A little R-E-S-P-E-C-T for riders

Pedal. Watch the wheel in front. Keep pedaling. Look at the scenery. Pedal.\nWhile many of you were wasting away and hooking up with strangers, I spent last week biking all over Florida with my bike team and the riders of ATO. For most of spring break I was baking in my newfound enemy: The sun. I was huffing, I was puffing and I was trying to blow the wind right back to where it came from. And guess what…I had the time of my life.\nDon't think I wasn't heartbroken that I didn't have the energy to go clubbing at night. Don't assume I enjoyed every minute of riding over 400 miles. But I accomplished something no photograph can do justice to, and I have the "biker's tan" to prove it. We had to dodge drunken spring breakers, couches and my personal favorite: Every type of roadkill imaginable, including the head of an alligator.\nI know many of you don't think of anything other than PARTY when you hear the words little and 500 together. But I want to share a little about the other side of one of the biggest weekends at IU. They are the riders, you know, those sober people who actually participate in the race -- the real reason behind your excuse to drink yourself into oblivion, which gave IUPD the chance last year to arrest hundreds of intoxicated individuals.\nIf you're not a cyclist, it may be hard to understand the true significance of that wonderful weekend in April. It may be even more difficult for some people to appreciate the riders behind it all. I have been spit on, honked at and told to "get a motor" many times. It's really annoying -- especially when the ignorant people doing these things are the same students who use the race as an excuse to party. Without riders, we would have no Little 500.\nRiding in the Little 500 is not just about hopping on a bike and pedaling around a track. You have to hold a line, you have to concentrate on the wheel in front of you, and you have to be aware of wrecks. You have to learn how to jump off and get on a bike as fast as you can without ruining your ability to have children.\nTraining is not just about one day in April. It's a lifestyle. For Kappa Delta and ATO it means sacrificing a week on the beach for a week of sun-up to sun-down practices. It means exceeding limitations set by our bodies. It means being proud to sport the spandex/helmet look. It means crossing over 20 breathtaking bridges and making friends with the tail wind and a biker named Bobby. \n Little 500 means a coach who rode every mile with us and pushed because he knew we could do it. It means vitamins, power bars and water like we've never loved water before. It means watching the sun sneak behind the palm trees at the track. It means coming back from spring break with something more than 24 drunken memories in the Kodak disposable. \nLittle 500 means so much more than "the biggest party of the year." Please keep that in mind when a biker is waiting to cross at a stoplight. He's just trying to do something he loves safely. And on April 19 and 20 while you're bonging, binging and being drunk, remember the reason you're there.