Race aids year-round Little 500 competitors

For dedicated IU cyclists, staying competitive in the sport requires a longer commitment than Little 500 season. Top riders from the most competitive Little 500 teams train year-round and compete in races around the Midwest. Saturday, many IU riders competed in the Downtown Carmel Criterium in Carmel, Ind.\nRiders represented top Little 500 teams including Acacia, Black Key Bulls, Cutters, Dodds House and Phi Kappa Psi, among others. During the summer racing season, these riders train and compete together with Little 500 alumni riders on teams such as Bacardi-NUVO, Bloomington/Morris Trucking and Tortuga.\nThe Bacardi-NUVO team showed their strength in the Category 3 race when four of them rode shoulder to shoulder across the line going into second to last lap setting up the final sprint. Bacardi rider Andy Cvengros, a recent IU graduate, finished second in the Carmel Criterium. Bacardi riders Pat Ahlberg and Adam Mahomed, both IU juniors, finished in the top 10. All three rode for Acacia in the 2006 Little 500.\nThe Downtown Carmel Criterium was a one mile loop made up of eight turns. A strong headwind increased the difficulty on a short incline and coming out of the last turn in the chicane. The criterium included a Pro/1/2 race, a Category 3 race and a Category 4/5 race. Riders begin racing in Category 5 then qualify for higher categories based on their history of race results. \nA criterium is a road race around a loop that can range from a half mile to a mile and last for a period of time ranging from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, said Doug Robinson, a representative from TrueSport.com,which organized the race.\n"The course was tight," said Mahomed. "Real tight. The turns in the chicane really strung out the pack before the long straightaway."\nTurns are crucial in a criterium, said IU graduate Matt Kubal, a Briscoe Little 500 team alum who now rides for Bacardi-NUVO. Because riders cannot ride through turns in a pack, corners are a good place to gain ground. This also makes corners more dangerous than straightaways, where riders have space to fan out. When the pack narrows to take a turn, riders jockey for position. Sometimes this causes brutal crashes.\n"If you're a serious cyclist and you've never picked asphalt out of your skin, needed stitches or broken anything, you probably haven't been racing very long," said Kubal.\nLike all athletes who love their sport, cyclists think those risks pale in comparison to the thrill of a race. Enthusiastic cyclists embrace opportunities to compete. Participating in summer races gives riders a chance to develop skills while building camaraderie with other Little 500 riders, said Cvengros.\n"It's a chance for Little 500 riders to apply hundreds of hours of training to more than just one race," said Cvengros. "Riding during the summer with guys from various current teams and Little 500 alumni continues the tradition of IU cycling."\nSummer racing will come to town for the TrueSport Bloomington Criterium August 5 and the Lake Lemon Road Race August 6.