Growing up, the La Valles had a basketball hoop in their driveway. And when Audrey La Valle would play with her brothers — Albert, the oldest, and Andrew, the middle child — they’d adjust the rules a bit: when Audrey scored, her points were worth more than theirs.
It wasn’t to belittle her; it didn’t stem from competitiveness. It was because, La Valle said, her older brothers were always the ones showing her the ropes, teaching her how to play rather than leaving her behind.
College eventually came around and La Valle did what she had often done before: she followed her brothers. Albert and Andrew — who graduated from IU in 2020 and 2022, respectively — both competed on Phi Kappa Psi’s Little 500 team.
And La Valle chose to continue the racing dynasty.
La Valle — now a junior studying biology and captaining Kappa Alpha Theta in this year’s Little 500 — hasn’t abandoned the footsteps her brothers helped carve her whole life. She has actually learned to embrace them — especially on her Little 500 journey.
La Valle met with the IDS over Zoom for a wide-ranging Q&A — from race day nerves to the learning curves of becoming a team captain, La Valle has proven that while she accepts advice from Albert and Andrew, she has a story all her own, not a story hiding in the shadows of two older brothers.
Editor’s Note: Answers have been lightly edited for readability and clarity.
Going into your family history with biking — I'm kind of just curious — How did your brothers get into it, has it always been a big thing with your family?
My oldest brother came here, and we all swam in high school. So, we like all of us sort of went through the phase where we thought about swimming in college, but none of us were like star-studded athletes who are gonna go D1 or anything. So my oldest brother (Albert), when he came here, he joined swim club — and had a great time with that — but sort of wanted something more competitive, you know, where more people were really working toward an end goal. He decided, ultimately, he wanted to go through (fraternity) recruitment, because the way he explained it to me was just like, “Even if you don't make race day, you're gonna have all these other friends outside of your five closest friends on the bike team.”
So Albert got into it that way. And then my middle brother, Andrew, wasn't really sure where he's gonna go to college, and Albert actually gave Andrew an (IDS) article written about the Krahulik brothers and he was like, “This could be us, you know — like, we could do this.”
[RELATED: Krahulik brothers are helping rebuild Sigma Alpha Epsilon's Little 500 hopes]
I think that's really cool. Sort of watching them even then I was like, “I don't really know if I want to do Little 5. Like, my whole family does this, I should go my own way.” And during COVID I got into biking a little bit after running for a while and I was like, “OK, you know, I definitely want something I can do in college that is competitive.” And I had initially committed to go to University of Illinois, but then I was like “OK, I think I'm going to need something more in college.” So then I biked and I was like, shoot, this could be so cool. I could do this in college and have something competitive.
Growing up, were you competitive with your brothers? Or was it more of a supportive environment? Or was it maybe both?
I would say it was definitely both. I think I just looked up to them so much when they were swimming, or whatever, I was like, “Oh, that's definitely something I want to do.”
And I just remember being at the pool with our babysitter, we were in the deep end playing tag or whatever — and (Albert and Andrew) were off swimming. But I think I was too young to have that fully figured out, so I was just on the wall. And I was like, “Man, I want to figure this out. I want to be able to swim.”
So, would you describe them as being role models for you?
Definitely, like so much more than I even tell them on a regular basis, but they definitely are.
How have Albert and Andrew been? How have they interacted with you? I think it's definitely been a growing involvement. My freshman year, I would call Albert, he would sort of give general advice and stuff. But obviously, Andrew was doing his own thing with the team. So, he was pretty involved in his own career.
So this year especially, Andrew actually has been helping me with my training a lot. And, you know, I call him a lot for advice on that. He was able to become one of, if not the strongest rider in the field, so I know so many other riders look up to him. So to have him as my brother is so awesome, because even all the other current male riders will tell me how awesome he was and how much they enjoyed riding with him. The fact that I'm able to get continuous free advice from him is super cool.
Do you feel the weight of your last name sometimes? Does it scare you or excite you? I think it's definitely like a combination of all that. It's more of a benefit than a con, but people would joke like, “Oh, it's odd. You're gonna break the curse of the La Valles.” And I'm like, “I didn't know there was a curse associated with our last name, but OK.”
My brothers had built sort of this great brand for us — they were very influential in the field. So, the fact that I just get to build on that is honestly a really great opportunity.
Albert came in and no one knew who he was. And he was starting up a team that hadn't even raced previously. So the fact that I get to come in having had two brothers who were so influential in the race, and also be a part of such a great team in and of itself with so much history, I think just helps.
How do you usually feel right before the race starts? Do you get brain fog? But is there a certain feeling that you get, physically and mentally?
I think growing up, I would get so nervous, especially for swimming. I swam the 500 (meters). And I would just be like, “Oh my goodness, I don't know how I'm gonna do this.” And I couldn't even function. I would be so nervous.
Coming into college, I was like, “OK, I think I'm gonna try and mature on this, try and grow, try and take these opportunities.” Especially because we only get one big one, it's really important to just absorb it. So especially this year — growing into my role as captain — I've tried to just take a moment to acknowledge the nerves but realize this is so special. A bunch of my friends came to support me and I just wanted to take a moment… I don't want to be so nervous that I missed this. I want to take in the moment and really absorb it. So this year, I've been trying to do that… don't be so nervous, so caught up in the moment that you look back on this and you can't even remember it. Because my freshman year, racing fully felt that way. I was just so nervous that I blinked and the race was over.
I want to be in the moment. I want to live it because you work all year for this. And it is so special.
So the nerves are definitely there — but I think you just focus on your breathing, you try and slow your heart rate and just remember you're so prepared for this. You've been doing this all year.
You mentioned you're a captain this year. What has that been like? It's way more than I thought it would be. I don't think I realized all the work that goes into this because last year, and the year before, my only job was to ride my bike and you have to kind of separate the two and be like, “OK, this is my captain hat — this is the moment when I have to support the other girls on the team, find what motivates, which is different for every member on the team.”
I think it's funny. Some girls really need the “I believe in you!” and some just need to get super hyped, like “We're gonna crush this” mentality, and it differs for everyone. I'm the youngest child. I never really had to be a huge leader in my own family. So learning all this and being on Riders Council and learning there's so much more to this than just the actual bike race — if anything, for me, that (the race) has become the simplest part of this all. The harder parts are learning to actually build relationships and what gets certain people motivated and ready to do this. It differs. And that's a totally different skill than just riding your bike fast.
If you and your team win the Little 500 this year, how do you plan on celebrating? And how do you think you will feel?
I can't even fathom it. I barely even let myself think about that because I'm just thinking about the race. But I think it would just be immediate celebration with the team and all the people who made it possible. I think there's so much behind the scenes and that's what makes this meaningful. Having those people to celebrate with — I think that's all that really matters. Because they all had a hand in making this possible.
There are four girls on the track on race day, but there's so much more to it. And that's what makes this so special.
