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Saylor Black

@saylor2alaska

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@texas4000
Biking from Austin, TX to Anchorage, AK to raise money and awareness for cancer!
Main: @saltysaylor7

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Staff update! Please give a warm welcome to our new Texas 4000 staff members👏🏻We’re very excited to have these T4K alumni on our team to support, challenge, and connect with future teams. We can’t wait to see their meaningful contributions. Swipe to learn more about them!

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Day 69: Palmer, AK to Wasilla, AK (Hatcher Pass Climb)

On this day, the team rode from Palmer to Wasilla! Every year this day involves the iconic Hatcher Pass climb, which is the last big climb we do as riders for Texas 4000. You know, it was actually pretty easy, compared to Pike’s Peak.. and yes I did it in jorts, because yolo🤣 After eating lunch at this cute restaurant at the top of our route, we descended the entire climb, which was terrifying and exhilarating and horrifying and awesome. Definitely one of the most memorable moments of my summer. I’ll never forget screaming in pure glee and fear simultaneously as I descended a winding mountain pass in the RAIN. My fear of hydroplaning was definitely at an all time high, especially since my tire was kinda like, bulging oddly? I was scared it was gonna explode, honestly, since people’s tires started exploding towards the end of the summer ride. I was so happy to bike up this mountain pass even though I was on SAG this day. So I only rode at the Hatcher Pass part.

In the evening, we arrived at historic hosts at this church in Wasilla, and they literally made a feast for us. I was so happy. I ate so many different kinds of food, but my favorite was definitely the salmon chowder. We had our last team meeting as Rockies, discussing finish line the next day and also doing our final rock and jersey nominations.. which ended up becoming several hours of sappiness. I didn’t really sleep much this night, because, well, it was our last sleepover together, ever. With everyone on both routes. I played ping pong with Leah for what seemed like hours and I improved so much. I hung out with Sierras before their team meeting, monkeying around in this church’s rock wall/climbing room, and immediately took the coldest shower of my life. Lots of my teammates stayed up late too. It was one of those moments where you kinda ditch efforts at decent sleep and just have fun with your friends. I wrote this caption from the panhandle of Idaho, as I drive to Missoula, Montana, and I don’t know what’s more terrifying- descending that mountain pass in the rain, or the absolute pitch black darkness of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

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After 4,000+ miles, countless challenges, and months of unwavering determination, the 2026 Ride Team has officially reached Anchorage. 🥳👏🏻💙🧡

To every friend, family member, host, donor, volunteer, and supporter, and especially those who joined us in Anchorage, thank you! This journey wouldn’t have been possible without you.

#Texas4000 #FightingCancerEveryMile

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🧡 The 2026 Texas 4000 Rockies Team is making headlines again! 📰

The Rockies Team was featured by @ckpgtoday as they made their way through Prince George, British Columbia.

The story highlights the personal journeys that inspire the 2026 Rockies ride team to pedal every mile, their commitment to raising awareness and funds for the fight against cancer, and the meaningful connections they're building with communities across North America.

To read the full story, visit the link in our Linktree in our bio!

#Texas4000 #FightingCancerEveryMile

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Day 9: Rest day in Oklahoma City!

I realized I took no photos today so here are a bunch of photos from the first week of the ride! Wow it’s really been flying by.

Today we explored the Paseo Arts Festival and had lunch with another member of the Oklahoma Bike Society. Then met a patient with AML at the Hope Lodge, and got to exchange stories with her and her sister. We ended the day with a nice dinner provided by Madelyn’s great aunt and uncle.

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Day 30: Grand Teton NP —> Yellowstone, NP
Miles Biked: 61

Wow today was kind of an insane day. We kicked off our morning biking through Grand Teton National Park which was absolutely incredible. There was a bike path the whole way so we just got to chill and soak up the amazing views. I am really going to miss this place and already want to plan a trip to come back. We got the pleasure of riding with Kirsten- a 2021 T4K alum for the first part of the ride which was fun. I also practiced my hands free riding and made some improvements today!

My ride group today was awesome, it was an all girls group: Madelyn, Christine and CC. We stopped by Jenny Lake while in the park and then stopped by Lewis lake on our way to Yellowstone.

After the riding portion of the day, we had some time to explore Yellowstone! We saw lots of wildlife including a black bear, some elk, and some bison!! We also saw Old Faithful and the Prismatic pool. Yellowstone kind of felt like an alien planet, it was all super cool. On our way into West Yellowstone, we crossed into Montana, the last state we will pass through before Canada!

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Day 38: Border Crossing Day!!

We rode our bikes to Canada!!

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Day 36: Kalispell, MT to Glacier National Park, MT (35 mi)

Happy T4prom day! It was a chillll 35 miles listening to Nujabes today! Well, this was after being sagged hella to get to a safe spot on the road. Also, featuring the longest rest stop of my life at this beautiful gazebo, lol. Near this rest stop, we bought thrifted clothes for T4prom, in which you buy clothes for your date. This morning Jonas T4promposed to me with the beans greens potatoes tomatoes song, which made my day. It has been an inside joke between us since January. It made my day. Other than that, T4prom was pretty fun and I had a great time. No pics, you just had to be there.

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Was so excited when I moved to Jackson and I realized that the Rockies @texas4000 team was going to ride into town!! 🚲🏔️ I got to help them with housing & food/supply donations it was such a blast from the past. Block printed some fabric bandanas for the team as well (which let me tell you is an exercise in itself). Sunday morning I got to ride out with the team into Grand Teton National Park and surprisingly made it 25 miles. It was so great to meet everyone,, wishing you all tail winds and no flats all the way up to Alaska!! @rush_rockies

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Day 26: Logan, UT to Pocatello, ID (100 mi)

Happy Idaho day!! I was really happy to be biking again after a few days off. We had some teammates attempt the second Dease Lake qualifier day where you bike 100 miles in 6 hours, and I think Simon and Champers successfully completed it, which was crazy on such a windy day. I opted for a normal-paced ride and it was awesome. At mile 20, we crossed into Idaho! Then we got bishslapped by headwinds and crosswinds and then ALSO discovered mid-ride we had to be done before 5:30 in order to shower at a gym, so we sagged out 71 miles in. During the day, we were supported by drinks from Dutch Bros Coffee and lunch from Papa Jay’s!

Tonight we’re staying at a church in Pocatello, and the staff went above and beyond. They arranged air mattresses for every single one of us, made us sandwiches for dinner, and are coming back tomorrow morning to cook us eggs and pancakes and waffles. To my surprise, there are a lot of things to do here. There’s a lot of different restaurants and the city is a lot larger than I expected too.

At sunset I took some of the team to Red Hill to enjoy a panoramic view of Pocatello and the sunset. I had fun today and I love Idaho.

Shoutout to Eunice for the lengthy reggaeton playlist that got me through today

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Day 22: Vernal, UT to Fruitland, UT

I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. At last, Fruitland, Utah. After not sagging since three states ago (Oklahoma), I planned to sag specifically today to make my team be fruity. It was a success! Ride groups were divas, queens, and baddies lmao. Jonas and I hit up Walmart to buy some props and face paint to make the long, hot day a little more enjoyable. We’ve really been going strong with the themes to make the days more fun and I think people enjoyed and embraced the theme today.

It was a great day all around. It did get really hot though later on. We arrived to our historic host in Fruitland, at the most charming ranch ever. There was a house, cabin, tipi, and a vintage RV/trailer that fit all of us. It was truly wonderful and we got to interact a lot with our hosts Edward and Ninoska and her son, Giovanni, who inspired us with his story of beating leukemia. Their two dogs Sugar and Rocky (how fitting) totally kept me busy and more uplifted. At night, I practiced clarinet again. Wow, I’m on a streak of two days. That’s a new one.

I’m sleeping in the cabin tonight and I’m so cozy. Tomorrow’s a century, so I’m gonna delay posting in order to sleep. Every day we get hosted, I think to myself it can’t get better, but it really does.

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Day 20: Estes Park, CO to Steamboat Springs, CO (56 mi)

Today was a bit of a different day. We spent the morning driving through Rocky Mountain National Park, which had beautiful, lush forests and winding roads that took us up great ear-popping heights. We couldn’t exactly bike it because it would take too long and it’s not safe to bike through the national park. We stopped a few times to take pictures and buy RMNP postcards. We also drove through Routt National Forest.

Around 11am, we started our ride in Kremmling, CO at a gas station lol. Per usual, it was a picturesque ride. All of our days in Colorado have had some sort of brutal climb, including today. I didn’t get to do it though because we had an accident. Stupid bugs, and shoutout Thu for remaining so positive despite the obvious pain.

A really cool thing about Steamboat Springs is that there’s a community here that has been historic hosts for Texas 4000. I’m talking some people have welcomed us in their homes for over 10 years. One of these hosts, named Eric, joined us for part of the ride and guided us through Steamboat Springs into the parking lot where all of our hosts met us. We divided into eight homes, and me and CC stay with Bob and Margie, some of the kindest and most inspirational people I’ve ever met.

After living in several different states over the years, but mainly in Houston for 30+ years, Bob and Margie retired to Steamboat Springs. Bob is a pilot who served in the Air Force and in commercial airlines and Margie is a retired college professor. They have the most beautiful house here and the pasta they made us for dinner was just as exquisite. I was so happy to share a meal and conversations with them and I can’t wait to eat these bagels tomorrow morning that Bob has shipped from New York City😋

Fun fact: Steamboat Springs has also produced more Winter Olympians than any other city

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