Lilly Hanna

Age: 14
Hometown: Rexford
Family: Parents, Jessica and Jason; Sister, Maddie; Dog, Hank
Sport: Cyclocross 
Other sports: Mountain Biking and Alpine Skiing
Occupation: Eighth-Grade Student at Iroquois Middle School in Niskayuna

By Joanne E. McFadden

In 2021, nine-year-old Lilly Hanna, member of an avid mountain biking family, decided to try cyclocross. She entered the Nomad CX race in Scotia and was hooked. “I loved it,” Lilly said.

Later that year, she watched her friend Lilliana O’Donnell of Delmar win the Junior 11-12 national champion title. Lilly took away the idea that winning the national championship herself was a dream she could make a reality. “I thought, I want to do that. I want to be the national champion. That is actually possible.” 

Since then, cyclocross has given her the ride of her life, both metaphorically and literally. Lilly’s dedication to intense training combined with a “never give up” attitude and maturity beyond her years landed her the win as the junior 13-14 national champion at the USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals in Fayetteville, AR in December. 

Cyclocross (CX) is a sport that combines road cycling, mountain biking and steeplechase. In Lilly’s race category, the closed-circuit course, between one and two miles per lap, is often set up on a grassy field. It includes a series of barriers, stairs, ramps and other technical elements that riders must navigate the number of times specified by race officials during a designated time period. Portage is involved, too, as riders have to dismount, carry their bikes over obstacles and remount. The sport originated in France in the early 1900s to keep Tour de France cyclists in shape during the off-season. CX enjoys huge popularity in France, Belgium and the Netherlands with a burgeoning community that has spread across the United States. In the Capital Region, it’s big. 

Lilly began training with the Capital Bicycle Racing Club (CBRC), learning the basics. “One of the coaches would run a Monday night practice, and all he did was teach you how to get on and off your bike,” she said. “It was not fast, and it was not pretty, but it was safe.” 

Currently, she rides six days a week in training and in weekend races. She wakes up at 7am for school, takes a 55-minute bus ride home and then gets in her parents’ car for a 45-minute drive to a 5pm practice session. During the car ride, she does gentle activation exercises to engage certain muscles and get them ready to work. Practice lasts a couple of hours, and then it’s back in the car for the ride home. Before her 11pm bedtime, Lilly does her homework and her chores, as well as packing in as many calories as she can. After eight hours of well-deserved sleep, the schedule repeats. 

“I think the training six days a week, it’s so hard, and people don’t really see that part,” Lilly said. “All they see are the races and the results. But there are five days a week that you’re not at a race.” One day a week Lilly trains with CBRC’s Aaron Girard, who provided her and her sister Maddie with their first CX bikes, and has continued to teach her about riding, racing and bike maintenance. Two days a week, she has structured practice or an “adventure ride” with her coach of three years, Andy Ruiz. Depending on whether there are races on the weekend, she trains solo the other two to three days. 

Lilly admits that training can be hard when she’s had a difficult day. However, as soon as she’s on her bike, problems fade away. “Getting out there is the hardest part,” she said. Her biggest challenge as an athlete is trying to find the balance between school, biking and home. “Biking sort of sucks up my time and I want it to because it’s my favorite thing but there’s other things that I have to do being a human being. I just want to be riding my bike, but I can’t always do that.” 

Making a Champion

Andy sums up what makes Lilly a talented rider. “She’s incredibly, incredibly skilled, incredibly driven, trains six days a week, follows my regimented programs faithfully, is very detail-oriented, asks questions and follows the program,” he said. 

Lilly races as a member of the Grey Ghost STARS, a team of six CX athletes directed by Paul Fronhofer. The team is dedicated to developing junior category riders, and prospective team members must apply and be selected for the team. During competitions, riders gain points for doing well, which are added up to determine an athlete’s national standing.

The way Lilly approaches cyclocross stands out to Paul. “Lilly is, for a young rider, very mature in the way she approaches training and racing,” he said. “She has a good feel for a racecourse and a natural ability to sense and feel a race where she should make a move. Generally, you need years of experience for this, but it’s kind of a natural gift that she has.”

Maturity also plays a part in Lilly’s success because she listens to coaches and follows their counsel. “She’s just an absolute joy to work with,” Paul said. “She has the maturity to take advice that you give her and apply it in race situations. I would say nine out of 10 athletes her age can’t do that.” 

Combined with her natural ability and maturity is her willingness to study the sport. “She always wants to get better, listening to anyone who’s around,” Aaron said. She watches elite athletes in sections she’s unsure of, listens to podcasts and sessions the same section over and over, he added. “She’s a gifted athlete and a student of cyclocross,” he said.

National competitions are exciting for Lilly, but they’re also instructive. “You see the best riders in the country,” she said. “You’ll see people who race at the world cups and world championships, and you’re pre-riding the course with them in New York.” 

Lilly has been to Nationals four times. The first was in 2022 in Hartford, CT. “I did shockingly well,” Lilly said, remembering that she decided after the race that winning wasn’t “totally a long shot.” Races in Louisville, KY for two years and then last year in Arkansas followed. The terrain varied from very dry the first year in Kentucky to “super muddy” the next year. 

Another of Lilly’s qualities is to push herself and never give up during a race. Going into Nationals last year, she wasn’t the favorite. At one point during the race, she was eighth or ninth. Andy sees riders give up when they’re in fifth or sixth place, but not Lilly. “One of her really strong traits that she does have is the ability to really suffer in races, push herself beyond her limits in training and racing, and that equals good results in racing,” he said. He notes that it’s easy for riders to give up when things aren’t going their way, but Lilly did not give up, resulting in her win. 

The hard, exhausting, dedicated training paid off. “The days that were so hard and miserable all feel worth it,” Lilly said. Her victory at Nationals is still fresh. “It never really sunk in, and I still don’t think it has,” Lilly said. “I know it’s cool, but it doesn’t feel cool. I’m hoping it will feel cool when I get my customized kit with the stars and stripes on it.” 

The kit includes a rider’s “skin suit” for racing. Lilly’s will have the Grey Ghost STARS logo on the American stars and stripes patterned jersey that only the national champion can wear the year following the win. After that, her jersey can have red, white and blue trim on the sleeves signaling that she was a national champion. 

“It’s so fun when you find a flow state,” Lilly said. “Your heart rate is so high, it feels low, you’re so focused, and all you can think about is riding your bike. Everything is going perfectly and nothing can stop you. It’s when all the pieces fit together.” She admits that it doesn’t happen every race, but it happened at Nationals in 2025. 

This year, Lilly will have a “first row” start again at the USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals, this time in the 15-16-year-old category. Part of her training this summer is attending the EuroCrossAcademy, a five-day intensive invitational cyclocross and gravel riding camp in Vermont.

What impresses Aaron and sets Lilly apart from many is her attitude through all the intensity of the training and racing. “From the start, she was 100 percent about having fun on the bike,” he said. “It wasn’t always about competition or improving her skills. Fun has always been a part of the equation. Not too many have that mentality. It’s about winning or losing.”

Lilly’s advice for young riders? “Just try it! It looks so crazy, you should just try it. Don’t do one race and decide, ‘This is horrible.’ Do at least two, and ride for fun, not just the race.”

Joanne E. McFadden (mcfaddenfreelance@gmail.com) is a freelance journalist and creative content provider. She is an avid distance walker and swimmer. She’s excited about summer’s open-water swim practices as she trains for a relay triathlon. She is the mother of two daughters and a grandmother. She lives in Charlton with her husband, Scott.