The Little 500 Veterans

Zach Trogdon
For three years, Gray Goat’s Zach Trogdon has pedaled with the best in the Little 500.
He’s been crammed in a pack with Phi Delta Theta’s Steve Sharp, Phi Gamma Delta’s David Ellis and the Cutters’ Eric Young.

The third-year Goat rider wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s a tight-knit community,” Trogdon said. “The guys are a lot of fun. I’ve had a great time riding Little Five. I wouldn’t change it.”

At 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, Trogdon has a rider’s physique. He had a top-15 finish in the 2010 Individual Time Trials but did not compete in ITTs in 2011.

His Gray Goat team qualified 12th this year, with a sixth-place finish in the 2010 race.
That 2010 race, through rain and restarts, was a learning experience for Gray Goat, a 4-year-old team.

“The rain affected everyone because they cooled down when we had to wait out in the rain for the restart,” Trogdon said. “But it wasn’t the rain as much as it was just fatigue.”

Beyond that, all the parts Trogdon said he’s learned about Little 500 blur together from year to year.

“It’s just the comfort level of going along,” he said.

That comfort level helps settle the nerves of the crowd that attends the Greatest College Weekend.

“Little 500 is such a unique event,” Trogdon said. “The experience of having 20 to 25,000 people watching a bike race in the U.S. is unheard of.”

This year’s race will carry the buzz of the Cutters trying for their fifth-straight title. Trogdon is excited by the prospect of trying to stop them.

“It’s fun to compete against the best,” he said. “If you’re not competing against the best, then why are you out there?”

Joel Newman
Four years ago, Joel Newman wouldn’t have dreamed of dressing in a Little 500 kit because four years ago, a tight neoprene suit didn’t appeal to him.

During his pledgeship in fall 2007, Newman said he remembered hearing the bike team needed fresh talent.

“I thought, ‘Hell no, I’m not going to be that guy riding around in tights on a bicycle,’” Newman said.

Not long after, an older brother in the house started talking with the pledge about mountain biking and how much they both really liked the sport. The two decided to go for a ride. At the end of the excursion, the older brother told Newman to ride for the bike team.

“As a pledge, you’re like, ‘OK, yes,’” Newman said.

Four weeks ago, Newman jumped around the infield of the Little 500 track, shouting in celebration at his Sigma Nu brothers. He was dressed in the neoprene of a Little 500 kit.

His team astonished the Little 500 community just seconds before when it pedaled and exchanged its way to a 02:25.91 qualification time to take the pole position from the Cutters.

“For people who say the reason we won is because the track is more compact, two top Little 500 teams, Sigma Chi and Phi Psi, went after us and they still were behind Cutters,” Newman said. “It’s not a fluke.”

The senior is a three-year captain of Sigma Nu’s team. During his time as captain, Newman and Sigma Nu have finished higher on race day each year — 16th in 2009 and eighth in 2010.

Since his freshman year, Newman has ridden the most laps in each race for his team.
“I’m blessed to have this experience,” Newman said. “I would not be the person I am today had it not been for the Little 500 and Sigma Nu.”

Caroline Brown
If you are looking for Pi Beta Phi’s Caroline Brown on the track, there are two distinct physical characteristics that set the senior apart.

“Usually my helmet is crooked, and I love to wear knee warmers,” Brown said.

While initially a crooked helmet and knee warmers may help fans find Brown on race day, the four-year rider has been a staple in the constantly changing Little 500 community.

“I have been around long enough to see the riding community change and grow,” Brown said. “My three best female friends all ride for different teams, so I think that speaks volumes about the community and camaraderie surrounding the Little 500.”

As Brown has progressed both mentally and physically on the track, success has come. After finishing in second place in the Individual Time Trials last year, Brown took third place in this year’s event and took the runner-up spot in this year’s Miss-N-Out.
Brown said her progression has been due to a better understanding of the sport and her body.

“My first years, I just rode as hard as I could all the time,” Brown said. “Since working with different people, I have come to better understand training and how your body responds to physical stress.”

Although Brown said the level of dedication for Pi Beta Phi Cycling may have been lacking in the past, she believes this year’s team, which qualified seventh, is different.

“This is the first year where Pi Phi Cycling really has a cohesive team that are great friends and are working toward the same goals,” Brown said. “The girls on the team this year are amazing and I would do anything for them.”

Aileen Ottenweller
While Army Women’s Aileen Ottenweller will only be competing in her second Little 500, teammate Rachel Stark said the junior’s leadership is beyond her years.

“Even last year when she was a rookie, she just came in and had a great presence,” Stark said. “She is really positive and is really good with all of the rookies this year. She takes them under her wing.”

Ottenweller, who placed fifth in this year’s Individual Time Trials after finishing 48th last year, said progression from the first to the second year has to do with being more comfortable on the track.

“You see a lot of good rookies out here, but once they get that year of
experience, they will come back even stronger,” Ottenweller said. “Learning how to be more aggressive on the bike and learning how to handle yourself around other riders is really important, and once you understand what that’s like in Little Five, you can really start to manipulate that on the track. Having the awareness is huge.”

Ottenweller said track awareness comes with experience and dedication.

“Like in any sport, the more you work at something, the stronger you will become in it,” Ottenweller said.

As Ottenweller and the Army Women look to capitalize on their third-place qualification, Ottenweller said down the road she will look back at the Little 500 as her fondest memory of college.

“To be a part of such a unique and special event that no other college has is special,” she said. “Everyone here loves cycling, so it’s really cool to be in a community that really enjoys the sport.”