Little 500

Most current and past students of Indiana University will tell you the love Little 500 - "The World's Greatest College Weekend," but I doubt they could tell you anything about the actual bicycle race which takes place during the weekend.  I'm not sure where the tradition came from to turn the weekend into a party weekend, but year after year, the population of Bloomington probably triples from all the people who come to take part in the festivities, mostly to attend outrageous fraternity parties where concerts headlining artists like Snoop Dogg, Luda, and DMX take place.

I hadn't really heard of Little 5 until I was at the MS150 in Texas in 2004, and at the fairgrounds, we watched "Breaking Away," a movie from the late '70s about the bicycle race and how the Bloomington townies - Cutters, as they are called, decide to form a team and win the race.  I thought the movie was pretty cool, so when I got to Bloomington in 2007, I decided to find out a way to be involved.  I found a random email address on the IU Student foundation website (hosts and coordinators of the race), and asked to be a volunteer.  I didn't hear anything until about a week before the race, and then I got an official email, thanking me for volunteering and that I needed to be at the women's race early on Friday to be briefed on my role as a pit judge.  I had no clue what pit judge even meant.  

Well, it turned out to be quite the role.  I was assigned 3 teams to judge and I watched from the infield, basically just making sure they make proper exchanges, communicate any info during the race to the coach, nothing too bad.  The best part is that judges get to wear a headset and hear everything that the race directors are talking about, and the commentary is way better than what is being said on the PA to the audience.  

2010 was my 3rd race to volunteer. My dear sweet friend, Sarah, came out for her second time, and we had such a great time on the infield with the insider's point-of-view.  Since the field is predominantly Greek and I'm not affiliated with a Greek organization at IU, I cheer for the Independent teams.  Namely, the Cutters.  Not because they always win, but because my first experience with L5 was the movie.  The Cutters don't have a women's team, so I cheered for my residence hall, Teter.  Both Teter and the Cutters have a long history of winning teams.  Because they are independents, they have the ability to recruit all sorts of riders, hold try-outs, and equip themselves with the best teams.  The Teter women are lead by junior Caitlin Van Kooten.  Caitlin placed first at individual time trials (ITTs).  She's awesome.  She led her team to victory on Friday with such ease.  They rode smart, stayed out of the crashes (two really bad ones, 4 total broken collar bones), and it was a refreshing victory after coming in second to Pi Phi last year.  

I love the women's race.  It gets me pumped up for the men's race.  The women are great, but the competition doesn't exist the same for them as it does the men.  The men's race is a totally different playing field, there's not much fear, and they ride hard and fast.  In the final laps there were still 6 teams on the final lap.  Junior Eric Young rode for the Cutter's and by the end he turned it on.  Their big threat in the end were the Delts, who had a crash going into the final lap on a bad exchange.  Young took the lead by about half a lap.  It was a great finish and overall a good race, despite bad weather.  

Here's a little taste of it, the video is from 2008, but it's a really good one:

An Evening with Martin Sheen

Brian landed free tickets for the Ralph L. Collins lectures series at the IU Auditorium this spring, so last night we were entertained by Martin Sheen. He talked about his time on West Wing (did you know 75% of Americans say they would vote for him/Josiah Bartlett?), other aspects of his acting career, personal life, and his vocation as an activist.  He put in a big push for the San Carlos Foundation, an organization which places professionals in developing countries to provide communities and their people with resources for education in order to create jobs and aid in decreasing poverty.


My only critique is that he called us the University of Indiana...

'An Evening with Martin Sheen' this year's free Ralph L. Collins Memorial Lecture Award-winning actor, social activist and humanitarian Martin Sheen will appear at 7:30 p.m. April 19 at Indiana University Auditorium. Sheen will present the IU Department of Theatre and Drama's 2010 Ralph L. Collins Memorial Lecture.  Full Story

Plug for my roommate

After so much hard work, my college roommate is now a Licensed Professional Counselor Intern.  She is working on marketing to clients and putting together counseling groups.  If you're from the Dallas area or know anyone there, please refer them to Stephanie.  Visit www.haraburda.com or check out her website here! Yeah Steph!

Spring Break Recap - Post 4 of 4

Our decision to cut out from the original route ended up being one of our best decisions.  We decided to explore a new part of the park we hadn't seen before, Cades Cove.  We took the main road all the way through the park, a pretty, but long drive.  We set up camp at the campground there and had a delicious jambalaya dinner.

The next morning, we wanted to hike up to Rainbow Falls but needed to stop at the ranger station to find out where to park and if the trails and roads were open.  One question was answered quickly.  As we headed to the main station, we had to detour around the northern part of the Park.  Upon arriving at the station, we learned that there had been a pretty major rockslide as a result of all the snow and rain.  The rockslide occurred sometime just after we drove through to Cades Cove.  Phew we weren't a little later!  Anyway, due to the road closures we couldn't get to Rainbow Falls but a helpful ranger sent us back over to Cades Cove to climb the Rich Mountain Trail Loop which offers spectacular views of the Cove.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  It was warm and completely clear and the sun finally made us feel officially dry.  The total loop was about 8.5 miles and we got see some deer and the views were great.  Toward the end of the hike, we explored a late-19th century cabin which was pretty neat. 

Pictures below are our beautiful views and last days in the Park.  If I continue to stay in Indiana, I'm hoping to make several more trips to the Smokies. 

 

Spring Break Recap - Post 3 of 4

Picking up where I left off, we packed up Wednesday morning and hiked almost completely downhill from Cosby Knob to Campsite 37, about 3.3 miles from where we started that morning.  Because the thru hikers had gotten up so early to head to their next via point, we too were up and back on the trail early without having a campsite to break down.  It was barely 11 am  by the time we reached #37, and here, we came across a misfit group of campers.   When we first walked up, these guys were trying to build a fire, and they had a pretty pitiful result.  The group of three had hiked all afternoon and evening after a late start and didn't make it to camp until after 8 pm the previous evening.  They were cold and wet from the snow and their gear, a huge axe and a pair of sad-looking tents, didn't seem to accommodate the weather.  It wasn't until we were about to leave them that I noticed one had on a pair of IU shorts - of course - fellow Hoosiers!

Since it was so early when we arrived, we ate our lunch, and debated about what to do the rest of the trip.  Originally, we had reservations for Campsite 37 on Wednesday night.  We were to do the short hike there, explore the watershed area for the day, rest up, and then the following day head up Mount Sterling.  Mount Sterling is one of the Park's highest points, but the night before, we had already decided to cut Mt. Sterling out our route after talking with a Ridgerunner about the snow conditions at high elevation.  (A Ridgerunner is an employee of the Appalachian Trail who literally runs the ridges, hiking fast and light to clear the trails and clean up shelters and campsites in order to keep the trail  in good condition despite to the heavy use it receives.)   We considered our options to either stay the night at #37 and hike out the next morning or go ahead and finish the hike to the car and make other arrangements. There was an alternate route out on the Big Creek Trail to where we had parked, only another 5.2 miles.  In the end, we decided to head out that afternoon, and it was a mellow walk in the woods back to where we had started only the day before.  We also saw our first wildlife of the trip, a wild turkey. 

This map shows the northeast area of the park where we completed the majority of our hike.  We started at Big Creek and took Chesnut Branch Trail to the AT and stopped at Cosby Knob.  Went back down to Low Gap to #37 and then out Big Creek.  The Swallow Fork trail over to Mt Sterling Ridge is the part we nixed due to weather.

Spring Break Recap - Post 2 of 4

Thru-hiking the AT does not sound like something I want to do. 

When we arrived at the Cosby Knob shelter on Tuesday night, it was just a little after 5 pm.  Ten thru hikers had already made it there. The majority were already in their sleeping bags and eating cold food.  All headlamps were out by 8 pm, and although it was gray and snowy, it was still light out.  It seemed kind of lame.  I like to hike and do backpacking trips so that I can enjoy the time outside, stop for views, experience creation, take time to sit around a fire or a stove and cook a nice meal while chatting distraction-free with friends.    

This group was all work and no play.  They were concerned only with getting to their destination each night which is a lot of pressure.  They had been cold and wet for almost a month, hiking through waist-deep snow for days, sometimes even up to their armpits.  All of this a result of wanting to hit the trail in mid-February to avoid crowds...?  I'm not sure how worth it is.  One guy, a Canadian, took 4 months off work.  He started early Feb so he's planning to be finished by early June- it's not even warm yet in Maine, the trail's end, in June.  

I have often thought about doing a long thru hike, something like the AT, the PCT, or after a friend hiked it later, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela from France to Spain.  But, I think I may have crossed the AT off my list.

'Suum Cuique'

Spring Break Recap - Post 1 of 4

After passing on Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," to Brian earlier last fall, he got excited about doing something for Spring Break on the Appalachian Trail.  But, break came up so suddenly this year that trip planning didn't get done too far in advance.  The week before I finally called the ranger station in Smoky Mountain National Park and got us reservations for a backcountry permit, and found what I thought would be a nice little route in the northeast corner of the park.  


We drove down Monday to Tennessee and had a chance to walk around Gatlinburg, a family-oriented, tourist trap with at least three 'old-time photography' studios per block.  Brian made this observation and although neither of us could explain from where the phenomenon stems, I did reveal that I, myself, was subjected as a participant in one of these studios in 1988 along with my older sister and two cousins. (Please see figure one below.  I'm on your far left.) Figure 1.

Figure 1.

We managed to contain our enthusiasm and opted not to go home with our own old time photo, but instead had a decent meal and headed to bed at the Elkmont campground in the National Park.  So let me preface the next part of our trip by saying that I did in fact read and acknowledge the March 8th warning of a current 40+ inches of snow at higher elevations, and I assumed that since the helpful ranger pointed out a route for us, I was not expecting it to be too affected by snow.

  


Oops! You can probably sense my exasperation in the above picture.  We were energetic and excited on Tuesday morning when we put the final things in our packs and headed up to the Chestnut Branch trailhead.   We didn't hit snow until we were about half way up Mount Cammerer, and all of the sudden, there was a lot.  The excitement somewhat dissipated along the way with my boots sinking 15 to 20 inches down while trying to navigate several down trees since we were so early on the trail, it hadn't been cleared.  It was a long day but we finally made it up 4500 feet in 8.2 miles to the Cosby Knob shelter.  This hike gave us a chance to hike over 6 miles on the AT which we thought was kind of neat to say we had done. At Cosby Knob shelter we met 10 AT thru hikers, which I'll come back to later, spent a chilly night with den mice, and woke up the following morning excited about going to lower elevation.