The fourth annual Texas 4000 for Cancer bike ride will kick off this weekend. Actually, it's less of a "ride" and more of a "trek." The 44-member cycling team, mostly made up of UT students, will cycle from Austin all the way to Anchorage, Alaska (that's 4,500 miles!) to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It's the longest annual charity bicycle ride in the world, and it kicks off this afternoon from the UT Tower at 2pm. From here, the Texas 4000 riders will pedal to Cedar Park. Tomorrow morning, the First Leg of the journey from Cedar Park to Lampasas -- called "The Atlas Ride" -- will begin. All cyclists are encouraged to accompany the team on this First Leg, which stretches for about 70 miles.

Every single dime earned by Texas 4000 goes toward fighting cancer. The fundraising goal for this year's ride is $350,000, and so far the organization has raised close to $150,000. To date, Texas 4000 has raised a whopping $740,000, all of which has gone toward finding a cure for a disease that kills over 500,000 people per year in the United States alone. And the best part is that donating money to Texas 4000 is really, really easy. Just go here and you've done your good deed for the week.

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia.