It's time for 'Little 5'

During the cold winter months many people count down the days until sunny warm weather. But no one is looking forward to warm weather more than the riders competing in the Little 500 bike race.\nLittle 500 hopefuls filed into the business school Wednesday night for the first meeting of the Little 500 season.\n"We have been doing a lot of training inside, as far as riding, but we have been getting out if it gets over 30 degrees," said senior Jon Kloppenburg, rider for the independent team Cinzano. "It's tough to ride rollers (inside), to ride in a stationary place for two hours, so it's nice to get outside and have that opportunity."\nThe agenda for the evening was centered around introducing new riders, or "rookies" as they are called on the track, to the deadlines and procedures the IU Student Foundation mandates. These policies are set to ensure safety and eligibility in order to compete in the race, which will be held on April 25 for women and April 26 for men.\nQuestions of eligibility were major issues of controversy in the 2002 race. Riders from a men's team, Team Major Taylor, contested the ruling of IUSF on one rider's eligibility. This season, eligibility was fully covered in the meeting. Student GPA, credit hours and professional status were all underlined in the presentation.\nEach year the meeting also introduces student members of the Riders Council, a board of veteran riders who work with rookies during "Rookie Week". The week is dedicated to new riders and introducing them to riding on the track at Bill Armstrong Stadium and riding safety.\nThe Riders Council helps the new riders with everything from exchanges to proper clothing to studying for their riders exam. Each rookie must pass two exams to be able to compete. The women's Riders Council chair for the 16th running of the race is senior Meg Haney. The men's council chair for the 53rd men's race is Kloppenburg.\nOne of the most exciting announcements at the meeting was a new one-credit hour course offered to riders. IUSF assistant director and Little 500 Coordinator Alex Ihnen said the course has been in existence for nearly five years, but in the past has been offered to IUSF Steering Committee members and other IUSF members. This Little 500 season they are opening it up to all riders. Graduate student Lucas Calhon, who will be teaching the course, explained to riders they will receive credit for riding in the race and for completing simple assignments if they sign up for the course. The riders are also expected to take a mid-term and final exam that are open-book.\nThe course focuses on time management and leadership skills that all riders exhibit during their time training for the race. Ihnen said the course is a way to reward riders for the many house they put into training.\n"It's a way to give (riders and IUSF student members) credit for all the time they put in," Ihnen said. "At some point we thought they should get credit for it."\nAmong the riders in attendance at the meeting were 2002 third place finishers, Kappa Alpha Theta, women's first place finishers, independent team Roadrunners, and men's first place independent team, The Corleones.\nRoadrunners were without their veteran rider Jenn Wangerin, who helped them win the 2001 and 2002 Little 500 title. Wangerin left IU to train in Colorado at the Olympic Training Center. \nWangerin's Roadrunners teammates, who were all rookie last season, were confident and upbeat about the season without Wangerin.\n"I think we are definitely going to be competition," junior Mary Craig said.