Talking with Taylor Phinney

CM: When did you start shaving your legs?

Phinney: I think I was 14.

CM: Who taught you?

Phinney: Myself. I was actually in an abbey in France, like where nuns stayed, that had been converted into a hotel. All I remember is being in the bathroom shaving my legs in the sink with my Dad’s electric razor. I knew you were supposed to trim the long hairs first before you shaved, but I didn’t know you turned the clippers on to do that, so I was just ripping the prongs up my leg thinking, ow, this is so painful! I was basically just going along and ripping each hair out (laughing).

CM: (laughing) Wait, did you even have it turned on?

Phinney: No, I didn’t. I didn’t even know that’s what you were supposed to do.

CM: You weren’t racing yet at that time, but you just decided your leg hair had to go?

Phinney: Your legs look so much better when they’re shaved.

CM: Do you have any pre-race rituals?

Phinney: (laughing). Neal taught me a rain dance ritual.

CM: Seriously, there has to be something.

Phinney: Um, no. I usually eat some sort of pasta the night before and then usually try to sleep a lot, that’s my main ritual. Do I look a quirky person to you?

CM: No. You seem really laid back. What do you like best about racing?

Phinney: Winning.

CM: What about winning?

Phinney: There’s no feeling that can compare to winning a bike race. Except maybe winning a running race or some other kind of race (laughing). But that’s why I race: to win. And it’s that feeling of knowing that you’re going to win and winning at the same time.

CM: When did you know you were going to the Olympics?

Phinney: I’d say my breakthrough track moment was when I was in Beijing in December and I got 4th in a World Cup.

CM: What did you do to celebrate, once it became official?

Phinney: (Reaches over and connects fists with Henderson). This. It was like, good job Taylor, sweet, now the real work begins. We had a party after I won the World Championships, but we haven’t had any parties since then.

CM: What importance do the Olympics hold for you? What does it mean for you?

Phinney: Well, it’s like the greatest sporting event in the world, so for me to be a part of that, to be with the world’s best athletes and to be one of the world’s best athletes, I feel very honored to have been blessed with the capability of being one of those athletes.

CM: So what are you expecting the Olympics to feel like?

Phinney: It is just another race, but there’s a lot more tension and pressure put on my race. But I am racing to at least medal, so we will see if that happens.

CM:  And we’ll see if any weird pre-race rituals develop at that point under pressure. Then you’ll have to let us know.

Phinney: (laughing) Okay.

CM: What have you learned from your parents?

Phinney: Everything. I don’t even know. Pretty much everything cycling-related.

CM: What about beyond that?

Phinney: Having two parents who’ve gone to the Olympics, and now having me going to the Olympics is definitely something very unique. They’ve gone through what I’m going through right now, and they had the pressures that I’m going through right now. And so, they just know how I’m feeling, and what I’m doing, and what I need to achieve to go to the places I’m going. That’s unique and that’s cool. Other than that, they just support me; they just allow me to only pedal my bike and that’s about all I have to do.

CM: So they create that space for you to have that focus, that single pursuit.

Phinney: Pun intended.