The Little 500 race is the biggest day in Bloomington every spring. Thousands of people flock to town to cheer on their favorite teams, while thousands more watch around the world. To win it, means that you are part of an elite group of great champions that will be celebrated and remembered as part of IU history. Now, there’s a new team looking to cement their legacy in the history books.

NEH Cycling, sponsored by Bloomington staple Nick’s English Hut, is competing in its first ever Little 500, coming up next week. The historic bar and restaurant, which has stood on Kirkwood Avenue for over 90 years, never had a bike team before, despite having so much of the race’s history in pictures on the walls of the building. The restaurant’s owner and and CFO, Susan Bright, had been toying with the idea of sponsoring a team, but no one came to her seeming passionate enough until Griffin Tichenor emailed her with the idea. They met around Christmas time and the rest, as they say,  is history.

The new team is made up of Tichenor, Fergus Arthur, Zach Horowitz, and Reid Geiger. Geiger and Tichenor began biking last year after transferring from different schools. It was then that they met Horowitz, who was riding for Alpha Epsilon Pi, and convinced the two to join. After the race, they chose that they didn’t want to continue with the fraternity, but instead opted to venture out on their own path and combine two great traditions: Little 500 and Nick’s.

Despite being a team for only a short amount of time, the group has already made a name for themselves. Throughout the months leading up to the race, they have competed with the IU Cycling Club, doing road races throughout the country, as well as going on team bike rides that often lasted up to six hours long. They say the preparation is key for a successful Little 500 race. During the winter, outside of their competitions, the team rode for roughly 20 hours a week. They knocked it down to about 10 hours a week to just put the finishing touches on the handoffs and all the minor details. And despite it being Nick’s first ride in the race, Tichenor feels that having ridden last year and all the hard work this year won’t make it feel any different than before.

The tteam will start in the 11th spot in next Saturday’s race , and they hope it is a chance to make history.