When you hear or see the phrase, “24 Hours of Booty”,
what comes to your mind? One response I
heard was, “They’re advertising for ass??!”
The first time I saw anything related to 24 Hours of
Booty, it was a water bottle my former boss was given. It was white with an orange accent color and
had a cool logo. The name sounded cool
to me. And I like orange. I soon learned that it is a cancer
fundraising event that started in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has expanded to have rides in Columbia,
Maryland and Indianapolis.
Last fall a former co-worker emailed me and said he
was the newly-named executive director of this event. He eventually met with me and other biking
co-workers and we decided to form a team.
The event takes place during a 24-hour period of
time. You do NOT have to ride your bike
for 24 hours. Booty comes in because the
original route in Charlotte was called the “booty loop.”
Money raised goes to local cancer organizations that
support those diagnosed. It does not go
to research, but other things like helping with transportation, etc.
You can ride by yourself, but most do it as a
team. Our team consisted of five people
(which dropped to four riders due to unforeseen circumstances). Each person on the team signs up for the ride
(paying a nominal fee) and then has to raise a minimum of $200. That may sound like a lot, but after raising
over $5,000 for the Leukemia Society’s Team In Training program, that is a drop
in the bucket. I sent one email to 65
people and reached my minimum in less than 24 hours. I then got greedy and “doubled” my goal to
$500. Then moved it to $,1000. I ended up with $902. Not too shabby!
From there you decide how many miles you want to
ride. Indianapolis has a “closed” 3.5-mile
loop around the Butler-Tarkington area.
There is a central site (Bootyville) where you can pitch a tent (luckily
my team had one person who lived inside the loop and that became our own
Bootyville). We did have a sun tent and
some chairs so we could take breaks in comfort.
Meals and snacks are also provided.
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| Booty start |
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| Cutest girl on the kid ride! |
We rode from 8 to 11:30 p.m. Friday and then were back
at it at 8 a.m. the next day, riding until 2:30 p.m. Lisa and I rode 101 miles total. The other two teammates rode between 50 and
70 miles. A great effort with virtually
no training!
The neighborhood is very festive and supportive during
the ride, with several yard parties.
Some even gave free beer to riders.
One of my teammates stopped and they told him to write his name on his
red solo cup for subsequent laps.
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| Ben refueling |
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| Teammate Lisa and her neighbors |
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| Ben's selfie (photo bomb in the back right!) |
During
the ride a man rode up next to me and said I had too many names on the back of
my jersey. So true! It’s very sobering to think about all the
names out there, and also to know that one of my own teammates was recently
diagnosed.
Thanks to everyone who donated or sent good vibes our
way. If you’re interested in doing this
next year, get your booty out there and do it!
