Cross country journey creates champion

Before he ever set foot on IU's campus, 13-year-old Hans Arnesen was on his way to becoming a Little 500 rider. At the time, nobody knew how successful he would become -- he was a first-time rider who was about to set out on the first of many cross-country bike trips. \nThe trips would contribute to turning him into one of Little 500's most accomplished riders of all time -- winning Most Valuable Rider as a sophomore, setting a track record at Individual Time Trials as a junior and going on to train with one of the most prestigious under-25 cycling teams in the nation. \nBut before it all, Arnesen was just a 13-year-old preparing to ride his bike around the country for the summer.\n"One of my dad's old college friends called him up and said he was starting up this long-distance bike program during the summers across the United States, so I got into that when I was 13," Arnesen said.\nEach summer, from the time he was 13 years old to the time he was 17, Arnesen traveled the country with the Bloomington-based cycling program called Decycles. The program is headed by Alpha Tau Omega's coach Norm Houze, a friend of the Minnesota-based Arnesen family. \nThough Arnesen had never ridden long-distance, he accepted the challenge and joined Decycles as its youngest member in 1997. The trip took two weeks -- riding more than 1,000 miles from Bloomington to Toronto and back.\n"He showed up that first year in basketball shorts and with a funky bike," Houze said. "Two years later was the trip from LA to New Jersey and it was like he rode a time-machine; he turned into a cycling monster. It was tough for me to keep up with him after that."\nAfter Arnesen completed his five cross-country summers with the Decycles he came to IU and joined ATO after riding with many of the fraternity's riders through the program. \n"The trips led him to see IU as somewhere he would want to go for college," said Paul Arnesen, Hans' dad. "And biking as something he was very gifted at."\nEight years later, as a junior and member of ATO's team, Arnesen's Little 500 résumé stretches far, including Rookie of the Year his freshman year, Most Valuable Rider his sophomore and an ITT record time of 2 minutes, 15.78 seconds.\n"We look at him as an untouchable," said ATO teammate sophomore Brian Laiderman. "He's done it for so long he knows just about everything."\nPaul Arnesen can agree, after watching his son mature on the bike year after year.\n"I've never found his limit," Paul Arnesen said of his son's talent and strength. \nEvidently his son hasn't found his limit either. After winning the MVR award Arnesen received the chance to train with professional cyclist Jonathan Vaughters and his TIAA-CREF Under-25 team, an opportunity that came with the MVR prize. Team TIAA-CREF trains and sponsors young riders in hopes of making cycling a full-time career. \n"He was the one that led the sprint from a long way off," Vaughters said after choosing Arnesen for the MVR award last April. "He was the strongest individual in the race."\nArnesen accepted Vaughters' invitation and went as the only non-member of the professional team to train for a week in Colorado in February. \n"It's something that I'm envious of all those guys. They have some great coaches ... they have some really great support," Arnesen said of the experience. \nAs for his future in cycling, the Business Management and International Studies major said he honestly hasn't put much thought into what he'll do after graduation, but cycling could definitely be in the equation. \n"It's something I would like to try," he said. "I never though about it, but I think I would like to try that; take it to the pro level."\nWhether or not Arnesen decides to pursue a professional career in cycling, he'll have the backing of his dad all the way.\n"I think he should give it his best shot," Paul Arnesen said. "He's extremely good at it. He has tremendous natural ability; he has the chance to be an amazing cyclist."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Katie Schoenbaechler at kmschoen@indiana.edu.