Lauren Stephens: The teacher-turned-cyclist aiming for maiden Olympic Games at 37
Most 37-year-olds aren't aiming to earn selection for their first Olympic Games.
But then again, American mountain bike, gravel, and road cyclist Lauren Stephens isn't your regular 37-year-old. Stephens isn't your regular cyclist, either. The Texan didn't come to the sport until she was in her 20s, by which time she had already established a career as a high school teacher.
Despite her unlikely background, she has competed in world championships in three different cycling disciplines, taken part in the women's Giro d'Italia, and even won Pan American Games gold for Team USA. But one thing remains missing from Stephens' 12-year pro career: an Olympic Games appearance.
"For me, it started with the Brazil (Rio 2016) Olympics; those were the first ones I was trying to make," she shares in a recent interview with Olympics.com. "I was on the longlist for the track and for the road and I really thought I had a chance to make it, and then again in Tokyo."
After two tries and two non-selections, Stephens is hoping third time is the charm. She is competing at the U.S. road national championships in West Virginia, hoping to perform strongly enough to be selected by USA Cycling for Paris 2024.
"I think I've come to a point in my career that I've decided I'm just going to keep doing what I do and I'm going to be the best," she says. "I'm focused on the time trial because that's where the U.S. is putting all their focus, but in the end, I'm either going to make it or not, and I really want to."
Lauren Stephens' late start in cycling
If life had taken a different path, Stephens might not even be trying to make the U.S. Olympic team in cycling. That's because she came to the sport later in life, only picking up a bike in her 20s and not turning pro until she was 25. She might even have found herself still teaching a bunch of rowdy teenagers.
"I was a runner in high school and my freshman year of college, so I'd always really been drawn to endurance sport. But once I stopped running, I thought my athletic career was done," Stephens recounts. "I was probably, I guess, 21 when I started riding a bike."
Cycling didn't just give Stephens a new hobby on the side in college, but also a partner. "I met my now husband at a bike shop, and he's the one that really introduced me into racing and the world of cycling," she smiles. "I was in college when I began racing as an amateur."
But college finished and Stephens didn't turn pro. At least, not immediately. "When I graduated, I taught high school for three years, and my during my third year of teaching, I think I finally figured out the balance between training and racing.
"My last year of teaching, I rode my bike to work every day. The students called me the Bike Lady. That was, you know, 10, 11 years ago; there wasn't a lot of YouTube going on then, but there they were starting to have some live streams of races.
"I was able to show them some clips to really get them to like, get excited about it. They definitely found it interesting, especially when they found out that I was going to quit teaching and go to Europe. They were like, 'Wait, what?'"
The growth of gravel and focus on road
While some of her early races were on the road, Stephens also dabbled in gravel racing.
Gravel has exploded in popularity recently with official recognition from the Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport's international governing body, as a discipline of cycling – and with that, an official UCI Gravel World Championships.
Stephens has competed at that, in addition to the road worlds and the mountain bike marathon world championships. It's still a discipline she spends time racing in.
"I think I did my first gravel race in 2012, so it wasn't like as big of a deal back then," she says. "It's been really cool to just see it grow. There was a lot of pushback when the UCI did get involved, but for me, cycling is my job and any exposure we can have to cycling and to get people around the world excited about cycling is a positive."
But for now, her focus is on the road. In Wednesday's (15 May) women's time trial at nationals, the winner is set to be named as USA Cycling's second – and last – time trial rider for Paris 2024, joining world champion Chloé Dygert, who is not racing in West Virginia.
If Dygert was to have taken part and then won the race, the second spot would have been an open selection. But as it stands, the task facing Stephens is straightforward: win, and earn selection.
"Right now the thought is like, let's just focus on making the team," she says. "With the perspective that I will make the team and all my focus will go into Paris."
But, if disappointment awaits, Stephens isn't sure if she'll continue riding on the road this year. "If I don't make the team, I am not sure if I'll just stay in the U.S. and focus on gravel, or if my team has a lot of (road) races in Europe and I had a very successful spring."
The future of U.S. women's pro cycling
Dygert's success at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships was a bright spot for a USA Cycling programme that tries to punch above its weight in a sport dominated by European, especially Dutch, riders.
However, Stephens is optimistic for the future.
"The younger we find riders, the better. And what's been incredible these last couple of years is seeing more and more (races) on television. It's showing these young athletes we have in the U.S. that this is a sport that's something that they can do.
"That's one thing that I didn't know that there was professional women's cycling growing up, all I knew was the Tour de France and that was it. I think there's a huge future for women's cycling, just as there is in many sports."
Stephens has already had a taste of pulling on the Team USA jersey at a major Games, winning Pan American Games gold in the road race in Santiago, Chile, last year.
And she's trying not to worry too much about what finally becoming an Olympian, if she does earn selection, will change for her.
"What will it mean? I think it's just a huge honour to represent the U.S.," she says. "You are this idea that allows people to just enjoy and relax and forget about their troubles. You get to be that vessel to provide that for people.
"Let's just enjoy and relax and have fun."