This year’s Men’s Little 500 cycling race was held on Saturday, April 24. Made famous in the movie “Breaking Away,” the Little 500 is a yearly tradition for college students on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, IN, an hour south of Indianapolis.
The Men’s Little 500 is a 200 lap (50.98 mile) team cycling race modeled loosely after the Indianapolis 500, held just an hour north of Bloomington in Speedway, IN. 33 teams of collegiate athletes earned the right to compete through their on-track and in-the-classroom performances.
Each team consists of a maximum of four riders, only one of which is riding on the track at any given time. During the race, team members will perform “exchanges,” where the on-track teammate hands off to a teammate waiting in their “pit area.” Sometimes, the bike will be passed to the new rider, sometimes not. Men are required to make a minimum of 10 exchanges during the race.
The bikes they use are quite unusual. They are Schwinn branded 46x18 single-speed freewheels with a coaster brake, flat pedals and 700x28 tires.
Teams are alloted two bikes, and all of the bikes that the teams use are identical (except for personal choices like saddle, tape, tires and stem). In fact, the only difference between the men’s bike and the women’s bike is the frame size!
Onto this year’s race. The big question in everyone’s mind: could the Cutters make it three victories in three years? They were the team to beat, and everyone knew it. However, the Cutters team was strong as ever, earning the 3rd best qualifying time and a spot in the first row.
After the pre-race ceremonies, including three pace laps (led around the track by the pacecar from the Indy 500), the riders finally got underway, and raced clean for the first dozen or so laps. Here is a link to a video of the last pace lap and first two laps under green.
After a few incidents reduced the pack to 17 riders on the lead lap, a major crash at the front of the peleton caught several teams, including pole winner Phi Delta Theta and the Cutters in the wreckage. Phi Delta Theta instantly fell a lap down, and though they were almost able to make up the lost lap, this crash spelled the end for team Phi Delta Theta.
The Cutters were also caught in the crash, and found themselves 3/4 of a lap down. Their only shot at a three-peat rested in the ITT capabilities of their team captain Clayton Feldman to get themselves back in the main bunch. 18 laps later, the Cutters rejoined the bunch. This was an amazing piece of riding by Feldman and the Cutters, as getting gapped in a race like this usually means that the chance at victory is gone.
With 10 laps to go, riders not on the lead laps were instructed to move to the outside to give the top teams a clear shot at the final sprint. Laps 190-198 saw the riders all jockeying for position and making final exchanges to get their strongest men out on the track for the bunch sprint at the finish.
All of the teams were ready. The Cutters, The Black Key Bulls, Team Major Taylor, Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) and Gray Goat cycling all looked strong. Going into the white flag lap, it was the FIJI man and Team Major Taylor leading the bunch, until powerhouse Eric Young of the Cutters jumped from the pack with exactly one lap to go. At turn one he had a one bike length gap. At turn two it was three bike lengths. Coming into the final turns no one could catch him, and Young and the rest of the Cutters team raised their arms as the winners of the 2009 Little 500!
Here’s a link to a video of the last two laps. Apologies for the quality, my heart was pounding!
Pictures:
This year’s pole winners, Phi Delta Theta.
The second highest qualifiers, Phi Gamma Delta.
The Cutters, qualified third, are this years heavy favorites .
Riders get ready to roll out for the first of three pace laps.
Starting pace lap #1.
Coming around turn 4 of pace lap #1.
Fast forward to the middle of the race. The peleton sets a hard tempo around turn 4.
The top 3 teams (Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta and the Cutters) lead the pack across the start/finish line. Black Key Bulls is also there (4th position, red helmet).
The Cutters go off the front late in the race. Frequent surges by the Cutters absolutely put the hurt on the rest of the group, setting up a perfect sprint finish.
The Cutters celebrate their third consecutive Little 500 victory!