Little 500
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The Little 500 (also known popularly as the "Little Five") is a bicycle race held annually at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University. The race was founded in 1951 by Howard Wilcox Jr., Executive Director of the Indiana University Student Foundation, who modelled the race after the Indianapolis 500, which his father had participated in and won in 1919. Racers compete in teams of four, racing relay-style for 200 laps (50.98 miles) along a quarter-mile (410-meter) cinder track. Thirty-three teams are selected in qualifications trials to compete in the main race. Money raised by the event goes towards a scholarship fund for working IU students.
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[edit] History
The following is an excerpt from the Indiana University Student Foundation website:
- Howdy Wilcox fondly remembers the inspiration for a bicycle race patterned after the Indianapolis 500, a race his father had won in 1919. "One evening, I heard a large commotion and walked over to some dormitories on the north-east side of the campus. There I saw four bicycle riders racing around a dormitory, with several girls leaning out of windows, cheering them. They were having a wonderful time!"
- "I convened the Student Foundation committee, told them what I had seen and asked if they thought we could stage a bicycle race...and promote it as a means of raising scholarship money for students working their way through school. The response was unanimous...The Little 500 was born."
- In the beginning, team members and enthusiastic fans would gather in what is today the Arboretum to witness the men's race. Over the years the single race moved to Bill Armstrong Stadium and blossomed into a wide range of events, culminated together for one weekend in April that has become synonymous with Indiana University.
[edit] Events surrounding the race
The race is a major social event on campus during the spring. The race has expanded into a whole week of activities since its original founding; the Women's Little 500 (100 laps, or 25 miles) was first held in 1988 and continues to be run each year, and other events such as the Little 50 Running Relay Race and Alumni Races add to the festivities. Other student celebrations during the weekend of the race have helped earn it the title of "The World's Greatest College Weekend," and it is the busiest weekend of the year for the local police force. Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong called the Little 500, which has raised more than $1 million in scholarship money, "the coolest event I ever attended." [1]
The events of the Little 500 were dramatized in the 1979 movie Breaking Away, which depicts a group of Bloomington townies who enter the race as the "Cutters" (from the local Indiana limestone stonecutters) to defeat the favored fraternity team. Rule 3 (see below) is not observed in the film, and the main rider, Dave Stoller (played by Dennis Christopher), has his feet taped to the pedals, violating the spirit of Rule 1.
So much beer is consumed leading up to and during the event (by non-riders, since the riders train seriously your round to compete in this event), that the story students tell is that 'the rivers through campus flow with beer' for the week.
[edit] Rules
Special rules for the Little 500 race include:
- All riders must use the official Little 500 bike that is provided to them for that year. There can be no toe clips or grips, kick stands, water bottles, air pumps, untaped or unplugged handlebars, or any other add-on accessories.
- For the safety of all riders, hard helmets must be worn and buckled at all times, as well as biking gloves.
- Each team is required to complete 10 exchanges (5 for the women) during the course of the race.
- At the 198th lap (98th for the women), all riders not on the lead lap will be asked to move to the back or exit the pack. This is done so that all teams in contention on their last 2 laps can make their attempt to win the race. Teams which do not comply with this rule are believed to be impeding the progress of another rider and will be given a 5- to 20-second penalty or even disqualification, depending on the severity of the violation.
[edit] Little 500 bikes
Little 500 bikes are rather unusual. They are single gear (46x18), coaster brake racing bicycles. There are two different versions of the bike for men and women. The only differences between the two bikes are the size of the frame and the size of the gear, both of which are bigger for the men's bike than for the women's. Every year a new version of the bike is made and then two are given to each team. The cost of the bikes are for the most part covered by team registration fees. At the end of the season, teams are given the option to keep their bikes or to sell them back to IUSF. The used bikes are then kept at the track and are rented out to those teams that do not have old bikes.
[edit] Eligibility
A student desiring to participate as a rider in the Little 500
- must be a full-time undergraduate student enrolled at the main campus of Indiana University during the fall and spring semesters of the year of participation.
- must have a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or better
- may only compete up to four times in a five-year period
- must be an amateur
- No substance abuse of any type is tolerated. If caught, the student will not only have to deal with the consequences imposed by the university, but the team will also forfeit its eligibility in the race.
- For a team to be eligible, at least one member must attend all race information meetings and turn in the final four cards with the names of the team's riders for that year.
[edit] Series Events
The Little 500 is much more than just the race. There are also several series events associated with the race. These events are held for a few reasons. The first and foremost is for fun. The second reason is so that teams can scout out the competition and get a feel for that year's race field. And the final reason is so that all the members of a team, not just those competing in the actual race itself, can still participate and compete. There are four other series events outside of the race: Qualifications, ITTs, Miss-N-Out, and Team Pursuit.
[edit] Qualifications
Qualifications, commonly known as "Quals," is the first and one of the most important series events. Qualifications is a four-lap race around the track to see which team can get the fastest cumulative time. These times determine if a team qualifies to race in Little Five and if so, then where in the field of the top 33 teams they will be placed. Teams start the race lined up in 11 rows of three, starting with the pole winner up front on the inside, and teams choose their pits and jerseys in the order in which they qualify, so this is another reason to qualify high. Each team is given three attempts to qualify. The reason for this is in case a team botches an exchange, then they still have two more chances to qualify. The way that a team can botch an exchange is if a member falls and takes the bike down with him, or if the team does not perform the exchange in the given distance, marked by white lines on the track. A team can use as many as four riders or as few as two riders. But whatever amount of riders they use to qualify is the least amount of riders they can use for Little Five. Meaning that if a team qualifies with four people, then that team must race with four people. But if they qualify using only three people, then they can use three or four people on the day of Little Five.
[edit] ITTs
Individual Time Trials, known as ITTs, are just what they sound like. Like a qualification, an ITT is a four-lap (approximately 1-mile) sprint around the track. But unlike a qual, it is performed individually. It is a test of both speed and sprint endurance. There are up to four riders on the track at a time. One rider is placed at each turn of the track. The riders line up with the start/finish line that is drawn in white on the track. Then a race official will come behind the rider and hold his bike steady so that the rider can set both feet on the pedals. There is a five-beep countdown and then the riders begin from a dead stop and race around the track. It is possible to catch other riders on the track while racing, but it is important NOT TO DRAFT. If a rider is caught drafting off of another rider, he is automatically disqualified. This race is a good way for individuals to measure their own personal ability against other riders.
[edit] Miss-N-Out
It has been suggested by some that this is perhaps the most interesting of all the series events, including the race. In this event there are heats of 5-8 riders, depending on the number of riders signed up for the day. Riders all start on the same line and are given one lap to get the position they want and to gain some speed. Once they cross the start line again, the race begins. The riders race around the track and every time the pack crosses the start/finish line, the last one to cross is out and must leave the track. Riders keep racing until there are only three riders left. These three riders move on to the next round. This process continues until the final heat of eight. In this heat, riders continue to race and get out until you have the last three and then they commence a one-lap full-out sprint and the first-, second- and third-place winners are determined by the order in which the riders cross the start/finish line. This is a great event because it really measures the skill of a rider, because in order to win a rider must be more than just fast. If a rider wants to win he must also have good drafting skills, the ability to find good positioning, the intuition to know when to get out of the pack and sprint around the outside and the endurance to be able to do this all day.
[edit] Team Pursuit
This event is geared more towards the team rather than the individual. In this event two teams of four must race around the track in a pace line for 15 laps (3.75 mi) for the men and 12 laps (3 miles) for the women, each team in hot pursuit of the other since they start on opposite ends of the track. Each team can have only one person drop out of the pace line during the course of the race. Meaning that only three team members need to finish. The team's time is taken as the time of the 3rd rider to cross the line. The two fastest teams then match up against each other for a final head-to-head competition to determine the champion of the event (separately for the men and women). This race is a good test to see which is the best team. In order to do well in this event, teams must have good communication skills as well as good drafting skills. This event really proves the cliché that "you're only as fast as your slowest rider."
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- The Little 500: The Story of the World's Greatest College Weekend, ISBN 0-253-33573-6
- "2006 Little 500 Rider's Manual"
