24 Hours of Booty in 2009: Gearing Up for the Event
In 2009, I participated in 24 Hours of Booty, a 24-hour cycling event in Columbia, Maryland, raising funds and awareness in the fight against cancer. I rode the event Saturday into the night, then traded my bike for a camera on Sunday to photograph the cyclists who continued to ride.
At the time, I wrote a three-part series about the experience, which I shared with my then-wife. Seventeen years later, I am revisiting that original series and the photographs that accompanied it. The writing has been lightly edited, but the stories, photographs, and memories remain very much those of 2009.
Part 1 of 3: Gearing Up for the Event
I wasn’t going to do it. I wasn’t going to ride my new Trek 7300 for 24 hours. I told my wife she was crazy if she thought she was going to ride. We had just gotten into biking earlier this year, my wife for the first time. For me, it had been years since I rode seriously. The 24 Hours of Booty event seemed so out of reach physically. It still does even now when I think back on it.
The day approached when my wife had to pick up her event package. She asked if I wanted to come along with her. I told her I would, as it was an opportunity to look around and shop at one of the larger cycling stores in our area. The day arrived. We drove over.
On the drive over, I was still thinking she was nuts to do the event. The weather forecast was not good. Rain. She told me about other riders on Twitter talking about the weather… how to prepare… what to wear… Crazy, I thought. Ride a bike in the rain for 24 hours?
The mission? Conduct 24-hour cycling events to raise awareness, funds, and support for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and local cancer organizations. Life-saving work, a great cause, and a wonderful organization.
My wife and I got to the store. I still wasn’t going to ride. When we walked in, however, something changed for me. I started to think about my mother. She battled cancer for over five years before it took her a few weeks before her 50th birthday. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer and then bone cancer.
Seeing the 24 Hours of Booty table in the store and the people there to pick up their event packages, I thought about my mother and all her struggles with cancer. I thought of her long battle. I thought of her being totally bedridden at the end. I thought about her life on liquid morphine.
It was then that I knew I had to ride. It did not matter to me that I might not be able to ride very long or log a lot of miles. It didn’t matter that I didn’t think I was conditioned enough to ride. It didn’t matter that, unlike my wife, I hadn’t been seeking sponsors for the event.
It did matter that I make an effort.
And so… I walked over to the table with my wife and registered.
A Note About 24 Hours of Booty
Since these pieces were originally written in 2009, both the organization and its story have evolved. 24 Hours of Booty eventually became 24 Foundation in 2017, while the original 24 Hours of Booty continues as its signature cycling event in Charlotte, North Carolina. Today, 24 Foundation focuses on cancer navigation and survivorship and has raised more than $33 million since its beginnings.
The references to the Lance Armstrong Foundation in these original posts have been retained as part of their 2009 context. The events surrounding Lance Armstrong came later and do not change the work of the riders, volunteers, cancer organizations, and communities these events brought together.
Technical Notes:
These images were captured with a Canon DSLR and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. The photos were processed in Adobe Lightroom, with adjustments to exposure and color, along with clarity and saturation. A slight amount of film grain was applied to each image. All images are presented in their original 3:2 aspect ratio.
