Roll out: Little 500 riders take the track for qualifications today

While many college students decided to use spring break as a time for relaxation, partying and fun, riders participating in the Little 500 had only one goal in mind: preparing for race qualifications Saturday.\nIn order to qualify for the women’s race on April 11 and the men’s on April 12, each team must complete four laps around the track while successfully performing clean exchanges of the bike between riders. An exchange has to occur after each lap and the fastest combined times will determine the starting positions for the race. In addition, the teams with the better qualification times will select earlier their pit locations and color of jerseys.\n“I think (qualifications) will be pretty intense,” said sophomore and first year rider J.T. VanCleave of CRU Cycling. “With all of the different teams around you trying to make it, it will be a little nerve-racking.”\nSenior and second-year rider Ryan Hobley of Sigma Nu believes coming together as a team is the most important factor for a top finish.\n“We just want to make sure that our timing is down and do all of the little things to make it a successful qualification run,” Hobley said.\nFor most teams, the hardest part on Saturday will be achieving clean and fast exchanges of the bike on all four laps. After the completion of a lap, the finishing rider will exchange the bike to the next rider within a 32-foot zone – the distance of two pits. Rules state that the new rider must be fully in control of the bike by the time the rear wheel crosses the second line, or their attempt will not count. The same rules apply if the bike falls to the ground or if the rider falls. \nEach team will have three attempts to complete the four laps and make successful exchanges, or if they will not qualify to ride in the race. For both the men’s and women’s races, only a maximum of 33 teams are able to compete. \n“You can be as fast as you want, but if you can’t pull off an exchange, it’s pointless,” Pi Kappa Alpha junior Kirk Weesner said.\nSecond-year rider and IU alumna Jaime Boswell of Wing It said timing is everything.\n“You have to watch your lines and judge how fast you are coming in,” she said. “The hardest part is getting your timing down.”\nRecent poor weather conditions have limited track time for riders, greatly affecting the learning experience of rookie participants.\nBoswell believes the weather conditions will affect the speed of the race on Saturday more than anything else.\n“When you are out here with 25 mile per hour winds, you are not getting enough speed practice in,” Boswell said. “A lot of people are not used to how fast they will be going for Qualifications.”\nDespite the limited practice time on the track, riders are eager to get out and show what they have worked on these past few months.\n“We want to make sure all of our exchanges are clean, everything goes smoothly and that we qualify for the race,” sophomore and first-year rider Amber Pochron of Delta Delta Delta said.