Gafombi ready to ride to victory

In the corner of turn one at Individual Time Trials (ITTs), team Gafombi rode on its tracks cooling down and focusing on its mission in the weeks to come. With three returning riders and a second row starting position, Gafombi is ready to take the men's Little 500 title. Last year, in only its first year of existence, the team finished second behind the Corleones. \n"The Corelones without a doubt is our biggest competition," senior Michael Rubin said. "They have every rider back this year. We are working even harder with this is in mind."\nThis will be Rubin's fourth Little 500 race. He formerly rode as a Beta with current Gafombi teammates senior John Grant and sophomore Jason Fowler. To complete the team, they picked up first-year rider and junior Brandon Hurey as well as senior Tom Lazzara. \n"Our experience has helped us learn about training," Rubin said while peddling. "Every year I learn something new. I watch other teams and I get a new perspective on training techniques."\nGrant and Rubin, the most experienced riders with a total of seven races, organize workouts to steer the team in the right direction. They ride together everyday to become stronger as a team. Over winter break, they traveled to Houston in order to not miss a day of training. \nAdditionally, they play a lot of video games. \n"It keeps our reaction times fast," said Rubin. \n"No joke," Hurey added.\nGafombi is also on a strict diet of Laughing Planet mondo burritos and chicken potato quesadillas as well as Soma mochas. They visit at least twenty times a week according to Rubin. \n"We all enjoy washing down our Laughing Planet with Double Mochas at The Soma Coffeehouse," Grant said with a focused face. The others just smiled.\nThe team's training right before the race is "classified" information, but Rubin said it will work hard every time it is on the track and use this time effectively. \nThese methods have helped Gafombi better its qualifying position from ninth last year to second this year with a time of 2.28.049. Grant also took first at ITTs riding in 2.23.38 in addition to winning the Miss-N-Out event. He will be the first rider on race day. The rest of the order will be dependent on how the race is going. Fowler was the next highest rider at ITTs, placing 10th and clocking in at 2.27.75. Rubin and Hurey finished back to back in 34th and 35th, with times of 2.33.09 and 2.33.17 respectively. Lazarra finished with a time of 2.42.58.\n"This has been an incredible experience riding with guys with this much race experience," Hurey said. "We have good, solid riders. It is awesome"