Teams to end ‘journey’ Saturday afternoon

It all comes down to this.

After logging miles upon miles around the greater Bloomington area in the fall, putting in long sets on the rollers in the winter and perfecting exchanges on the cinder track this spring, the time is finally here.

Thirty-three men’s teams will take the track 2 p.m. Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium for a shot at etching their names on the BorgWarner Trophy as Little 500 champions.

This is the day riders look forward to every year.

While the 12-time champion Cutters won the IU Student Foundation Spring Series, that is not their ultimate goal. They will wear the white jersey Saturday, but hope to take away the yellow jersey from defending champion Delta Tau Delta and wear it in the 2014 race.

“We’re trying to do something bigger than ITTs, or Miss-N-Out or Team Pursuit,” Cutters senior Kevin Depasse said. “It’s way bigger than that. It’s race day.”

Sigma Alpha Mu senior Ben Miller, who goes by the name “Brock Hanson” on the track, has been looking forward to race day for two years. His team failed to qualify last year, making his team’s 26th starting position much sweeter.

“To quote the great race director Jordan Bailey, ‘When people come to Indiana, they think of Indiana basketball and Little 500,’” Miller said. “It’s absolutely phenomenal to be part of something that big.”

For Sigma Phi Epsilon junior Thomas Wimmer, hopping on the bike for the first time on Saturday is what he is most looking forward to for the race.

“I think it’s always a huge adrenaline rush,” he said. “There’s just not a feeling to describe it.”

His Sig Ep team qualified fourth, and returns all of its riders from last year. After a year of race experience, Wimmer said he feels as if his team is much more prepared to make a run at a first place finish.

“I think we have four strong riders that can hang with anybody in the field no matter what,” Wimmer said. “That’s why I think we’re a team to be taken seriously.”

Sitting just ahead of Sig Ep in third to start the day will be CSF Cycling. The team qualified second last year, but finished 27th. This year with the addition of coach Justin Keene, Tyler Hird thinks his team is poised to stay on the lead lap.

“In years before, if something went wrong, we’d maybe shut down a little bit and not necessarily handle it the right way,” Hird said. “This year I think we have the strength and the mental toughness that if something does go wrong, and even if it doesn’t, we’ll be able to rally together.”

Kappa Sigma made the largest jump in qualifications from last year, moving from 32nd to fifth. Sophomore rider Kyle Friedman said with good race strategy, the team hopes to stay with the leaders at the end of the race.

“We’re going to make smart moves as long as we can and hopefully hold onto that and finish top 10,” he said.

Delta Upsilon qualified 23rd, but it returns 11 years of race experience, something junior Rob Martin is hoping to capitalize on to help move up in the field.

“Hopefully our legs and luck finally come together and we find ourselves there on the last few laps,” he said.

Back up front, behind pole-winner Beta Theta Pi sits Black Key Bulls, who have finished in the top 10 in all seven of the Little 500 races, but have never finished higher than third. After qualifying second, the best in the team’s history, senior Tyler Dennis feels confident in his team’s ability to handle the pressures of race day.

“You prepare the same way on quals day that you do race day for pressure situations and stuff like that,” he said.

At the end of the day, there will only be one champion. For Beta Theta Pi fifth-year senior Eric Anderson, he said he hopes it’s him. If it’s not, he has still appreciated the journey that is Little 500.

“The reality is, there’s 500-plus riders and only eight of those get to win,” Anderson said. “Those odds aren’t exactly the best. If you’re not focused on all the other sides of Little 500, you can definitely leave with an empty feeling I guess you could say. Win or lose, it’s been an incredible journey.”