There’s a new team on the Booty Loop in Columbia this year and they are coming in strong with company support. Team Leidos is a team of employees from Leidos, a company that creates technological solutions to problems in national security, health and engineering.

Conveniently for Leidos employees, they have no choice but to know about 24 Foundation, as their office is located on the Booty Loop at Columbia Gateway Business Park.

“It would have been very difficult not to hear about 24 Foundation,” said Bruce Jones, co-captain of Team Leidos. “Leidos employees could see all the huge tents go up each year right from our office windows.”

All four Team Leidos captains are avid cyclists and decided that this year they would create a company team to ride in their first 24 Foundation. The company graciously took care of all of the registration fees for Team Leidos and provided them with cycling jerseys, which resulted in a team that is more than 30 members strong.

“Without the support of Operations Manager, Gary Rosen, I’m not sure if we would have grown this fast,” Jones said.” All of the employees at Leidos are supporting their coworkers in this endeavor, and the team appreciates this.”

The team has now expanded to friends outside of the company and continues to grow in members and donations. Jones says that their ultimate fundraising goal is to raise at least $6,200 for 24 Foundation, but he remarks that he “wouldn’t be surprised when the dust finally settles if we reached $10,000.”

As for riding, Team Leidos plans to have at least one team member on the Booty Loop at all times. Jones shared that the team even has a spreadsheet with shifts to make sure Team Leidos has 24 hour coverage at the event, like true problem solvers.

Team Leidos is extremely excited for their first 24 Foundation ride. This year’s team is comprised of both experienced cyclists, as well as folks who haven’t touched a bike since their teenage years, so this will be a real adventure for some. Jones says that the team is united in the reason why they are riding, and that is “for those who are still in the battle and for those who fought the good fight and for those who will be engaged in the fight at some point in their lives.”