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connie and davis

there's a common phrase trotted out every now and again, particularly when less than anglicised spellings are under discussion, that portends that america and britain are two countries divided by a common language. i believe that would be the very definition of a cliche, but as with many overused phrases, there is more than just a hint of truth in the statement. for instance, while we are cheefully happy on this side of the pond to give the word socks all the letters it deserves, our american cousins have abbreviated the word to the more compact sox. and if you have even a scant knowledge of web-based style sheets, as a uk or european citizen you will doubtless have come across the inquities of a usa based system that prefers color to that of colour.

of course, as we all know, we're right, they're wrong.

this division goes as far as the world of cycle racing. prior to 1984 my knowledge of any genre of cycle racing was minimal to say the very least. robert millar's triumph in the tdf king of the mountains competition while riding to fourth place overall changed all that. suddenly i could ride effortlessly over any gradient in the locale on my gas-pipe steel, drop bar racing bike (obviously that's completely untrue).

disappointingly, for one engaged in daily scribblings about the finest of activities, my intrinsic knowledge of the racing scene across any continent is still far short of encyclopaedic, but i think i'm probably past saving by now.

like many who enter the world of cycle racing through exposure to the tour de france, it takes a few years to discover that there are other races on the calendar, and a few years after that to realise that cycle racing exists on continents other than europe. that must be even harder nowadays with the uci's globalisation strategy where it's less a case of having never heard of the racing as opposed to having never heard of the country. but i will readily confess to possessing even now, scant knowledge of domestic racing in north america. despite the up and down popularity of the british domestic scene, casting an eye across the usa never really came up as any form of alternative.

for obvious reasons, sportive weekly does not include their every result within its pages, and i've never really drilled far enough down through the velonews website to find out where it's all at. yes, i'd heard the names davis phinney and connie carpenter, with vague notions that they were accorded hero and heroine status across all 52 states. i may even have been aware that davis rode for 7-11 and had won a couple of stages in the tour de france, though in editions that were prior to my robert millar revelation.

i did not know that phinney's wife, connie carpenter-phinney was every bit the equal of france's jeannie longo, having won gold in the 1984 olympics, the first year a women's road-race had been included in the event list. phinney himself had ridden the men's road race in those same olympics, but fared a bit less well, finishing fifth.

what i was aware of, though again on the periphery of cognition was that now in his later years, davis phinney suffers from parkinson's disease and has created the davis phinney foundation to raise funds for parkinson's research. you would not be ostracised for wondering why this particular information deficit has come to light only now. or perhaps more to the point, how i had managed to remedy such lack of knowledge with such immediacy. in this particular instance, ben ingham is the man responsible, beginning with the words "IÕve just made a new film for Rapha with the Owynne and Andy.ÊIt's the first 'talking heads' film I've made. I won't say too much about in order to see if it speaks for itself (themselves)"

the rather excellent moving picture by mr ingham is not only a feast of information and entertainment, but one that offers both davis phinney and connie carpenter the chance to relate the tale of that olympic games in person (so to speak). if you have marvelled at ben ingham's still photography in the past, you will marvel even more at his seamless transition to the art of movie-making. but other than a special interest in cycling's rich past, why are rapha involved in commissioning such an edifice?

for the first time in the history of imperial works, rapha have introduced a special edition women's jersey, in this instance as part of a matching set: one for connie, one for davis. and a percentage of the profits from each will be donated to the davis phinney foundation. the long-sleeve sportwool jerseys are of the standard, style and quality you would expect from the former perren street residents, but either way, you need to watch this film.

now.

view the davis and connie movie

saturday 6 september 2014