We’ve noticed everyone has taken a liking to talking about the race. So we’re giving you a place to do that, and just that.
Feel free to use this area to discuss anything and everything about the Little 500 — Qualifications, Spring Series, the race itself.
Please, no character attacks. Trash-talking is great, but slandering people isn’t. Let’s keep it clean. Or your post will be deleted.
33to1 
Luke Naas should not have unrestricted access to the internet
What about multimillionaires? What about 8 inches, and thick? What about loving? What about kind and respectful? I lost my wife 10 weeks ago, 21 years faithful. My daughter committed suicide 3 weeks ago. 13 and she was faster than me at 12. And I run a 6 minute mile. This is my testimony. I come to y’all and am nothing but pure and I ask if you want to be in the YouTube video, but y’all like scrawny guys….
Best student section on race day?
AXO end of discussion
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
rhys ivory ganja section
thats fax
9 AM Club
I hope all of Little 5 participates in boycotting Roy’s after the race. Do your part in building a better future.
L5N should google what “upset” means
every day I am astonished by the stupidity of L5N. AXO and their program is the opposite of an underdog pick to win the race what do you mean
I guess they didn’t feel the need to include the fact their fall series was not as good because they didn’t have the ITT champion on their team yet as part of their insightful predictions. What a gritty and inspiring underdog story AXO has been this year!
fr can we get some actual cyclists to run L5n 🙏
rip sterchi I’ll donate my knee so you can race
sterchcycles first psyop
This race. This community. This tradition. There’s nothing else like it. Today marks the beginning of a weekend that, once a year, reaches into the hearts of all who have ever been part of the Little 500.
Whether you rode, coached, lap counted, or stood in the pit as a student coach, you know. You understand. No one outside this community truly gets it. The Little 500 is not something that can be explained. It’s something you have to feel. You have to live it to understand the weight it carries.
That is what makes this race so special. We care so deeply that it consumes us. Two days in April that hold the power of an entire year’s worth of effort, pain, and belief.
This is Bloomington, Indiana. This is the IU Student Foundation. This is the Little 500.
Wishing the best of luck to everyone out there.
Average Joe Rogan listener
WHERE IS FANJA WHERE IS GANJA WHERE IS GANJA WHERE IS GANJA WHERE IS GANJA WHETE IS FANJA
how many times has the bears rider crashed at this point? And this time being lapped and crashing out the field? Embarassing and shameful
he’s always a dangerous rider. He shouldn’t be allowed back on the track
facts. guy crashes every week. rider intro is just pics of him in the hospital
WSR and their so called “struggle” of being a two person team honestly defeats a lot of the point of little 5. You don’t get a special prize for literally only being able to find two people to be on a team for a race meant for 4 person teams. Being a crybaby on the IDS about crashing yourself and half the field out in lap 5 and getting lapped doesn’t help anything either. the women’s field is better off and safer without either of them in it
wasn’t it a ski rider who should’ve never been up there that took the whole field out from swerving? it’s pretty clear on tape
take a breather bro
first off, get your facts right. you really think a cat 2 overlapped wheels and crashed the field out? she got bodied by the idiot next to her who had no business being at the front of the pack. and anyways, why do you care so much about their team. good for them for doing something different. the rules allow 2 people for a reason and you clearly have a stick up your ass. who said it was a struggle anyways? sounds like you are projecting.
bruh did you even watch the race? half the women cant hold their lines, cant look around them/over their shoulders and have no spatial awareness etc… there were literally so many near crashes/small crashes in the pits because of this. calling the womens field better and safer without two seasoned crit riders is a joke because the field just needs to be safer period. also calling them a crybaby is rich coming from someone crying about a random team on an anonymous discussion… maybe touch some grass
Before the winds first howled over the Bloomington cinders,
before the banners were raised and the drums were beaten,
there was Rhys Ivory Ganja.
Born of sun and stone,
a hairy Iranian force sculpted not by hands, but by the will of the race gods themselves,
he roamed the earth not as a man, but as a living storm.
For fifteen years, the world bore witness to the fury of Rhys Ivory Ganja.
Fifteen years where tires screeched, chains snapped, and rivals wept.
They say the track itself would tremble beneath him,
the cinders leaping up to kiss his feet as he passed,
long before anyone else crossed the line.
In 2021, the heavens opened, and fate carved his name into legend—
Third place at the sacred Little 500,
though every heart in the stands knew that on that day,
Rhys Ivory Ganja was first in spirit, first in fury, first in immortality.
Years later, when the fires of battle cooled,
Rhys Ivory Ganja lived like a lion in his den,
quiet but never tamed.
One dusky evening, kicking off his weathered race shoes,
he found it—
a blackened cinder wedged deep in the sole.
When he touched it, the sky darkened.
The winds shifted.
For the cinder carried magic—
the ancient magic of finish-line glories,
of bruised legs and blazing hearts,
of fifteen years spent daring the impossible.
In that moment, Rhys Ivory Ganja was transported:
riding the track once more,
his mighty legs pounding rhythms older than time,
his beard catching the breath of gods,
his spirit impossible to cage.
Even now, they say, if you stand by the track at sunset,
and listen very carefully,
you’ll hear the ghostly hum of a bike tearing through the cinders—
faster, wilder, freer than anything mortal.
It is Rhys Ivory Ganja,
still racing,
still legendary,
forever part of the dust and the dream.
forest cycling 6th place
Billy fumbled the bag
not much else you can do, dumb ass bear rider caused the crash and billy was up and running with his bike in less than three seconds from when he started falling
Billy had just about the best recovery from a crash i have ever seen
Thank you bears for making this one of the most boring and non-competitive races we’ve had. Can someone explain to me what a lapped bears rider was doing at the front of the lead pack that took out so many top teams like sig ep, snu, cutters, phi delt, and fiji?? All those teams would’ve had a chance to be competitive. Not to mention the guy just fell because he can’t take a turn
congratulations to bkb, but if there really was an agreement in place between the coaches/riders on sae and bkb, faking an exchange is a questionable way to win. Especially working together so well, going 2v1 to not let cutters close the gap. Yea, maybe you can argue that’s just racing but you gotta feel for naas and co
stupid take. there was never an “agreement” between teams those fuckers hate each other. it was advantageous for both teams to take cutters out and minimize the competition. sae burners need to stop crying ab bkb “playing dirty” and accept their lapped out loss
That’s cool, but a shitty opinion and unpopular at best. Making another team take the inside on an exchange and then attacking them when exchanging is extremely shitty. At the very least, they should have been penalized for riding through pits.
Whoever is pitted next to them next year should tell them to kick rocks if they’re exchanging at the same time, and you too if you’re too dumb to realize why it’s wrong
That’s the harsh reality of bike racing: you only do what it’s the best interest of your team at all times. SAE/BKB both deemed in their best interest to drive the pace when Cutters crashed, as did BKB when they attacked the ITT/MNO winner. SAE has no one else but themselves to blame for not anticipating that, and BKB took advantage of it at the perfect time.
By driving the pace do you mean ignoring the yellow for at least half a lap, and getting a free 20 seconds on everyone?
BKB was just making it even for the SAE fake exchange on lap 88
“He tricked me”
– Kenny Payne/SAE Pit around Lap 160
vote bears and ski for biggest liability on superlatives 👍 nice job guys!
on god bro
The lap traffic during the women’s race made it almost unbearable. Mfs that have never touched a road bike should be asked to move out WELL before the 2 lap sprint finish….
Remember me? I’m supposed to waive proudly during the race but I have been left drooping in the wind. Am I not enough? Why have the lapped riders I fly for ignore my message? What will Emily and Pete do to ensure my meaning is not lost to those thin legged teams who occupy the inside line despite the insurmountable gap between them and the actual contenders. My irrelevancy and the blatant disrespect for my cause makes me wonder if teams like Bears should even be in race to begin with. What is the solution? Maybe these teams should be taken out of the field if they are a too many laps behind. Maybe there needs to be a line around the track a few feet out that they cannot cross. Unfortunately for the real teams in the race, it seems the most likely outcome is none at all. Even proper penalization for lack of adherence will never make up for the damage a single bad rider can do to the race.
louder
it’s inexcusable. These real teams spend hours every week training 10-15 hours+, countless hours on rollers, competing against each other to make race teams, training trips, caring about nutrition, working all year, just for this one day to be ruined by incompetent riders/teams. i don’t know what the solution is but something needs to change
It’s sad that only the women’s race deals with these problems, and it’s entirely the fault of the chief steward and pit judges for not enforcing this enough. There is already enough bias in favor of legacy teams, but the drastic difference in officiating quality between the men and women is startling….
Teter was on the lead lap. Teter placed fourth in the 37th running of the women’s Little 500. And I am setting the record straight, here on this anonymous platform.
@Time For A New Chief Steward You’d either have to be generationally obtuse or rage baiting to think lapped riders obstructing the race is exclusive to the women’s. Had some pretty egregious examples of that in both races this year
Not to mention complaining about legacy teams getting preferential treatment a few days after Theta is gets penalized. Rage baaaaaait!
Judah from Cutters must be the boogeyman seeing how BKB and SAE worked together to take him out. Any historians of the race recall something similar happening for such a sustained duration of the race?
Has everyone forgotten that huge crashes at the beginning of the women’s race are almost a given every year? Stop complaining about bad pack riding, we all know there’s a wide gap in skill levels in the women’s field. If you’re a top team that wants to avoid getting caught in a crash, you need to be at the front, pulling fast laps from the moment the green flag drops. That’s how you spread out the pack and drop the riders who pose a risk to everyone.
The men’s race crash is a completely different situation. But in the women’s field, teams need to stop crying about the crash and start owning their race strategy. Maybe actually work with other top teams to stretch the pack out early instead of sitting in and hoping for the best.
I’d emphasize there’s a huge skill gap between the top and bottom of the field in both races, but agree that early crashes are usually a result of a slower starting pace. Faster is safer!
Another way to close that skill gap is a full field, with 35 women’s teams attempting to qualify this year, things are going in the right direction.
It was a pleasure to meet the Men’s 2045 winner last week.
I mean, I don’t love the odds of an elderly Courtney Bishop as the winning rider, but kudos for thinking outside the box!
He finished 33 laps down in 1992.
Long before records were kept or races remembered, there were whispers of a boy born not into comfort, but into conquest. Rhys Ivory Ganja… named not by family, but by fate.
He came into this world tangled in bike chains, his first cry echoing like a starter pistol. In place of lullabies, he heard gear shifts. Instead of toys, he had tires. It wasn’t childhood. It was training. By age ten, he could fix a derailleur blindfolded. At fifteen, he could hear a loose spoke from across the block.
His legs didn’t just pedal… they summoned thunder with every rotation. Neighborhood kids didn’t dare race him. Not out of fear, but out of respect. They called him “The Cinder Saint.” And they meant it. Rhys didn’t ride to compete. He rode to commune with wind, with rhythm, with a lineage older than Bloomington itself. They say he could outrun dogs, dodge lightning, and once beat a train in a mile-long duel at dawn.
But every myth reaches its proving ground. And for Rhys, it came in 2021. The Little 500. He didn’t ride for fame. He didn’t even ride for his team. He rode for the kid he used to be spinning around cracked sidewalks with scraped knees and wild dreams. He rode for every lonely practice lap. Every moment he thought of quitting. Every time he didn’t.
That race was war. Bikes clashed. Elbows flew. Chains broke like promises. The crowd screamed not for victory… but for survival. And through it all, Rhys Ivory Ganja carved a path like a scythe through wheat. He placed third. But make no mistake… he won something far greater. He won silence. That deep, sacred hush that settles when even time itself is humbled. The kind of silence where legends live.
After the race, Rhys vanished. Not mysteriously. Not tragically. Just… completely. No posts. No press. No goodbyes. Some say he bikes the country now, a ghost in reflective tape. Others swear he became one with the track… that the cinders absorbed his sweat and won’t let it go.
But every April, when the sun hits the track just right, a shadow blurs across the far straightaway. No rider. No wheels. Just the memory of motion. And if you ask an old racer who it is, they’ll nod once and whisper: “That’s Rhys. He’s still out there. The race never really ended.”
does anyone from the greek circle jerk realize that their demographic goes basically nowhere in life?
Uhhhhhhh ganja ganja
clearly a frat guy posting this posing as a try-hard independent
I heard that rideon is girl cutters
rideon smells good too
and gphi is girl bkb!!!!!!
Joseph Grimes
seriously a bunch of RC degens let a rule pass for requiring stock bikes in the race? WTF
*Written by a frat that can’t hang in the race using actual fitness and relies on outspending the rest of the field for parts to be able to compete every year
Blunts and dura ace hubs won’t keep you from getting put 20 laps down. If you actually want to be closer to the top teams just ride your damn bike
“*Written by a frat that can’t hang in the race using actual fitness and relies on outspending the rest of the field for parts to be able to compete every year”
Agreed! Thanks for the most relevant post this year.
The person who wrote the proposal has no understanding of Little 5.
Competitive Equality has effectively nothing to do with expensive parts. The teams that do well, do so because they train more effectively (harder & smarter). That, along with finding some talent. You cannot buy speed for a Little 500 bike. The best you can buy is additional reliability and therefore peace of mind. And even that isn’t that expensive.
Knowledge Gap is a fallacy. The bike shops in town have years and decades of Little 500 knowledge and Greg in the bike shop at the track is a valuable resource. This is a quote from the proposal:
“Knowledge is available for anyone to seek out, but it is harder for brand new teams to figure out who to talk to about parts.” It is a bike race, go to a Bike Shop!
Funding Differences simply allow teams with a lot of money to spend it foolishly. And they do it over and over again. They have more money than brains. Melanzana was not a rich team but they managed to win the race.
More relevant than funding, they also have institutional knowledge which keeps them from making the same mistakes over and over. Absence of institutional knowledge plagues this event at every level. How else could run a Little 500 race with no numbers on the bikes.
Stock parts are of poor quality. This is also not true. However, stock parts are less than ideal for a contending team that would like to have a bike that will survive a wreck with minimal damage. You can get custom wheels for $1050.00. (See above: more money than brains) Or you can get wheels that will hold up for your contending team for ¼ that. In fact, the main reason most teams have bike problems is that riders do not take care of their bikes.
If you want something to worry about, worry about the costs involved in this whole operation. They are going up…A LOT! The bike industry is in chaos because of the tariffs. State bikes are not designed and built specifically for Little 500. They are recreational bikes with recreational bike parts. If State has to meet a price point, they will spec a cheaper part. They have done it with tires. In the end, they are in business to make money.
All these aspects of the Little 500 have been discussed time and again over the past 50 years. The changes that have been made have been made for sound reasons and not to address some team’s lack of commitment to prepare for this race. Or as one coach put it several years ago: “Quit whining and go ride your bike”.
what are the guidelines? would be stupid if changing stem/bars/seatpost/saddle wasn’t allowed. especially since the 58s only measure 55cm on the top tubes, would be awful for anyone over 5’10” lol
I heard it was proposed by some novus kid. prob feeling left out cuz they couldnt afford durace hubs and are using state hubs on their blunts
it was proposed by rc prez and many legecy teams are all for it. Change is scary but i think you guys can handle it! Maybe quit whining and go ride your bike…
dura ace😂😂 buddy’s not tapped into the niche hub game
i guess this means teams that bought parts for this years race can return them to get their money back?
It’s not fun anymore.
finishing off that long ah chat with “Quit whining and go ride your bike” is goofy
if younger teams really wanted to compete with knowledgeable teams with a bit more cash, riding their bikes would be a good place to start
This guy if the rule change goes thru and he can’t buy his way thru this part of his life: 😣💔😖😢😭
as someone who does everything self-funded (not a nepo baby) and doesn’t ride the latest greatest bike, i’m telling you: go ride your bike. you’ll be much better off than sitting around worrying about what parts other teams are using
This change would show who rides their bikes more. Since that is what you feel so strongly about, you should be all for this rule change.
are you seriously insinuating that teams with less money don’t train? younger and less resourced teams should not have to feel like they are starting 5 steps behind the rest of the field because they can’t afford to spend $6000 on their race bikes. it shouldn’t be a race that requires you to dish that out just to feel competitive; it should be a race of skill. just say that you need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a philanthropic, intramural bike race in order to feel confident, and maybe ask yourself if YOU could use some more training.
get ur money up lil bro
It’s a huge cope to think that underperforming teams are being limited by their equipment. The fact that there are only a couple of truly competitive teams each year speaks to the huge spectrum in how seriously teams prepare. It has very little to do with marginal improvements made to race bikes. That said, I do like this rule change since it simplifies things, but would hope there’d be some leeway to make it so that the bikes fit everyone.
Maybe allow teams to only order parts from the state website and brands that state carries? That would limit options of what teams can buy, would allow better fit to bikes, and would barely make race bikes marginally better.
I’m also wondering if State would consider giving a discount for Little 500 riders.
You would still be able to change handlebars/seat/ect. (The things that change bike fit)
Not allowing better parts is bs. They make for a way faster and more exciting race. They’re also usually safer and better quality. Those trash ass stock rims will fold in half if you look at em wrong. Teams also put so much effort into fundraising for the race and it’s a big part of preparing for the race. It helps seperate which teams are actually taking this race seriously and which ones r doing the bare minimum to just be in the race and take 33rd. Just fundraise.
“They make for a way faster and more exciting race.”
Care to show your proof? (I’ll settle for the”faster” part.)
Race times can vary for any number of reasons. Chiefly how the race plays out has a lot do with the average speed. E.g. the men’s race this year had a shallow field and was very slow until the lap 83 crash and then it was consistently fast through to the finish. In contrast the 02 race had a deep field and the race was basically a single file paceline all race. Not to mention track conditions declining for the last decade+
Safer, probably. “way faster?” Corleones won in 2hrs 5min in 2002. That was on a quill stem, tennis shoes, and ankle socks. Not sure where you get that the parts make riders way faster.
2002 bikes Aluminum
2025 bikes hi tensile steel
Even if you remove race bike upgrades better funded teams are still going to have advantages. Winter training trips are expensive, race entry fees are expensive, nutrition is expensive, aero helmets are expensive, the aero undershirts/socks/gloves BKB had on race day are expensive, etc. There’s a lot of expenses in the sport and teams that fundraise well will still get a lot of benefits over those that don’t.
damn guys it was like high 60s and sunny all day today, why were you posting “ride your bike” on here to make up for all of your logical fallacies from 10am to 4pm…maybe try taking your own advice!
it’s 70° and sunny everyday in zwift 😻
PHOENIX (BRAIN) — State Bicycle Co. announced on its website that an 8% “tariff recovery fee” is being applied to its products at checkout while warning it expects bike and component shortages for high-demand models similar to early pandemic levels.
greek teams throwing a fit about their $3000 bike builds. ffuuckkkj!!!!!!! nooo you’re going to get lapped out of the race!!!!! oh wait…
these alumni need to get off 33-1 and go play their kids
Dear Rhys Ivory Ganja,
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Get back to me as soon as you can.
Best,
Tom
Little 5 riders would be in for a rude awakening if they did real bike racing, just picture their dismay to racing against cyclists on bikes worth as much as their car
retweet
I will be lighting myself on fire in front of the Wilcox house on Friday may 9th at 3 pm in protest of the ban on aftermarket little 5 parts. Be there or be square
please don’t use my brand name
Is there any actual proof that a $450 rim upgrade and $50 hubs are more aerodynamic or objectively faster than stock, or are teams just mad that the wheels are less breakable and less prone to DNFs? RC might as well march around the square with “We are incompetent” signs.
They cite a knowledge gap being an unfair advantage. What is fairness? Every student at IU has the equal chance to train, ride, and race in the Little 500. If that’s not enough, where do you draw the line? Should teams like Cutters have limits on the number of riders they can have on their team?
What about the knowledge gap in mechanic abilities? Is a bike with wheels and hubs that are easier to maintain a speed advantage? How many riders have gone through those teams and quit because their bike room is just a pile of parts and broken bikes? Maybe the “less fortunate” teams should focus on keeping their bikes out of the shop, so riders 5 years down the line have bikes they can use.
^This. Every team has a different starting place, and there will always be gaps in institutional knowledge and “trade secrets,” but the most successful programs are the ones who diligently seek to learn more about how to give themselves a competitive advantage in the race. All of that is dependent on a highly dedicated and passionate alumni base to share that knowledge and seek improvements each year. They are the primary catalyst to sustainable success in the race.
Without that, you lose the institutional knowledge and the sense of pride to preserve the integrity of the program in all facets (maintaining bikes, training well, preparing tactically for the race, engaging with the community). If current riders want to close the gaps amongst the most consistent programs like Cutters, Delts, BKB, and Ep, then they need to commit to investing in their next generations of riders once they graduate.
If you’re disappointed about your team’s race results, stop making excuses and complaining that the race is unfair. Ride your bike a lot. Race outside of Little 5. Study race tape of the best teams. Ask for help. And once you graduate, continue to be highly involved in your program by giving back to it and offering a better experience than what you had as a rider.
could this post be… will pitts?
There are a boatload of very knowledgeable coaches and riders… That are out there… The one thing about the community that is really cool in Little 500 is that there’s so many people willing to share information and knowledge guarantee if anyone has a problem with the knowledge gap or the equipment gap they’ve never talked to anybody about it… Be humble
Sorry, but it’s true. You’re all upset because your opinion doesn’t align with what RC deemed the “right” opinion this year.
The vote wasn’t even close, with three-fourths of RC voting for this rule change. That means 75% of the students chosen to lead this community (by people who matter more to IUSF than you do) think you’re wrong. It must sting when the people doing the most work to keep IUSF thriving disagree with you!
If you’re so upset, get one of your team’s riders on RC next year and propose a rule to change it back. For now, quit complaining on an anonymous discussion board. Accept the fact that you can’t pay for speed anymore, and move on.
Sorry, but it’s true. You’re all upset because your opinion doesn’t align with what RC deemed the “right” opinion this year.
The vote wasn’t even close, with three-fourths of RC voting for this rule change. That means 75% of the students chosen to lead this community (by people who matter more to IUSF than you do) think you’re wrong. It must sting when the people doing the most work to keep IUSF thriving disagree with you!
If you’re so upset, get one of your team’s riders on RC next year and propose a rule to change it back. For now, quit complaining on an anonymous discussion board. Accept the fact that you can’t pay for speed anymore, and move on.
Bbbbbbut without being able to spend 10 grand more than everyone else on bike parts how else will we double fault in quals and find a new way to fail to lap the field next year in this uber important bike race that is primarily dedicated to raising money for student mental health😖😖😖
Well said. Matter of fact, you don’t even have to be on Riders Council to propose a rule change. Someone not on RC proposed a rule change that passed unanimously this year. Equitably enjoy the 75th running of the Little 500 next year, and if still inclined, propose a rule change yourself next year.
post rule change way too early power rankings?
Lauren Mervar taking 5th year to be with Mr. Pete?
get ur money up, im tired of riding with all these brokies, if you can’t afford at least a 5k race bike build, I don’t want to talk to you!
it’s summer break you loser bike nerds, get off 33-1 and go do something else with your life
sucks for you this is my life #ballislife