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JORDAN DAVIES
reader athlete

By Phyl Newbeck

Age: 72 | Residence: Huntington | Family: Partner, Cassandra; children, Elisabeth, Tristan and Owen

Occupation: Retired; type-designer and painter | Primary sport: Cycling

JORDAN DAVIES DIDN’T BEGIN CYCLING UNTIL HE WAS IN HIS 30S,

BUT SOON AFTER THAT HE DEVELOPED HIS FASCINATION WITH TIME

TRIALS. AFTER MOVING TO VERMONT HE INITIALLY PUT HIS BIKE AWAY,

BUT THESE DAYS YOU CAN FIND HIM ATOP THE LEADERBOARD FOR

HIS AGE GROUP IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES PUT ON BY THE GREEN

MOUNTAIN BICYCLE CLUB.

VS: When did you start cycling?
minum bike and last year I got a carbon prefer portrait painting. I am hard at work you reach an age where you really won’t
JD: I moved to New York City in 1968 get better no matter what you do.
fiber frame. I’ve always had good wheels on that and plan to continue in this vein
when I was in my 20s. I had never owned a for my bikes.
for the future.
bicycle and when I was about 30 I began to VS: What would you say to folks who
ride. I don’t remember what got me start- VS: A quick look at your numbers shows VS: You’ve also made historically accu- think they’re too old to race?
ed, but I got a ten-speed bike and started that you’re not slowing down. How do rate reproductions of 19th Century wood JD: I just would encourage people to just
riding in Central Park. Eventually I joined types. Can you talk a little bit about that? ride and get exercise and if they’ve ever
the Century Road Club and by the early you explain that?
JD: I’ve been doing more riding and I just JD: I first got into designing type fonts be- been competitive I would encourage them
1970s I started doing some of their races.
got better at the discipline, but buying aero cause I had a proof printing press. I was to actively participate in time trials. It’s a
bars was the thing that made the biggest working for a poetry bookstore and I lot of fun. The riding itself is very beneficial
VS: Was that the start of your love for difference. It’s partly technical equipment printed some books for them. I was famil- for the aerobic part, but the competition is
racing? iar with the metal type that was available, also good for you — you get encouraged by
JD: I did a few out-of-state races in the and partly practicing harder and getting a
feeling for the courses.
but I became interested in the design and seeing other people your age doing it.
’70s, but initially I wasn’t a very good rac- bought a book on old wooden fonts. I de-
er. Then I went to one or two state cham- sign type fonts and my work is distributed
pionships and did pretty well, but that was VS: Do you have a training regimen?
by three different companies.
Phyl Newbeck lives in Jericho with her part-
in the days when there were no categories
and the helmets didn’t really protect your JD: I just ride. I don’t do anything like in- VS: Are you racing again this season?
ner, Bryan, and two cats. In the winter she
terval training, but I deliberately ride hilly alternates skiing with Nordic skating, while
head. There were open races in the spring, routes, in part because I live in a hilly area.
JD: I intend to do most of the GMBC time the summers find her on her road bike,
but because there were no categories, ev- trials this year, but I noticed that last year
eryone rode together and the trick was to VS: Do you do other sports?
my times weren’t quite as good as the pre- swimming or kayaking. She is the author of
get out in front as soon as you could to vious year. I’m still getting used to my time Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers: In-
avoid accidents. I broke two collarbones in JD: We have ski trails right out the back trial bike. No matter how much I train and terracial Marriage and the Case of Richard
different races.
door. I had never skied until I moved here, and Mildred Loving.
but I bought a pair of cross-country skis a how many thousands of dollars I spend,
When we moved from Manhattan few years ago. It’s a good cross-over sport,
to Brooklyn I started riding in Prospect
Park, which has a smaller loop than Cen- butIcan’tsaythatIloveit.Iusedtodo Open & Rec Divisions
tral Park but was less crowded and better some skating but I haven’t done that in a
for cycling. The club moved their races to while. In the winter, I mostly put my bike
Prospect Park, which was very convenient on rollers and ride indoors.

for me. I did pretty well in the club races
but what I really liked was the time trials. VS: Tell me about your passive house.
I won the championship for the club one JD: My partner Cassandra (Wilday) is
year.
a landscape architect and she teamed up IS YOUR TEAM
with architect Dmitri Sarantitis to create a
VS: You’ve won the championship series house that would be a very controlled envi-
THE FITTEST IN
of the Green Mountain Bicycle Club time ronment. The house faces south and there
trials five out of the last six years and are huge windows to bring in the heat.
eight out of the last ten. What do you Even in the winter, the living area can be VERMONT?
like about time trials?
75 degrees without the heat being on, but
we do have radiant heat on three floors.
JD: I like time trials because I like the idea
of racing against my own time. When I
first moved to Vermont I stopped racing VS: I understand that you’re an artist. Co-ed Teams of Four
because I was working crazy hours and I Can you tell us a little bit about your
had kids. I didn’t join the GMBC until I work?

was in my 60s and I just happened to fall JD: I have a Masters in Fine Arts and in the
into an age group where there are very few past I’ve exhibited and sold my paintings
riders. I found the club on-line and went and won some prizes. Then I went to work
to one of their races in a beautiful old steel as a graphic designer and put my paint-
frame Colnago with shifters on the down- ing aside for many years, but I’ve started
tube. After that I bought a Specialized alu-
painting again. At this point in my career I

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