THE RIDER
By Zachary Osterman
Little 500 week is a strange beast for a rider. On one hand, all of your friends are going to party upon party, you want to enjoy the week as best you can, and you really don't feel like going to class much anyway. On the other hand, you prioritize rest and good eating above everything else, so partying tends to fall by the wayside. This is a little bit harder if you're in a fraternity house, and the party pretty much comes to you every night. \nAll things considered, however, the truth of the matter is you go to class, you go to the parties (sober, of course), you do anything you can to keep your mind off the race. It's easy to get nervous for something you've spent so much time preparing for, so you try to find anything to keep yourself occupied Monday through Friday. Just eat up as many hours as you can every day and spend as little time as possible worrying about Saturday. \nActual riding declines throughout the week and has been for most teams for the last five to 10 days. It's called a "taper," and the idea is to keep your legs loose while recovering from the hard part of the training in the winter and early spring so you'll be as fresh as possible on race day. Track practice ends the Wednesday of Little 5 week so it can be prepped for the women's race on Friday, so you're released from those obligations, and there's little else to do but ride easy for two days and get ready.\nThe weekend itself is generally a celebra celebratory affair, start to finish, for most riders. Lots of parents, family and friends come into town to see you race. For some, it's the first time they've seen family or friends since the winter holidays because they've been stuck in Bloomington or elsewhere in the country training for the race. Personally, I'll go to dinner with my family Friday night when they get into town from Atlanta and have a team dinner the night after the race with all the parents and family of the Sigma Alpha Mu Cycling Team. \nOne of the interesting traditions for many Little 500 teams comes after that Friday night dinner. Many teams, including ours, check into hotels for the night to seclude themselves from the controlled insanity that is race weekend on campus. It's a nice night in a comfortable bed away from the distractions sure to present themselves less than 24 hours before the race and a way to be away from it all as a team the night before the big day. \nOnce you reach race day, the nervousness reaches its climax. But then there's a strange peace, and you realize you've prepared yourself well for the race and you know what you can do and how well you can do it. And you know that if you trust yourself and your teammates, then there's not much to worry about because the rest of it is out of your hands. You just have to have faith in your team, ride smart and hope for a good break somewhere in the race. After your first set in the race, everything melts away and you enter a different world where nothing exists but you and the race and all your hard work finally comes to fruition. \nAnd after the race is over and dinner is done, riders are free to enjoy all the pleasures Little 500 week has left to offer.
THE OTHER
By Zach Pollakoff
I don't think I'd call my college experience typical. I have to remind myself that not everyone here is involved at the radio station, knows about local bands playing basement shows and knows at least a few bike punks. \nThough there are a lot of kids I know in the same boat, IU is dominated by other demographics. I believe IU students fall in one of three categories: greek, Smallwood and other. Seventeen percent of IU students go greek, but their 33 fraternities and 27 sororities hold a presence on campus. I don't have figures for Smallwood, but the demographic is more than just the monolith across the street from Big Red. Tons of IU students pack themselves into 10th and College and the Omegas. The other demographic is just everyone else from theater kids to indie kids, library geeks to exchange students and more. \nAs part of the other demographic, it may sound like I'm singling out my enemies, but I actually owe greeks and Smallwood folks for offering a more accurate portrayal of the world we live in. IU is a successful microcosm of society.\nLittle 500 is a chance to break these boundaries. While it's primarily a greek event, the Smallwood kids go big, and for the other kids, it's a chance to enjoy the irony of playing fratty.\nThough so many events have transpired in the week leading up to Little 5, this article is only long enough to cover the weekend. So, here goes.
FRIDAY \nIt starts with the second annual Little 5 Ride. A critical mass-style ride through Bloomington, the ride starts at 3 p.m. at the Sample Gates and will have a predetermined route. Show up early with your bike and bring noisemakers. It was big last year, but this year we'll certainly top it. \nAfter a quick change (and maybe a nap), one of the Art Hospital volunteers, Flufftronix, is throwing a show at McCalla, an art school building at Ninth and Dunn streets. \nThe show will feature YACHT, aka Jona Bechtolt, Flufftronix and (thankfully) DJ Pumpkin Patch. The big upset of Little 5 2k7 is that EPCOT isn't throwing a party. EPCOT, a B-town party house, throws unmatched parties with DJ Pumpkin Patch as its centerpiece. At least I'll have a chance to get down to the Patch at McCalla.\nThe show begins at 10 p.m. and will most likely go all night. Sure it's a sober party and technically on campus, but after I see YACHT and stick around for DJ Pumpkin Patch, there's so much more to do on Friday that it doesn't matter. \nAcross town, another party will already be happening. The Velvet Chateau, another party house, will be holding a rock show where semi-locals Hot Fighter #1, Bolth and Prizzy Prizzy Please will be rocking Little 500 hard. \nAfter Prizzy strikes their last chord, there's another cross-town trek to embark upon. A short bike ride to the Second Street neighborhood will be in order. Sort of a large area south of campus, Second Street is where many other kids call home. The parties will still be rolling that late in the evening, so I'll have to stop by the 529 Boys crib to see what's up. After checking out their famous suspended beer pong table and making the rounds, I'll be beat.
SATURDAY \nThe race always rules and I suggest you attend. Plus with my WIUX press pass, the view from the center is boss. But this column isn't concerned with bike riding. I'm covering the aftermath, the annual mayhem that ensues once the riders break the finish line. \nThe most intriguing after-race Facebook find was a block party on the North side. According to the event page, the party featured 600 in attendance and 12 kegs last year. Even if those figures are exaggerated, they're impressive. Not that sheer numbers can make or break a party, but they must've done something right. \nLittle 5 and Halloween are the only times my friends and I peruse the parties north of Kirkwood. So after a bout on the North side, the bike gang will retreat back to the Second Street 'hood, do some party hopping and, more importantly, begin uploading pictures to Facebook.
THE VIRGIN
By Brian Spegele
They say you never forget your first. I am a Little 500 virgin, but rather than worrying about remembering my induction to the madness 20 years from now, I remain more concerned with simply recalling the weekend, come a headache-ridden, blurry-eyed, altogether too soon Monday morning. \nGoing off only what I have heard, my beloved University will soon turn into a 38,000-animal zoo -- scratch the giraffes, add a battalion of zookeepers and a species only quite capable of hunting Keystone Light and an easy mate. Finally, my first Little 500 has arrived -- let the madness begin. \nMinus a few out-of-character and almost out-of-body experiences during my first year of college, my social life has remained quite tame. Sure, I go out (who doesn't?), but oftentimes I enjoy just as much joshing a boozed up friend as being the drunkard. I'll do that at least part of the time this weekend -- assisting buddies evade the zookeepers -- while hoping also to help keep everyone, myself included, safe. \nFriday night I'll be the designated driver. No, I'm not much the group's scut, in case you were wondering. It's actually not a bad deal. For a nominal fee (sorry, no personal checks), I plan to help my underage monkey-like friends evade the zookeepers and their treacherous repercussions. Knowing also that perhaps I kept some 19-year-old blackout out of the driver's seat only adds to my repertoire for a Noble Peace Prize.\nCome Saturday morning, the tides will certainly change. After a late breakfast and a few inconspicuous beers in the dorm, I'll likely find the motivation to drag myself with thousands of other students up familiar Fee Lane -- eventually joining my fellow IU rugby players in support of the team's first-ever Little 500 bike squad. While it's quite a remarkable accomplishment in itself for these men to have qualified for the race, watch out for the ruggers as dark horse contenders in a surprising performance.\nFollowing the excitement of Saturday afternoon, I'll likely stumble to one of the seemingly thousands of parties around Bloomington. But rather than fight the sterile madness of greek row, I plan to end up at a close friend's house around Ninth and Dunn streets. Being the ignorant Little 500 virgin that I am, it's tough for me to guess how exactly parties next weekend will differ from a typical IU weekend -- more people, better beer, hotter girls? The possibilities seem endless and almost overwhelming. Almost. \nAssuming my ability to appear sober remains till around 3 a.m., I plan to travel south along Dunn toward Kirkwood Avenue. Although I am not 21 and hardly pass for 16, Kirkwood should be the ultimate place to experience the Little 500. Finding a bench or simply posting up against a shadowed building, I just want to soak up the madness that supposedly makes this the best college weekend ever. With the dwindling youths of my collegial elders before me, I will not be able to hold back a soft chuckle. Although this will be my first, it will indeed not be my last.\nYou'll never forget your induction into this nutty tradition, I've been told by the bruised and battled veterans before me. I'm just more worried about Monday.
THE VIRGINIAN
By Whitney Mitchell
For weeks I've been preparing for Little 5 festivities -- clearing my agenda of any unnecessary work to make room for play, attempting to get ahead on assignments, resting up and buying concert tickets for what is undoubtedly "America's Greatest College Party Weekend." I could not, however, prepare for the sheer horror that wreaked havoc on Virginia Tech's campus Monday. But I wasn't alone in my inability to foresee such a heinous event, as the entire Tech campus, police and school administrators are also unable to comprehend how this all could have happened.\nAs a Virginia native who has spent the past eight summers in Blacksburg, Va., this hits me the same way a shooting of this magnitude at say, Purdue, would for most IU students. Seeing the headline "Campus Massacre" tacked on to pictures of a place I have long called a second home is horrifying. \nI'm not a student at Tech, and I'm well aware that this tragedy has more of an impact on so many others than it does on me, but it's certainly put a halt on my Little 5 activities. \nEverything about Virginia Tech is eerily similar to IU -- a sprawling, beautiful campus with a large, fun and diverse student body. It's set in a quintessential college town that comes to life during the academic school year, much like Bloomington. \nNone of my friends on campus were murdered, but 32 other people were. Most Tech students from my home city are returning home from school this weekend for memorial services and to spend time with family and friends. I'm going home for the weekend, too. \nAs much as I love Little 5 and everything that comes with it -- the bike race itself, the slew of parties and the overwhelming school spirit that transcends campus, the shooting at Tech has left me shocked and disheartened. It's not easy to celebrate when you know that so many close to you are suffering immensely. \nI'm going to be moving to Blacksburg in three weeks to start my summer internship at the Roanoke Times, the leading newspaper in the area that has been providing a lot of the pictures and initial media coverage you're seeing on TV. To say the least, it will be an interesting experience entering a community that has been consumed by a recent tragedy. \nDuring this week where so many students will be focused on having fun (as they should), I guess for me it's important to remember not only how fast those good times can be robbed from you and those you love but what really matters in life. Busting out the makeshift tin-foil grill for Three 6 Mafia, cheering on my favorite riders and roaming the town slightly inebriated and carefree might have been great ways to spend the week, but being with the people I could have lost during Monday's shooting is better.
