Community Corner
Two UMBC Students Will Bike Four Thousand Miles to Fight Cancer
Two UMBC students will bike from Baltimore to San Francisco this summer with 4k For Cancer.
No matter who you are, chances are you know someone whose life has been affected by cancer.
Two (UMBC) students, Omar Bukhari and Adam Gerber, have decided to do something to help support the cause.
Bukhari and Gerber are both officers for the Pre-Medical Society at UMBC and decided to sign up for the ride together when 4k For Cancer visited the UMBC campus.
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“A lot of doctors have research backgrounds but they don’t get to do anything that lets them grow as an individual,” said Gerber.
For 63 days this summer, Bukhari and Gerber will spend their time biking almost 100 miles a day from Baltimore to San Francisco.
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“I thought 4k For Cancer meant four kilometers, not four thousand miles,” said Gerber.
They are part of three different rides taking place during the summer. The other riders will go from Baltimore to Portland and from Baltimore to Seattle.
Bukhari was part of his high school’s mountain biking club and became interested in the race. Gerber has never been a part of a club but enjoys biking recreationally. This is a completely new experience for both of them. The two have been training all over the Baltimore area and met some other riders in their group of 35 while recently biking from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.
“We’ve got a lot more training to do since we were riding in the back of our group,” said Bukhari.
This ride will not only take mental discipline but also great physical strength. They have had to change their eating habits and balance exercising with full-time course work.
The ride is not only a way for them to help support the fight against cancer; it also gives them the incredible opportunity to travel across the country.
They each have to raise more than $4,000 by May 15. If they don't reach the benchmark, they will have to pay for the rest of their goal on their own.
To help Bukhari and Gerber, visit their donation pages. They will also be having a fundraiser at the Rita’s in Arbutus and a raffle for an iPod shuffle. Details about the events have not been confirmed. For more information about the events, e-mail Adam Gerber at agerber1@umbc.edu.