The Accidental Athlete: Q & A with Biker Evelyn Stevens
Specialized-Lululemon | January 6, 2012
Courtesy www.womenshealthmag.com
We’ve all got hidden talents. Discovering them is the fun part, especially if they come to you as a surprise. Like mastering the craps table in Vegas or winning your first 5K out of the gate. This is essentially what happened to Evelyn Stevens.
The Massachusetts native (she’s the one giving the thumbs up above) had no idea she was born to bike until her sister signed her up for a fateful race in November 2007. Two years later, Stevens gave up everything – her lucrative Wall Street job and cozy West Village apartment – to become an underpaid pro athlete who travels the world to ride. The 28-year-old has already won several road races and titles, including being named the U.S. National Time Trial Champion twice in a row. Funny thing is, the early Olympic favorite never had an Olympic dream – not til recently, anyway. Making a living as a pro athlete simply never crossed her mind. Let alone performing on the greatest sports stage in the world.
In mid-December, we met up with the rising star in Carlsbad, California at the first-ever training camp for Team Specialized-lululemon, the women-only pro cycling team that formed in October after HTC Highroad disbanded in August. Stealing the smiley Stevens away from her world-class teammates – including six-time Olympic medalist Clara Hughes and world championships bronze medalist Ina-YokoTeutenberg – we got the scoop on how she pulled this off.
For the complete interview please visit www.womenshealthmag.com