4,000 miles on a bike to fight cancer

Zachary Turner isn't an avid cyclist.

Until a few months ago, he didn't even own a bike.

So when he volunteered to ride one 4,000 miles from Baltimore to San Francisco, everybody had a question for him:

"Are you crazy?"

Yes, he said. But for a good cause. The trek, organized by a group called 4K For Cancer, raised money to benefit cancer facilities and research.

The 22-year-old University of South Florida senior learned about 4K For Cancer a couple of years ago, when a friend from high school took the trip.

He thought she was crazy.

But last year, he looked into the organization. It invites applications from college students who are later interviewed over the phone. Selected students ride across the country together, stopping most nights at churches or community centers to eat, give a presentation and sleep.

Each participant raises money by asking family, friends and strangers for donations. The 4K For Cancer group sends the contributions to the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore and to the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge organization, which provides free, temporary housing near treatment facilities for patients and their families.

Turner applied to ride in October. In November, he got the e-mail.

He and 26 other college students were selected to be part of the annual ride. He would need to raise at least $4,000, the minimum donation to the cause on behalf of each rider. He would need to train.

"(I had) never done any sort of cycling," he said. "Ever."

He had a bike when he was a kid, Turner said. But he never rode long distances. He ran cross country and track in high school and he runs regularly for exercise, but it would take more than that, he said. So he borrowed a bike from the friend who first told him about the program.

Between work and classes, he rode 20 to 30 miles during the week, and 40 to 60 miles on the weekends. He didn't register for summer classes as he usually would. He would need to be off work from May until August, he told his boss at Hercules Cleaning Corp., where Turner does janitorial work. His boss gave him the time off — and a donation. As Turner prepped for the trip, his parents, who live in Port Charlotte, supported him, too.

"We acknowledged the danger," said his father, Don Turner. But "I wasn't really too worried about his safety. I thought it would be worth it."

So did Turner.

On May 28, he flew to Baltimore. And on May 31, he hit the road, on a road bike provided by 4K For Cancer.

The 27 cyclists split into small groups for safety reasons, he said, and the first few days were the hardest.

"When we hit the Appalachian Mountains, it was brutal," he said. "Seventy-plus-mile days, going up a 2,900-foot summit."

There were no summits where he trained, he said. Most of Florida is flat. But summits were just the beginning.

He took a fall in Pennsylvania and scratched an arm. He faced road rage from angry truckers in Indiana. Down the road, he said, he hit a heat wave in Kansas and in Colorado he hit the Rockies.

"A 112-mile day and it was 105 degrees, in really humid conditions," he said. "We exhausted our water supply, stopped constantly to buy Gatorade. We were losing more water than we could possibly put in."

And, he said, it was all totally worth it.

Every day during stops for food or water, the group met strangers at random who supported the cause with encouragement, or money, or food for lunch. Every night, the cyclists stopped, and most nights, they gave presentations about cancer, including how to treat and prevent it.

Doctors diagnosed his maternal grandmother with colon cancer several years ago. They gave her three months to live. She lived three years. Virginia Reddick died in 2003, and Turner dedicated the ride to her.

"When he told us, it was an emotional moment," his father said. "It really means a lot to us."

Deana Turner said her mother would be proud of Turner.

"Cancer took my mom at a pretty young age, and I still miss her," said Deana Turner. "And I guess it shouldn't surprise me that my children miss her, too."

The memory of his grandmother kept him going every day of the ride, Turner said.

And the results, he said, inspired him. On his own, he raised $4,250 in donations from family, friends and strangers. The group collected about $150,000 in total.

"We really thought the economic downturn would hamper our efforts," Turner said. "No matter where we were, the sheer generosity of people surprised everyone."

He trusts that part of the money will enhance the research Sidney Kimmel is already doing, and he hopes the rest goes toward building a Hope Lodge in San Francisco, where there isn't one yet, and where Turner's team finished the trek Aug. 1.

Through fog and wind, he crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, he said, and thought about the 4,000 miles behind him.

There were days, he said, he didn't feel like getting up and riding.

"And somehow or another, there is always something to motivate you," he said. "Something to get you riding."

Arleen Spenceley can be reached at (813) 269-5301 or aspenceley@sptimes.com.