Carson City native Zach Harris bikes across America to build homes for Colombians
Zach Harris, a 23 year-old Carson City native who grew up in Kings Canyon, will be cycling 4,205 miles across the country on Sept. 3 to raise money to build homes for the homeless in Colombia.
The link to donate to the fundraiser is here: https://gofund.me/a5f952db.
The trip will start from Heceta Beach, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia and will continue into November. Harris hopes to average about 70 miles a day.
“I am absolutely stoked about it,” Harris said.
Harris said Friday morning was the first morning where the magnitude of the trip started to set in, just nine days before its start date. He’s looking forward to setting off on this adventure, even though he does have some nerves about it.
The fundraiser was developed after Harris visited Colombia in March 2022 and March 2023, where he worked on humanitarian projects to build homes. Harris said where he visited, there were hills of barely livable houses with mud floors and aluminum coverings or tarp walls to try to keep the families dry from the heavy rain.
“I was with my friend Javier and we looked down [on the hills] and he was like, ‘Imagine what like one-hundred thousand dollars could do,’” Harris said. “That would be able to rebuild a whole village, a whole community and change hundreds of peoples lives.”
Harris said with fundraising, $100,000 wasn't an outlandish amount to raise. As he was brainstorming ideas for a fundraiser, he realized he had seen “bike across the country” fundraisers and since he enjoyed cycling he wanted to do something like that.
Harris’s wife, Mikaela loved the idea and the two bought a camper so she could drive and meet him at their campsites each night. From there, the plan was hatched.
In preparation, Harris has been doing long-distance cycling rides and strengthening his legs, as well as planning his rides out through Oregon and Idaho. His goal is to make it through the Rocky Mountains before the first snow hits, which means cycling more miles on average during the first part of the trip.
Harris set a goal for $100,000 to bring in money for this project and said that 100 percent of the money raised in this GoFundMe will go to building the Colombian homes.
“We really believe in the cause that we’re doing this for and we’re excited to help pull some people out of poverty,” Harris said.
If you want to follow Harris on his adventure, you can follow him on Facebook, Zach Bikes Across America, his Instagram @Zach.Harris or on TikTok @ZachAcrossAmerica.
To donate to Harris’s cause, click this link: https://gofund.me/a5f952db.