Cyclists in this weekend's Little 5 bike race are doing their final rides to stay in shape. But co-chairs of the event, seniors Ellie Weed and Danny White, are busy preparing for the event itself.
"This is when it gets to be, oh my god, it's Little 5 week," Weed said, a designer for The DePauw. "But, overall, we're on point where we want to be with planning."
Weed and White have been working to prepare for this weekend since November 2010, and have been meeting with the current steering committee since the beginning of the semester. There is a lot more to plan the weekend than just the race on Saturday, Weed says. She has been communicating with Greencastle Township and DePauw's facility management since February to temporarily block roads for the street sprints and criterium as well as to organize barricades and other physical aspects to the race.
Because the race is on the road, there is an increased concern with crowd control. Barricades will be used to keep students away from the road, and crosswalks created and strictly enforced. Weed noted that the party atmosphere can sometimes make crowd control hard — and the race more dangerous.
"We want people to know is that there is no excuse for crossing the road without going to a designated crosswalk which we will have built on each stretch," Weed said. "I think people learned last year that cycling is legitimately a dangerous sport, even without distractions."
Director of Public Safety Angie Nally has also been in touch with the co-chairs throughout the planning process, as she will organize and direct most of the security for the street sprints on Friday and the criterium Saturday. Operation Life has been hired to be on site for the race in case of an emergency.
The co-chairs are also very attentive to the road itself. There are many cracks and holes in the route that need to be patched before the race, and the course will be swept the day of to ensure its safety.
"Right now the main thing on our mind is the weather, which we are checking pretty much constantly," Weed said.
The criterium will be held rain or shine, and will only be canceled in case of extreme weather or thunder and lightning. If the race is canceled, it will be held on Sunday — but Weed says that the plan is to do whatever possible to make the race happen on Saturday.
"Every year I have been involved in Little 5 there has been a 45 percent chance of storms and every year that I have been here it has not rained," Weed said. "So I'm really really hoping, and kind of expecting, a Little 5 miracle."