24 hour charity ride--want to form a TE team?

[divingbiker]

I read about the "24 hours of Booty" ride to benefit Livestrong in Spokes magazine (thanks to Regina's posting of her fantastic article) and it looks intriguing. I may sign up as an individual, but I thought I'd see if there's any interest in forming a TE team.

We can have as many on the team as we'd like, and we can have as many people riding at a time as we'd like, and we can ride as far as we'd like. It's in Columbia MD September 26-27, and is on a closed 2 mile loop in an office park. Registration is $45, and each team member has to raise $150 in donations (or write a check).

The web site is kind of hard to navigate, but most of the pertinent information is here (http://hob24.convio.net/site/TR/Bike/General?pg=entry&fr_id=1070).

Just throwing it out there in case anyone else is interested.

[7rider]

Maybe.
Lemme think on this.
This park is where the Carl Dolan race was - where I lost my new Oakleys and ultimately got them back because that young girl turned them in to Registration.
(sorry...sidebar!)

[sfa]

I've been thinking about signing up for this one anyway. The only thing stopping me is that on the 26th I'm up in NY with a group of Girl Scouts. Our bus will get back around 11 p.m. or midnight, but I could join the event after that. I'd probably even be good for some middle of the night riding after being on a bus for three hours!

Sarah

[Pedal Wench]

I was signed up for the Charlotte one, but had to cancel because of my boss's wedding. Could I drive 11 hours, ride 24 hours, then drive 11 hours back home again? Two weeks after I do another 24-hour race here in Atlanta????

[Kalidurga]

Maybe I didn't look carefully enough at the website, but I don't get how this works.

db, you don't want to do another century because it's too many hours in the saddle, but you want to do this and ride for 24 hours?

[divingbiker]

Maybe I didn't look carefully enough at the website, but I don't get how this works.

db, you don't want to do another century because it's too many hours in the saddle, but you want to do this and ride for 24 hours?

It's basically a fundraiser. You just ride as much as you want, with no distance goal unless you set one for yourself. I think it would be way easier to ride 100 miles in 24 hours than in 10 hours. Take a break every hour, take a few hours off in the middle of the night to sleep...

But being a morning person, starting at 4 in the afternoon would not be fun.

PedalWench, that sounds like a grueling schedule of driving and riding. I couldn't do it, but more power to you!

[sfa]

Maybe I didn't look carefully enough at the website, but I don't get how this works.


The course is a short loop and riders can ride as long as they want--there's no requirement to ride the full 24 hours. By putting together a team, we could have a team presence on the course for the full 24 hours if we wanted to. A team of three, however, is going to have a tougher time of it than a team of eight. There is free camping available so when you aren't riding you can crash.

More info here: http://www.24hoursofbooty.org/site/PageServer?pagename=riders_routes

[Cataboo]

I'm contemplating, but the idea of riding in circles for 24 hours sounds like it could be gerbil in a cage like and/or tedious.

Of course, I don't have to ride the entire 24 hours, but I'd feel like a schmuck asking friends and relatives to donate for me to take a 4 hour shift of riding in circles instead of doing the entire 24.

[Kalidurga]

I think that's exactly what I don't get about it.

[Possegal]

I guess I thought this was kind of like the American Cancer Society's relay for life, where you have a team of people and always someone out on the track (at least my team always did that, most 2AM shifts it seemed that we were one of only a few teams with the whole 24 hr concept.) We had a tent set up and could sleep if we wanted, chairs to sit around and hang out when it wasn't our time to be on the track. So just like that, you have a team and you take turns being out on your bike, rather than running on the track. Some teams could be one person, or 10 people. Again, that was just the way the relay for life was when my friends and I used to do it.

[owlice]

I'm interested.

The "Relay for Life" is a good model, a good way to think about this.

And if there is camping space available, I have a six-person, two-room tent that can be used for a team. I don't know whether I remember how to set it up, but I'm pretty sure the instructions are still with it!

[Cataboo]

this is apparently in the BF's office park. One of his female coworkers is looking for team members if you want me to get her contact info?

[owlice]

I'm still interested and it looks like registration closes on September 11, so there isn't a ton of time left to do the necessary fundraising. If someone, anyone, is forming a team, I'm willing to participate. Will bring tent and some chairs if necessary, and lots of enthusiasm!

[divingbiker]

With some reluctance, I've decided that this is not the type of event that's meant for me. By 4pm, I'm fading, and there's no way I can stay up through the night, so I'm going to pass. If someone signs up, I'll donate!

[Cataboo]

I gave Owlice info on a team to join & she did. She'll probably know if they're still looking for more members if anyone else is interested.

[owlice]

Yes! I did sign up! If anyone wants to sponsor me (or other riders), please send me a PM and I'll send the link!

divingbiker, I'm really glad you brought this event to my attention; thank you! And thank you, Catriona, for putting me in touch with a team looking for riders!

[Cataboo]

Given the weather, I'm glad I didn't sign up for this.

Owlice, I hope you're staying reasonably dry.

[owlice]

I did not stay reasonably, nor even unreasonably, dry; I was completely soaked! Someone somewhere has a picture of me wringing out one of my socks.

I have GOT to get at least a waterproof jacket; the little windbreaker I had on definitely isn't waterproof. I was so wet, the water I was wet with had water on it!

But it was worth it. I didn't ride nearly as many miles as I'd hoped -- next time, I'll check out a course before pronouncing my lofty goals for it! -- but I did get in a solid 66 miles, and will go back to that loop and ride another 34, by God and kittens, I will!

Here's part of the email I sent out to those who sponsored me:


There is a saying: Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling. I have found this to be true (yes, even when riding in the dark in a cold rain). I have often put it this way: It's impossible to cry on a bike.

I was wrong, however. One of the things I learned during this event is that it is, indeed, possible to cry on a bike.

The route had some people along it cheering riders on; these cheerer-on-ers were all near the start/finish point, most notably on the hill leading to the start/finish line. The rest of the route was devoid of cheerers.

Except, here on my fourth lap for one set, I saw a man on the other side of the loop standing on a corner, holding a handwritten sign which said, "Thanks for riding." Since I ride slowly enough to have whole conversations with people standing by the route, I said, "Thank you for being here." He held out his hand for me to slap as I rode by, and that is when I noticed the text in orange below the "Thanks for riding." The text in orange -- the Booty event color -- read "Son has leukemia."

And that is how I know that it is possible to cry on a bicycle, for I did so the rest of that lap. As I do now, remembering this, and wishing now, as I did while I was riding, that I had a tissue handy and more importantly, a cure for leukemia.

[Cataboo]

Owlice, you are a much stronger woman than I.

I was sitting at home looking at the weather with the bf, and we were saying "oh crap, do you really think they're riding in this????"

He was hoping you guys were all huddling in tents, since he had a couple of friends from work riding.

I'd've lent you a rain coat if I'd known.

[owlice]

Thanks! A raincoat wouldn't have helped, though; see this account (http://antonspath.blogspot.com/) of the event by someone who was trying to ride the whole 24 hours and couldn't because of the cold and wet. (But wow, his mileage puts me to shame, to shame!!)

I did not camp out; I came off the loop just before 11 PM and went home to take a hot shower (I was shivering so much when I walked into the house, I couldn't even feed the poor starving beasties until I'd gotten warmed up), which I wanted to stay in WAY longer than I did, dry stuff and wash stuff, and then sleep.

By the time I got to camp the next day, the clouds were starting to break, and most of Sunday was fine for riding, even sunny for some hours. And then clouds rolling in again, dark clouds, and there were just a few raindrops on my windshield as I drove away -- I rode right up to 4 PM, when the event finished -- but other than that, I didn't see rain that afternoon. It had clearly rained hard at my house, about 25 minutes away, though, for it was very wet when I got home.