A former Wall Street analyst just set a new world hour record in cycling

Daniel McMahonUCI/YouTubeAmerican Evelyn "Evie" Stevens set a new hour record in cycling on Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pedaling 47.980 kilometers (29.81 miles).

American Evelyn Stevens set a new world hour record in cycling on Saturday.
She rode a distance of 47.980 kilometers (29.81 miles) in one hour at the 7-11 Velodrome in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
She beat the previous record of 46.882 kilometers (29.13 miles) set January 22 by Australian Bridie O'Donnell in Adelaide, Australia.
Stevens, a California native, previously worked in investment banking and finance. She now rides for the Dutch Boels Dolmans Cycling Team.
"It couldn't have been a more perfect day," Stevens said after her ride. "Awesome."

'One in 10 million talent'

Stevens' first coach, Matthew Koschara, told Business Insider in 2014 he was not surprised by her success.
He said she is a "one in 10 million" talent.
"She has the right appetite, physiologically and psychologically," Koschara said. "She's old school, she's hard core — she's a fighter."
He pointed to Stevens' remarkable power-to-weight ratio, and although he would not reveal stats from the time he coached Stevens, he said her three- and 10-minute power numbers, measured in watts, were "huge."
At five-foot-six and 120 pounds, she's compact and very powerful.
She was beaming after setting the new world record:

"It's not common that you get the chance to set a new World Record ... I just want to celebrate with everyone now!" Stevens said, according to the International Cycling Union (UCI), the sport's governing body.

For a time, the related hashtag #UCIHourRecord trended worldwide on Twitter, race announcers said.

"I would like to congratulate 'Evie' on her achievement," UCI President Brian Cookson added. "Bridie O'Donnell's record stood for five weeks and we have already seen two attempts this year despite only being in February.

The attempt

Stevens was all smiles when she entered the velodrome.
She looked at ease, and confident.
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Her coach, Neal Henderson, is an expert when it comes to the hour record.
He and Stevens started training seriously in November.
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Her trained a former world hour-record holder, Rohan Dennis of Australia.
Before the event started, she bowed her head for the national anthem.
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Here was Stevens awaiting the start:
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This is Stevens on the very first lap. After getting up to speed, she got set into her aero tuck.
It would be a very long and painful hour of effort.

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This was the bike — made by California-based Specialized — that Stevens set the record on:
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The velodrome is normally open air, but it was covered temporarily for this event.
Built in 1983, it features a 333.3-meter (1,093.5-foot) banked track for cycling on a cement surface. It's at about 6,000 feet above sea level and is climate-controlled.
All of which made for just about ideal conditions for Stevens.
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This GIF below shows GoPro footage previously taken on the track.
Stevens is said to have used the footage as part of her training to help her visualize her successful effort.

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It all paid off — she smashed the previous record by over one kilometer:

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Her coach was thrilled:

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She broke the record handily, having ridden at nearly 30 mph for one hour.

From Wall Street to the open road

After graduating from Dartmouth in 2005, Stevens worked as an analyst for Lehman Brothers before taking a job as an associate at investment fund Gleacher Mezzanine (known today as Arrowhead).
Four hours' sleep a night. Seven-day workweeks. Diet Cokes around the clock. This was Stevens' life on Wall Street.
Years on, and far from Wall Street, Stevens now ranks among the world's best cyclists.
Stevens said she approaches cycling as she did investment banking: with tenacity. After turning pro, she dedicated herself completely — she was "hyper-focused" — just as when she'd started her business career.
"With investment banking and finance, it's not a world you gradually go into it," she said. "It's not like I started and they told me, 'Take your time, get comfortable, leave at 5 p.m.' You're on deals, you're operating on a high level quickly.
"If you want to get to that high level, you have to go after it," she said. "Investment banking is like pro cycling: It's not a career you have for 30 years. You realize, 'I'm going for it.' For my career in cycling, every day it's like, 'What do I need to do better? What do I need to train?' You can’t become complacent."
At 32, she's in the prime of her career.
Even before setting the hour record on Saturday, she had major victories crowding her palmarès, or race résumé.
Harry How/Getty Images
It all started in late 2007. While on vacation in San Francisco, Stevens' sister talked her into doing a local cyclocross race, which at first seemed like a crazy idea.
She'd played tennis in college, went to the gym, and did some running. But rarely did she ride a bike, let alone race one.
And yet there, in Golden Gate Park, at age 25, she raced for the first time, on a borrowed bike.
She crashed and got banged up, but she finished and was immediately hooked — "in love" even.
"I was like, 'This is awesome — this is for me,'" she told Business Insider in 2014 about that first race.
Ethan GladingStevens speaking with Business Insider in fall 2014.
She is targeting the Olympics in Rio this summer.

"Cycling is a very finite sport, kind of like the world of finance, but magnified," she previously told Business Insider. "There's highs, there's lows, and you see it so instantaneously — the crashes, the wins.

"I've had some big wins, but I’m not at the top level yet. So it's like, 'What do I need to do to become top level?' I think it's the same in finance. For those moving up that ladder, they're constantly looking and thinking, 'How do you do it differently? How do you do it better?' It's a constantly moving process."
You can watch highlights of Stevens' record-breaking ride here.