When I was in college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, I participated in the first Women’s Little 500 there. It’s hard to appreciate the Little 5 if you haven’t seen the movie “Breaking Away”, or lived in Bloomington. 500 laps on a cinder track on a bike with one gear in relay format – that pretty much explains it. Our team of five girls rode a lot of miles in the hills around Bloomington to prepare for the race, and the bike I rode was a Schwinn 10-speed…I was always a little behind to put it mildly. However, after the Little 5, I borrowed a friend’s Trek road bike and entered in the “Take the Lake” 50 mile bike race. Since I had been training on a big heavy bike, when I got on the much lighter Trek road bike, I flew… and got third place. it was a blast! [Read more…]