Little 500 riders train in style, on the beach

The usual spring break staples of beaches, booze and bikinis need not apply to a small group of men who find their way down to Florida every March.\nInstead, the week is packed with talks of victory and nearly 500 miles worth of training. \nThat is spring break for a Little 500 rider.\nSpring break has become one of the most anticipated weeks of the year to most students, and that is one thing the riders have in common with the rest of the student population. Spring break falls just one week before Little 500 qualifying begins.\n¡°It¡¯s the last week you have time to put in really big hours,¡± said sophomore David Caughlin. ¡°It really catapults you into the actual race because that is only several weeks after (spring break).¡±\nCaughlin and the rest of the Cutters team prefer to use access to the track in Bloomington during the break to perfect exchanges and get a feel for the course. \nThe Cutters choose to head south for the winter rather than in the spring. The team spent its winter break in St. Augustine, Fla., preparing for second semester.\n¡°It makes us one big unit,¡± Caughlin said. ¡°It gets everyone¡¯s agendas and goals together.¡±\nJunior Joe Reitan and the rest of the Dodds House and Wright Cycling teams, prefer sunny Alligator Point, Fla. for the week of team unification.\n¡°It gives us time together so we can get to know each other better than on a level of strictly riding,¡± Reitan said. ¡°There¡¯s personal time, car time ©¤ we are basically living together for a week.¡±\nThe team plans to spend about five hours on their bikes every day, taking in the Florida landscape one pedal at a time.\nMany other teams realize the importance of spring break and take the same approach; Florida, Arizona and other southern destinations are littered with bike riders for one week in March.\n¡°Spring break is really about preparing mentally and physically for qualifying,¡± Reitan said. ¡°The weeks when you get back are spent working on the race.¡±\nSo while other college students relax on the beach watching little beads gather on their margarita glasses, the Little 500 riders will be gathering those little beads on their foreheads pumping out the final 20 miles.\n¡°It¡¯s a week where you can think about nothing but cycling,¡± Caughlin said.\n¨C Contact Sports Editor Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.