Lauren Greenfield has never lacked passion in whatever she has endeavored to pursue. Whether it was being a four-year letterman and captain of the Temple High swimming team as a senior in 2020 to running, scuba diving, cooking, singing and politics, Greenfield dived in with her whole heart. So it is also with cycling for cancer awareness by the University of Texas junior.
Greenfield is, along with fellow 2020 Temple alum Andrew Posey, among 76 cyclists traversing the roads and mountains from Texas to Anchorage as part of the Texas 4000 — an 18-month cycling program for Longhorn students as a cancer fundraiser. The groups are split between routes through the Rockies, the Sierra Mountains and the Ozarks with the same destination. The first stop on the 70-day Rockies tour, which Greenfield’s team is a part of, was in Gatesville on May 25.
“Summiting Pikes Peak has been the biggest highlight,” said Greenfield, who is currently biking through the Yukon, Canada, with just over a week left before reaching Anchorage on Aug. 2. “I biked up with the rest of my team, which was such an awesome feeling.
I was nervous that I wouldn’t make it to the top with the elevation and my knee issues.” Indeed, Greenfield’s trip almost didn’t happen as she hurt her knee in April and spent over a month in a brace before furiously rehabbing in time to make the journey. The cyclists received their bikes last October, making the training period a relatively brief one for such an expediti.