Story By Joe Nuss & Cover Photo by Tamara Lackey
Side by side and shoulder to shoulder two young brothers holding basketballs lean casually against a bluish green playground wall in old photo. The camera-generated time stamp gives away the year as 1996, shortly before the Sain family received the earth-shattering diagnosis that their oldest son Aaron, wearing the white sweat-shirt in the photo, had a brain tumor.
Several years later, in another photo, Aaron stands ankle-deep in foamy surf while his younger brother Brian, now a bit taller than him, holds a fishing pole with the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean and most of Aaron’s life now behind them. In 2005, Aaron died from the brain tumor that he battled for seven years – the full life-expectancy given to someone with his type of cancer.
Soon afterwards, Aaron’s mother, Karen, joined the board of the 24 Hours for Booty. For Brian, a high school tennis player, Karen’s new position with the cycling event revived fond memories of riding training-wheeled bikes with his big brother on the Virginia Creeper Trail. With that, and a secret childhood fascination for his father’s 1985 Fuji road bike, Brian was inspired get a road bike and ride in honor of Aaron in his first 24 Hours of Booty event back in 2005.
Toe-strapped into the pedals, wearing casual shorts and a t-shirt, Brian, the high school tennis player, used the memory of his brother to push himself for 80 miles on his entry-level road bike that first year. For Brian, it was a difficult ride, but nothing like his brother’s battle.
“You can’t compare cycling to what my brother went through,” says the 20-year-old N.C. State cycling club member. “Aaron never gave up. A few months before he died, his health was really deteriorating and he couldn’t really hear anymore so we started writing messages to him, but even then, he never lost faith and was still making plans to go to college. Aaron never gave up believing he would make it through. He’s tougher than I will ever be.”
With the amount of the money Brian’s 24 Hour of Booty team raised, he was invited to what was then the Bank of America Criterium in Charlotte where he got to ride with the HealthNet Cycling Team, including Ivan “the Cuban Missile” Dominguez. Later, after watching the event, Brian was hooked on a new sport.
“If you’ve never seen a pro crit… it’s incredible! There’s all these cyclists bumping and going around corners at 30+ miles per hour. It’s amazing! I wanted to quit tennis right there and start cycling,” said Brian who got his first carbon road bike that winter.
The following year Brian had given up tennis and was pursuing cycling as his primary hobby. He was also back to participate in the 24 Hours of Booty, this time riding 160 miles. A year later in 2007, he would ride 160 miles again, but in 2008, Brian broke through with his most memorable year ever, logging 200 miles.
“It was the best year ever,” says Brian, “not because I rode 200 miles but because I personally raised $2,000. That was the most I ever raised in honor of Aaron, but I don’t want to stop there. I hope to raise a lot more this year.”
Brian admits that he can’t wait to participate in the event again.
“It’s a huge community event because you have all different kinds of cyclists… road racers, triathletes, mountain bikers, recreational riders, and even the hipster and fixie riders,” says Brian. “The level of excitement I get from seeing all those different people at the starting line joined together for a single cause is like Christmas morning or my birthday. The 24 Hours of Booty is that special to me and I look forward to it every year.”
In addition to the excitement of the event, Brian takes pride in fielding a large team of riders to honor the strength of his brother, Aaron.
“I lead such a blessed life,” says Brian, “that I have no excuses for not doing everything I can to honor what Aaron went through. Knowing that he never gave up, I can’t make excuses for myself. I have to do everything I can.”
