Bloomington Criterium fields current, former Little 500 riders

In a sport that has recently been plagued by scandal at the Tour de France, amateur cyclists ride harder than ever with hopes of climbing up the ranks. Current and former Little 500 riders alike go shoulder to shoulder to test their endurance, strength and will to tolerate the summer heat throughout a series of races around the Midwest.\nCyclists from all over the Midwest rode into Bloomington Saturday to see for themselves if riders in the home of the Little 500 are as strong as the movie "Breaking Away" portrays. The TrueSport.com Downtown Bloomington Criterium, sponsored by Tortuga/Big Brothers Cycling Team, was held on a three-fourths-mile loop around downtown Bloomington.\nA crowd gathered on the Kilroy's Bar and Grill patio as riders prepared for the start. When the opportunity only comes once a year to blaze down Kirkwood Avenue at 30 mph in front of a crowd of summer students, race fans and townies, riders from Acacia, Alpha Tau Omega, Cutters, Dodds House, Fiji, Major Taylor, Pi Kappa Phi and Sigma Pi are the first to line up.\n"A criterium is a timed race around a short circuit," said Doug Robinson, assistant race director. \nRiders race for a set amount of time before they are given a three-lap warning to the finish. The Bloomington Criterium was divided into three races: a Category 3/4 race, a Category 4/5 race and a Pro/1/2/3 race. Cyclists race in a category according to their skill level, beginning in Category 5.\nMost of the cyclists who rode in last spring's Little 500 competed in the Category 3/4 race. The race started rough with a pile-up in the third turn. Since it was early in the race, riders were able to re-enter the race. As the race went on, several riders made attempts to break away. However, the peloton -- the pack of cyclists -- fiercely chased them down. Josh Weir from the MOB Cycling team took the victory, followed by teammate Dave Enmark and then Little 500 veterans Kevin Moore, senior David Caughlin, junior Alex Bishop, Kirk Habegger and senior Ryan Knapp.\n"I just wanted to make sure I kept the bike upright because there were crashes early in the race, including my own," said Moore, a 2006 IU graduate who rode for Dodds House and now rides for Bacardi-NUVO Cycling. "I saw Steven Ballinger, who I know is a good sprinter, and he led me to the front. I was happy with third."\n2004 IU graduate and Little 500 veteran Bri Kovac was in town to see her friends and teammates race.\n"Bloomington is a fantastic venue and this race is very spectator-friendly," said Kovac. "The course was tough -- riders made six 90 degree turns in one loop and rode over brick crosswalks."\nSpectators can see more strategy in this type of race than when watching Little 500, said Kovac. Teams have more than one rider racing and therefore the teamwork is more evident than in Little 500, when only one rider from each team is on the track at any time.\n"Many Little 500 veterans and IU graduates who have raced all summer choose this to be their last race of the year simply because of the home-town nostalgia," said 2006 IU graduate Andy Cvengros, an Acacia veteran who now rides for Bacardi-NUVO Cycling.\nOfficial results for all the races are available online at the Web site www.truesport.com/Bike/2006/results/bloomington080506.html.