Cyclists to compete in Individual Time Trials

IU’s Little 500 cyclists will be living life in the fast lane Wednesday, as they compete in the second spring series event of the year — the Individual Time Trials.

The time trials, which start at 4 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium, place each rider in a four-lap race against the clock.

While the other Little 500 series events combine strategy and skill, Teter’s Caitlin Van Kooten said the beauty of the individual time trials lies within its simplicity.

“One of the things I love about ITT is that there is no strategy,” Van Kooten said. “You just go out there and ride as fast as you can for four laps.”

Each race begins with one cyclist standing on his or her bike in each of the four corners of the track. Once the race begins, each rider takes off from his or her respective corner to start their race against the clock.

More than 300 men and women riders are scheduled to race throughout the evening.

Van Kooten, who won the individual time trials last year with a time of 2:40.03 seconds, said ITTs are the first time teams get to check out their competition.

“The results from ITTs really let you see who the contenders will be by race day because it is really a pure test of your strength and speed,” Van Kooten said.

While Van Kooten has one ITT win under her belt, many contenders, including last year’s second and third place finishers — Caroline Brown of Pi Beta Phi and Kelsey Kent of Delta Gamma — will be in the hunt for this year’s title.

On the men’s side, five cyclists that placed in the top-10 of last year’s event will be competing again this year.

The Cutters’ Eric Young tops the list as the two-time defending champion with a time of 2:22 seconds.

But the top returning competitors from last years’ ITTs: Steve Sharp (Phi Delta Theta), Ted Boeglin (Phi Gamma Delta), Eric Anderson (Beta Theta Pi) and Jordan Bailey (Black Key Bulls) will look to overthrow Young and improve on last year’s top-10 finishes.

While the returning top-10 finishers may have a mental edge based on previous success, Boeglin said it is difficult for anyone to predict who will be at the top of the board by the end of the day.

“In reality, there are about 20 riders that are competing for those top-five spots,” Boeglin said. “Every year you find guys that come in more fit than you thought they’d be, so you never really know how everything will end up.”

Although the individual trial times determine the seeding for Saturday’s Miss-N-Out event, Boeglin said teams do not alter their training for the time trials.

“Our team views this week as a stepping stone in our training to our ultimate goal of winning the Little 500,” Boeglin said. “It’s a good gauge to see where we are and where the other teams are at. But in the end, good teams train as they normally would through ITTs.”