UI moves on to the Super 16 round in the Fall Frenzy.
By Katelyn Weisbrod
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The campus is in the midst of another biking competition. This time, it’s virtual.
Expresso, a company that sells exercise bikes, annually holds a competition called “Fall Frenzy” for colleges around the country to get the miles logged on exercise bikes.
This year’s qualifying round took place last week, and the top 16 of 157 schools moved on to this week’s “Super 16” round. The University of Iowa moved up to 11th place.
On the second floor of the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center, people can ride Expresso bikes on virtual courses and log miles onto their account. If they are registered on the Expresso website as a part of the UI’s team, their miles can add to the university’s total.
The “Super 16” round began Tuesday at midnight and will end tonight.
The UI is facing off against Carnegie Mellon to move forward to the “Electric Eight” round next week. As of Tuesday evening, Carnegie Mellon was ahead of the UI by about 50 miles.
Iowa City resident Christine Lehman-Engledow spent Tuesday at the Rec Center, ensuring that everyone riding an Expresso bike was logged in, adding miles to the UI’s score.
She said she got hooked on the Expresso bikes as soon as she started using them. She voluntarily waits by the bikes to ensure the process goes smoothly, helping the UI gain miles.
“I just took it over because I like it so much,” Lehman-Engledow said. “I just want other people to know about it, because it’s helped me so much to stay in shape.”
The UI has competed in the frenzy for the past two years. The first year, the UI got first place and won a free Expresso bike. The prize for this year has not been revealed yet.
UI senior Lita McDaniel, who helped market and organize the Frenzy, said last year the UI missed first place by one mile. This year, there are many more teams participating.
McDaniel works with UI senior Joel Cortum to promote the competition.
“The reason we wanted to do the competition was to kind of show people where the bikes are,” Cortum said. “A lot of people don’t actually know that they’re up there, so we just wanted to promote health and well-being and show people a new way to exercise. They’re more effective for a lot of people because of the way you can interact while riding the bike.”
The competition will ends today at midnight, when the Rec Center closes. Anyone can create an account on the Expresso website and log in on a bike to gain miles for the UI.