Eleven years ago, Nico and I sat down on the back porch of
Connie Carpenter and
Davis Phinney's Boulder home to talk about creating a website for their bike camp business. Accomplished cyclists -- Connie won Olympic gold in 1984 and Davis won two stages of the Tour de France and an Olympic bronze -- they were the perfect pair to lead groups of cycling enthusiasts through the hills of Italy and the mountains of Colorado. And we at
Insight Designs were thrilled to create their first real web presence and begin a lasting friendship. (By the way, that site --
bikecamp.com -- is still about the same as it was when we created it in 2000.)
Since then, we've worked on several projects for Connie and Davis and their son,
Taylor Phinney who himself has taken the cycling world by storm. Just 10 days ago, Connie called because Davis' new book
The Happiness of Pursuit was coming out and they needed a website for it ASAP. No problem, I said.
For those of you who don't know Davis' story and for those of you who think you do, this book promises to be a powerful read. After an illustrious cycling career that led to a budding career in television commentary, Davis was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's disease.
The Happiness of Pursuit is the story of how Davis sought to overcome his Parkinson’s by reaching back to what had made him so successful on the bike and adjusting his perspective on what counted as a win. The news of his diagnosis began a dark period for this vibrant athlete, but there was also light. His son Taylor’s own bike-racing career was taking off. Determined to beat the Body Snatcher, Davis underwent a procedure called deep brain stimulation. Although not cured, his symptoms abated enough for him to see Taylor compete in the Beijing Olympics. Davis Phinney had won another stage. But the joy, he discovered, was in the pursuit. With humor and grace, Phinney weaves the narrative of his battle with Parkinson’s with tales from his cycling career and from his son’s emerging career.
The Happiness of Pursuit is a remarkable story of fathers and sons and bikes, of victories large and small.
With Connie feeding us content and great photos, we were able to get the site launched yesterday --
www.davisphinney.com. Check it out. You can read excerpts from the book, see what folks are saying about it, check Davis' speaking appearance schedule, and of course, order your own copy of the book.
Sometimes we get to work on something uber cool. This is one of those times.
Last week, we launched a new website for Chasing Ice, an award-winning documentary film that tells the story of National Geographic photographer James Balog's mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of the Earth's changing climate. Balog and a band of young adventurers deployed revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world's disappearing glaciers.
The film -- filled with hauntingly beautiful videos that compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they vanish at a breathtaking rate -- has won some of the most impressive awards in the movie business, including the Sundance Film Festival's Excellence in Cinematography Award.
The trailer was just released yesterday. Watch it here.
And be sure to see Chasing Ice on the big screen if you can. It premieres in a dozen cities in November with more showings to come. See the schedule here.
