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The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Hillel Cycling prepares for 1st Little 500

Hillel Cycling carousel

Then-IU junior Jeremy Levin glued his eyes to his computer screen from la Universidad de Sevilla library in Sevilla, Spain on April 21, 2012.

It was Little 500 Race Day, and though he wasn’t competing, he couldn’t take his eyes off the live blog that was continuously unfolding, detailing the day’s events.

Such is the life of a Little 500 rider who is studying abroad, as he anxiously followed his former teammates from Emanon now on Alpha Tau Omega.

So when Levin returned to Bloomington to find Emanon no longer exist, it became time for him to pursue an idea he had long hoped to achieve: create his own Little 500 team.

From there, Hillel Cycling was born.

“I had this goal in mind for three years,” Levin said. “I’ve had alumni or people working with me think it would be a cool idea, so it was just a matter of getting it all together from there.”

Levin, now a senior, is a student from Highland Park, Ill. When he first got to IU, he immediately was drawn to Hillel, a “Jewish home away from home” for students that provides a venue for services, Shabbat dinners and other events.

He was heavily involved as a freshman and sophomore, but during his second year on campus, he also gained an interest in cycling. At the time, he joined Emanon, only in its second year of existence, and raced in the 2011 Little 500.

The team qualified 23rd for the 61st running of the annual race, and Levin competed in both the Individual Time Trials and Little 500.

Levin said he did not want to give up on his cycling career and after his study-abroad experience he began to pursue riders for a Hillel team.

After putting so much into the organization during his first two years on campus, Levin wanted to find a way to give back and give Hillel something more to be proud of.

“It’s one of the best Hillels in the nation, and I definitely feel like it needed a name on campus,” Levin said. “All these Christian, Catholic and non-cultural groups have teams, so I didn’t see why we couldn’t have a team. We just needed someone to spearhead it.”

In what he called a grassroots effort, Levin began asking students if they would be interested in riding for a Hillel team. Most responded half-heartedly, Levin noted, but a few names — all of them seniors at IU — stuck out.

There was Brad Koszuta, who rode for Gray Goat in 2011 and had shown interest in joining a Hillel Cycling team. Tyler Hagan was a mountain biker who had never even thought of racing in the Little 500 until Levin approached him during a road ride the two took together. Moyshe Kerler was a part of the men’s Rainbow Cycling team in 2011 that failed to qualify for the race.

And then there was Adam Kouba, a resident assistant who had never even considered riding a bike competitively until Levin talked him into it.

Though they all came from different backgrounds and had no experience working together in a cohesive group, it was enough of a start for Levin to begin the formation of Hillel cycling.

“I didn’t really know what to think at first, and I don’t think Jeremy thought I was serious about it either,” Kouba said. “I’m glad it ended up happening because it’s a really good community and a great place to be on campus.”

During the fall months, the team would take road rides together to build stamina and friendships. They soon turned the basement of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center on Third Street into a training room.

They began fundraising so they could pay for the $100 team fee and $400 bicycle fee the IU Student Foundation imposes to register for the race.

Even Levin had to put in his own money to make it happen, but in late January he paid the fees and Hillel Cycling became registered for the 63rd running of the Little 500.
They still had to qualify for the race, however, and when Levin injured his leg in a practice the Thursday before Qualifications, their planned routine had shattered.

Levin could only ride one lap instead of two on Qualifications day, meaning Koszuta had to step into the role of riding two laps out of four. Levin and Hagan would each race one lap.

“We ran a Quals team that we had never run before,” Levin said. “Luckily we all had exchanged together before so we knew how it worked, but we had never done it in that order.”

“The biggest fear was that it could slow us down or cause some kind of an issue,” Kouba said.

Though the Hillel team wanted to achieve a time of 2:27 at Qualifications on March 23, it finished with a mark of 2:31.51 in its second attempt in front of more than 40 of its own fans.

Knowing, however, that in 2012 their time would have been within 1.4 seconds of not qualifying for the race, both Levin and Kouba stayed throughout the afternoon until it was certain they would qualify.

When there were too few teams remaining that could jump them in the standings and drop them out of the top 33, Hillel had qualified for its first Little 500 in its first year of existence.

After a determined effort to even get a team together, Levin had found a way to race in the Little 500 once more.

“We just started celebrating and calling everyone up,” Levin said. “It was so exciting for us and for everyone who has supported us.”

On Saturday, Hillel will start in the 25th overall position in the ninth row, which it will share with Sigma Alpha Mu and Delta Sigma Pi.

Though Levin and Kouba said the team’s goal was to actually just qualify for the race, they hope to win the Dixie Highway Award, given to the team that finishes the highest compared to its starting position. Moving forward though, Saturday’s result really doesn’t mean much, Levin said.

He wants Hillel Cycling to stay around for more than just one year, and what that means is doing more recruiting. He has already found two freshmen, including one with prior cycling experience, to help continue the Hillel legacy.

Though Saturday will be Levin’s final Little 500, it will be the first race and a significant occasion for the organization he has put so much energy into.

And for those organizations that might not yet have a Little 500 team, both said Hillel’s rise is proof that anything is possible.

“Any organization can start a team if they have the goal in mind,” Levin said. “Some fraternities have 10,000-plus dollar budgets for their bike teams. We had zero.”

“Even if you have all rookie riders, it’s possible,” Kouba added. “As long as you have the dedication and you put the time in, it can happen.”

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