This is the tunnel that leads from outside the 7 Eleven Olympic Training Facility Velodrome in Colorado Springs. It is the last thing you see before you pop up on the inside of the oval where today there was a world record broken. Today, Evelyn (Evie) Stevens rode a bike faster than any woman ever has in the history of this world over the course of an hour. She covered 47.98 kilometers in that hour breaking the old record set by Bridie O'Donnell just 5 weeks prior by over a full kilometer averaging 29.8 miles per hour. Her ride was near perfection. She rode aggressively and held tight to "the line". With under 15 minutes to go, while well ahead of record pace, Stevens began to feel the natural effects of lactic acid and fatigue and had some trouble holding her lines on course. The crowd rose up, and Evie Stevens battled through the pain of such an effort and was able to focus on the task at hand until it was completed, dead and buried. Despite knocking bumpers off the inside line of the corner exits half a dozen times or so, she made it to the finish safely, and now is the owner of the very prestigious one hour world record. It was a clinic put on by one of cycling's most talented road riders in the world.
Daimo Shanks, who built up Evie's bikes, poses with the record breaking steed.
A signed credential from Evelyn Stevens that I will hold onto forever. Today I called a World Record ride from a World Class athlete. The crowd was modest and loud. Due to fire code the Velodrome can only host 200 people at an event like this. Those were 200 very lucky people, and I was one hell of a lucky race announcer.
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