Never thought I'd get in 'the mix' of Little 500

When I was little, riding a bike came almost as natural as walking to me.\nI had this sit-down scooter bike I always used and I don't know how long it was before I could actually walk. I'd get off the floor, climb onto the scooter and wheel around our hardwood floors. It took a while before Mom realized I was going wherever I needed by riding it and that I couldn't walk, couldn't even toddle, and that was about the time the scooter disappeared on me. Ever since, bicycling's been an innate way for me to move around.\nStill, when I came to Bloomington the thought of riding in the Little 500 never crossed my mind. When you've never followed bicycling as a sport and don't know anyone who does, it's hard to consider. And you need a fast bike and "Postal Service" stamped onto your chest; not to mention a helmet, bike shorts, tights, gloves and shades.\nI remember, the first time ever keeping a journal, writing a line from the french film "Amélie," an old Frenchman saying, "Luck is like the Tour de France. Everyone waits for it and then it flashes past. Catch it while you can."\nOr maybe I wrote it down wrong, and it was love he likened to the famous bike race. Who knows, but two years later I'm riding the 55th annual Little 500 -- the premier college intramural event in the country! -- because of just that: luck.\nA chance meeting at a party with Alfonso Lerma did me in. Conversation turned to sports, and boom, boom, boom, before you know it we're teammates for the race. He says he's into biking, while I bike to campus everyday and love it.\n"Really?" he asks. "Want to ride Little 500?"\nI say sure, sounds good. I would if I could, but I don't have a good-enough bike and am too lazy to train with a loaner.\n"We can get you a bike," he says. A few days later, I meet our coach Tim Stockton, who gives me a nice old Schwinn to use. As a poor college student with nothing to lose but money, I pick up the necessary essentials next, including a semi-pricey biking shirt if only to fit in with all the Lance Armstrongs on the road. All set. Once you have on tight shorts with padding in the butt, that's when you know this is something that's really going to happen.\nIf anything, I figured all this training would get me into shape for running the Little Fifty, which I ran last year because of a similar lucky encounter while running laps at the Student Recreational Sports Complex. Our team, Pi Omega Tau, placed second and had a really good time with it. But a month into training, it's apparent a bicycle race is going to involve more than going for a jog or a bike ride here and there. The Little Fifty was a pretty good experience and racing both this year will be a trip.\nAlfonso, Greg Schultz, David Foong and I began training together a month ago as Mezcla, which is Spanish for "the mix." We're La Casa's team, although I wouldn't say we're exactly racing for pride in the lineage. Alfonso's Latino, but he, Greg and I are all homegrown Hoosiers. David's Singaporean. In addition, our ages span five years and all grade levels, and Greg and David have both served in the military. Mezcla describes us pretty well.\nNone of us have seen the race itself besides "Breaking Away," and we can't even imagine what it's going to be like. Even though everyone but me has more biking experience than biking across campus, we are all rookies to the race.\nSo far, schoolwork has cost us a lot of time on the bikes. Training has consisted of taking Cycle Fit classes at the SRSC, working out at an abandoned Ashton building that coach got us permission to use, and going for road rides when the weather is forgiving enough. On nice days, the scenery of the Monroe countryside is definitely a 9.5.\nAt any rate, all of this is only to say that things can happen just like that -- all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom -- meet someone at a party, find yourself with a bike one way or another, get a sponsor, fill out some forms and you've got "rookie week" to deal with at the track. And new friends to do it with. I'll let you know how it goes.