IUSF wants Little 500 atmosphere at fall event

If you aspire to be a Little 500 rider – even if you’ve never ridden a bike – it’s possible get a taste of what it’s like this Sunday.

The IU Student Foundation is sponsoring the first annual Day at the Track. There will be a faculty race, individual time trials and other events students can participate in.

There will also be a presentation on the rules and technical aspects of the spring’s Little 500 race.

The foundation has put on fall cycling events in the past, but this is the first time it decided to plan most of them on the same day and in the same venue, said Pam Loebig, IUSF assistant director, Little 500 race director and Fall Cycling Committee advisor.

“We really looked at it this year and what we wanted to accomplish,” Loebig said.
“And we wanted to get the riders engaged and spread our message around campus.
Everyone knows where the track is. You can see the full course and what’s going on.”

The committee organized individual time trials in the past, but they were 10 miles out of Bloomington, said senior Ryan Schmidt, one of four Fall Cycling Committee chairs.

“Not many people came, but on the track we can get more spectators, and individual teams and greek houses can come out,” Schmidt said.

Senior Kristin Carroll, who is in charge of marketing for the Fall Cycling Committee, said she hopes the event will help change the campus attitude toward the Little 500.

“We wanted to offer riders more than just the competitive Little 500 atmosphere,” Carroll said. “We still want to have that, but I think it’s become more about winning and less about having fun.”

Since the events are at the beginning of Homecoming Week, the committee, by putting all the events on one day, is trying to make the atmosphere of the fall events more like the spring race, Carroll said.

Carroll said IUSF hopes to change the faculty’s attitude toward the Little 500 by holding a new event, a Miniature Faculty Race. Any professor, administrator, coach or advisor at IU can sign up to ride a five-lap race, which is divided into heats based on experience level.

“We wanted to put on the faculty race that shows them there is a real positive aspect to the Little 500 race,” Carroll said. “We wanted to involve them in a way that they never have been before. There is more to the race than just a week of drinking and partying.”

The race will be preceded by a short presentation on the ins-and-outs of racing to give faculty more background information, Carroll said.

“We sent out that letter to faculty because we really wanted to do a lot of recruiting personally,” Loebig said. “We’re providing bikes and helmets for them to wear. Even if they don’t want to race they can ride around on the track for a few laps.”

Schmidt said he hopes the event shows the faculty what the weekend means to both the riders and students.

“A lot of faculty see the Little 500 race as distraction,” Schmidt said. “We are trying to show the faculty what the Little 500 is about, what riders have to go through the entire year. It’s really an opportunity to show the faculty how important the Little 500 is to the riders and the spectators.”

It is from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium.