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Pete Hanna

Here’s what I recall from the 2004 State Road Race.

I’d like to start of by saying that the old Plainview course is by far one of the greatest race courses in the Midwest. I miss racing there.

On to my story…

As many know, the state road race was always HOT! No matter how early we started, we always finished in sweltering heat. I’ve always believed that for 6 laps (I think we did 7) you raced the course and the last lap you raced the competition. During the first 6 laps, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by my Grand Performance teammates. I tucked in behind their wheels in the wind. I was on the center line while they grabbed bottles in the chaotic feed zone. I drank and ate while they pulled. I had six laps of carefree bike riding and one lap of hell.

On the bell lap, up the big climb, Matt Gates (Nature Valley) and Aric Hareland (SuperTeam) attacked. I told Jeremy and Dale to let it go, there was plenty of race left. At the top of the climb, Matt and Aric had a decent gap. I told my guys to hold that gap for a few miles then slowly bring down. On the back side of the course I attacked our group and gapped off with Scott Flanders (Flanders) and Dan Arden (Birchwood). The three of us got into a conservatively aggressive chase and were bringing Matt and Aric back.

We caught those two at the top of the final descent (about 2 – 3 miles from the finish). By this time the top 5 was locked in to our group. We did what every breakaway does in the closing kilos…we went slow and looked at each other. At the base of the climb (1k to go), I found myself leading the group to the final sprint. I felt by trying to control the tempo in the closing moments of the race I would be able to keep myself in position to win.

The final sprint at the Plainfield course is very deceiving; the last 300m are a straight shot uphill. The finish line looks so close but is so far away. A fatal mistake is jumping too early and one that I was trying to avoid. I led the group up the hill at a decent clip thinking it would keep someone from jumping and forcing me to sprint too early. I stayed in the saddle about 15m past the point where the sprint is “expected” to start. Instead of jumping to the final kick, I wound my sprint up from a lower gear than I normally would have used in this situation since my poor legs were very crampy. That move almost backfired since Dan Arden tore the road apart in a massive sprint making me put forth an effort I didn’t think I had. I held it at the line by ½ bike length.

There are two reasons why I won that race. The first and foremost is my team. I don’t mean that in the cliché sense either. Every member of the team at some point has sacrificed their own results for the better of the team. On this day, I was the beneficiary of those sacrifices.

The second reason is the previous Monday I drove down and pre-rode the course. I treated it like it was race day. I woke up early, drove down there and rode the entire race distance. I did that just to see where I should start my sprint and to see what it felt like for the finish. What did I learn that day? I learned that if I jumped where I expected the sprint would start, I wouldn’t be telling this story.

Pete Hanna
Bianchi/Grand Performance