

02;24;14;23 – 02;24;43;15
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

02;24;43;17 – 02;25;09;19
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

02;25;09;21 – 02;25;41;00
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

02;25;41;02 – 02;25;59;22
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

02;25;59;24 – 02;26;20;09
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

02;26;20;11 – 02;26;22;17
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

02;26;22;20 – 02;26;43;03
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

02;26;43;03 – 02;26;55;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

02;26;56;01 – 02;27;21;19
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

02;27;21;21 – 02;27;46;22
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

02;27;46;25 – 02;28;13;22
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

02;28;14;10 – 02;28;44;06
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

02;28;44;12 – 02;29;16;16
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

02;29;16;17 – 02;29;39;20
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

02;29;39;20 – 02;29;42;06
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

02;29;42;07 – 02;29;44;03
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

02;29;44;06 – 02;30;03;17
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

02;30;03;27 – 02;30;20;17
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

02;30;20;17 – 02;30;36;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

02;30;36;27 – 02;30;38;01
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

02;30;38;01 – 02;30;43;28
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

02;30;44;00 – 02;30;46;17
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

02;30;46;17 – 02;30;55;25
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

02;30;56;01 – 02;31;18;02
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

02;31;18;02 – 02;31;50;21
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

02;31;50;21 – 02;32;12;26
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

02;32;12;28 – 02;32;35;01
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

02;32;35;01 – 02;32;56;29
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

02;32;56;29 – 02;33;16;14
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

02;33;16;17 – 02;33;35;28
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

02;33;35;28 – 02;33;54;28
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

02;33;55;00 – 02;33;58;19
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

02;33;58;20 – 02;34;01;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

02;34;01;26 – 02;34;40;10
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

02;34;40;12 – 02;35;08;07
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

02;35;08;10 – 02;35;41;02
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

02;35;41;02 – 02;35;49;11
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

02;35;49;11 – 02;35;50;04
Intro
Pipeline.

02;35;50;07 – 02;36;25;29
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

02;36;26;01 – 02;36;59;18
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

02;36;59;20 – 02;37;32;00
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

02;37;32;02 – 02;37;36;11
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

02;37;36;13 – 02;37;48;01
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

02;37;48;03 – 02;38;16;02
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

02;38;16;03 – 02;38;46;04
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

02;38;46;16 – 02;38;52;01
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

02;38;52;01 – 02;38;53;16
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

02;38;53;16 – 02;39;12;08
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

02;39;12;23 – 02;39;37;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

02;39;37;02 – 02;39;59;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

02;40;00;00 – 02;40;24;05
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

02;40;24;07 – 02;40;54;06
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

02;40;54;08 – 02;41;22;00
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

02;41;22;02 – 02;41;46;08
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

02;41;46;11 – 02;41;53;24
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

02;41;53;26 – 02;42;15;20
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

02;42;15;22 – 02;42;34;23
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

02;42;34;26 – 02;42;39;10
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

02;42;39;12 – 02;43;06;24
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

02;43;06;26 – 02;43;34;12
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

02;43;34;12 – 02;43;44;25
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

02;43;45;02 – 02;43;47;19
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

02;43;47;19 – 02;44;09;25
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

02;44;09;27 – 02;44;15;15
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

02;44;15;15 – 02;44;27;04
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

02;44;27;04 – 02;44;28;20
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

02;44;28;20 – 02;44;35;14
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

02;44;35;17 – 02;44;37;21
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

02;44;37;24 – 02;44;39;27
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

02;44;39;29 – 02;44;58;24
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

02;44;58;24 – 02;45;08;26
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

02;45;08;29 – 02;45;23;25
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

02;45;24;02 – 02;45;45;21
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

02;45;45;24 – 02;46;01;12
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

02;46;01;12 – 02;46;24;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

02;46;24;24 – 02;46;33;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

02;46;33;14 – 02;46;37;16
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

02;46;37;16 – 02;47;15;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

02;47;15;04 – 02;47;15;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

02;47;16;01 – 02;47;30;22
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

02;47;30;25 – 02;47;31;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

02;47;31;18 – 02;47;50;14
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

02;47;50;17 – 02;48;10;20
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

02;48;10;22 – 02;48;19;19
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

02;48;19;20 – 02;48;22;00
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

02;48;22;21 – 02;48;39;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

02;48;39;04 – 02;48;40;07
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

02;48;40;07 – 02;48;44;10
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

02;48;44;12 – 02;48;47;27
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

02;48;48;00 – 02;48;52;03
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

02;48;52;06 – 02;48;53;20
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

02;48;53;22 – 02;48;56;14
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

02;48;56;14 – 02;49;00;07
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

02;49;00;10 – 02;49;00;13
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

02;49;00;14 – 02;49;06;13
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

02;49;06;17 – 02;49;06;29
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

02;49;06;29 – 02;49;07;07
Kristen Wynn
Three.

02;49;07;07 – 02;49;14;26
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

02;49;14;28 – 02;49;38;12
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

02;49;38;12 – 02;49;57;08
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

02;49;57;08 – 02;50;19;13
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

02;50;19;16 – 02;50;52;09
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

02;50;52;14 – 02;51;09;26
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

02;51;10;00 – 02;51;28;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

02;51;28;15 – 02;51;59;22
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

02;51;59;24 – 02;52;28;12
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

02;52;28;12 – 02;52;40;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

02;52;40;20 – 02;52;42;00
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

02;52;42;01 – 02;53;02;21
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

02;53;02;23 – 02;53;24;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

02;53;24;02 – 02;53;36;19
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

02;53;36;22 – 02;53;58;16
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

02;53;58;18 – 02;54;03;11
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

02;54;03;12 – 02;54;37;05
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

02;54;37;05 – 02;54;54;25
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

02;54;55;02 – 02;55;22;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

02;55;22;08 – 02;55;51;00
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

02;55;51;02 – 02;56;17;04
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

02;56;17;06 – 02;56;48;15
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

02;56;48;17 – 02;57;07;09
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

02;57;07;11 – 02;57;27;24
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

02;57;27;26 – 02;57;30;02
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

02;57;30;05 – 02;57;50;18
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

02;57;50;18 – 02;58;03;16
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

02;58;03;18 – 02;58;29;04
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

02;58;29;06 – 02;58;54;07
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

02;58;54;10 – 02;59;21;07
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

02;59;21;25 – 02;59;51;21
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

02;59;51;27 – 03;00;23;29
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

03;00;24;00 – 03;00;47;03
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

03;00;47;03 – 03;00;49;19
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

03;00;49;20 – 03;00;51;16
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

03;00;51;19 – 03;01;11;02
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

03;01;11;12 – 03;01;28;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

03;01;28;02 – 03;01;43;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

03;01;44;12 – 03;01;45;16
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

03;01;45;16 – 03;01;51;13
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

03;01;51;15 – 03;01;54;02
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

03;01;54;02 – 03;02;03;12
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

03;02;03;18 – 03;02;25;17
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

03;02;25;17 – 03;02;58;06
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

03;02;58;06 – 03;03;20;11
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

03;03;20;13 – 03;03;42;16
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

03;03;42;16 – 03;04;04;16
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

03;04;04;16 – 03;04;23;29
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

03;04;24;02 – 03;04;43;13
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

03;04;43;13 – 03;05;02;15
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

03;05;02;17 – 03;05;06;06
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

03;05;06;07 – 03;05;09;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

03;05;09;11 – 03;05;47;25
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

03;05;47;27 – 03;06;15;22
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

03;06;15;25 – 03;06;48;17
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

03;06;48;17 – 03;06;56;26
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

03;06;56;26 – 03;06;57;19
Intro
Pipeline.

03;06;57;22 – 03;07;33;14
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

03;07;33;16 – 03;08;07;05
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

03;08;07;07 – 03;08;39;15
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

03;08;39;17 – 03;08;43;26
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

03;08;43;28 – 03;08;55;16
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

03;08;55;18 – 03;09;23;17
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

03;09;23;18 – 03;09;53;19
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

03;09;54;01 – 03;09;59;16
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

03;09;59;16 – 03;10;01;01
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

03;10;01;01 – 03;10;19;21
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

03;10;20;06 – 03;10;44;15
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

03;10;44;15 – 03;11;07;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

03;11;07;15 – 03;11;31;20
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

03;11;31;22 – 03;12;01;23
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

03;12;01;25 – 03;12;29;15
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

03;12;29;17 – 03;12;53;23
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

03;12;53;26 – 03;13;01;11
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

03;13;01;13 – 03;13;23;05
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

03;13;23;07 – 03;13;42;08
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

03;13;42;11 – 03;13;46;25
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

03;13;46;27 – 03;14;14;09
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

03;14;14;11 – 03;14;41;27
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

03;14;41;27 – 03;14;52;10
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

03;14;52;17 – 03;14;55;04
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

03;14;55;04 – 03;15;17;10
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

03;15;17;12 – 03;15;23;00
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

03;15;23;00 – 03;15;34;19
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

03;15;34;19 – 03;15;36;05
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

03;15;36;05 – 03;15;42;29
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

03;15;43;02 – 03;15;45;06
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

03;15;45;09 – 03;15;47;12
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

03;15;47;14 – 03;16;06;11
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

03;16;06;11 – 03;16;16;11
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

03;16;16;14 – 03;16;31;10
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

03;16;31;17 – 03;16;53;06
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

03;16;53;09 – 03;17;08;27
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

03;17;08;27 – 03;17;32;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

03;17;32;09 – 03;17;40;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

03;17;40;29 – 03;17;45;01
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

03;17;45;01 – 03;18;22;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

03;18;22;19 – 03;18;23;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

03;18;23;16 – 03;18;38;07
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

03;18;38;10 – 03;18;39;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

03;18;39;03 – 03;18;57;29
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

03;18;58;02 – 03;19;18;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

03;19;18;07 – 03;19;27;04
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

03;19;27;05 – 03;19;29;15
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

03;19;30;06 – 03;19;46;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

03;19;46;19 – 03;19;47;22
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

03;19;47;22 – 03;19;51;25
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

03;19;51;27 – 03;19;55;12
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

03;19;55;15 – 03;19;59;18
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

03;19;59;21 – 03;20;01;05
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

03;20;01;07 – 03;20;03;29
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

03;20;03;29 – 03;20;07;20
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

03;20;07;23 – 03;20;07;26
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

03;20;07;27 – 03;20;13;26
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

03;20;14;00 – 03;20;14;12
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

03;20;14;12 – 03;20;14;20
Kristen Wynn
Three.

03;20;14;20 – 03;20;22;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

03;20;22;11 – 03;20;45;25
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

03;20;45;25 – 03;21;04;23
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

03;21;04;23 – 03;21;26;28
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

03;21;27;01 – 03;21;59;24
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

03;21;59;29 – 03;22;17;11
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

03;22;17;15 – 03;22;36;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

03;22;36;00 – 03;23;07;09
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

03;23;07;11 – 03;23;35;27
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

03;23;35;27 – 03;23;48;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

03;23;48;05 – 03;23;49;15
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

03;23;49;16 – 03;24;10;06
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

03;24;10;08 – 03;24;31;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

03;24;31;17 – 03;24;44;04
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

03;24;44;07 – 03;25;06;03
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

03;25;06;05 – 03;25;10;26
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

03;25;10;27 – 03;25;44;20
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

03;25;44;20 – 03;26;02;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

03;26;02;19 – 03;26;29;20
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

03;26;29;23 – 03;26;58;15
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

03;26;58;17 – 03;27;24;19
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

03;27;24;21 – 03;27;56;00
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

03;27;56;02 – 03;28;14;24
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

03;28;14;26 – 03;28;35;09
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

03;28;35;11 – 03;28;37;17
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

03;28;37;20 – 03;28;58;03
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

03;28;58;03 – 03;29;11;01
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

03;29;11;03 – 03;29;36;19
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

03;29;36;21 – 03;30;01;22
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

03;30;01;25 – 03;30;28;20
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

03;30;29;08 – 03;30;59;04
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

03;30;59;10 – 03;31;31;14
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

03;31;31;15 – 03;31;54;18
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

03;31;54;18 – 03;31;57;04
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

03;31;57;05 – 03;31;59;01
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

03;31;59;04 – 03;32;18;17
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

03;32;18;27 – 03;32;35;17
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

03;32;35;17 – 03;32;51;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

03;32;51;27 – 03;32;53;01
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

03;32;53;01 – 03;32;58;28
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

03;32;59;00 – 03;33;01;19
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

03;33;01;19 – 03;33;10;27
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

03;33;11;03 – 03;33;33;02
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

03;33;33;02 – 03;34;05;23
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

03;34;05;23 – 03;34;27;26
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

03;34;27;28 – 03;34;50;01
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

03;34;50;01 – 03;35;12;01
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

03;35;12;01 – 03;35;31;14
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

03;35;31;17 – 03;35;50;28
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

03;35;50;28 – 03;36;10;00
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

03;36;10;02 – 03;36;13;21
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

03;36;13;22 – 03;36;16;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

03;36;16;26 – 03;36;55;10
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

03;36;55;12 – 03;37;23;07
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

03;37;23;10 – 03;37;56;02
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

03;37;56;02 – 03;38;04;13
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

03;38;04;13 – 03;38;05;06
Intro
Pipeline.

03;38;05;09 – 03;38;40;29
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

03;38;41;01 – 03;39;14;20
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

03;39;14;22 – 03;39;47;00
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

03;39;47;02 – 03;39;51;11
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

03;39;51;13 – 03;40;03;01
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

03;40;03;03 – 03;40;31;00
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

03;40;31;01 – 03;41;01;04
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

03;41;01;16 – 03;41;07;01
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

03;41;07;01 – 03;41;08;16
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

03;41;08;16 – 03;41;27;06
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

03;41;27;21 – 03;41;52;00
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

03;41;52;00 – 03;42;14;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

03;42;15;00 – 03;42;39;05
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

03;42;39;07 – 03;43;09;08
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

03;43;09;10 – 03;43;37;00
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

03;43;37;02 – 03;44;01;10
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

03;44;01;13 – 03;44;08;26
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

03;44;08;28 – 03;44;30;20
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

03;44;30;22 – 03;44;49;23
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

03;44;49;26 – 03;44;54;10
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

03;44;54;12 – 03;45;21;24
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

03;45;21;26 – 03;45;49;12
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

03;45;49;12 – 03;45;59;25
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

03;46;00;04 – 03;46;02;21
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

03;46;02;21 – 03;46;24;25
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

03;46;24;27 – 03;46;30;15
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

03;46;30;15 – 03;46;42;04
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

03;46;42;04 – 03;46;43;20
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

03;46;43;20 – 03;46;50;14
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

03;46;50;17 – 03;46;52;21
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

03;46;52;24 – 03;46;54;27
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

03;46;54;29 – 03;47;13;26
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

03;47;13;26 – 03;47;23;26
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

03;47;23;29 – 03;47;38;25
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

03;47;39;02 – 03;48;00;23
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

03;48;00;26 – 03;48;16;12
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

03;48;16;12 – 03;48;39;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

03;48;39;24 – 03;48;48;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

03;48;48;14 – 03;48;52;16
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

03;48;52;16 – 03;49;30;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

03;49;30;04 – 03;49;30;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

03;49;31;01 – 03;49;45;22
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

03;49;45;25 – 03;49;46;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

03;49;46;18 – 03;50;05;14
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

03;50;05;17 – 03;50;25;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

03;50;25;20 – 03;50;34;17
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

03;50;34;18 – 03;50;36;28
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

03;50;37;19 – 03;50;54;01
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

03;50;54;02 – 03;50;55;05
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

03;50;55;05 – 03;50;59;08
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

03;50;59;10 – 03;51;02;27
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

03;51;03;00 – 03;51;07;03
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

03;51;07;06 – 03;51;08;20
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

03;51;08;22 – 03;51;11;14
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

03;51;11;14 – 03;51;15;05
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

03;51;15;08 – 03;51;15;11
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

03;51;15;12 – 03;51;21;11
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

03;51;21;15 – 03;51;21;27
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

03;51;21;27 – 03;51;22;05
Kristen Wynn
Three.

03;51;22;05 – 03;51;29;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

03;51;29;26 – 03;51;53;10
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

03;51;53;10 – 03;52;12;08
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

03;52;12;08 – 03;52;34;13
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

03;52;34;16 – 03;53;07;11
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

03;53;07;16 – 03;53;24;26
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

03;53;25;00 – 03;53;43;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

03;53;43;15 – 03;54;14;24
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

03;54;14;26 – 03;54;43;12
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

03;54;43;12 – 03;54;55;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

03;54;55;20 – 03;54;57;00
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

03;54;57;01 – 03;55;17;21
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

03;55;17;23 – 03;55;39;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

03;55;39;02 – 03;55;51;19
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

03;55;51;22 – 03;56;13;18
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

03;56;13;20 – 03;56;18;11
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

03;56;18;12 – 03;56;52;05
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

03;56;52;05 – 03;57;09;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

03;57;10;04 – 03;57;37;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

03;57;37;08 – 03;58;06;02
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

03;58;06;04 – 03;58;32;04
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

03;58;32;06 – 03;59;03;17
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

03;59;03;19 – 03;59;22;09
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

03;59;22;11 – 03;59;42;24
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

03;59;42;26 – 03;59;45;02
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

03;59;45;05 – 04;00;05;18
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

04;00;05;18 – 04;00;18;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

04;00;18;16 – 04;00;44;02
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

04;00;44;04 – 04;01;09;07
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

04;01;09;10 – 04;01;36;05
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

04;01;36;23 – 04;02;06;21
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

04;02;06;27 – 04;02;38;29
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

04;02;39;00 – 04;03;02;05
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

04;03;02;05 – 04;03;04;21
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

04;03;04;22 – 04;03;06;18
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

04;03;06;21 – 04;03;26;02
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

04;03;26;12 – 04;03;43;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

04;03;43;02 – 04;03;58;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

04;03;59;12 – 04;04;00;18
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

04;04;00;18 – 04;04;06;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

04;04;06;17 – 04;04;09;04
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

04;04;09;04 – 04;04;18;12
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

04;04;18;18 – 04;04;40;17
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

04;04;40;17 – 04;05;13;08
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

04;05;13;08 – 04;05;35;11
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

04;05;35;13 – 04;05;57;16
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

04;05;57;16 – 04;06;19;16
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

04;06;19;16 – 04;06;38;29
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

04;06;39;02 – 04;06;58;13
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

04;06;58;13 – 04;07;17;15
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

04;07;17;17 – 04;07;21;06
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

04;07;21;07 – 04;07;24;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

04;07;24;11 – 04;08;02;27
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

04;08;02;29 – 04;08;30;22
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

04;08;30;25 – 04;09;03;19
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

04;09;03;19 – 04;09;11;28
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

04;09;11;28 – 04;09;12;21
Intro
Pipeline.

04;09;12;24 – 04;09;48;14
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

04;09;48;16 – 04;10;22;03
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

04;10;22;05 – 04;10;54;13
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

04;10;54;15 – 04;10;58;24
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

04;10;58;26 – 04;11;10;16
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

04;11;10;18 – 04;11;38;15
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

04;11;38;16 – 04;12;08;19
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

04;12;09;01 – 04;12;14;16
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

04;12;14;16 – 04;12;16;01
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

04;12;16;01 – 04;12;34;21
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

04;12;35;06 – 04;12;59;15
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

04;12;59;15 – 04;13;22;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

04;13;22;15 – 04;13;46;20
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

04;13;46;22 – 04;14;16;23
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

04;14;16;25 – 04;14;44;15
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

04;14;44;17 – 04;15;08;25
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

04;15;08;28 – 04;15;16;11
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

04;15;16;13 – 04;15;38;05
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

04;15;38;07 – 04;15;57;08
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

04;15;57;11 – 04;16;01;27
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

04;16;01;29 – 04;16;29;09
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

04;16;29;11 – 04;16;56;27
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

04;16;56;27 – 04;17;07;12
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

04;17;07;19 – 04;17;10;06
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

04;17;10;06 – 04;17;32;10
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

04;17;32;12 – 04;17;38;00
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

04;17;38;00 – 04;17;49;19
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

04;17;49;19 – 04;17;51;05
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

04;17;51;05 – 04;17;57;29
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

04;17;58;02 – 04;18;00;08
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

04;18;00;11 – 04;18;02;14
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

04;18;02;16 – 04;18;21;11
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

04;18;21;11 – 04;18;31;11
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

04;18;31;14 – 04;18;46;10
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

04;18;46;17 – 04;19;08;08
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

04;19;08;11 – 04;19;23;27
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

04;19;23;27 – 04;19;47;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

04;19;47;09 – 04;19;55;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

04;19;55;29 – 04;20;00;01
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

04;20;00;01 – 04;20;37;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

04;20;37;17 – 04;20;38;12
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

04;20;38;14 – 04;20;53;05
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

04;20;53;08 – 04;20;53;28
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

04;20;54;01 – 04;21;12;29
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

04;21;13;02 – 04;21;33;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

04;21;33;05 – 04;21;42;02
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

04;21;42;03 – 04;21;44;13
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

04;21;45;04 – 04;22;01;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

04;22;01;19 – 04;22;02;22
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

04;22;02;22 – 04;22;06;25
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

04;22;06;27 – 04;22;10;12
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

04;22;10;15 – 04;22;14;18
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

04;22;14;21 – 04;22;16;05
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

04;22;16;07 – 04;22;18;29
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

04;22;18;29 – 04;22;22;20
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

04;22;22;23 – 04;22;22;26
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

04;22;22;27 – 04;22;28;26
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

04;22;29;00 – 04;22;29;12
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

04;22;29;12 – 04;22;29;20
Kristen Wynn
Three.

04;22;29;20 – 04;22;37;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

04;22;37;11 – 04;23;00;27
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

04;23;00;27 – 04;23;19;23
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

04;23;19;23 – 04;23;41;28
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

04;23;42;01 – 04;24;14;26
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

04;24;15;01 – 04;24;32;11
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

04;24;32;15 – 04;24;51;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

04;24;51;00 – 04;25;22;09
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

04;25;22;11 – 04;25;50;27
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

04;25;50;27 – 04;26;03;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

04;26;03;07 – 04;26;04;17
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

04;26;04;18 – 04;26;25;06
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

04;26;25;08 – 04;26;46;17
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

04;26;46;17 – 04;26;59;04
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

04;26;59;07 – 04;27;21;03
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

04;27;21;05 – 04;27;25;26
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

04;27;25;27 – 04;27;59;20
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

04;27;59;20 – 04;28;17;12
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

04;28;17;19 – 04;28;44;20
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

04;28;44;23 – 04;29;13;17
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

04;29;13;19 – 04;29;39;19
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

04;29;39;21 – 04;30;11;00
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

04;30;11;02 – 04;30;29;22
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

04;30;29;24 – 04;30;50;07
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

04;30;50;09 – 04;30;52;15
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

04;30;52;18 – 04;31;13;03
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

04;31;13;03 – 04;31;25;29
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

04;31;26;01 – 04;31;51;17
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

04;31;51;19 – 04;32;16;22
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

04;32;16;25 – 04;32;43;20
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

04;32;44;08 – 04;33;14;06
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

04;33;14;12 – 04;33;46;14
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

04;33;46;15 – 04;34;09;20
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

04;34;09;20 – 04;34;12;06
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

04;34;12;07 – 04;34;14;03
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

04;34;14;06 – 04;34;33;17
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

04;34;33;27 – 04;34;50;17
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

04;34;50;17 – 04;35;06;14
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

04;35;06;29 – 04;35;08;03
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

04;35;08;03 – 04;35;14;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

04;35;14;02 – 04;35;16;19
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

04;35;16;19 – 04;35;25;27
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

04;35;26;03 – 04;35;48;02
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

04;35;48;02 – 04;36;20;23
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

04;36;20;23 – 04;36;42;26
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

04;36;42;28 – 04;37;05;03
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

04;37;05;03 – 04;37;27;01
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

04;37;27;01 – 04;37;46;14
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

04;37;46;17 – 04;38;06;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

04;38;06;00 – 04;38;25;00
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

04;38;25;02 – 04;38;28;21
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

04;38;28;22 – 04;38;31;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

04;38;31;26 – 04;39;10;12
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

04;39;10;14 – 04;39;38;07
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

04;39;38;10 – 04;40;11;02
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.

04;40;11;02 – 04;40;19;11
Intro
We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s Ontrack educational.

04;40;19;11 – 04;40;20;04
Intro
Pipeline.

04;40;20;07 – 04;40;55;27
Intro
From middle school to residency. We are growing collection of interviews, talks and experiences to uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer. In order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders, this Is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s.

04;40;55;29 – 04;41;29;18
Laura Pavitt
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. We are here today with part one of an exciting two part episode about Texas 4000 for cancer. This is the world’s longest annual charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. However, Texas 4000 not only raises awareness and funds for cancer care and research. It also involves an 18 month leadership development program for UT Austin students.

04;41;29;20 – 04;42;02;00
Laura Pavitt
In part one, we will hear from two students who are preparing and training for the ride to Alaska. We’ll hear about their personal reasons for joining the program. More about the specifics of the routes taken to get to Alaska. About how the mission of Texas 4000 has evolved over time, and much, much more. Sit back and enjoy. Because this program and these students are inspiring.

04;42;02;02 – 04;42;06;11
Kristen Wynn
All right. I’m going to have you all introduce yourselves first and you can go into why I ride.

04;42;06;13 – 04;42;18;01
Shaunuk Sathe
Hi, my name is Sean. Outside. I’m a senior neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m also a co-chair of community engagement at Texas 4000 for cancer.

04;42;18;03 – 04;42;46;00
Maleni Redondo
Hi, my name is Maleni Redondo. I am a first year master’s student here at UT Austin, UT health, and I am also a Community Engagement co-chair here. Texas for a thousand. Wonderful. Will you share your eye ride with us? So I write for my best friend actor. He passed away in 2018 during his third battle with leukemia, and he was a mountain biker.

04;42;46;01 – 04;43;16;04
Maleni Redondo
And he was just such a beautiful person. Whenever I was little, I was also very, like, in love with monarch butterflies because they come to my hometown in Mexico every single year. And I ended up, he ended up making a tradition of giving me little butterfly themed gifts every single year. And I think it’s like, really beautiful as a part of the organization, because we kind of do make that same trip that monarch butterflies do.

04;43;16;16 – 04;43;22;01
Maleni Redondo
From Canada to L.A. We we don’t start in Mexico, but, like, it’s just like Texas.

04;43;22;01 – 04;43;23;16
Maleni Redondo
Yes, yes, most.

04;43;23;16 – 04;43;42;06
Maleni Redondo
Of the way. So I actually named my bike money, and I ride for my best friend Victor. And I also ride for my Juanito. He passed away two years ago and he was a truck driver. So he he knew all the stops around around the US and. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, for sharing.

04;43;42;21 – 04;44;07;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So yeah, I can get my way right. I, I’m very lucky to not have like a direct connection to to cancer, in my direct family, something I’m very grateful for. But. So my great grandfather did passed away from lung cancer before my time. I never knew him. But the way my mom would like, talk about him, she would always be like he like, knew the timetables really quickly and he sort of like, you still feed the stray dogs outside.

04;44;07;02 – 04;44;29;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And it was like, unless I asked for that, the only thing I knew him was, was cancer. And I didn’t want his legacy to be something. Just one word. It’s cancer. Yeah. And so I write for him and anyone else who I feel has sort of their story has been lost just because of this disease that they were afflicted with.

04;44;30;00 – 04;44;54;05
Shaunuk Sathe
I also got involved in cancer research a few years ago, two years ago, and I was I had the really great opportunity to like, interact with that community. And I loved every moment of it. And I, I really fell in love with research and giving back. And so I, I felt that this joining this organization was my way of sort of giving back to this community that I felt really had was where I found my passion.

04;44;54;07 – 04;45;24;08
Kristen Wynn
That’s beautiful. Would you mind telling us a little bit about this tradition of starting your meetings as an organization with why I write, or the organization was founded in 2004, and as far as we know, why rites have always been a part of it. And I think cancer is such, taboo, dense, you know, emotional topic for a lot of people, especially a lot of the writers, because I think we all we all try to keep someone’s memory alive in some sense.

04;45;24;10 – 04;45;52;00
Maleni Redondo
And while rides are kind of our way to, like, bring the team together, some team bonding and also just a way to, like, kind of dispense those emotions in a healthy manner. And then sometimes, like, it can be a good week and your wire ride can be I got an A at this exam or I had fun doing this with like my friends in the weekend, so a wild ride can really be anything that’s like encouraging you to get through those miles that day.

04;45;52;02 – 04;46;16;10
Kristen Wynn
That’s great, I love that and I did it. I guess I didn’t understand that it could be in the present too. So like honoring someone and their memory and their legacy, but also sort of living in the present. And I think that’s really beautiful too. So that’s great. All right. So you mentioned that Texas 4000 was founded in 2004.

04;46;16;13 – 04;46;23;26
Kristen Wynn
Can you tell us a little bit more about the organization, like what’s your elevator pitch when someone asks you what Texas 4000 is?

04;46;23;28 – 04;46;45;20
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So yeah, it was founded in 2004 by University of Texas student Chris Condit, and he started it with this sort of like group of buddies. And they just thought this would be a really good way to sort of like not only, like travel across the country spreading hope, knowledge and charity, which is our three pillars, but also raise funds for cancer research and support services.

04;46;45;22 – 04;47;04;25
Shaunuk Sathe
And so he started at UT and it grew from there and just sort of became a thing that I think was much bigger than he ever imagined. So it’s also a leadership development program, and it ends in our cornerstone event, which is the 4000 mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. And that happens during the summer.

04;47;04;28 – 04;47;09;12
Shaunuk Sathe
For us, it’s going to start in May of 2024 and go through August.

04;47;09;14 – 04;47;36;24
Kristen Wynn
So the 4000 mile bike ride is also like a very eyecatching way to engage with the community and to show alliance with people who have gone through really hard stuff and show that there are people that are willing to put themselves through something. It’s terrifying as 70 days getting somebody on a bike to kind of help raise funds for research and support services, that’s wonderful.

04;47;36;26 – 04;48;04;14
Kristen Wynn
So can you tell us more about these three routes? Right. So I think that’s something maybe that’s not common knowledge as well. Is that did it start with three routes? Can you tell us more about how that works to get to Alaska. Yeah. So there’s a big planning process to get every single person to Alaska initially. Whenever the organization was founded in 2004, there was two routes.

04;48;04;14 – 04;48;14;27
Kristen Wynn
So we call those like the historic routes there Sierra, which whoop whoop because on Sierra, nice. And that one goes like the right way to Alaska.

04;48;15;04 – 04;48;17;21
Maleni Redondo
So like the when you’re handling quotation.

04;48;17;21 – 04;48;39;25
Kristen Wynn
Marks, you can’t see it. But the right way and you know, goes through like in Basel, California and then up into Canada and then Alaska and then the second route that was like simultaneously created was Rockies. And as the name sounds, you go straight through the Rockies.

04;48;39;27 – 04;48;45;15
Maleni Redondo
Janet, here in Saanich tell us, yeah, it’s Rockies, the Rockies.

04;48;45;15 – 04;48;57;04
Shaunuk Sathe
Yes. Yeah. So like up through Denver, Montana, Yellowstone and then and then into Canada and then eventually Alaska. So yeah, those were the two historic routes. And then later I’m not sure when, but I.

04;48;57;04 – 04;48;58;20
Kristen Wynn
Think 2013.

04;48;58;20 – 04;49;05;16
Shaunuk Sathe
2013, they added a third route called Ozarks, which is notorious for going the wrong way.

04;49;05;19 – 04;49;07;23
Kristen Wynn
In quotation marks.

04;49;07;26 – 04;49;09;29
Maleni Redondo
I said that.

04;49;10;01 – 04;49;28;26
Shaunuk Sathe
But the reason they added Rose arch was because it goes to the cancer belt, which is like an area of the country that’s like has a higher prevalence of cancer due to the conditions of working and the chemicals and pollutants and things like that. So they actually go first down to Houston through MD Anderson, which is like the biggest cancer hospital in the country.

04;49;28;26 – 04;49;38;26
Shaunuk Sathe
And then they they go up through, Memphis and I believe through Chicago. And then they cut back through North Dakota into Canada.

04;49;38;29 – 04;49;53;25
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And I think Ozarks is just very mission oriented. And it’s I think it’s wonderful that, you know, they ended up adding that route. I think that’s brilliant. And I love that so much. That says so much about the organization that they would say, you know why it doesn’t make any sense to go this way to get to Alaska.

04;49;54;02 – 04;50;15;21
Kristen Wynn
But it makes the most sense for cancer awareness, for cancer, like fundraising and things like that and outreach. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah. So we have currently 78 riders in the team. And the reason why we get split up into three relative, we’re a bigger team is because of the safety of cycling to Alaska and even ask we ride and we train.

04;50;15;24 – 04;50;31;10
Kristen Wynn
Most of our ride groups are 4 to 6 people max on the road together. So that’s why we have that division into three routes with 78 people. And that means we have three different travel coordinators or travel chairs.

04;50;31;10 – 04;50;54;22
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So their job is to ensure that every single day of the ride we have a specific place where our destination is, and we have a way to receive either food or a place to sleep there. So a lot of the rides actually, they have a significant amount of time where that were camping, just because that part of the ride is just very rural, and there’s not that many people that would be able to give us housing there.

04;50;54;22 – 04;51;03;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, but part of their job is to sort of call grantees, and call it’s mostly historic families that that just sort of have supported us throughout the years.

04;51;03;14 – 04;51;07;16
Kristen Wynn
And to say afterwards, sometimes you need that key but expect you need these.

04;51;07;16 – 04;51;45;00
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So these amazing historic families, they’re along the route and they’re kind enough to let us, stay in either their homes or their churches, their gyms, their schools. And as far as, like food and stuff goes, we sort of try to get all food donated. So part of the job of travel coordinators is to call ahead and be like, hey, H-e-b, would you guys be willing to sort of donate maybe a few, like, sandwiches for riders today and, sort of call around and get that food sorted so that food is not something that we need to think about as riders and just focus on getting there and making the journey there.

04;51;45;02 – 04;51;45;27
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

04;51;45;29 – 04;52;00;22
Kristen Wynn
And in terms of focusing like the riders focusing on getting there, not everyone in the team or in that route rides every day. So we also have people in SAG, which is safety and gears.

04;52;00;25 – 04;52;01;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah.

04;52;01;18 – 04;52;20;14
Kristen Wynn
And the safety and gear people, they’re not riding there in one of the trailers, driving the trailer. They’re supposed to like secure, either like the campground or get to that family or host, first. But then if we do have any issues with a bike, there there are safety to come in, like, give us a ride or.

04;52;20;17 – 04;52;40;18
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So yeah, it’s it’s a, it’s just a role then, like, so you may ride one day and be sag another day. Yeah. So you have to have those skills of both like driving the trailer and knowing how to fix a bike and also being a rider. Right. This isn’t like one person does says. And one person that does this is everybody is doing all of this.

04;52;40;20 – 04;52;49;17
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay. It’s a lot of moving parts. Yeah. So long to explain or like to take in even us as, like we’re already like a year into the trail.

04;52;49;18 – 04;52;51;28
Shaunuk Sathe
No, everything still works.

04;52;52;19 – 04;53;09;03
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And we try to be as safe as possible, but I think, we also train to be SAG. So every Saturday during the weekend there is SAG training. So while we have people riding, we also have people in cars. The like honestly shout out to us, we.

04;53;09;04 – 04;53;10;07
Maleni Redondo
Can’t sag.

04;53;10;07 – 04;53;14;10
Shaunuk Sathe
Because we got rained out. Yeah. So we’re actually, you.

04;53;14;12 – 04;53;17;27
Maleni Redondo
Know, you’re on shout out. Yeah.

04;53;18;00 – 04;53;22;03
Shaunuk Sathe
We’re trying to get us some ground, you know, so I’m.

04;53;22;06 – 04;53;23;20
Kristen Wynn
Sorry.

04;53;23;22 – 04;53;26;14
Shaunuk Sathe
We did not get to the donuts. Oh, no no no no.

04;53;26;14 – 04;53;30;05
Maleni Redondo
No, I said to you.

04;53;30;08 – 04;53;30;11
Shaunuk Sathe
They’re.

04;53;30;12 – 04;53;36;11
Kristen Wynn
Like SAG people. We’re just like, scrambling, trying to get you back to getting 78 people or like 70 people.

04;53;36;15 – 04;53;36;27
Shaunuk Sathe
In, like.

04;53;36;27 – 04;53;37;05
Kristen Wynn
Three.

04;53;37;05 – 04;53;44;24
Shaunuk Sathe
Cars. So we, like, took someone back who got a car and brought more people back.

04;53;44;26 – 04;54;08;12
Kristen Wynn
Like, I think that, yeah, we also, trained on the art of patience. Yeah, yeah. There’s so many, like, lessons within this, right? Like the stuff that you all endure, like the strength training, the, like, patience with one another, the unexpected. Right. Like learning all these new skills is pretty, like, overwhelming to just listen to, right? Let alone be a part of it.

04;54;08;12 – 04;54;27;08
Kristen Wynn
So it’s really it’s really cool. Yeah. Can you talk more about the leadership development piece of that. So some of that feels inherent, right. Like if you’re going to do this as a team, if you’re going to make this commitment right, if you’re going to reach out to people along the way and visit, you know, funded institutions that you are have helped.

04;54;27;08 – 04;54;49;13
Kristen Wynn
I mean, you can feel the leadership qualities spilling out of that. But can you talk more about maybe what you do throughout the year that’s part of leadership development or throughout that 18 months? It’s not part of the ride that would be considered leadership development. So there is an application process to get into Texas 4000. And after that, you kind of get onboarded into the organization.

04;54;49;16 – 04;55;22;11
Kristen Wynn
That takes 18 months. So like we’re in our last leg of it, before we leave, but before it, there was a whole semester where we get taught, like the history of Texas 4000 and the impact it had, how we fundraise and what that means, in terms of like, granting. And I think a big component of it is also like teaching you how to be empathetic and be able to have those conversations with people, because having those conversations is very hard sometimes.

04;55;22;16 – 04;55;39;26
Kristen Wynn
So I think you’re able to really hone in on those skills and like, develop that leadership aspect in the way that you’re able to engage with the community and the way you’re able to, like, speak to different individuals. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to add anything?

04;55;40;00 – 04;55;58;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I just I there’s a lot of moving parts obviously when it comes to Texas 4000, there’s travel where we have to figure out where we’re staying, how we’re staying, how we’re getting food and supplies. And then there is community engagement where we sort of try to bridge the gap between Texas 4000 and as grantee institutions and as partners.

04;55;58;15 – 04;56;29;24
Shaunuk Sathe
And it’s a huge community that we’re trying to engage. And, at the beginning and during like last semester, we both ran for chairs. And so there’s different committees within Texas for thousand. This community engagement, which is what we are part of, there’s NPR, there’s travel, there’s business development. For us, we have community members for preventative care, resources with the main members for, we did something called Hope day, which is at like local farmers markets where we sort of, supply this preventative care messaging.

04;56;29;26 – 04;56;58;12
Kristen Wynn
So hope day farmers market, you get prevention care information out. What does that look like? So before the Covid 19 pandemic and Hope day was this very historic Texas 4000 event where they would go out to like local farmers markets and they would just like promote the whole mission of Texas 4000. So whether that was through, be the match, the National bone marrow registry.

04;56;58;12 – 04;57;10;20
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Swabbing. Yes. Oh, yeah. Also a lot of like sun protection or skin cancer screenings and also some like fun events like, you know, flying a member or stuff like that because that’s.

04;57;10;22 – 04;57;12;02
Maleni Redondo
You know, to engages.

04;57;12;03 – 04;57;32;21
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. Yeah. So like a lot of interactive ways in which we could bond with the community, but also we could show the community what we do and kind of connect the community to resources. And maybe they didn’t know where previously. There. And now I think throughout Covid it was just very hard to continue that.

04;57;32;23 – 04;57;54;02
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So I guess in the past you’re talking about it, it was mostly like some prevention screenings. Now we want to sort of build like a health equity standpoint to it. We’re actually doing a farmer’s market up and around rock called the Latin American Market. It’ll be a really great opportunity to up there and sort of give cancer prevention messaging that’s pertinent to that community.

04;57;54;02 – 04;58;06;21
Shaunuk Sathe
For example, I believe cervical cancer is is more common within the Latin American community. And and so we want to sort of target our messaging to, to reach as many people as possible and make it as relevant as possible.

04;58;06;24 – 04;58;28;18
Kristen Wynn
They think it’s also so important because we are a Texas nonprofit. Yeah, there’s so many Latinos here in Texas. So it’s very important that, like, our messaging is equitable and inclusive of everyone. So I think we’re really trying to grow Spanish programs. But I think one of our coordinators actually said, okay, but not just Spanish programs like we need to be inclusive for all.

04;58;28;20 – 04;58;33;11
Kristen Wynn
And I know we’re trying to pitch some ideas into what we’re rebranding that committee to be.

04;58;33;12 – 04;59;07;07
Shaunuk Sathe
We also ride through a lot of Native American communities on the way. Superintendent yeah, so there’s a lot of different minority groups that that sort of don’t have equal access to cancer care or or education as far as prevention goes. Yeah. I’m Indian American and I feel like a lot of times in Indian communities there’s this sort of, I guess, stigma against getting help and it’s sort of like, oh, if you’re if you have something, you’re dealing with a condition, you just sort of deal with it and you don’t reach out and you don’t go to a doctor and you don’t go to screenings.

04;59;07;07 – 04;59;24;27
Shaunuk Sathe
And so I think part of our mission is tailoring our messaging to make sure that any community that is, is estranged from this help or is not able to get it, get access to this. We sort of tried to bridge the gap in the, the most, in the most, I guess, respectful way that we can.

04;59;25;04 – 04;59;52;05
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. And then I, I would say Mexican American, but I was born in Mexico, so I’m a, I’m an immigrant, a proud immigrant, as I, like, grew up in the Valley, which is like the south most part of Texas. So a lot of my family is, like, uninsured or just, like, hasn’t parents, but doesn’t use it just because of, like, gaps in knowledge about what American healthcare is.

04;59;52;08 – 05;00;21;00
Kristen Wynn
And I think Sean mentioned earlier, Hispanic women are more likely to pass from cervical cancer. And that is not because of a genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. It’s because we don’t get screened. Yeah. And we don’t have access to resources. Yeah. Sometimes. And I think to me as a Latina that is very important. I’ve had like 3 or 4 of my aunts have like scares with cervical cancer.

05;00;21;02 – 05;00;47;02
Kristen Wynn
And it’s because like, sexual health is such a taboo subject within the Latino community and like getting, you know, pap smears and all of that is scary. I think in Mexico you don’t get a pap smear until you’re sexually active, whereas in America. So there’s a stigma there. Like it’s like there’s already touched being sexually active. Yeah. And then in America, I think it’s like after 18 or 18 to 21, like I can start, and there’s no stigma, so there’s no stigma.

05;00;47;04 – 05;01;18;15
Kristen Wynn
Yeah. So like as a Latina in, you know, predominantly religious households, it’s it’s not something that you talk about and it’s not something you get education on like passed down generations. I see that all around me, whether it’s with, you know, my stubborn Willow or my stubborn father. Yes. And, I think trying to do the most that I can for future generations, you know, because as much as we try and fix that aspect of, like, our elders, it’s hard sometimes.

05;01;18;17 – 05;01;37;07
Kristen Wynn
But, like, I think trying to educate future generations so that that doesn’t continue to be like the chain reaction. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think too, that came to mind immediately as cervical cancer is one of the cancers that’s most preventable now. Right. Like the vaccines are there. Like of all the cancers like this one, we can get it.

05;01;37;09 – 05;01;57;22
Kristen Wynn
We can fix it. So yeah. So that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to hear that there’s such a stigma around it because it’s so preventable. Right. If you take the right steps. And so that’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I want to touch back on your pillars of hope, knowledge, charity. Can you maybe flush those out for us.

05;01;57;24 – 05;02;00;02
Kristen Wynn
You know why those three.

05;02;00;05 – 05;02;20;18
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. So as far as it goes, I believe that the three pillars were where I guess, created to sort of align ourselves to like, how does our journey from Austin to Alaska connect with cancer? Yeah. And how can we we best make that connection because I think a lot of people, they hear, oh, you’re biking from Austin to Alaska, what does it have to do with cancer?

05;02;20;18 – 05;02;33;14
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And I think The pillars is what connects it. And it’s we bike through these communities to spread hope, and knowledge is how we spread our cancer prevention and charity is when we donate to cancer research and support services.

05;02;33;16 – 05;02;59;02
Kristen Wynn
And I think the staff likes to call it like a boat, but I can it can also be a bike reference, you know, it’s like what pushes you forward to Alaska. You have to have all these pillars to like, really work as an organization. And for a whole, cancer can as like a family member or as even sometimes like a medical professional or someone who’s personally going through it, it can make you feel very helpless.

05;02;59;04 – 05;03;24;07
Kristen Wynn
And I think our writers really want to make sure that, like, we are emotionally supporting people as we hear stories or as we say our stories, and then charity is that service component of grant giving and receiving donations to go to like a bigger cost. And then knowledge is just so much about like preventative care and like being there for communities.

05;03;24;10 – 05;03;51;05
Kristen Wynn
That’s great. So that sort of dovetails nicely into speaking of charity and the work you do around grants. The live Stream Cancer Institute has, greatly benefited from some of that fundraising. So, we’re incredibly thankful for that. It’s very impactful to the work that Doctor Ashley does and others you hear. So over $4 million, right? So like $4.5 million so far.

05;03;51;23 – 05;04;21;21
Kristen Wynn
To think about that coming from a group of students, right, is pretty, pretty amazing to think about. So how some money portion come into this? Can you talk about the grant that that money process? Yes. Also a leadership skill, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually we had a whole conversation. Staff is very transparent with how funding comes in and out of Texas 4000.

05;04;21;27 – 05;04;53;29
Kristen Wynn
So historically, since 2004, each rider has been responsible for fundraising each, 4500 miles. And that equates to like a dollar per mile. Written. Okay. Because we like to say Texas 4000, but it’s more likely Texas 4500. Inflation has affected all of us. Yes, yes. So each rider fundraises that 4500, and then we also fundraise through like corporations.

05;04;54;00 – 05;05;17;05
Kristen Wynn
So there’s a lot of like corporate matching, okay. Stuff like that. And not all that support plus staff works very diligently to get those like bigger pockets of money donated to Texas 4000. Okay. Which we can after the summer. Right. Grant out to people. Cool. Okay. Let’s training like so Saturday rides. You’re saying weekday rides. Do you train independently?

05;05;17;05 – 05;05;19;21
Kristen Wynn
Right. So training is hard.

05;05;19;22 – 05;05;21;18
Maleni Redondo
Yeah we are.

05;05;21;21 – 05;05;41;02
Shaunuk Sathe
We are not allowed to train independently. Everything is with the group. So it’s grouped between 3 and 6 is our rule. And our rule is, we cannot bike before sunrise or after sundown. Yeah, it’s all for safety reasons. Yeah. So, basically we have this sort of, like, leadership component called safety leads that she was talking about earlier.

05;05;41;12 – 05;05;58;02
Shaunuk Sathe
So if you are a safety lead trained, you’ve been trained by someone who is leadership within the org who basically says that you are able to lead your own ride and you have the skills necessary to do that. And so we have weekday rides, and then we also have Saturday Ride, which is a team wide ride at 7 a.m..

05;05;58;02 – 05;06;13;29
Shaunuk Sathe
And so that’s the ride where, all 78 of us go out and tackle a new route usually. And once we we’ve tackle, then you’re out on Saturday. It’s basically unlocked for the next week. Okay. So we’re able to do that new route on the with their sides of the following week.

05;06;14;14 – 05;06;15;18
Kristen Wynn
So that that makes sense.

05;06;15;18 – 05;06;21;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah. And we have, like, progressive mile deadlines, I believe, like two weeks ago we had a 250 mile deadline.

05;06;21;17 – 05;06;24;04
Kristen Wynn
And in March 5th we have 550.

05;06;24;04 – 05;06;33;12
Shaunuk Sathe
It’s basically the deadline is encourage us to have both. Right. We have to ride during weekdays at least once or twice, and also Saturday rides in order to be able to get enough to to reach that deadline.

05;06;33;18 – 05;06;55;17
Kristen Wynn
That’s awesome. I also wanted to point out I love to sort of like there’s like leadership opportunities left and right. And so like even saying I’m a I’m a safety lead. So I’m putting on the calendar, I’m writing on this line and being in charge, that there’s just so many little pockets of places where people can sort of step up into a leadership role within Texas 4000, which I think is really kind of beautiful to like.

05;06;55;17 – 05;07;28;08
Kristen Wynn
Everyone has a unique saying that they get to contribute. I kind of love that. There’s just so much built into this around leadership development and is for it being kind of a piece of that too. So before we have you all leave, one of the things that we had kind of talked about bringing to this conversation is talking directly to our audience, who is primarily in high school or maybe an undergrad student, kind of explaining how they can make an impact now.

05;07;28;08 – 05;07;50;11
Kristen Wynn
Right? You don’t have to have an MD. You all are proving that you can be a young person and still make an impact. So would you mind maybe giving a pep talk to our audience about making an impact now? Not waiting? Yeah, I think like as a little girl who grew up in a small town, I never thought I’d be completing the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

05;07;50;13 – 05;08;12;18
Kristen Wynn
And I think it’s really important to, like, just put yourself out there as like a human in the community, whether you go to UT or you don’t go to college like there’s always an opportunity for growth as a person, and there’s always an opportunity to find something that you really love or something that you can put efforts into, which is like Texas for a thousand.

05;08;12;18 – 05;08;34;16
Kristen Wynn
It’s such a big mission. But I think just like having that drive and the will to, like, seek a new purpose or kind of put yourself in any ideas really important. Like I want to continue in medicine and maybe at some point, you know, go to med school or have a PhD. I’m currently doing my master’s and like, I can’t cure cancer right now.

05;08;34;16 – 05;08;53;29
Kristen Wynn
Yeah, there’s a lot of really smart professionals out there who are trying to find new treatments like Doctor Matsui. But while I can’t quite have a lab of my own and try and seek those answers yet, I can always find ways to support the professionals who have the ability to do that right now. Absolutely.

05;08;54;02 – 05;09;13;15
Shaunuk Sathe
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think there’s always a way for you to be to contribute and make a difference. And it doesn’t matter how small. Like any, you try your hardest and any way you contribute it, it makes a difference. And I think the way that Texas 4000 is made is that every single person, since they have a role, no matter what every single person is contributing.

05;09;13;15 – 05;09;32;15
Shaunuk Sathe
And I think that’s a good, like as a way I think about life and it’s a life lesson for me is that I may not be able to, like you said, cure cancer, but I could. I could try my best to, to help in any way that I can. And that’s a lot, I think.

05;09;32;17 – 05;09;36;06
Kristen Wynn
Well, thank you again. So lovely to hear from you. Thank you for.

05;09;36;07 – 05;09;39;09
Shaunuk Sathe
Thank you so much for having us. This was awesome.

05;09;39;11 – 05;10;17;25
Laura Pavitt
Thank you to Shaunuk Sathe and Melani Redondo for sharing their time with us to talk about their incredible experience in this program. You can find out more about Texas 4000 for cancer and its riders at Texas 4000 talk. You can help support the Texas 4000 mission at Texas 4000.org/donate. Look out for part two of this episode to be released next month, in which we’ll hear from three more students who are part of Texas 4000, one of which is an alumna of UT Austin and has already completed the Texas 4000 ride to Alaska.

05;10;17;27 – 05;10;45;20
Laura Pavitt
We’ll hear more about the pillars of the program, the lessons learned from training, about a day in the life of the ride, and about the mental toughness that’s required to complete 4000 miles on a bike. If you have questions, or if you have other topics that we can uncover, please email us at LivestrongCancerInstitutes@dellmed.utexas.edu and make sure Institute’s is plural.

05;10;45;23 – 05;11;18;17
Laura Pavitt
You can find out more about the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at dellmed.utexas.edu, and about the Live Stream Cancer Institute’s clinic at UTHealthAustin.org If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. Thank you for listening.