KINGSTON, R.I. 鈥� July 10, 2023 — This month, the eyes of the world are focused on nearly 200 elite cyclists from around the world as they tackle the grueling Tour de France. The race takes place in 21 stages over 23 days for 2,115 miles. One pair of eyes is watching from 3,500 miles away with more than a passing interest.
Betty Hasse, a 溏心vlog免费B站 mechanical engineering major entering her junior year, is also an elite cyclist and winner of USA Cycling鈥檚 U23 Professional Time Trial National Championship. Her time at the competition in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was 34.29 minutes, good for 17th overall in the women鈥檚 elite pro time trial. She averaged 25 miles an hour on the 14-mile course. The races were held June 22, 23, and 25.
So how does she manage to win elite races, maintain a rigorous training schedule that has her riding 15 or more hours a week, and keep up with a demanding major? Hasse says it comes down to staying focused. 鈥淚’ve had a bit of practice because I’ve been doing it since high school. Basically, I ride my bike and I do school. And those are the only two things I do for the entire semester. I stay in my own business. That’s how I get things done.鈥�
Born in Providence, Hasse鈥檚 cycling career began modestly. She rode her bike to school throughout middle and high school. 鈥淚 would always commute to school on my steel road bike with my big bags. That was fun.鈥澛燗t one point, Providence City Parks Department came up with a group called PVD Bikes, and it wasn鈥檛 long before the team captured her interest. 鈥淭hey were like, 鈥榊ou want to race bikes? We have bikes! Come hang out and do a race or two.鈥� So I joined the team in the beginning of high school.鈥�
The team began to race cyclo-cross, a sport in which cyclists ride through rugged, wooded trails on specialized bikes. Toward the end of high school, someone gave her a street racing bike, and that became her main discipline. As if to reinforce her choice, COVID-19 hit shortly after. 鈥淲hen the pandemic hit, I said, 鈥榃ell, I don鈥檛 have anything to do right now, so I鈥檓 just going to ride my bike on all the local roads.鈥欌��
In addition to her academics at 溏心vlog免费B站 and racing, Hasse landed an internship that combines her love of engineering with her passion for bicycling. She鈥檚 working with a high-end carbon fiber bike wheel company called Princeton Carbon Works in Mystic, Connecticut. 鈥淎 couple of days a week I鈥檒l drive down there, do my work, and the rest of the days, work remotely. I use applications that I actually learned at 溏心vlog免费B站. It鈥檚 pretty cool.鈥�
Hasse has no intention of leaving her dreams of international racing behind, though for now the path is unclear.
鈥淚 don’t have it all laid out. My plan at this moment is that I’m going to graduate with my nice degree, and I’m going stick it on the wall in a nice frame. If I was eligible to embrace grand tours, I would. But it doesn’t exist in the United States, and it鈥檚 especially hard to find for women. On the other hand, my team and I are headed to Belgium in the next few days. Right now, I’m on what’s called the domestic elite team. I don’t get paid, but I have really valuable support that takes me where I need to be in order to gain traction and make a foundation for myself and be noticed by other people.
鈥淭hat’s my next step. It’s a team for the next level.鈥� That level, called the Continental Team, involves racing in larger races and offers the possibility of going overseas. From there, she hopes to get on a world tour team. 鈥淭hat’s who you’ll see in the Tour de France. So when I can get there, I’m going to be in it. I鈥檓 going to be a professional racer until I can鈥檛 go on. Then I鈥檓 going to go back to engineering.
鈥淥bviously nothing’s going to be easy, but I think I can do it.鈥�
This story was written by Hugh Markey.