That one day in April came and went just as quickly as wheels were spinning on “The World’s Greatest College Weekend”. 

The weekend saw sprints, crashes, and breakaways, along with two independent teams winning the race. The women’s cycling team, Melanzana, came away with the Borg-Warner cup a second year in a row after breaking away from the main pack within the last twenty minutes. The following day, the notorious Cutters team came back with a bite during the final sprint, consolidating a 15th win for their team’s Little 500 career, dating back to 1988. 

While the winners basked in their glory, riders came together with their fellow competitors to celebrate the year’s worth of training that got them to race day. Before race day, teams would ride alongside other members of the field during practice and participate in the weekly Wilcox ride ensuring the IU community is stronger than ever. 

During the weeks leading up to the race, teams would train at the Bill Armstrong Stadium three to four times a week to gain on-track experience after months of training on the road, as well as maneuvering to using single-gear bikes. From rain to shine, riders would train multiple miles weekly in preparation for track practice, where they would do interval training, ride in a peloton, and also practice exchanges on and off the bike.

Spring was also the first time Rookies were able to practice on the track since completing the mandatory rookie week to take part in the race. Alpha Chi Omega rookie, Chloe Eades, expressed how she had become more used to the track than road rides since completing her rookie week in the Fall of last year. “I feel like now I’m so used to track riding, the first time I go for a road ride will be pretty scary”, said Eades. 

Many rookies have never had experience cycling as a sport, let alone riding alongside others in a peloton. Melanzana rookie, Lauren Etnyre, expressed how she has not only fallen in love with riding but learned far more than she had expected through her teammates during her rookie year. “Going into Little Five, I had no biking experience, so it was really nice to have really skilled vets to show me the ropes and [teach] you all the basics to biking”.

On the other hand, there were other teams that had established themselves only this year and taught themselves the ways of the road singlehandedly. Chi Phi, a new Fraternity as well as cycling team, only started training in early February for the race on bikes in 2003. Rookie Hunter Ice, spoke at length as to how he has progressed since the beginning of the semester, and how he came to become a founding member of Chi Phi’s team. “He called me. I already wasn’t going to do it, but then he called me and I said ‘screw it, let’s see what happens’ here”, said Ice. 

While many teams didn’t see the front of the pack on both race days, many did far better than they had anticipated. Evans Scholars, a lower qualifying team, anticipated they would give it their all once the green flag was waved on race day. 

Irrespective of the results, every rider competing in the Little 500 came with grit, determination, and enthusiasm come race day. But once more, they get the opportunity to say with pride that they competed in Little 500, an IU tradition rooted in community, passion, and showing up as the version of themselves they can be.