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    A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium
    Unavailable
    A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium
    Unavailable
    A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium
    Ebook248 pages3 hours

    A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium

    By Parkin Joe

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In 1987, Joe Parkin was an amateur bike racer in California when he ran into Bob Roll, a pro on the powerhouse Team 7-Eleven. "Lobotomy Bob" told Parkin that, to become a pro, he must go to Belgium.

    Riding along a canal in Belgium years later, Roll encountered Parkin, who he saw as "a wraith, an avenging angel of misery, a twelve-toothed assassin". Roll barely recognized him. Belgium had forged Parkin into a pro bike racer, and changed him forever.

    A Dog in a Hat is Joe's remarkable story. Leaving California with a bag of clothes, two spare wheels, some cash, and a phone number, Parkin left the comforts of home for the windy, rainswept heartland of European cycling. As one of the first American pros in Europe, Parkin was what the Belgians call "a dog with a hat on" -- something familiar, yet decidedly out of place.

    Parkin lays out the hard reality of the life--the drugs, the payoffs, the betrayals by teammates, the battles with team owners for contracts and money, the endless promises that keep you going, the agony of racing day after day, and the glory of a good day in the saddle.

    A Dog in a Hat is the unforgettable story of the un-ordinary education of Joe Parkin and his love affair with racing, set in the hardest place in the world to be a bike racer. It is a story untold until now, and one that you will never forget.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVeloPress
    Release dateFeb 1, 2012
    ISBN9781937716028
    Unavailable
    A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium

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    Reviews for A Dog in a Hat

    4/5

    5 ratings3 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A rare glimpse into the world of professional cycling in Belgium, this is a story that could only have been told by Joe Parkin, an American cycling in Europe not for the glory but for the love of it. If you're interested at all in cycling beyond what is seen in the Tour de France then I would recommend this book. It definitely garnered a new found respect for these athletes, who in my opinion, push themselves beyond what any other sport requires.

      However, it's a shame that this book wasn't better edited, because then it might reach a wider audience. Of course Joe Parkin is a cyclist, not a writer, but this is where a good editor steps in. The book lacked cohesiveness and at times seemed very random- anecdotes thrown in that didn't really have anything to do with anything, while some other things were glossed over. I wish there had been more emphasis placed on the cultural difference between the way Belgians regard cycling and Americans disregard it. It really won't appeal to anyone other than cyclists.
    • 4/5
      More often than not, sports memoirs usually fall into two major categories; tell-all scandal sheets designed to sell copies through controversy, and lengthy life stories heavily padded with dull and unneeded information.Joe Parkin’s biking memoir does not fall into either of these camps. In A Dog in a Hat, Parkin chronicles the years he spent training and racing in Belgium during the late eighties with brevity and candor, giving the reader plenty of breathing room to enjoy the behind the scenes look at professional bike racing.Perkin’s memoir is about more than just racing. It is a look at the adventures and journeys of an ambitious young man immersing himself in unfamiliar cultures and customs, not only in the intense world of professional team bike racing, but also the foreign land and people that for a short while became his adopted home and family.Never bitter or overly dramatic, A Dog in a Hat is a professional athlete’s fond recollection of a period in his life filled with the experiences and decisions – both good and bad – that not only define the development of an athletic career, but of one man’s life journey. Even if you are not into professional bike racing, A Dog in a Hat is a sports memoir that will amuse, inspire, and entertain.
    • 4/5
      More often than not, sports memoirs usually fall into two major categories; tell-all scandal sheets designed to sell copies through controversy, and lengthy life stories heavily padded with dull and unneeded information.Joe Parkin’s biking memoir does not fall into either of these camps. In A Dog in a Hat, Parkin chronicles the years he spent training and racing in Belgium during the late eighties with brevity and candor, giving the reader plenty of breathing room to enjoy the behind the scenes look at professional bike racing.Perkin’s memoir is about more than just racing. It is a look at the adventures and journeys of an ambitious young man immersing himself in unfamiliar cultures and customs, not only in the intense world of professional team bike racing, but also the foreign land and people that for a short while became his adopted home and family.Never bitter or overly dramatic, A Dog in a Hat is a professional athlete’s fond recollection of a period in his life filled with the experiences and decisions – both good and bad – that not only define the development of an athletic career, but of one man’s life journey. Even if you are not into professional bike racing, A Dog in a Hat is a sports memoir that will amuse, inspire, and entertain.