Boulder – Before Lance Armstrong and his seven Tour de France conquests, “Saturday Night Live” host status and multimillion-dollar endorsements, there was Davis Phinney.
Boulder – not Austin, Texas – was the center of the country’s cycling universe in the 1980s. Homegrown Phinney and an influx of the top American racers put down roots in eager anticipation of the annual cycling celebration that was the Coors Classic.
Along the way, Phinney won more than 300 individual races – including two stages in the Tour de France.
He will be inducted Tuesday night into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Phinney doesn’t regret for one minute that he came along too soon to capitalize on the long- awaited mainstream acceptance of cycling generated by Armstrong.
“It was a really magical window,” said Phinney, now 46. “If I had been born later, I wouldn’t have seen the first Red Zinger and I wouldn’t have been a bike racer. I was at the center point of the American program and that was fantastic.”
As a Boulder High School student he stumbled upon the in- augural Red Zinger Classic, a novelty event at North Boulder Park in the summer of 1975. The vignette was re-enacted in a commercial during the 1984 Olympics.
Before long, Phinney was racing while his late father, Damon, was aghast his son would aspire to a future without a college education. As the Red Zinger grew into the Coors Classic, Phinney dominated the criteriums – circuit loops that maximized viewing areas for spectators during a party atmosphere in venues such as Boulder, Washington Park, Vail and Aspen.
With the fast pace around tight turns came plenty of crashes, something of a forerunner to the X Games generation. Invariably, teammate Ron Kiefel provided the leadout and Phinney followed on Kiefel’s wheel to a winning burst at the finish line.
Phinney soaked up the adulation on the podium. He repaid fans by never turning down an autograph request or a chance to chat.
At the same time, his future wife, Connie Carpenter, ruled the women’s event. The story line through the 1981 Coors Classic was road domination in the Coors Classic by American pro Greg LeMond.
“Racing was more thrilling to me personally to be part of the heyday sport here in Colorado,” Phinney said. “I was just lucky to be part of that history.”
He turned pro after taking the bronze medal in the 1984 Olympic team time trial. While remaining a sprinter, he concentrated more on winning point-to-point road races than criteriums. Although LeMond won a Tour De France time trial in 1995, Phinney became the first American to win a Tour de France road race, in 1986, and won another stage in 1987.
The Coors Classic ended in 1988 with Phinney’s overall victory. He continued to race until 1993, Armstrong’s first full season as a pro. Phinney recalled his epiphany at the U.S. Pro Championships in Philadelphia when he was with a group of leaders up the steepest part of the course.
“Lance rides up, looks at us and takes off,” he said. “Right then I said, ‘There goes the future of the sport, and I’m not part of it.”‘
Yet he remained integral to the sport, with the bike camp he and his wife founded, bike tours and a natural move into broadcasting in the late 1990s.
In 2000, he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease. Unable to hold a microphone or endure the rigors of travel, his broadcast career ended abruptly.
He created the Davis Phinney Foundation to advance research into the degenerative neurological affliction. It is his dream to advance Parkinson’s research and support the way Armstrong has boosted cancer research.
Phinney compares the battle with Parkinson’s to his cycling career. There’s always another hill to climb, another finish line and then another race.
Meanwhile, his son, Taylor, a Boulder High School sophomore, has followed his genetic code and taken up racing. Already the younger Phinney is dominating the junior ranks.
“I never appreciated what my parents felt watching me race,” said the Colorado Sports Hall of Famer.
For Phinney, the greatest compliment from his own father came when he said during his son’s career: “If one of the people went home from the race inspired by you to take up racing, you directly improved their lives. I think you do good work.”
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
