This summer, a group of 20 students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will travel 4,000 miles by bicycle, across the country and down the Pacific Coast.

On Wednesday, on the second day of their journey, the riders stopped in Carbon County. They completed a 52-mile ride to Lehighton from central New Jersey. After being hosted by the Lehighton Outdoor Center and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, they set out Thursday morning on a 77-mile ride to their next stop in Northumberland County.

The students are taking part in the annual Illini 4000 ride - a chance to explore the country and make memories, but while raising money for cancer.

“We all like biking, the adventure, but a deciding factor for a lot of us was that it was close to our hearts,” said Cal Howley, one of the riders.

Over 75 days, the group will ride 4,000 miles, cross the continent into the northwest, then down the Pacific Coast to their destination in San Francisco. Their ride began in Manhattan.

The ride benefits organizations which fund cancer research, and support for families with children battling the disease.

The “4000” in Illini 4000 signifies the distance of the ride, and the $4,000 that each rider raises for the battle against cancer. Over the years the organization has raised over $1 million for cancer. This year’s ride has generated over $103,000 in donations, including a $1,000 check that Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church presented on Wednesday.

The riders will cover approximately 50 to 110 miles per day over the two-plus months of their journey.

Before they signed up for the ride six months ago, few of the riders had ever gone that distance in one day, let alone stringing together long rides for six months.

They trained together - running indoors in the cold Illinois winters, and eventually getting outdoors for training rides up to 90 miles.

Vikram Mubayi has seen the impact of the organizations the ride supports. Before graduating this spring with a degree in chemical engineering, he worked in a lab where a researcher funded by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation did work that may eventually lead to discovering new disease-fighting drugs.

“He had a huge impact on my undergrad career,” Mubayi said.

The chance to see the country from a bicycle was a strong motivator for the riders. But they also were inspired by relatives who have battled the disease.

Clara O’Sullivan lost her grandmother to cancer last year. It became one of the reasons she joined the ride even though she hadn’t done much bike riding.

“It was turning the tragedy into something more positive,” she said.

Those connections will help push them forward through the difficult miles ahead. Each day, the riders will dedicate their rides to someone with cancer, to help remind them of the purpose for the ride.

“On those hard days, you’ll have a reason, and remember why you’re doing it,” said Jessica Fornek.