Andy McCarron and Jon Korhonen shined as track student-athletes at Massachusetts. After graduating in 2005 and 2006, respectively, the two recently decided to switch gears, literally, and bike coast to coast while raising thousands of dollars for a worthy cause.

The duo decided last December to embark on the 3,500 mile journey from Boston to San Francisco. They added the fund-raising wrinkle a little later, and after researching several possibilities, they chose the Children’s Hunger Fund.

“The whole thing was really unconventional in a lot of different ways,” Korhonen said. “We started our own Web site. We raised money on our own. We didn’t really have a strict itinerary. About 80 percent of the trip we knew we’d be staying who knew where. It was a sheer adventure.”

Since wrapping up their academic and athletics careers at UMass, McCarron has completed his master’s degree at the school and Korhonen has been an assistant director of undergraduate admissions and an assistant coach of the men’s cross country/track and field teams. Now with McCarron on the verge of transitioning into the work force and with Korhonen on his way graduate school at Harvard, this summer seemed like the perfect time to indulge in one more adventure.

McCarron and Korhonen also took an unconventional approach to their training for the journey. They figured they could complete the trip in 35 to 40 days, if they averaged about 100 miles a day. Never mind that both were runners by training, not cyclists. Never mind that neither had biked more than 70 miles at a time.

“We just assumed we could do it and that we could do it 35 days in a row,” said Korhonen.

It was a safe enough assumption. Korhonen broke the school record in the mile while at Massachusetts, and since graduation, McCarron has completed three marathons and took the three months immediately before the bike trip to hike the entire 2,200-mile long Appalachian Trail.

Korhonen and McCarron left Boston on June 14 and arrived in San Francisco on July 18. Over the course of the five-week trip, they biked through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. Along the way, the duo camped out or stayed with friends. On occasion, they also enjoyed the hospitality of people they met while traveling who offered lodging in their homes or their yards for camping.

“We found ourselves surrounded by generosity everywhere we went. People took us in. That they were willing to go out of their way for two kids they’d never met in their lives was astounding. It makes you realize that sincere humanity still exists in the world in spite of all the negative things you hear in the news day to day,” he said. “We learned that this country and the people within it are amazing.”

That same generosity showed through in the pair’s fund-raising. The pitch: donate a penny per mile for a $35 donation or donate a penny per mile for both riders for a $70 donation. It worked.

To date, their efforts have generated more than $17,000, with most of the donations in the $35 and $100 range. The largest was a $500 contribution.

Because Korhonen and McCarron financed the entire trip from their own pockets, all of the proceeds will go directly to the Children’s Hunger Fund. “Every penny we raise will go to the charity. It’s something we’re proud to say we did,” said Korhonen.

While Korhonen hasn’t counted out the idea of embarking on another charitable outreach sometime in the future, it most likely won’t be a cross-country bike trip.

“Both of us love doing adventurous things and I would never trade this trip in for anything. But to do it again wouldn’t make sense for me because I’ve already done it. I would rather hike the Appalachian Trail or backpack Europe or bike down the Pacific Coast,” he said. “Doing another charitable venture could certainly be on the docket, but not this particular trip. I’d choose to do something different only so I could have a different adventure as part of my life.”

To read the daily blog of the trip, view photos from the bike ride or to donate to the cause (contributions accepted through mid-September), visit www.coast2coastcycle.org.