Profile

About: Hello! My name is Carly and I am so excited to be on my Texas 4000 journey! I'm from Jensen Beach, Florida and am a beach bum at heart. When I visit home, you can find me beating my dad at a game of golf, vintage shopping with my mom, discussing fantasy reads with my older sister, Chloe, or dishing out sisterly advice to my younger sister, Ava. If you catch me in Texas when I am not in class or biking to Alaska, I am hanging out with my sorority, Kappa Delta, meeting with Texas Advertising Group, or exploring Austin's thrift shopping scene.

Questions, comments, stories, words of encouragement, or book recommendations? Reach out to me at carlyhudgins@utexas.edu!

Why I Ride

I am extremely honored to be a part of the Texas 4000 2024 Team. During my freshman year, I became close to Georgia Winfield who would become a 2023 rider. She shared with me her own family's struggle with cancer and the perseverance that she was forced to learn. As I watched her go through the onboarding process and eventually start training for her upcoming summer ride, I realized how formative this organization had become to both her college experience and life story. I would never have believed that I too would be able to bike 4,000 (+!) miles from Austin to Alaska without her paving the way for me. Georgia, Cate, and the hundreds of riders before me have shown me just how impactful a team of students can be when united in a common goal.

When I was 7 years old, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I was too young to understand the severity of cancer or the toll that it had taken on my mom’s mental and physical health. The few memories that I do have from that time are mixed with feelings of anxiety, fear, and confusion. As my mom went through chemo, the mood in my household drastically changed. Family dinners became just my dad, my sisters, and me because my mom did not have the strength to get out of bed. My dad, whose job had always required him to travel, was home every day of the week to do the driving and cooking that my mom usually did. It seemed like multiple times a week, a parent was dropping off a casserole meal at my house or offering to take me and my sisters to the park or the beach. The overwhelming selflessness shown by our community was inspiring and has stuck with me since.

My family is enormously grateful that my mom is now in complete remission. Her fight against cancer was long and hard but was made easier by our family, friends, neighbors, and strangers with generous hearts. I wish to be a force that positively impacts someone’s fight against cancer. I am biking to Alaska for the families that have become stronger because of a cancer diagnosis. I ride for the people who have made sacrifices to support those around them. I ride for the people whose stories I have heard and for those that I will never get the chance to hear. I ride for my mom, who inspires strength in me daily and whose selflessness I would like to mirror.

To Alaska and back,
Carly