Riding with a rookie

Everyone has seen them. They glide around campus on their brightly colored bikes with skinny tires. They wear skin-tight biker shorts and jerseys with logos plastered on the sides. They hog the roads.\nThey're cyclists training for a bike race that is 158 days away. \nThis fall, junior Allison Ware has joined the cycling craze. She has gone from being a college student to a dedicated rookie training for Little 500 with the independent team Athena. \nLittle 500 is an intramural bike race held in April in which teams, typically made of four riders, race around the cinder track at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The race, 100 laps for women and 200 laps for men, is the largest collegiate bike race in the United States, according to the IUSF Little 500 Web site.\nIt includes 33 teams of IU students, ranging from sorority sisters and dorm dwellers to independent teams. Riders vary from year-round trainers to rookies.\nAfter spending her first two years of college "basically rotting away" by not exercising much, Ware started to think about training for Little 500 after helping out with her boyfriend's team last spring.\nSeeing him bonding with his teammates and preparing in the weeks before the race clinched her decision: She was going to ride.\n"I have no background in (competitive) cycling ... none whatsoever," Ware said.\nBesides cruising along hiking trails on her 10-speed in her youth, Ware's athletic ability comes from eight years of middle and high school swimming.\n"Twice a day, every day, winter, summer ... it was horrible," Ware said. "But ... it taught me how to work hard, and I loved it. I love the competition."\nTo get started in cycling, Ware had to discard her Speedo and invest in a road bike, which she said was her biggest problem. Road bikes range anywhere from $150 used to more than $1,000 new. She wanted something a little better than a "cheap little rinky-dink bottom of the line" bike.\nShe said she searched eBay and called bike shops "from here to Timbuktu" trying to find a cheap, used bike. In mid-June, she finally decided on an entry-level Trek 1000. New tires, clipless pedals and a bike computer have upgraded the bike to what Ware needed.\nThe next step: finding a team. Ware e-mailed four teams she knew were looking for riders and got three responses back. Of the three, she ended up joining Athena, which finished 13th in the race last spring. The team lost two riders to graduation. \nWare said her decision to join Athena was mainly because they challenged her. The women took her up a long uphill known as Firehouse on their first ride together.\n"I couldn\'t believe I was doing Firehouse hill the first time I went out with these girls," Ware said. "I was breathing so hard; I was in the easiest gear my bike had. I was literally almost dead -- I almost passed out."\nBut Ware said when she finally hauled herself to the top, the Athena girls boosted her confidence by cheering for her.\n"She looked very natural on her bike," senior Mavourneen Ryan, one of the Athena riders, said. "She just fit in."\nWith the addition of Ware, Athena still needs one more rider to complete their team.\nThe three riders, Ware, Ryan, and senior Ilia Smith, have been hitting the popular Bloomington bike routes in their padded bicycle shorts and colorful jerseys since September.\nThe three have gotten caught in a hailstorm; Ware has gone off the road; Ware and Ryan have ridden more than 100 miles in two days during the Hilly Hundred, a bike tour around the Bloomington area; And they've finished in second place in IUSF's Fall Cycling Series of three events: a Biathlon, Cyclocross and Time Trials. \nDespite her growing list of achievements, learning how to control her breathing and getting up the endless Bloomington hills still challenge Ware.\n"In swimming, you have no choice. You can't breathe water," Ware said. "When you're on a bike, you can breathe any time you want." Ware said this lack of knowing when and how to breathe while cycling has been difficult for her.\nWare is also learning how to control her grades. She's balancing a full load of journalism classes and a job as the associate editor of the Deadline, a School of Journalism newsletter. \n"I have to make myself sit down and do my homework," Ware said. "I have to juggle my priorities and determine what needs to be done, what should probably be done and what could wait until tomorrow."\nBut Ware asserts she knew what she was getting into.\n"It's just following the principles, getting in the time, getting on the bike, getting in shape, and staying in shape," Ware said. "It'll start picking up in the next couple of months."\nAlex Ihnen, coordinator of Little 500, said training this time of year is mainly social. He said it's about getting out, riding and enjoying the weather. \n"Little 500 is not just about race day," he added. "It's about the people you meet and the experiences you go through."\nWare knew a lot of the Little 500 riders by reputation from being around her boyfriend's team last year. She's still amazed that she has ridden with some of IU's top women cyclists.\n"I went on a ride with (alumnus) Anne Holterhoff, who is like the cycling God ... she races ... she has professional sponsorships," Ware said. "And I've actually ridden with her. It's really cool because no one is like 'Oh you're that team, I don't want to talk to you.' It's about going out and getting the miles in and having fun."\nWhile the riders are having fun now, the race is always on their minds, Ware said. \nAs for what's on Athena's mind, Ware doesn't hesitate: "Well, we want to win. I'll give you the proverbial quote: 'Nobody trains for second."