The athletes of the Little 500

Tight pants and a helmet don’t seem like the most attractive outfit, but on this campus the pair make the ultimate fashion statement.

More than 250 students turned into athletes on bikes last spring when they competed in the Little 500.

Some riders wore greek letters. Others smeared face paint. Four riders donned that seven-letter word: CUTTERS.

But there is one strong, common thread that combines most of the participants: before they came to IU, they were high school athletes. Out of 141 riders who took a
survey conducted by the IDS in the weeks leading up to the 2011 race, only five said they didn’t participate in a sport for at least one full season in high school.

Among the field of riders in the last race, 307 seasons of athletic experience pedaled across a cinder track.

The next Little 500 race is more than 200 days away, but the training starts now. Team kits and Little 500 Schwinns are already appearing in the bike lanes across campus.
It’s training that’s rigorous. In some cases, it’s been said to be as hard as an NCAA
athlete’s workouts.

Running the stairs of Ballantine Hall. Cycling on trainers for hours in the winter while watching the same cycling movie from 1979.

It’s the hours teams put in now that the riders will talk about come race day.

And it’s a student-organized event that anyone who played — or didn’t play — a high school sport can compete in.

It’s the Little 500, and it’s for those who have always dreamed of breaking away.