The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 32, Ed. 1 Friday, April 18, 1980 Page: 11 of 40
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'M
where else would you find 1000 people
Dors, watching their friends
hemselves out by biking in cirdes?
m
£
hi/toru
1957: the first year of the college
system, and the first year of beer-
bike. It wasn't called that then: the
title was the Inter-Collegiate
Bicycle Relay Race. That year,the
bikers started out at the gym, rode
down "College Way" and around
Lovett Hall, and stopped at a half-
way point in front of Chem Lec,
where they chugged their beer. (In
those days, all beer-bikers both
rode and chugged.) From Chem
Lec, the bikers would ride past the
triplets and RMC (which weren't
there at the time), and out into the
stadium parking lot. They'd then
round the corner around
designated cars in the stadium lot
and head back to the gym, and the
cycle would start again.
Baker won that first race, with a
team time of 68.4 minutes. A
couple of traditions were
established in that first race: the
race was rained out on its
scheduled date, and the Hanszen
team was disqualified for cheating.
(They rode in front of Fondren
instead of going all the way around
Lovett Hall.)
In order to involve Rice women
in the race that first year, two
women were added to each of the
four mens' teams (Baker, Hanszen,
Will Rice and Wiess.) Two Jones
women rode half-a-lap each during
the contest — but Thresher
accounts don't say who drank the
beer.
1960: The race had shrunk to the
inner loop, and started at Chem
Lec; it continued that way until '68.
That year also marked the first
year that women spoofed the men's
efforts.
1966: The women started the
annual Tea-Trike competition
between Jones and Brown.
1967: The race moved to April.
Previously, Rondelet (or the May
Fete, as it was called before World
War II) had been the first weekend
of May — which was increasingly
becoming the last week of classes.
1968: The location was moved
.3 out to its present site at the stadium
parking lot The old inner-loop
road route was 0.9 miles;
according to reports of that era,
the two-lap route was precisely
1.034 miles. But when the track
was first painted, the RFC in a
salute to the old wipeout curves on
the inner loop — included one- 90-
degree turn on the 880-yard oval.
1972: The end of the Tea-Trike
race, as Brown and Jones field
womens' Beer-Bike teams. Baker
joined in as soon as they went coed
in 1974; Hanszen fielded its first
women's team in 1975.
1976: The year of the Lovett
"Silly Team." Its motto: "We may
not finish but we always come."
Members rode around the track in
a unicycle, a bicycle built for two, a
"Hell's Angel" motorcycle, a huge
19th-century high-wheeler, and a
rickshaw.
1977: The corporate Beer-Bike
era begins, as Coors sponsors the
Brown team and Schlitz backs Sid
Rich. Sponsored teams took off in
1978, as the SRC/Michelob
Vikings made "company teams"
respectable.
1977 was also the year of the
infamous Hanszen Maneuver. The
men's team, convinced they
couldn't finish in the money under
the regular rules, decided to take
advantage of a loophole spotted by
team captain and part-time parlia-
mentary wizard Matt Delevoryas.
According to the rules, a team
which lauched a biker before their
chugger finished his chug incurred
a seven-second penalty. But that
was all — even if the biker was
started a minute or two early. The
result: three or four black-shirted
bikers on the track at one time, and
a first-place finish minutes ahead
of the competition. (The judges,
however, were not amused.)
Record for old track: 1:50.5, set
in 1964.
Record holders: for the men,
Dan Foley (Wiess/1974) and Eric
Gaussman (Baker/1976), 2:05.0.
Jones' Margaret Schauerte ran the
women's course in 1:00.0 last year.
—David Butler
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Muller, Matthew. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 32, Ed. 1 Friday, April 18, 1980, newspaper, April 18, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245439/m1/11/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.