Phinney doesn't medal, but doesn't mind

BEIJING -- Cyclist Taylor Phinney finished seventh in the individual pursuit Saturday, capping a momentous year for him and his Boulder family.With his Mom, Dad, and sister Kelsey leading about 20 friends and family cheering from the front row at the Laoshan Velodrome, Phinney matched up against Hayden Roulston of New Zealand for the 4,000-meter race. After eight laps of the 250-meter track, Phinney was trailing by 2.075 seconds. More importantly his body was already tiring."I got out there and with eight laps to go, I was thinking, 'I wish I had four laps to go,' said Phinney, 18. "That's never a good mentality to have."I thought maybe I could beat him, but I was wrong about that. I'm happy with just being here and being able to race two days."Roulston won the race with a time of 4:19.232, while Phinney finished in 4:26.644. Phinney's time was the slowest of the eight finalists, but he was ranked seventh because Alexander Serov of Russia was passed by Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins.Wiggins went on to win the gold, while Roulston took the silver and Steven Burke of Great Britain won the bronze.Phinney's seventh-place finish matched the performance of his mother, Connie-Carpenter-Phinney, in her first Olympics. She placed seventh at the 1972 Sapporo Olympics in 1,500-meter speedskating as a 14-year-old."He was up against some big boys with a lot of experience," said Carpenter-Phinney, who also won a gold medal in road cycling at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. "It's been a really long year."Indeed Phinney's year has involved some 100,000 miles of air travel as he has crisscrossed the globe racing in World Cup events and gaining valuable experience. He first rode in a velodrome only 10 months ago. "This is his 10th pursuit event ever, and he's in the Olympic Games," said his father, Davis Phinney, who won a bronze medal in cycling at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. "In our sport, everyone he raced against was 10 years older than him. He's just starting."What a wonderful moment to have as a dad. For Connie and I both, we are just so thrilled for the kid to have made it here."The family is also thrilled that Davis could make it to Beijing. He has suffered from Parkinson's Disease for many years, and in April underwent a procedure called Deep Brain Stimulation to help. A pacemaker was placed in his chest, with cables attached to two electrodes implanted in his brain, which are supposed to help thwart abnormal signals that cause tremors.So far the surgery has had been a big success."This has been such an exceptional year," said Davis Phinney, 49. "For the longest time my health has been the dark cloud on the horizon on my family and me. It's been a weight on my family. For the first time the sun is out and shining bright, I think for the whole family."Davis Phinney's tremors are largely under control now. Taylor said he even saw his father eating with chopsticks this week."He's obviously doing a lot better," said Taylor Phinney. "He was suffering a little bit in Capetown when I was down there (for the junior worlds). But he's back 110 percent."Taylor's Olympic competition is now over. But his fun at the Olympic Games is just beginning. Unbeknownst to his mother who was expecting Taylor to come home on the 21st, Taylor plans on staying in the Olympic Village until the 25th because he wants to march in the Closing Ceremony.But first he'll have to do some laundry, as he got the shorts that are part of Team USA's Closing Ceremony uniform dirty.He also hopes to snag some tickets for track and field events. And he would love to run into Michael Phelps at the Olympic Village."To see a guy like Michael Phelps do anything, even seeing him walk through the village would be pretty cool," he said. "I'm on the lookout."One thing he does not plan on doing again is taking his bike to the streets of Beijing. He took a short ride with some U.S. Olympic road racing team members, and was mortified. "I wear a helmet, because I'm scared of Chinese drivers," said Phinney. "I get scared even when I'm riding the bus. There's no way I'm not wearing a helmet around here."(E-mail David Nielsen at nielsend(at)shns.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)