|
|
|
|
Home > A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium
|
|
A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium
|
|
By Joe Parkin
|
 (98 Reviews)
|
|
List Price: $21.95
|
|
Our Price: $14.93 Eligible for FREE SHIPPING on orders over $25.00. Details
|
|
You Save: $7.02 (32%)
|
|
From our affiliated sellers:
|
|
|
|
|
Availability:
|
Usually ships in 24 hours
|
|
Publisher:
|
Velo Press
|
|
Published:
|
December 31, 1969 |
|
Binding:
|
Paperback
|
|
Pages:
|
205
|
|
|
|
|
We also have these Versions
|
|
FormatEdition
|
Published
|
New from
|
Used from
|
|
Kindle Edition
|
August 1, 2008
|
-
|
-
|
|
| |
| Product Description: |
|
| |
|
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 described as "a wraith, an avenging angel of misery,a twelve-toothed assassin". Roll barely recognized him. Belgium had forged Parkin into a pro, and changed him forever. A Dog in a Hat is Joe's remarkable story. Parkin lays it all out: the drugs, the payoffs, the betrayals, the battles for contracts, the endless promises, and the glory of racing day after day. 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 hard place in the world to be a bike racer.
|
|
|
| |
Customer Reviews:
Add Your Own Review |
Blue-Collar Bike Racing, European-Style, September 14, 2008
By Sprocketboy (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
|
|
We all have in our own imagination ideas of what pro cycling is all about. When I was at the Tour de France in 2006 I was impressed by the professionalism of everything: the course organization, from barriers to route markings; the television coverage; the team buses-including the one I passed that smelled like a laundromat as I walked by since they were using the on-board washing machines! "A Dog in a Hat," the story of an American professional cyclist racing in Europe from 1987 to 1991, has none of these things and it probably gives a better impression of what pro cycling is really like, even today, than the rarified snippets we get from the top-level teams.
Joe Parkin was racing in California as an amateur when he met Team 7-Eleven racer Bob Roll, who told him to go to Belgium to race if he wanted to get serious. The hard-working Mr. Roll, who also wrote the, uh, colourful introduction to the book, is famous for his cycling work ethic and odd behavior, was right: it is hard to imagine a place where cycling is taken more seriously than Belgium.
So the innocent author makes his way to Europe to Brussels and moves in with the Albert Claeys family in Ursel. Albert, who owned a bar and sometimes drove a truck, was well-known as a sort of godfather to American cyclists in Europe, helping them to get established and find a team, as well as providing a bed.
The book describes in entertaining detail what it is like to be at the bottom of the pro ranks. Mr. Parkin had dreams of becoming King of the Mountains and felt that his talent was most suited to the shorter stage races. But it quickly becomes obvious just how difficult it is to even finish a race, let alone win one. As time goes on, Joe Parkin comes to the realization that he will not be King of the Mountains but has to accept that he is a good worker, a domestique, and that his role is that of a support rider.
Along the way this naive American, who on first hearing Flemish mistook it for Russian, becomes a kind of Belgian-American hybrid, absorbing the language and holding his own in the cycling culture. This is a culture that prizes toughness above all, and in his spare style he talks about the mud, the crashes, the disappointment. At the lowest level the environment is terrible, with talentless teammates, hotel rooms so awful it makes you laugh, and not much money when it actually does get paid. He has not papers to allow him be in Belgium, something that does not trouble team management very much, even when it means he will be deported. He does not shrink from describing the all-pervasive use of drugs in cycling, and the fixing of races.
The description of the drug use would be hilarious except for the ultimate repercussions: riders will take anything with minimal concern: the reactions range from getting faster to getting stupid. Doping controls seem minimal at best and team management does nothing to discourage illegal practices.
But as he improves Joe clearly enjoys being a professional-a European pro. Racing against amateurs in the UK's Milk Race or in races in the United States he is contemptuous of their lack of skill and discipline. When writing to team time trials, he talks of the focus and teamwork needed to succeed. He is proud of being able to control a race, going ahead and setting the pace and hauling back breakaways. Probably his greatest contribution was helping his team leader, Luc Roosen, win the 1991 Tour de Suisse. But in the end there is no new contract forthcoming (even though some of the team leaders consider pooling enough of their own money to let him ride at a minimum wage!) and he returned to the States. In 1992 he watched his teammates ride the Tour de France on television. He never went back to Flanders, and after doing some racing in the United States and then switching to mountain bikes he ended his career in 1997.
This book presupposes some understanding of the sport of bike racing, although explanations are given about race strategy in some cases, but does not require any in-depth knowledge to enjoy.
At the time of his Belgian adventures, Joe Parkin was one of only a handful of North Americans in European pro racing, all in the shadow of the mighty Greg Lemond who was considered such a superior cyclist that he was seen as some kind of freak, beyond any national classification. The title of this book, "A Dog in a Hat," is a translation of a Flemish expression meaning something unusual-Joe Parkin was told while racing to look for changes, to look for the dog, to indicate what was happening in the race. As an American racing for a European team in the late 1980s Joe Parkin was a kind of dog in a hat himself. The cycling public is served up stories about Lance Armstrong's victories over and over again as if the Tour de France is the only race but this plain, self-deprecating memoir has the ring of authenticity at the other end of the sport where even today not all the riders are being paid, the hotels are still bad and the races just as hard.
31 of 34 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
 A journeyman book by a journeyman rider, July 30, 2008
By R. Kaufmann (San Diego CA USA)
|
|
This is the story as told by a middle-of-the-road American professional bicycle racer, Joe Parkin. Mr. Parkin raced in Europe for a variety of professional teams, and found his biggest success as someone who would control a race for his team -- as opposed to try and win it for himself.
The book is completely linear, with no real theme or fabric that would make it more than the sum of its parts. Each chapter just tells what happened during one particular race, season or training period.
On the positive side, this book just reeks of authenticity. It's neither a whitewash nor a "tell-all." In fact, controversial subjects like doping and buying/selling race wins are discussed a flat way with very little moralizing. I came away with a real sympathy for the plight of racers, and an appreciation of the grim reality of the racing world.
After reading the book, I feel that a much better book would have been possible if Mr. Parkin's editor had made him discuss bicycle racing's current status through the lens of his own career. In fact, this book reads more like a time capsule journal that some other author will use as source material.
Bottom line: it could have been funnier, more insightful or more introspective. It couldn't have been more authentic. There's value in that!
24 of 30 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Engaging read, August 14, 2008
By mabehr (New York, NY United States)
|
|
I got an advance copy of this book from the Vine program because I've recently become interested in cycling. I liked it a lot, and would recommend it to someone looking for a laid-back read about life as a pro-cyclist.
As an autobiography, I really have to wonder how he ever got it published: I'd never heard of Joe Parkin before picking up the book, and now that I've read it, other than the Tour de Suisse, it didn't sound like he was even on a winning team. In fact, most of Joe's stories are about NOT finishing races, forget about winning them. What he talks about all happened in the late 80's & very early 90's, so if you're looking for stories about pro-cycling as it exists today, sorry. (You'll be able to understand why everyone keeps getting popped for doping today though! Drugs seem to be very prevelent in the cycling culture.) He doesn't really have any stories about the one cyclist from that time that I have heard of: Greg LaMonde besides riding next to him in one race and telling him to pack it in! He has funny stories about other cyclists and coaches who I never heard of, maybe someone with more cycling background would know them all right off.
All that said, I was suprised to find the book a fun read - a bunch of little vingettes that each sounded like I was having a Coke with a guy who was telling me stories about racing in Europe way back when. Because he was sort of an extra, a "helper," and is one of those guys you really would never hear of otherwise, he brings an interesting perspective.
The writing tone is very conversational and easy to read, even with some confusing foreign words thrown in there. Since I got an advance copy, I hope that by the final addition they'll be able to throw in a few extra definitions for people who don't know cycling terminology. Peloton, echelon, 52x14, kermis... it helped to have Google nearby, even though I was generally pretty able to figure out the terminology.
I wish I could write a more compelling review for the book, because after reading it, I really feel like I know Joe, and like him! I would love to buy him a Coke and listen to him tell stories about what happened after he finished racing, especially between him and Charlene...
13 of 17 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
 One Wild Ride, July 25, 2008
By Thunder on the Turf
|
|
July 4, 1987.
For Joe Parkin, that date provided special fireworks, as he signed his first professional cycling contract after a year of showing his stuff in the European amateur ranks. It was a start of wild ride of chasing dreams as - what the Belgians call - "a dog with a hat on" (something familiar, yet decidedly out of place).
The sketches in the memoir chronicle the five years that Parkin rode in the professional peloton as one of the few Americans competing full-time in Europe. Parkin mixes the craziness of the mobile road show with the controversies and tragedies that continue to grip the sport. "The European teams of that era (in Belgium especially) didn't think highly of goody-two-shoes riders," he writes. "Like the vaunted Blue Code of Silence among police, pro bike racing definitely had the Lycra Code of Silence."
But some initial impressions cover the entire course. Parkin was not impressed with the already bitter cyclist, Paul Kimmage, which was several years before he published a controversial book - Rough Ride - that exposed the shadows within professional cycling, including the illegal drug use on teams.
Parkin says he mostly avoided the performance-enhancing drugs of the day, only once taking a mixture of pop and a chalky substance during a particularly tough spot in a semi-classic event. It was given to him by a team official when he complained of an upset stomach.
"Many of the team managers, teammates, friends, and fans I had while living in Belgium would have looked at not taking the drugs as a failure to give 100 percent to being a cyclist," Parkin writes. "A doctor once told me that a well-trained athlete can find about 85 percent of his potential, whereas a well-trained athlete on amphetamines will be able to perform at 105 percent."
But through such pressure comes some incredibly hilarious moments. At one point, Parkin found himself being deported from Belgium when it could not be officially determined what cycling entity was paying his salary and he had a number of high-speed moments in cabs and team vehicles while just trying to get to events.
A brief conversation with Greg LeMond during one major event - as the pair struggled in the back of the pack - found the legendary Tour de France champion heeding some tough advice from the journeyman. "'You'd better quit, man. I can't see that we're possibly going to be going any slower,'" Parkin said. Later, LeMond dropped out of the Tour of Ireland.
But in an era when contracts could be negotiated with handshakes, Parkin seemed to be a day late in finding one during the closing months of what became his final season as a European road racer. He eventually switched to mountain bikes and infrequently returned to Europe for competitions.
And though he may not have had the form to stand on the podium after a major event - and never competed in the Tour de France - Parkin wears a yellow jersey for sharing his recollections on this trek during a special time in American cycling: "....I smile when I tell the stories because my body has long since forgotten the pain I asked it to endure."
9 of 10 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
I didn't think I'd like it until I read it, August 13, 2008
By sanoe.net
|
|
A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium is a book that I would normally never read. I'm not into cycling and I am not normally drawn to "memoirs" as I find them a bit suspect because I have a hard time believing that people can remember things in such detail after years have past when I can barely remember what happened yesterday.
So I'm prejudiced against the kinds of books that A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium represents and I expected to not like it.
But I was pleasantly surprised. The writing itself is conversational as if one were relating a tale at the dinner table. Although I had trouble with the details of stages and flats and the cycling terminology (not to mention the different names of the cyclists), I got the main gist of the sentiment which is to say, the story isn't a sentimental one.
That is Joe Parkin's strength in telling his story. Every thing is told in such a matter-of-fact style that the humorous to the horrific comes through in a natural, unvarnished way. Parkin's struggle to become a better cyclist in a strange world of European cycling and the way that the teams work doesn't try to elicit sympathy for his plight. Instead, he relates his story in a 'that-was-just-the-way-it-was' way and I enjoyed that style very much.
And what I unexpectedly appreciated was the honest way that drugs was dealt with. There is a perception that there is something dishonest in the way that cyclists use drugs and while I wouldn't say that this book encourages the use of doping drugs, I can understand why it is done. These athletes work hard, but the chosen sport is tough one. On the body and in the head. It has always been that way. So it isn't so much that they want to use the drugs as it has become part of keeping the body together. It is easy to be judgmental about such things but the way that it is presented made me understand why it happens in a less judgmental way.
All in all, this wouldn't be a book that I would have picked up, but I'm really glad that I did as it was a most enjoyable and most surprising read. (And as an added note: I gave this book to a friend of mine who is a triathlete to read and normally, he puts off reading the books I give him for months but he plowed through this book in a night. His assessment? He asked if he could keep it because he wanted to re-read it again. That's saying something!)
7 of 10 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
An American Cyclist in Europe, August 5, 2008
By Pete (Houston, TX United States)
|
|
This book is a very short, entertaining read. It keeps up fast pace, moving from race to race and season to season smoothly and quickly. I enjoyed almost all of his stories and thought it was interesting to know what it was like to be an American cylclist in Europe.
If the book is a little thin, at least the author accomplishes his purpose, and does so fairly well. This book is not about the history of cycling, different Americans in cycling, a comprehensive tour of Europe's races, doping or anything like that. It is simply how one cyclist experienced the European circuit in the late 80s and early 90s. For those intrigued by this pursuit, I suggest you give it a read.
6 of 8 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Very interesting-- but also very uneven, July 28, 2008
By L. F. Smith (E. Wenatchee, WA)
|
|
Joe Parkin was one of the very few Americans who were members of European professional bike racing teams in the mid- to late-1980. These were the pre-Lance Armstrong days; in fact, they were the pre-Greg LeMond days, so bike racing was an exotic activity, unknown to most Americans. "A Dog in a Hat" is his account of what that experience was like.
This isn't really a narrative; rather, the chapters read like diary entries. They have a surprising immediacy about them, which is impressive, because Parkin is recounting events that took place a quarter century ago. He really captures the atmosphere of bike racing in those days-- the drugs, betrayals by teammates and management, payoffs, attempts by riders to buy races while they were in progress, and the endless struggle by riders to negotiate contracts with the few well-financed teams. In the process, Parkin discusses many of the tactics that the riders employ during races.
Unfortunately, the book as a whole seems to be composed of such diary entries selected and arranged more or less at random. There's no narrative flow at all, and that makes reading the book both fascinating and frustrating. This is a shame, because with some skilled editing, it could have been an absolutely great book, not merely a good one.
So, I enjoyed Parkin's book a great deal, and I recommend it highly. However, it suffers from a near-total lack of editing. That's really a shame, because Parkin was a pioneer whose story should be-- and could be-- told well, not just adequately.
6 of 8 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A must read for cycling enthusiasts, August 27, 2008
By C. Stephans
|
|
Joe Parkin has written a gem for cycling fans. His book provides keen details from his days as an amateur and professional cyclist in USA and mostly in Europe. He took his grit and determination to Belgium and gained cycling contracts and rode in many of the big European races, the exception being the Tour de France. His book reveals the insiders experience of professional cycling in the 1980's and early 90's. There are plenty of details that readers will find interesting and revealing about the sport.
Readers who do not have much interest in cycling or sports may find this book a bit dull, as the writing quality and narrative on their own do not carry the day. He shares some personal memoir types of thoughts and anecdotes, but mostly he writes about cycling and being in the races and among the riders.
As he writes about the races, you will find yourself pulling for him and cheering him on.
5 of 6 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
What Makes Pro Cyclists Tick?, August 7, 2008
By Lee S. Mairs (Romney, WV United States)
|
|
I knew absolutely nothing about cycling until I got interested in the TV coverage of the Tour de France several years ago. My nephew had raced a little (before breaking collar bones several times in accidents), and he explained me most of the general strategy and most interestingly how the peleton can catch guys that are 15-20 minutes ahead.
A Dog in a Hat completed my education by describing the life of an average cyclist not pre-destined to ever wear a yellow jersey or get a stage win. I would always marvel at these guys ability to race day after day up and down steep mountains. Joe Parkin tells it all based on his pre-Lance Armstrong life in Belgium as a minor professional bike racer. He lays out the pressures to use pharmaceutical products to get every last ounce of energy from the cyclist's body. He reveals the "negotiations" at the head of the pack as cyclist's attempt to bribe for a win. Truly amazing stories all.
His story telling ability reminds me of Bob Roll in the VS coverage of the Tour de France. One gets the feeling of unvarnished truth being rolled out before you without regard to economic consequences late on down the road.
This is a great read. Unfortunately its pages roll by with the pace of sprinters during the last 100 yards of a time trial. It was way too short for my taste, and it leaves me hungering for more.
5 of 6 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Inside the Peloton, August 4, 2008
By Andrew R. Allen (Kansas City, MO)
|
|
Anyone who has even the most cursory knowledge of cycling has heard of the Tour de France, the granddaddy of all cycling races. And for Americans in present day, the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong go hand in hand. Armstrong's books give a view from the front of the pack and what it's like to be one of the most dominant cyclists in the world. A Dog in a Hat contrastingly provides a view from inside the professional European peloton.
After graduating from high school Parkin determined to become a professional cyclist rather than pursuing college like so many of his peers. Rather than hanging around the US cycling world, he received advice to cut his teeth racing in Belgium. So, after saving up money for plane fare to Belgium, he hopped on a flight and was on his way to becoming a "for real" cyclist.
He begins as an amateur and after performing well in some races, eventually attracts the attention of pro teams. His next year is spent learning the ins and outs of the professional world and making rookie mistakes. Along with learning the cycling world he also learns the Belgian culture and begins picking up on Flemmish and Dutch which are the primary local languages.
The quirky title of the book comes from a local expression basically meaning something out of the ordinary. Parkin learns to look for "a dog in a hat" in races when someone is about to make a break, as well as in general life as he adjusts to the rigors of being a professional cyclist in a foreign country.
While Parkin hears of drug use by cyclists prior to coming to Europe, he witnesses it first hand in many races where fellow teammates and competitors regularly use performance enhancing drugs. He also learns of various sordid methods used to beat drug testing. The reader witnesses this dirty side of the sport through his rookie eyes and sees his struggle to maintain integrity while still performing at a high level.
He also learns about the somewhat controversial part of European races where races are sold. This occurs when a breakaway is in progress and one of the riders pays the others to allow him to win. Though this does not make sense to those with a squeaky clean fairness mentality, the practice occurs regularly in European bike races.
For those uninitiated with the sport of cycling, it is very much team oriented and the book does a good job at explaining the ins and outs of working as a team to get the chosen teammate to the finish line before other teams. Overall, though definitely at the pro level, Parkin is not one of the elite riders and as a result serves as a work horse to allow fellow teammates the ability to rest in his slipstream, help when the main rider has bike trouble, control the pace of the peloton, etc. Parkin works his way up from a being on a low level team to riding on a more respected team by the end of his European career.
Throughout the book, you want to root for him to do well and have success despite some of the modest results. It feels in ways like a "Rudy" story based on his desire and heart to be a great cyclist.
Whether you're a hard core cycling fanatic or are passingly aware of the Tour de France each year, you will enjoy this page turning chronicle of a young man's coming of age as a cyclist in Europe. It might even inspire you to dust off that old bike sitting in the closet and take it for a spin.
5 of 7 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
 Needed a Ghost Writer, July 31, 2008
By djbrian (Durham, NC)
|
|
Not everybody was meant to be a writer. When a book is not well-written it is difficult to stay interested in it, no matter how interesting the subject. One big problem here is there is so little context offered. The author just jumps right into the middle of the various anecdotes and aspects of his bike-racing life, without giving any background that would help someone who doesn't know about biking understand what he's talking about. His story itself is interesting - American boy eschews college and a traditional career to go off to Belgium and become a world class bike racer. But the writing of the story is choppy, sloppy, and is missing chunks of information. Someone who knows a lot about bike racing and who doesn't need the context will be able to follow along and will find the book engrossing. But for the rest of us, it's too bad the author didn't tell his story to a professional writer who could have told it in a clearer and more compelling way.
5 of 8 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Fast-paced, August 25, 2008
By Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA)
|
|
This book is a memoir of coming of age on a bicycle. At 18 years old, Parkin decided to try his luck bike racing in Europe. He already had some early racing successes to his credit. A chance conversation with racer Bob Roll sent him to Belgium in 1986. Over the next 5 years, while his compatriots plugged away at American colleges, Parkin learned the sport of professional bike racing, competing on a series of Belgian teams. In this book, Parkin describes his adventures as a professional bike racer in the late 1980s, discussing not only the personalities and techniques of his teammates, but also the drug pushing that was so common at the time.
The book is quite fast-paced, with its behind-the-scenes stories of professional racing. It provides a window into the world of team riding, and into the pressures and politics of professional sports. Amateur bicycle enthusiasts and racers alike may find much of interest in this book.
4 of 5 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Interesting, but disjointed and incomplete, August 17, 2008
By nsv (The Everglades)
|
|
"We watched the show's recap of prior days (of the 1989 Tour de France) and laughed at the explanations the commentator aimed at the noncycling fans in the audience."
Though that quote is from the middle of the book, Joe Parkin's disdain for the "noncycling fans in the audience" is clear from the first chapter. Cycling fans and racers will have no problem understanding the entire book, but someone with only a casual interest would probably find it helpful to have a search engine handy while reading this book. Many racing terms and concepts are mentioned with no explanations at all.
Once you've learned the vocabulary, the rest is a fast, easy read. This book is mostly a catalog of Parkin's races, and it moves quickly from race to race with very little backstory to flesh out the people involved, including the author. Teammates figure prominently in one race and are never mentioned again. The few men who have a long-term working relationship with Parkin are only names. They're clearly important, because they are mentioned in nearly every chapter, but we rarely learn more about them than what they shouted at Parkin while he raced. Names and nicknames blur and become meaningless.
Parkin clearly describes what he's feeling and thinking in every race, but the same clarity does not extend to life outside the races. He begins the book by describing his father's disapproval of his choice to go to Europe to race. Four pages and some months later his father is proudly shaking his hand as he prepares to board the plane. What happened in that time to change his father's opinion is a mystery.
If you want a clinical description of what an average European racer feels, thinks, and plans during mostly small, local races, this is the book for you. If you're looking for a deeper understanding of what drives these athletes to push their bodies to such extremes again and again, you'll have to look elsewhere.
4 of 5 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Interesting read...could its failure to reach its potential be an intentional metaphor for the author's career?, August 4, 2008
By Metalhead (Derwood, MD)
|
|
If the "steroids era" of sports (and let's be honest, it's really the "when steroids became common knowledge and a national news subject era" of sports, because as this book and stories like the tragic ones of the 70s Super Bowl slaughtering Pittsburgh Steelers have shown, the prevalence of steroids in sports is not restricted to this era) has shown us two things, they are that 1) Sports have gotten too big - When steroids are cause for government to waste my tax dollars, then the government better be sure there are no costly wars, crooked politicians, poverty-stricken citizens, employment and economy issues...(the list goes on and on) that would have obvious priority over such issues as behemoths injecting clear and rubbing cream in locker rooms and 2) Drugs in sports makes for really interesting discussion (proving it has no place in politics).
As one of few sports nuts who has not read Canseco's literary masterpiece, I was intrigued by what A Dog in a Hat would teach me about the corruption of the supposedly (and by Parkin's counts, rightfully so) most corrupt international sport: Cycling. And while it is comforting to know that cycling does indeed seem to be as depraved as you've heard, probably even more so, this book's lack of development makes this issue, and many other elements of the book, fail to provide the reader with a sense that each little, and the overall story is fulfilling enough.
This shortcoming is amplified if you have little to know knowledge of cycling, cycling terms, rules, race types, bicycle construction, etc. as Parkin throws out terms and descriptions that would be fitting for the understanding of no one outside the cycling world, with no explanations. Though his stories give me a vague idea of what a "kermis" is, the idea is so incomplete that, until further explanation, I will continue to visualize it as a race of many green frogs.
More disappointing is the impossibility of getting to know the author. While there are a few moments which provide insight into the soul of this obviously passionate racer, most of the stories he tells (because the book does read more like sequential stories with often rough, sometimes absent transitions) seem to be either added to serve an alternate purpose other than to continue the story or are so disorganized or underdeveloped that you only get pieces of a story to put together, missing the emotions and theories of the players, and the intricacies and subtexts of the plot. Parkin introduces so many seemingly intriguing cyclists, but often limits his introductions to fleeting anecdotes (c'mon, I want to hear more about the crazed amphetamine-heads!).
Don't get me wrong, for a quick (200 large font, well-spaced sentence pages) and interesting read, A Dog in a Hat has its merits. In fact, the detailed development of many of Parkin's races provides great entertainment running the gamut from intense to touching (Parkin describes one race when his father, a Marine, was riding in the team car, and since he was suffering from Alzheimer's, Parkin did not know if his frantic waving to go on was a response of his disease or not, but given his father's initial disapproval of a cycling career, Parkin recollects that he chose to think of it as a reaction of his father "getting to live the moment with me"), to amusing.
Indeed, there are moments of hilarity, like Parkin's observation of his team's habits on a tour bus, "I have never understood the attraction of a group of guys watching porn together, and when they watch the same porn together over and over again, I think there may be something wrong." But these moments, which add depth to his story and provide insight into his character, are too few, even for a quick-paced 200 page book.
The lack of elaboration also makes Parkin's comparison of the "beautiful and angelic" working girls of Las Vegas to the not as satisfactory working girls of France, statements that "The European riders of that era (in Belgium especially) didn't think highly of goody-two-shoes[aka "clean"]riders" combined with insinuations that US riders are predominantly above such cheating, and his story of one of his heroes, Paul Kimmage, in which he sneaks in the fact that said hero did everything but directly say that everyone at a particular race he competed in (of which Parkin was a part) was doped-up, seem disappointingly self-serving and nationalistic. The latter example seems so out of place that it is hard not to think of it as a jab that Parkin just had to take, regardless of how well or poorly it supported the flow of his overall story. Just as maddening is the way Parkin name-drops, suggesting his view of cycling is that it has been brought to the kind of popularity that Tiger Woods has brought to golf.
Of course, when it comes down to it, it seems that the fact that Parkin lived his life as a cyclist and not as a writer and that he may be a bit mislead on how many people exist that possess the kind of cycling knowledge that one would need to possess to truly understand this book account for most of the book's shortcomings, but for those rabid readers who are constantly trying to keep up with subject trends or those who are interested in the tabloid fervor of steroids (though this topic is the most mysteriously underdeveloped in the book), or even those who enjoy digging deep in grounds of sports (who knew how often cyclists failed to finish races out of, no, not injury, bicycle damage or fatigue, but boredom, a sense of futility, the irresistible temptation of a good bribe from a racer who really wants to win, and team directives) then this is an interesting read. If your reading time is on short supply and high demand, this book will simply not leave you feeling as though your time was well spent.
4 of 5 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Probably a good read if you are a serious cycling fan, August 2, 2008
By feminist military spouse (Akron, OH)
|
|
This book is definitely a Dog in a Hat: something familiar, but decidedly different. However, it is not a dog in the hat the way you want a great book to be.
For starters, it is sorely lacking direction. At times it seems the goal is a chronological recounting of Mr. Parkin's career, but there are other times when multiple races and reflections from different times are jumbled together in a way that suggests perhaps the chapter was meant to be grouped around similar types of experiences. This made the book more of a slog to the finish than a race where you dive in at the cover, building speed throughout, suddenly to emerge breathless and saddened that it is over.
The second problem I had was one that I believe is a limitation caused as much by my unfamiliarity with the terminology of professional cycling as by Mr. Parkin's assumption that everyone who reads his book is as entrenched in the cycling world as he is. At a minimum, it would be a much better work if there were something as simple as a dictionary in the back where I could find these unfamiliar words defined. At a maximum, I would have killed for great character sketches of the other people in his narrative, since I could never truly get a sense of who they were and what they were truly like.
Which leads me to my third point, this book was in dire need of adjectives. While, Mr Parkin's enthusiasm for his sport and his time in Europe comes across clearly, his actual lack of descriptions do not convey the beauty of the countryside, the depth or magnitude of his relationships with others, what these people looked like, breathed like, and cared about. They were, instead, rather 2-dimensional, causing me to feel like I was reading a travelogue rather than getting to participate in these great experiences Mr. Parkin had and the lessons that he learnt.
And then, my last and perhaps biggest problem: Every good book, or even article for that matter, must have a message of some kind. An author must answer the fundamental question: Who cares? I felt like Mr. Parkin raises several issues throughout the work that could have been these central "Who cares?" issues, but none come to the forefront and are tied together into a take away message. Was the point that every cyclist has limits and has a level beyond which they cannot pass, and that good cyclists know what that is and gear their careers accordingly? He certainly poses this question early in the book, but I never got a satisfactory answer. Was the central issue that great cyclists are not the ones who always come in 1st, but are instead those members of a team who can put the team ahead of personal aspirations? Was this what is meant by being a real professional? I don't know.
What I do know is that this book left me feeling like I had missed something, something that should have been on those pages and wasn't. I wanted more mud and blood and gritty descriptions. I wanted more beautiful scenery and deep betrayals. But my emotions weren't stirred at all and I felt in the end that perhaps Mr. Parkin had a great story in there somewhere, perhaps not, but from where I was sitting, he seemed to have left things as unfinished as the American riders he so heavily crticized in the book.
4 of 5 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Dog Without a Tail..., August 8, 2008
By DVD collector (Chicago)
|
|
You know, I wanted to like this book, I really did. I just found myself putting it down every 10 pages or so out of lack of interest. It was a very narrow story, but it lacked teeth, it reads like a straight forward bio, just the facts. The narrative was emotionally lacking, just a total monotone. There is just not enough of life outside Bicycling to hold my interest.
The book is all over, jumping from place to place without a frame of reference. I just got bored, confused and then disinterested. If you love bicycling, bike racing you might like this novel if you can stay interested, I could not. I felt like I had to struggle with every page reading this after the first few. Just plain flat. Hard to recommend.
4 of 8 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Delicious memoirs from a "B list" cyclist, January 5, 2010
By Paul Allaer (Cincinnati)
|
|
Let me state upfront that I grew up in Flanders, Belgium (lived there until I came to the US at age 23 in 1983) and that I am a huge fan of pro-cycling (Eddy Merckx is a national icon in Belgium, of course). I stumbled onto this book, never having heard of Joe Parkin before in my life. What a delicious treat this book is.
In "A Dog In a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Drugs, Blood, Betrayal and Beauty in Belgium" (219 pages), Joe Parkin brings the unlikely tale of a decent-but-not-great bike rider who takes the plunge at a young age to move to Belgium to try and make it in the pro-cycling world in the late 80s. At that time, Greg Lemond was one of the few other Americans in the pro-cycling world, but Parkin was nowhere ever near Lemond's level. Parkin moves in with a Flemish host family and immerses himself in the Flemish environment and becomes one of them, even learning the language well enough to have meaningful conversation in the local language (not sure of Lemond ever did that, but I could be wrong). Parkin is in American terms a minor league baseball player who occasionally gets called up to the majors, but it doesn't matter and it's not a slight to Parkin whatsoever: he lived the pro-cycling dream for 6 years of being there, how many American cyclists can say that in those days (1986 through 1991)?
Parkin's tales of the "kermis" (carnival, i.e. baseball level triple AAA) races make for riveting, and laugh-out-loud, reading. Perkin was a member of the 1988 US World Championship race which happened to be held in Belgium, a highlight of his career and where he did well enough to be noticed and get a better contract for the next year. Parkin's love and affection for Flanders, its people and culture, and the cycling world there shines throughout this book. What a fantastic book this is, and HIGHLY RECOMMENED for any true pro-cycling fan from those crazy days of the late 80/early 90s. Goe' gedaan, jong!
3 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Parkin barkin', September 12, 2009
By Peqoudian (North Platte, NE USA)
|
|
This brief history of a racing career is as gritty and close to the ground as you'll ever get when talking about the world of professional bike racing. Parkin keeps all pretension in check and takes a good, hard look at his racing career. Talk about true grit! This is one of those wonderful small classics in a very specialized genre. This is a book that sits right next to Paul Fournel's "Need for the Bike". Both represent the wonderful grittiness of having to ride for love and/or a livelihood.
3 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Highly entertaining inside look at the world of pro cycling!, March 3, 2009
By cycling DO (Rutherfordton, NC)
|
|
Perhaps more fascinating is the time it took for this book to be written by anyone. It appears that the unwritten vow of secrecy in this world lives on. I love cycling and I love this book. I have had so many questions about the techniques of racing in the real world and Joe Parkin answers so many. More interesting, however, is the rather decent way he looks back at this chapter in his life and seems to recognize it for what it was. I will continue to admire professional cyclists and the dedication required, but will now watch them perform with greater clarity thanks to Joe Parkin.
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Couldn't put this book down., January 8, 2009
By Jason A. Herman (Washington, DC United States)
|
|
I could not put this book down and was sad to see that it was over so soon.
This is a wonderfully written book filled with first hand accounts of a great American cyclist who says "I'm going to Europe". You meet so many people during the course of a group ride or a bike shop who talk about going to Belgium one day and just try to make it. This book talks about one such cyclist, Joe Parkin, who does just that. This story has vivid stories filled with youthful enthusiasm about his racing experiences.
There are so many stories about people larger than life like Lance Armstrong. It is really nice to read a book about the other 95% of cycling. A reader is vividly taken back to the small towns of Belgium where the rain fades in and out all day and you sit at the bar sharing a Leffe Bruine, some frites, and looking at the racing odds written on a small chalkboard in the corner.
This is a must read for people who want to read about the heart and soul of cycling and the adventurous American's who actually make that flight with a few dollars, their bicycle, and dreams of making it.
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Great story-telling, interesting read, September 4, 2008
By J. Muench (NY United States)
|
|
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book! I knew very little about cycling, but Joe Parkin recounted many stories of his cycling career, going to Belgium, the different types of races and the challenges of each, how hard it is to win and how easy to lose.
He tells it like he saw it; his forthrightness was refreshing. I read this not as a strict timeline of his career, but as a lovely braindump for just a chunk of time. I enjoyed this format very much, as we do so much during the day in a linear fashion, and this was "here's a point in time in my career story", nothing more, nothing less.
As an American in Belgium--and he seems to be a very perceptive and intuitive fellow--he also was able to pick up on the nuances of a culture and describe it in a perfectly objective voice. He is not critical or demeaning, just explains it as it is. I mention this as his chapter headings (and title) are translated (mostly) idioms--such as A Dog in a Hat. It's a phrase meaning that there is something common (a dog) doing something unexpected (like wearing a hat!) There are quite a few of these throughout the book, and I really enjoyed getting a different perspective, similar to trying to explain our "as the crow flies" or "when pigs have wings" to a foreign visitor.
If you can enjoy a good braindump story, are not confined to strict linear story movement, can appreciate a 'foreigner in a foreign land' perspective, and would like to learn a little more about professional cycling, you'll find this a good read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Not everyone wears the yellow jersey., August 30, 2008
By Sam I Am (San Rafael, CA)
|
|
This is fun, escapist memoir of an American cyclists adventure in the European racing scene. It is an easy going adventure that should interest any cyclist who daydreams of running off and joining the gritty, sometimes romantic world of professional cycling. Our author, Joe Parkin, begins his story as an aspiring amatuer cyclist and lands a spot on Belgium racing team for what amounts to minimum wage pay. He describes the long hours training, the performance enhancing drugs taken by literally everyone, the physical hardship and thankless hours in the saddle in which he has some victories but mostly remains a solid "pack" rider without any significant wins.
He never becomes a champion like former teammate Greg Lemond that he aspires to be. Nevertheless his vigorous pursuit of this goal yields a rich life. Not many of us get past the armchair dreaming of such adventure.
The book is an easy read but meanders like a bar conversation with a good friend. A worthy read for the cycling enthusiast.
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
It IS a dog in a hat!!, August 21, 2008
By gotta run now (Seattle)
|
|
Cycling is a national pastime in Europe, and in Belgium especially. Professional cyclists are regarded as heroes, and unlike in America where only 1st place is recognized, Europeans appreciate the value of "domestiques", whose primary objective is to assist the team leader in winning the race. Most professional racers toil away in relative obscurity, although if recognized as a cyclist acheive a certain level of stardom simply because they ride a bike. An American racing in Belgium, the author has some tales to tell. I suspect some of the better ones are left untold, but this was a compelling read, nonetheless. The author's style is very casual, and I felt as though I was sitting in a bar, hearing about the days he worked as a cyclist in Europe. There is not really a beginning, middle, and end to this memoir, as it is not merely a story.
I found the doping anecdotes interesting, especially in light of American doping stories. Floyd Landis aside (and i'm not commenting on HIS guilt or innocence, merely his notoriety), the cheaters we hear about are baseball players. In the 80's it apparently was extremely common to use whatever was handed to you, if it meant you'd cross the finish line in a respectable time. While the author doesn't go into too much detail about this, the fact that he declined drug offers sort of told me he had an inkling it was a bad idea. But the attitudes towards dopers in cycling was far different 20 years ago than it is now.
The cyclists described by the author in Dog in a Hat live a life incomprehensible to most of us. They stay in dives, they eat weird food, they train at a level that would kill most of us. And they love every minute of it because it keeps them in the sport to which they've dedicated their very being.
I found the tale told in this book to be amusing and insightful. I suspect if told in person, I'd be rolling on the floor laughing. Bob Roll can do that to me as well, and I wonder how much this author held back.
Overall, if you have an intrest in classic European bicycle racing, you will enjoy this book. If you pick it up because you like to ride in your neighborhood on weekends, chances are you won't get it. If you occasionally watch the Tour de France on TV in July, you might enjoy the historical perspective. If you are looking for a tell-all, look elsewhere. But if you enjoy the European circuit, and some of the smaller races, the politics, the strategy, and the dedication of professional cycling, you will enjoy this book.
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
An Excellent Sports Memoir, August 19, 2008
By A Strange Hero to a Select.. (Phillipsburg, NJ)
|
|
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.
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Overall, a good read, August 1, 2008
By Terry Crock (Massillon, Ohio USA)
|
|
The author, Joe Parkin, started his professional bicycling racing career after meeting "Lobotomy Bob," a pro racer who told Joe that Joe should give him his new bike because he needed it more than Joe needed it. Joe kept his bike, but gave up his shot at an U.S. military academy education to move to Belgium to become a pro bicycle racer.
Once in Belgium, Joe's troubles mounted. He failed to complete race after race and the team he raced with was less than he expected. In his words, "The Problem with my team was that it sucked. We had some neopros who lacked any discernible talent. We had some Dutch riders who seemed to be more interested in shooting amphetamines than any sort of racing."
Doping at the time Joe raced, in the late eighties and early nineties, was expected. In fact, Joe states, "The European teams of that era didn't think highly of goody-two-shoes riders," meaning those who refused to "help" their teams by not doping. Joe himself realized the benefits of drugs in one race in which he was failing miserably when he was handed a small bottle from the passing team car and was told to drink it. Suddenly, he was "Superman," easily surging to the front of the pack, passing "former Tour de France stage winners, classics winners, and other notable bike racers."
In that race, Joe had become "A Dog in a Hat," something out of place, part of a situation that was not normal, a tired racer near to the point of dropping out of the race who suddenly and without explanation regains more than his normal strength, takes the lead, and fights off all his competition. However, all is not good as Joe realizes that his new strength is "outweighed by the fact that I was also becoming more stupid by the second." Joe purposely slows his superhuman pace in order to avoid a podium position in fear of being sent to doping control.
Joe makes few judgements concerning bike racing. He just tells his story in a matter-of-fact way that informs the reader of both the pains and glories of bike racing. He speaks of doping, riders paying each other off for a win, riders stabbing their teammates in the back, idiots, joksters, well known professionals, and both the fun and disappointments of his career.
I have never watched a bike race in my life, but this was an enjoyable book to read from start to finish. In fact, I read the book in one several-hours-long sitting. To me the interest is that the book is more than just a bike book, it is a human-interest book in which I learned more about how other people live. There are a few faults, though, in that several times in the book a story is started and then the author moves on without seemingly finishing the story. One instance was when the author tells of seeing Tour Le France winner, Greg Lemond, in terrible shape and dropping out of a major race. But then the author moves on without mentioning why Greg was so miserable. I wanted to know why he was in such bad shape. Most likely the author didn't know, but it would have made a better story to know the reason. There are also many instances of the author quickly moving from one subject to another that make the book somewhat "jumpy" at times.
I would assume that if one was already knowledgeable about the life of a bike racer, this book may not present anything new, but I do not possess that knowledge, so the book, even though not the most well-written book, held my interest from beginning to end. The author moves at a quick enough pace that the story is never boring, and the reader is always wondering what is going to happen next. While the author was talented enough that he represented the United States at the World Professional Cycling Championships, he seems to see his bike-racing career as a job like any other job and does not appear to have the giant ego that some professional athletes acquire. In fact, by the end of the book, I found that I liked the guy.
As I mentioned before, this book could have been better written, but overall, it was an entertaining book to read, and I also learned things I knew little about before. I recommend it to others.
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Parkin's Book is A Dog in a Hat, January 14, 2009
By Interested in Everything (Colorado)
|
|
I won't spoil the metaphor for you, because you need to read this book. I am a cyclist, but as other reviewers have pointed out, you do not need to be a cyclist to absolutely love this book.
Parkin lived "the dream" of being a pro rider, insomuch as saying that the dream, like many others, can eat you alive. Parkin started young, like all great cyclists, and this book proves out how tough it is to make it as a pro. Don't kid yourself if you have never raced bikes: it is ridiculous the amount of abuse that goes into making it to even a Cat3 rider. Joe's story pushes past all of that and simply gives you the feeling he is sitting next to you, telling you stories. I am grateful for it. Too many other books try to flower up the sport, or spin the sport into something evil, while very few are just what this book is: a racers story.
If you are not into cycling, you can read this as a memoir, or a bit of anecdotal storytelling, but the beauty of the book is that you can read it that way as a cyclist also.
3 of 5 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Flat tire, August 13, 2008
By Dangle's girl (Astoria, NY United States)
|
|
The Olympics always puts me in the mood to read about sports--and I love Belgian beer--so I thought A Dog in a Hat, Joe Parkin's tale of bike racing in Belgium, would be a fun read. Unfortunately, this book shows no sign of ever having encountered an editor or even critical reader. The narrative lurches helter-skelter from subject to subject with little explanation or character development. Key terminology is never defined, names are dropped left and right that have no significance to a non-bike-racing fanatic and cliches abound: Parkin's mom has "an old soul," whatever that means. Parkin has a great subject but skids far off course due to lack of editing.
3 of 6 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
As real as it gets, October 15, 2010
By Artur Golebiewski
|
|
I have raced during the same era as Joe, although never at the same level as him, but I can attest to the fact that what he writes is absolutely and indescriminately real. He is able to capture the essence of what was considered "cool" during those days and frankly talks about the low end of the sport, the buying of races, the drugs and the dissapointments. Yet in all this misery he is able to find beauty and relate this to the reader. When he talks about the beauty or riding in rain, wind and mud in March in Belgium and is longing for that I can realate to him. He was one of the few American Pros that really understood the essence of the sport as it is known and practiced in Europe for generations. He maintains a postive attitude towards his experiences, even though by pure results we may consider his career a failure. He rode and raced for the lifestyle and the unmatched and unreplicated experience of racing, not for results. He is one of the few people in this world that has honestly given it his best and while not succeeding in results has fulfilled his dream...and then wrote about it so well. If you want to know what it is like for 95% of the peleton in the European Pros, then or now, buy the book. If you want an edited "Champion's tale" buy an Armstrong or LeMond book. I have read many cycling books and this one is by far the best. I am ready to buy Joe's second book now.
Mr. G.
2 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A cyclist's cyclist, June 11, 2009
By sap (MI)
|
|
We have here a true cycling story, but one that's not just for cyclists or cycling fans. I think through the writer's style he opens the sport up enough for anyone to enjoy, but I have to admit that I probably only own the book because I am a lifelong casual/amateur cyclist myself (about the same age as Joe).
Many reviews speak of JP not being a "winner" or on a winning team, but this book exemplifies the lives of many racers down through the years. The domestique (translates as "servant") as they are known, cycle for the pure love of the sport and give their all for the team. They turn themselves inside out to ride at the front into the wind or to pace up a hill, they give up their bike for a team leader if he has a mechanical, they carry extra food and water, they live through vicarious glory and the sense of accomplishment that only comes from working hard. It's an everyman's story, but Joe chased his dream instead of wondering about what could have been. He measured himself against the best in the world in his "trade" and found out where he stood.
I think this book gives personal, conversational, "warts and all" insight into the life of a guy many of us would envy, but few would have the courage to emulate. A great read.
2 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A Journey to the Middle, September 18, 2008
By Authority on boys and toys (Rhode Island)
|
|
Joe Parkin was one of the few American cyclists competing in Europe in the 1980's, well before the success of Lance Armstrong and his team made cycling popular in the States. Parkin's book provides a journal style recounting of his participation in a succession of minor and major races. He succeeds best when he introduces us to the arcane world of Belgian racing, but he fails to make that world as interesting or as comprehensible as it should be.
This book should be better. It should shock and amuse and educate us about the underbelly of European biking in the same way Anthony Bourdain* shocks and amuses us and lets us in on the secrets of the restaurant biz in Kitchen Confidential. All that said, if you're a committed cyclist or you're just curious about anything that tries to explain the sport, this book will be worth picking up.
*I'm no relation and my make no money off this plug.
2 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
excellent insight into euro pro bike racing, April 2, 2009
By An Independent Thinker (Milwaukee, WI)
|
|
As a former competitive cyclist, this book intrigued me from the start. Although my racing was purely amateur, I always wondered what being on the pro tour was like.
This book gives you a first hand look at the pro bike circuit in Europe. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
I loved this book and couldn't put it down. Even if you aren't into pro cycling, you will enjoy this. There is so much in the news about doping - especially the intense scrutiny of Lance Armstrong. To really understand the sport, you need to read this book.
If you ever wondered what it would be like to actually make a living as a pro cyclist, this book will answer that for you. Joe Parkin explains it all and you can really feel what it is like to be in on the action.
Overall recommend pretty highly. You won't be disappointed.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Worthwhile, January 11, 2009
By K. Kehler (B.C., Canada)
|
|
This book is a lot like the author: it has promise, accomplishes a fair bit/does the job, but is still a journeyman effort. It's very informative, without being too salacious; I respect Parkin for (presumably) not embellishing. It's the story of a very tough, very game journeyman pro who leaves the American midwest as a very young man (largely against his family, though his mother supports his decision to pursue his dream) who travels to Belgium -- arguably the spiritual home of bicycling in the post WWII period -- to become a pro. It's all about the hardscrabble races in the rain and mud, over the cobblestones. It deals with the tedium and fatigue of endless training, the race jostling, the buying and selling of minor races, and the various drugs some of the riders too (mainly amphetamines). A lot of bicycle books are written by or about the big names, and deal with the biggest races. This modest book gives you the gritty truth about the lives of the tens of thousands who are in the second or third tier of road racers, without whom the bicycling world wouldn't be what it is.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Incredible pro cycling memoir, November 28, 2008
By Bikelink (Philadelphia, PA)
|
|
If you race (or are a fan of racing) you must read this...what racing is really really like as a pro. Most of us (myself included..38 y/o cat 4) will never go pro, but still what a story of what it's REALLY like. I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of what life is like for all those 'pack fodder' guys in the 120+ person peloton's you see on TV. Well written, you tear through this in no time...it's the story/reality you always wanted to hear and didn't know existed. Much more interesting and revealing than a memoir of a TDF champion, this story is more like what it would be like for 'one of us.' Finally, how could you not love a book where the forward (written by Bob Roll) tells a large segment of potential readers to "F O and D". If you are reading this review you must read this book.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Real World Professional Cycling, November 16, 2008
By Heavyhitter (Brooklyn, New York USA)
|
|
If you want insight into day in day out real world professional cycling. It took real guts for a kid just out of high school to leave home, head off Belgium to become a professional cyclist. Joe Parkin did that and now has written I great book about his experiences. Not everyone can be a Lance Armstrong, Bernard Hinault or Greg LeMond but the thrill of striving to competitive at almost that level, while knowing you never will, is the real courage of professional riders like Joe. Joe started his pro career in the country of the greatest cyclist of the 20th Century Eddie Merckx riding Kermis races.The highlight of Joe's European pro career was helping his teammate Luc Roosen win the Tour de Suisse (Tour of Switzerland). His descriptions of riding in those Swiss mountain stages were agonizing read. By the way Joe Parkin can write. I thoroughly enjoyed this book both as a great read and for its insight into a sport I am learning to love.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A must-read for any cyclist!, October 30, 2008
By D. Page (USA)
|
|
As someone who came into cycling in the era when Parkin was a Euro-pro (mid 1980's), I totally love this book! It captures the passion I felt for a sport at a time when it was just starting to register on the American consciousness via such riders as Greg LeMond and the boys of the 7-11 team. In the 1980's, I think every cyclist wanted to make the jump over the pond; very few actually had the guts to try on their own. It leaves no doubt as to the difficulty of pro cycling in Europe, and in particular, the difficulty for someone from a traditionally non-cycling nation faces in order to be successful. It paints an honest portrait of what it takes to succeed in the world's hardest sport. My only regret in reading this book was that it wasn't about 200 pages longer - I couldn't get enough!
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Funny & sobering in one go., October 12, 2008
By Paul Larivière (Mechelen - Belgium)
|
|
Being a Flemish cycling enthousiast(after all, our love for cycling is a genetic feature of most Flemings...) I was really curious to read the story of this "Yankee at the World Centre of Cycling". I must say I was positively surprised by his no-nonsens approach, with easy to read, well written chapters and a nice set of glossy colour pictures. The odd Flemish expressions and curses thrown in, add a nice local flavour to the stories and enhance their credibility. Joe is very straightforward, outspoken and - I want to believe - honest in his analysis of the tough small inner circle of life on the racebike in Europe, especially Flanders, where he came to look for a career in professional cycling. The backroom politics, backbiting amongst riders donning the same jersey, the relation with the directeurs sportifs, the way races are "pre-arranged", all confirm the fact that the only message for naive newcomers is to accept the unwritten rules of the peleton or get destroyed... Joe doesn't dodge the tricky issue of organized doping either, which shows how doping had become generally accepted in cycling and inherited by one generation of riders to the next one. The book is a real page turner and reads like a 53 X 11 gear during a descent. Most recommended to anyone interested in sports in general and cycling in particular.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Honest biography, October 6, 2008
By R. W. Ridlehuber (Spartanburg, SC)
|
|
A Dog in a Hat is an honest autobiography of Joe Parkin, one of America's original Euro Pro's. His story is vivid, real, compelling, and believable. He doesn't make excuses for his performance while trying to make it in Europe and gives insight into the kind of pressures, and tactics used in the late 80's and early 90's to win races. I think the sport is cleaner than it was back then, but with the recent positives from the Tour de France, we still have a ways to go. Good, fast reading for the cyclist who has been around long enough to remember the teams and riders Joe references.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Excellent writing, interesting book, September 30, 2008
By J. DAVIDSON (New York, NY United States)
|
|
I'm surprised by the negative comments about how this book is written. I'm an aspirational triathlete, not especially knowledgeable about cycling & really more of a voracious reader than anything else, and I thought the quality of the writing compares with the best of what's out there in this vein. It's not, in other words, an entirely straightforward and linear non-fiction book (like Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike" or Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential," mentioned below, both of which are indeed very good books which take the goal of explaining things very thoroughly and clearly for a non-specialist audience, in Armstrong's case for inspirational purposes and in Bourdain's for the purpose of satirical expose); it's a more impressionistic & really VERY well-written account of some scenes in the life of the bike racer, and I enjoyed it very much indeed. It's worth mentioning in the same breath as Tim Krabbe's classic "The Rider," which surely was in Parkin's mind as he was writing - anyway, I highly recommend this book, especially if you're a more literary-type person as well as a cycling type!
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Good story but needing help explaining it, September 17, 2008
By ck_361
|
|
To me this book was a disappointing read. I did, however, receive an advanced copy that will no doubt go through a re-write, but basic fundamentals aside this book needs work.
Most writers write something and take a moment to explain so as not to confuse the reader. In this case the author takes a paragraph or two before explaining, or not at all, which makes for a thorny read. Example: "I had not even gotten the first pin pushed into my number when the Dutch guy started filling a 1-cc syringe with clear liquid from a 10-cc "potje." (pg14) What's a "potje"? What's a "suppositories"? What does "Franc prime" mean? Whose the "chaff" that got weeded out? And why not take a moment to explain who Jim Ochowicz and Johan Bruyneel are? Both are influential figures in cycling, and the fact the author cycled with them is way cool!
In one passage the author cuts through everything to conclude the section with: "I was 11th in the race. I attacked out of a big group with about 2 km to go, and surprisingly, I was not caught." (pg 15) It's hard to feel emotion and follow along when we're not given anything to visualize.
A slight annoyance I found is that I don't think it's necessary to write out how you would say something in another language if you're already told us what you've said in English. For Example: "I'm sick. I was in Burgos, and I got sick. Jules said I must only start," I said and then repeated myself in Flemish. "Ik ben ik ziek. Ik heb in Burgos geweest. Jules zegt dat ik moet alleen de start nemen." (pg 19) Did you just scan over the Flemish section? Probably. So why put it in there? There's a bit of this in the book and I found it distracting.
Overall I just felt this book had potential but fell short. There's not a lot of explanation, and I really had to work to enjoy it. All is not lost though, the books does get better, there are a lot of interesting discussions: kermis racers, "nobody else in the photo," the culture and inner workings of cycling, and the deals being made between riders to win races. Cyclists hardly ever discuss the insiders view, so it was great to read about those moments. I also think the author got it right when he says: "Throw any group of highly motivated, highly competitive, and sometimes chemically altered athletes together, and tensions will mount..." (pg15)
"To this day, I have a hard time speaking cycling like an American. I cut my teeth racing in Belgium, so its expressions are the ones that come naturally to me." (pg 12). I think this may explain the issue here: great story, but needing help to explain it all. I hope the editors take a serious review of the book because this could really be a great book. Really I vote 2 1/2 stars but Amazon doesn't offer the 1/2.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
I actually liked it a lot, September 5, 2008
By General Pete (SC)
|
|
This is coming from a guy who has no personal experience cycling and normally wouldn't have looked twice at the book except for the free sample aspect and I've been on a big personal story kick recently. The way this book sucks you in is by being so amazingly heartfelt and genuine amazing considering I felt that I would hate the book. The author tells you about the good times and does not (as these types of books often do) gloss over those parts that would be considered less then flattering.
Overall-Excellent book.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
for its audience, very good, August 24, 2008
By neurasthenic (New York City, New York)
|
|
I enjoyed this book more than I had expected to -- Joe Parkin is a former pro rider who made no impact in the few years he raced. His memoir contains detailed descriptions of the drug abuse and cheating rampant in the ranks of second-tier Euro-pros, and I had expected it to be a rehash of material much more bravely raised by Paul Kimmage in his 1990 "Rough Ride." There is a subtle but significant difference though -- where Kimmage was bitter about his experiences as a rider, full of venom at those who doped and supported doping, and (later) at those who excoriated him for talking about it, Parkin remembers his days as a racer mostly fondly.
Yes, he describes bribing French policemen with a pair of sunglasses so he could hang onto their car for an illegal tow to the finish line in the middle of a race. Yes, he describes precisely how riders of this era (late 1980s, early 1990s) doped, and even names some names. Yes, he describes riders bribing their competitors to guarantee a victory. He clearly most enjoys mocking those who engage in these activities when they go awry, as when one drug-mooching rider was given valium before a race by an exasperated teammate.
The book riffs off the false modesty and forced camaraderie of a typical sports autobiography. Here is Parkin's description of one of his early teams: "Imagine your favorite sitcom, throw in four or five different dialects, shave fifty points off everyone's IQ."
Any competitive cyclist would probably enjoy this book.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Making a person crazy, August 18, 2008
By Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA)
|
|
To be a professional bike racer happened to be the product of an eighteen year old's imagination. Arriving in Belgium to commence his career as a professional cyclist, the author is sent by his coach to a doctor to be tested. In 1987 he achieved pro status. He had been told that three years in the pros made a person crazy.
Joe Parkin learned that all team directors had visions of the one big sponsor. Belgians are fair weather fans. The country has produced the greatest cyclist, Eddy Merckx, and everyone else is compared with him. Cycling in Belgium is more Flemish than French.
Kermis, (kermis races), means carnival. Before representing the U.S. in world competition Joe Parkin found his form. In Belgium one races oftentimes on cobblestones. After racing in Belgium, Joe raced in Casper, Wyoming, and experienced culture shock. Wyoming seemed to be chaotic.
By the fourth year of racing, the author was able to join the inner circle of his team. He improved with more racing and in 1990 got the chance to race a lot. During the 1990 season Joe's schedule was filled with stage races, not the kermis races. He raced in England and Ireland, also.
The director of the Tulip team asked Joe to return for the 1991 season. In the meantime he was given the chance to race in Mexico for three weeks. In that same year he was sideline with mononucleosis and next he was selected to race in the Alps and then placed on a Tulip squad to race in the United States. After 1991 Joe wasn't hired by any of the European teams.
After Belgium, racing in America didn't seem like the same sport. In subsequent years Joe Parkin participated in races using mountain bikes. This book is sprightly. The memoir is of great interest to the general reader and must be ambrosia to the fan.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
This'll make you wanna jump on a bicycle after reading, August 18, 2008
By Neal C. Reynolds (Indianapolis, Indiana)
|
|
On the first page, the author describes his mom as one who "sees life as something limited only by one's own imagination" and then proceeds to tell how this philosophy shaped his life. Joe Parkin's narrative certainly conveys the feeling of his life as a bicycle racer. He generously peppers it with delightful anecdotes, but the essence of the book lies in his description of the races themselves. He's honest in relating this life and doesn't omit the things you might not want to know about such as the use of drugs and the "deals" team riders make with each other. However, don't let the blurb on the book's cover make you expect a book about drug use and the like. Rather,this is a book about his love for the sport.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Slowest Bike in town...., August 17, 2008
By Kiwi (The Land of Enchantment)
|
|
At first, this book seemed very interesting to me because I know nothing about cycling. I have also never been able to "stomach" Lance Armstrong, so I thought if I understood the sport better, I'd have more insight about the whole process. I think the author put forth a good effort but nonetheless, I had to struggle to finish it..(approaching the finish line seemed to drag on and on....)
There are parts which are very witty and discriptive which made me smile, but for the most part, I was very bored with it. I learned about the undertow of cycling and that this sport can be as unhonorable as any other, but that the physical endurance is exceptionally brave and rewarding on a personal level. This is not a well choreographed read. It tends to jump around too much which makes the ride too bumpy.
There is nothing more powerful than a book you can't put down. This, is NOT that book.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Interesting read if you're interested in cycling, August 13, 2008
By jellybiscuit (Raleigh, NC United States)
|
|
Dog in a Hat provides a glimpse into the life of an ordinary pro cyclist in the late 80's/early 90's.
If you don't have an interest in cycling, go find a different book. If you do, then there will likely be enough to hold your attention.
Imagine sitting across from Joe while he recalls his racing years. This is how the book reads. It's not polished, planned or following some master story line. It's simply Joe recalling his adventures. Were I not a cyclist, I doubt I'd care to hear his stories and would drop the book after the first couple of chapters. Since I do ride, I did find it mildly amusing.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
An insightful look at elite bike racing, August 10, 2008
By Flo (California)
|
|
Having been around the biking scene in the 80's as a promoter, I was fascinated by Joe Parkin's memoir. In an episodic fashion, he chronicles his development from a naïve 18 year-old who decided to ditch college and move to Belgium to become a professional bike racer, to a somewhat jaded veteran, though one still enthralled with the possibilities of the sport.
Though chronological, "Hat" unfolds as a series of vignettes about Parkins' unusual but entertaining Belgian lifestyle and his early pro career. The title is a translation of a Belgian saying. When a normal situation suddenly changes into something else, it's as if a dog is suddenly wearing a hat, and that is as good a way as any to describe the author's journey.
Casual fans who watch highlights from a leg or two of the Tour de France can't begin to understand the tactical and strategic complexities of elite road bike racing, or the physical toll it takes on the participants. Parkin does a good job explaining the latter but not so much the former, which makes his "you are there" descriptions of his most memorable races somewhat difficult to process for the average reader.
What comes through clearly is that he was a journeyman, not a star like a LeMond or an Armstrong. Instead he was one of many draft horses called upon to clear the way for the occasional thoroughbred, and "Hat" is written from that perspective. You have to give Parkin all the credit in the world for sticking it out given the low pay, lack of recognition and the physical wear and tear he endured.
Elite cycling is probably best known for both copious amounts of doping and the increasingly sophisticated techniques riders and doctors utilize to hide it. Parkin is very upfront about this aspect of the sport although he didn't seem to indulge much himself. Still, you don't have to condone the use of drugs to understand where the need for doping comes from. Racing at a Tour de France level has to be the ultimate in physical exertion, and "Hat" brings that home in vivid language.
All in all "A Dog in a Hat" is an enjoyable read which would have been made even better by some insight into the strategies that governed road bike racing as Parkin experienced it in the 80's.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Passion on two wheels, August 6, 2008
By Shi-Hsia Hwa (Madison, WI, USA)
|
|
I love my old Schwinn road bikes, but the world of road racing is to me as a CFA or TICA championship show is to someone with an adopted moggy (which I am also). When I flip through Bicycling Magazine in the library, it's like a window into a fantastic but barely-glimpsed world. Joe Parkin's memoir tosses you through that window to sprawl in the mud.
The only cycling-related book I have read before was "The Big Loop" about a boy from a poor family in France who grows up to win the Tour (very good children's novel with large print and illustrations, by the way). Despite sharing the same subject, Parkin's book is obviously a lot grittier - as the subtitle says, drugs show up, as do bribery, team politics, and nationalism/racism.
Parkin writes from the perspective of the seasoned expatriate, an outsider who almost became an insider from years of racing in Belgium. This is helpful to readers who aren't part of the bike world to begin with, let alone the European road racing world. His style is unpolished, almost stream-of-consciousness, or rather stream-of-memory with various events in the book growing and popping like bubbles, rather than a smooth literary narrative. It doesn't bother me because it reinforces the storytelling feel of the memoirs.
I liked the vivid phrasing of the races - "grabbing a handful of brakes", "the bus that picks up the dead" - although I don't know if these are just his words or biker slang. What really shines through is his passion to excel. Even though the writing is choppy, the whole book is tied together by the arc of his wanting to be the best rider then, not only coming to terms with, but taking pride in realizing that best for him didn't mean fastest.
People who are bike racers of any sort will definitely get more out of this book than I did, due to the abovementioned technical language. However, it should be an enjoyable read for anyone who enjoys memoirs, especially sport-related.
2 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Compelling and interesting account that lacks a real direction, August 8, 2008
By Big Evil (Philadelphia, PA)
|
|
Joe Parkin's A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium, is a frequently compelling and intriguing account of the life he lived while competing in the European bike racing circuit back in the 80's. With accounts of drug use, betrayals, and the pain that comes with living such a life, A Dog in a Hat gets hurt thanks to the fact that it seems as if the book just doesn't seem to have much of a direction. Parkin gives himself enough insight as he reminisces his accounts, but there just isn't enough here to give us as a real of a sense of the guy as we could (and should) get from a book of this type. However, A Dog in a Hat moves along at a brisk pace, and Parkin doesn't wear out the reader with the details he describes, even if at times he seems to be all over the map in terms of direction. All in all, A Dog in a Hat is a worthwhile account for those who have an interest in the sport of bike racing (particularly pre-Lance Armstrong) or those seeking to read about the shady details of any sport in general.
2 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A facinating behind-the-scenes look at the professional cycling culture; great for cyclists, but maybe not the general r, August 25, 2008
By John T. (Astoria, Queens, New York City)
|
|
I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would. It's gritty in a way suspense and thriller readers might appreciate. It's absolutely raw, and it's non-fiction.
I should note that I read the advance copy, and maybe that's why I was occassionally thrown by the amount of Flemish and French phrases, and the various types of races, that had no clear translation in the text. But even if they don't do a better job of explaining some of the terminology or the formats of the various races, I don't feel it weakens the book at all as it adds to the ambiance, tone, and texture of the story.
Where the author fails to give you a description of the scene, he excels at describing the action and personalities. This is not a book about Europe, or life in Europe, or the foreign experience in Europe.
I love the opening, but wont provide so much as a teaser. I really admire the author for what he did at that point in his life.
The only draw back I see is how the author depicts himself and jabs at individuals--by name--in the story. He never made any mistakes; he never did anything unethical or mean; everyone was an idiot except him and a select few that he admired. He revels in other people's stupidity and weakness. And yet he never becomes the mentor, the master pro cyclist. He comes off as bitter but without much to be bitter about. I suppose it's as Nitche wrote, "Hell is other people."
Cycling fans who don't want to ruin the illusion that their heros are perfect--unless they're fans of the author--would do well to stay clear of this book. But avid riders will really enjoy those elements of the story that show the kind of life professional cyclists in Europe lead without the squeaky clean spin you get on the news and in popular books.
The book is a bit too heavy on revealing the drug culture. Hell, there were more drugs being used in my high school than in these bike races. Certainly, the unique ways in which pro cyclists use drugs for performance enhancement is facinating, but at some point he's really describing garden variety drug abuse.
What's really fascinating is the deal making both in agreeing to contracts and the mid-race deals to buy wins and such; the relationships he forms with other riders; the daily life of a pro-cyclist who hasn't really 'made it.' These elements are what makes the book strong, not the shock-factor that professional athletes abuse drugs and that the cycling business is just as shady as any in professional sports.
I suppose what I like best about this book is that he's not a famous athlete. He's showing us what it's like to be the professional sports equivilant of a wedding band musician or a bush league baseball player. It's cool because these athletes are not megastars, swimming in money and fame. This is professional sports as most professional athletes experience it.
2 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Not sure what the point was, June 27, 2009
By M. Desoer (Bay Area, California)
|
|
I looked forward to this book because I enjoy following professional bike racing and I am of Belgian descent. Given the intensity of Belgian participation in the sport and the possiblity of "fish out of water" scenarios involving a young American in Europe, I had high hopes for an entertaining first-person account.
Instead, I kept wondering when something significant would happen, or what the story was building up to. We learn nothing about what motivated the author. How did he become a bicycle racer? What drives him? What really made him want to slug it out as a second or third tier cyclist on a grueling professional circuit? The chapters are a series of fairly bland snapshots of races and trainig, and the book builds to nothing. There is no clear indication as to why the author recounts certain incidents, and not others, because they lack real excitement, humor or any other importance. In fact, at the end the author seems to fade away from the sport based on his (a) lack of major talent and (b) failure to properly manage his own contracts and schedule. The "revelations" about drug use in the sport are a yawn. Gee, no kidding, professional bicyclits have used performance enhancing substances. In this day and age it is pretty much assumed, and the doping described in the book seem mild and primitive in comparison to those employed by the current "stars."
Maybe my expectations of the book were too high, but I really felt it merely recounted, with little insight, a series of fairly uninteresting events in which a lower-tier bicyclist was involved several years ago.
2 of 5 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Get inside pro cycling, July 23, 2010
By Jay
|
|
if you are even the most casual cycling/racing fan, you'll probably love this book. Some of his stories had me laughing... and some left me wondering how much doping really goes on at the highest levels of the sport. Cycling is kind of a freak-show sport, and racers tend to be interesting but freaky, and this book has a type of retrospective view of someone that's been in the front and back of the peloton, and probably wondered what he was doing there. As an aside, I gave this book to a friend that actually raced with the author when the author was racing in Minnesota... my friend had nothing but postive things to say about the author.
1 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Don't Read This--Just Click "Buy it Now"!, February 13, 2010
By Billy-Bob (So Cal, USA)
|
|
If you are even remotely interested in bike racing or what it takes to become a cycling pro, buy this book. If you are a fan of a book that you hate to put down--but if you don't you'll finish it in one sitting, buy this book. If you are like me and put off reading the last chapter because that would mean the end of a fabulous read, buy this book. The best outcome of Parkin's first effort--this book is so good he has finished another one! I can hardly wait to read it to see what follows.
Billy-Bob
1 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Belgian sport. A hands on the handlebars look at cycling in Europe., July 5, 2009
By TC (Roswell, NM United States)
|
|
This book may be too lean at around 200 pages and maybe it could have been longer but the anecdotes on travel and racing really do give you a birds eye view of the peloton. At the same time, there is no reason to belabor a point as well. Furthermore, it is informative on the country of Belgium with it's own proud sports traditions and in some ways, is similar to the Netherlands so it definitely has a travelogue aspect to it. I mean I first watched the Belgium "Red Devils" soccer team play in the 1986 World Cup and they caught my imagination but there has largely been a void in sports literature on Belgium, this helps quite a bit. To those who are interested in cycling, some names and events will be recognizable such as talking about Greg Lemond, Eddy Merckx, the Seven-Eleven team and things such as that. A thoroughly enjoyable read but because of its brevity, at first, I didn't quite give it the full top ranking but I changed it to 5 stars because it has really stayed with me and I'm glad I have it around vs. say reading a book checked out from the library.
The topic of "Kermis races" is indeed discussed in depth and I'd say the central topic of the book. Oh, yeah, he talks qute a bit about bike wrecks too, I guess that's what the public wants at least they say, for NASCAR races, seeing the wrecks. Also, at times, the thought process and sentence structures do not always seem to be complete. An example of this is when the author relates "We came back from Montreal", well, he didn't talk about going there in the first place. Furthermore, I'm not positive if he means the North American Montreal or if there might be another such named place in another French speaking part of the world as he is in but I think he meant Canada. If another topic often associated with professional cycling is discussed and that being doping is written about, it's not a big part of his story to me at least and is often in the background, part of the story like changing a flat tire.
I'd be remiss too in reviewing this, if I did not mention Parkin's foray into riding for the USA National team and that is certainly one of the highpoints of his story and an accomplishment that speaks for itself.
Really good bike book because honestly, a lot of us probably don't have that good of an understanding of the sport. I still don't but I only really got lost in one chapter of the book.
Addendum: I'd like to say to all who enjoyed this book, Joe Parkin does have a blog one can read: "6 years in a rain cape" and it sounds like he may become the editor for "Bike" magazine.
1 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
So-So Read, August 21, 2008
By Loveguitar (USA)
|
|
I learned a few things about professional bike racing that I didn't know before. But I can't say that this book held my attention. I personally need more in-depth information about the characters, especially the main character. I need to know more about him - a little bit about his childhood, how did he get the job in the bike shop, why does he want to be a bike racer, did he race bikes against kids in his neighborhood or did he see a race as a child and was thrilled by it? Or was it an excuse not to go to college? Did he do it to get back at his parents for something since they wanted him to go to school? Why is he a bike racer? There were a lot of unanswered questions running through my head the entire time I was reading this book. I was craving more background information, more real-life events besides accounts of race after race. I found myself race-reading through the races in hopes of gleaning something I could hold onto about the people, places or feelings he might have had about something. The only time I was able to "lock-in" for a short moment about a character were in the few lines written about his dad and his having Alzheimer's disease. He mentioned his mom was very stressed but didn't go much beyond that. I needed and wanted to know more about his mom.
The drug use and bike racing techniques were probably the most educational aspect of the book. The drug use didn't shock me since drug use in professional sports is not new, especially back in the 1980's. And the racing techniques should have been written with words or explanations that a non-bike racer could understand. I never rode a single race with him. He should have taken me on his races with him by using vivid descriptions of the experience. I did learn that bike racers pee while racing - I didn't know that before. Also, he mentioned something that I just found plain weird. He said that his fellow Belgian racers hated air-conditioning or wind blowing on them and would ride in a car with the air-conditioner turned off and the windows rolled up to keep the breeze off of them while it was stifling hot in the car. I couldn't help but think that these guys should be very used to wind blowing on them since they RACE BICYCLES! And who in their right mind is going to choose to ride in a sweltering hot car on a hot day with the windows rolled up???! And he (Joe Parkin) apparently put up with it. He didn't insist on opening any windows, not even those in his stifling hotel rooms. His roommates preferred the windows closed and he just accepted it.
This book has a lot of potential. I just think it needs to include much more character development, a lot more vivid imagery, and some sort of a goal or a message or at least a detailed explanation as to why he became a bike racer. This book didn't have much of a message. It seemed more about complaining 20 years later about things that upset him in the past. I just couldn't really understand that. We all have had events in our distant past that still upset us when we think about them, but after 20 years it's time to let them go and move forward with life. He complained bitterly about some fellow racers who in reality, were just kids or barely adults themselves back then. Is a 22 year old really supposed to act mature? And he was a kid then too, for the most part. Gosh, I just couldn't get into the lingering resentments.
I need to feel as if there is something I'm reading towards and that I'm building a constant sense that something profound is going to eventually happen and I will be moved in some way when it does happen. I never got that feeling while reading this book.
1 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Journeyman's Adventures, August 17, 2008
By Lawrence A. Schenbeck (Atlanta, GA USA)
|
|
Joe Parkin's book about his experiences as a journeyman bicycle racer in the European pro cycling world of the late 80s and early 90s is pretty good in places. You just never know where the places will be. In that way I guess it parallels the life he led -- as a footsoldier in the little "armies" he belonged to, he never knew just how each day was going to turn out. The instability inherent in any sporting event was amplified by the chaotic, dishonest, or irrational behavior of the players, owners, managers, etc. etc. on the Belgian pro circuit.
This might be a more interesting read for those who follow bicycle racing quite closely. On the other hand, maybe they know a lot of this stuff already. For those of us with a more casual interest, it would help, I guess, if there were more systematic explanations of the different kinds of races, of basic team strategies, a little background history about European racing. You know.
Parkin isn't exactly Hemingway, either; he doesn't have much to offer in terms of literary style. You won't get any exquisitely pictorial descriptions of the landscape or the cheap hotels, no penetrating psychological portraits of his teammates and opponents. At least you can say it's honest. The raw, conversational prose helps there. But his lack of real writing or editing skills also means he can't paper over the central problem: many athletes aren't very interesting people. Most races aren't all that exciting either, especially at grunt level.
I enjoyed reading parts of it, but I found myself skipping and skimming a lot. Occasionally something surfaces in Parkin's narrative that reveals this man's ambition, emotions, passion for the sport, etc. But that appears to be accidental.
1 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
The nitty-gritties of professional bike racing, August 17, 2008
By software_rancher (ALAMOSA, CO, United States)
|
|
If you ever wondered what life was like for the racers packed into the peloton of professional bike races this book is for you. The author spent his career as a middle of the pack racer who never managed to make it into the big time either as a contender or as a supporter to a contender.
The life for a racer at this level is far from the champagne and caviar of the world class racers and their stable of supporting riders. Instead their lifestyle is more akin to that of minor league baseball players in the US: travelling on the team bus, staying in shabby hotels, and always at the mercy of the whims of the team director.
Professional bike racing is unlike other forms of racing: while these other races are between individuals, bike racing is between teams. Even though only the winning member of the team ascends the podium, it would be impossible for them to achieve that without the support of a fit and skilled team. This derives from the fact that a cyclist who is able to draft behind another cyclist uses 23 to 33 percent less energy than the one pedaling in front. The only way for cycling to truly be an individual event is when drafting is prohibited.
The writing is average and I think much of the passion required to motivate someone to embark on such a career is not captured in the book. On the other hand that subdued level does lend a bit of dreariness that fits in well with the shabby existence the author describes. Perhaps if the book had been written during or right after he left racing there would have been some more energy in the narrative.
I have not read any other cycling books so I cannot compare this book to them. I did find the authors incite into the strange world of professional cycling rather interesting and it helped to deepen my understanding of the sport which I have obtained from somewhat following the Tour de France (nee Lance?). It was an easy and interesting read though without any real fireworks.
1 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, quite boring, October 12, 2010
By slain (pennsylvania)
|
|
There may be a good story in Joe Parkin somewhere, but it is hard to tell after reading this book. The level of writing is sadly just not up to snuff. Due to this, the story suffers and drags along from one race to another. It was a struggle to get through this, a story that just never picks up any speed and ultimately goes nowhere. If your looking for a good book on cycling, I have read many of them and highly recommend 'The Rider' by Krabbe. I suggest you take a pass on this one and go ride your bike with the saved time.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Great read for cyclists, for others?, September 22, 2009
By Canberra Roadie
|
|
As a keen amateur roadie I really enjoyed this warts and all tale of the Euro pro cycling scene. The drug taking scenes are hilariously sleazy and basically confirm everything one imagines went on in pro cycling in that era. The best part of the book is Parkin's description of how these hopped up fools behave once on the bike. Priceless. At times I felt he was reaching for anecdotes but really there are only a couple of hunger flats on this ride. Incredibly poignant towards the end. I wonder if it will interest people without permanent lube stains on their palms though... When Parkin casually describes superhuman feats on the bike other cyclists will get it but general readers might not.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A Dog in a Hat, May 12, 2009
By Doctor Bob (Bay Area California)
|
|
Nice behind-the-scenes view of the dirty gritty world of European cycling. Best for true lovers of the sport who will appreciate the passion of the author, and the peek into what really happens in the sport. This isn't great prose, an Updike or a Hemingway, it is a passionate story, from the heart, written by the man who lived it.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Very interesting cycling read ..., April 20, 2009
By ZieglerJP (COLORADO SPRINGS, CO USA)
|
|
I found this book to be well written and a very interesting read. While reading it you could almost get the feel for what it was to be one of the early American's to race in Europe ... plus the descriptions of the characters is quite a trip. It's an easy read that would be a good choice for anyone who wonders what racing in Belgium is all about.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Interresting, a little tedious, a "should read" for young racers ..., April 16, 2009
By Rt. Rev. Sawdust Master (Los Angeles, CA USA)
|
|
I'm a great fan of cycle racing, and had high hopes for this book. Somehow this tale didn't quite grab me. Joe Parkin tells a story of life frequently spent at the back of the peleton, not the front. The life of a domestique is not going to read like a biography of Lance Armstrong.
On the positive side, any young athlete intending to ride in Europe ought to look at this book. Yes, the sport is working very hard to clean itself up, but the culture is well over 100 years old. Commonplace events in the thick of the sport, away from the cameras, will come as a surprise to many people.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Great Read, March 31, 2009
By swiss pro (annapolis, Md)
|
|
A Dog in a Hat was very hard to put down. I could have finished the book sooner than I did but I wanted to savor it and make it last longer. It was very easy to read, funny, informative, and entertaining all at the same time. I should have known it would be a good read when I saw that Bob Roll wrote the foreward. Trust me, this book is excellent!
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Light Reading on the Bike, January 31, 2009
By Drew Knox (Wilmington, DE)
|
|
What could be better for a bike weanie than reading a bio about an American's adventures in Euro racing? Well, the humor and story telling of Bob Roll or the vivid detail and rich imagery of Tim Krabbe would be two substantial improvements.
Despite the raves, and the catchy title, this is a disappointing two and a half star book that became as difficult to finish as many of the races that Parkin entered. While lingering at the bottom of the professional cycling food chain, Parkin cultivates a European disdain for the U.S. racing scene that ultimately makes the narrator rather unlikeable. And don't expect to find redeeming insights or personal growth that you'll discover in Magnuson's books either.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
I am glad I went to college, November 19, 2008
By Juliette Mac Gabhann
|
|
I thought it was a great read, it gave a realistic view of life as a professional cyclist, shared some interesting anecdotes about fellow professionals, and compared life as a cyclist in US of A and Europe. Full of humour,fact and interest.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A Dog in a Hat, November 10, 2008
By LiveBetterRideMore (San Diego, CA.)
|
|
Great read ! Any cyclist who races or enjoys watching bike racing will love this book. If Bob Roll gives it thumbs up, you know it's cool. Live Better Ride More :)
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Thanks for Sharing Joe, October 24, 2008
By Steven M Johnson
|
|
Bicycle racing has enough self imploding drama as it is, and Joe Parkin's book lays it down firsthand as it was for him in the European professional world. He could have gone the Midshipman route, climbed the greased obelisk, and tossed his hat in the air at graduation? Instead, he went to a place where they use different languages, had to get and maintain a sponsorship, and be able to ride a bicycle at the pro level. It is interesting that several readers have commented on foreign language phrases inserted. I am sure that in international competition, that many athletes are not native US English speakers? Part of the experience maybe?
This book also assumes knowledge of cycle racing terminology and history. I don't feel it is Joe Parkin's job to footnote what happened to Greg Lemond. That information is part of the backdrop history. (As an aside, why did Coppi wear those sunglasses anyway?)
This quote from Samuel Abt's book "In High Gear" pretty much captures the "try it and see" truth of Joe Parkin's experience:
"It took some time before I understood that I would never win the Tour De France, never wear the yellow jersey into Paris. Then I lowered my hopes a notch, I said to myself, 'If you can just wear the yellow jersey at least once.' And I dreamed of that for the 13 years I was a racer.
That's what I'm trying to teach my riders. At the age of 20, if one of them told me that he didn't dream of wearing the yellow jersey, I'd tell him to find another job, quickly. You shouldn't become a professional racer at that age just to put yourself immediately at the service of others."
-Bernard Vallet, manager of the RMO team and one of the tens of thousands of riders who never wore the yellow jersey, even once, in the Tour de France
I will keep my interest in sports at the participation and hobby level. Where I can back off or quit and only have to justify it to myself. Professional cycling can be dangerous and crashes horrific, as with Roger Rivière, Eddy Merckx, Fabio Casartelli, etc.?
Joe maybe went out of it OK, he seemed to get burned out on the sponsorship politics at the end?
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Dog in a Hat, October 13, 2008
By Reed Richard Johnson
|
|
Excellent read for those seriously into pro road cycling. Gives a great insight into the life of a young American turned Belgian pro in the late 80's.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Next Book Please!, September 28, 2008
By Michael Hasychak Jr. (Pacheco,Ca.)
|
|
Loved the book. Makes one want to go out and ride in the rain just to experience just a litle of what the pro bike racers in Europe have to endure. Joe I`ll be waiting for your next book! Please!
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
well written, for the cycling fans, September 23, 2008
By Nikwax (Portland, OR United States)
|
|
A surprising well written account on Joe Parkin's European cycling career, chock full of details and brutally frank. Very insightful read for cycling fans.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Slouching toward Belgium, September 20, 2008
By Exiled Yankee (usa)
|
|
It sounded like an intriguing insight into an unfamiliar world, and I guess, in a way, it was.
A Dog In A Hat (a European euphemism for a creature that throws observers off by oddity) is very well written, and the author, Joe Parkin, has a commanding grasp of language, but this is a book written entirely for those familiar with the sport of bicycle racing and its terminology. I still don't have a confident understanding of a lot of the words he cavalierly threw around throughout the book, as though certain that the reader was nodding their head in agreement. That said, it is an insightful expose' of the bicycle racing world of the 80s and 90s, when presumably the rules and regulations were somewhat looser than they are today. Apparently everyone except our hero Joe popped drugs, both subcutaneously and orally; and I have to say, Joe goes out of his way to appear saintly in that regard. This is just my opinion, but methinks he protests a bit too strenuously. At any rate, I have a somewhat clearer understanding of the mechanics of bicycle racing.It never occurred to me that teams expect to fail, and so don't seem to even try to win; but perhaps that is my layman's perception, and it is understood that Team A is so superior, all others have to get out of their way, regardless of ability.
I read the entire book, and was impressed by Mr Parkin's writing ability, but was constantly trying to catch up with where he was at any given time, and why he chose this ambition in the first place. Most sports are rabid interests of the athlete from childhood, but he seems to have woken up one morning as a late teen and said, "I guess I'll go to Belgium and be a pro bicycle racer." I wasn't impressed, either, by the racing world as a whole; I certainly hope that doping has been thoroughly brought under control, as I was astounded at the widespread use - not to say the acceptance - of dope as a whole, and of the professional knowledge rampant throughout the biking populace of all manner of pharmaceuticals. The biking world seems a ruthless place; innocents beware.
I can't recommend this for any but the aficianado because of the overuse of terminology without benefit of a glossary. I did appreciate the book as a whole; I know now that I don't ever want to be involved in bicycle racing, at any level.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Autobiography of life as a pro-cyclist, September 11, 2008
By calliopemuse (Tennessee)
|
|
"When a normal situation suddenly changes, Belgians call it 'een hond met een hoed op,' a dog with a hat on." Meet Joe Parkin. An 18-year-old living at home who wants to go to Europe and ride with the pros instead of going to college. Dad's not impressed but Mom takes his side and so off to Belgium he goes. Joe tells his story in a conversational style which makes for easy reading, thank goodness because when it came to the bike jargon I was lost. As he talked about his experience riding and racing I found myself pulling for him but he doesn't win all that many races, instead he's more about the joy of participating. His take on the bicycling world is insightful and like all sports it has the good and the bad. Of course drugs are there, cheating, underhandedness but also sportsmanship, friendship and endurance.
As Joe tells us his story we follow him through training and racing in Belgium along with the rigors of living and working in another culture. It's a coming of age story from boyhood to manhood and the journey along the way. This book is a fun read whether you are a bicycle enthusiast or not.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Hard to pick up after you put it down..., August 28, 2008
By joe (philadelphia, PA)
|
|
As a non rider, I found this book a bit boring at times, and I had a hard time picking the book up after my first nights foray (30 or so pages). Cycling is a sport going through some tough times, and some of it is detailed here. Like I said, if you love cycling, get this book, otherwise you can give it a stab.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Intersesting, but not that interesting, August 17, 2008
By MAPRX (Marlton, NJ United States)
|
|
I found the story to be interesting. I am avid cyclist, and I can see how the professional world of a sport can be a hard life. Its everyone against each other at any cost. However, the book is maybe interesting since I am into biking. What you read is nothing new in sports. It is one mans story of his sporting career and the things in endures.
1 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Good airplane boook, October 17, 2008
By Long-rider (Sacramento, Ca. United States)
|
|
I'm an avid cyclist, and had my own dreams of turning pro years ago, so I was very interested in reading this testimonial. It's a bit uneven and choppy, but interesting in it's own way. It won't change the world, and IMHO would have been better if used as the basis for a good book of fiction, but as it is it makes a good read on a long flight.
1 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Laughs, blood, cobblestones and amped-up idiots, September 16, 2008
By Pharoah S. Wail (Inner Space)
|
|
With A Dog In A Hat, Joe Parkin has given us a behind-the-scenes of the behind-the-scenes of the bicycle racing world. Why 2 "behind-the-scenes"? Someone could write a book about the behind-the-scenes of the pro bike world this year and it'd be a glimpse behind the curtain. Joe raced in an era when most Americans didn't even know there was such a thing as professional bicycle racing... before the media was aware that maybe there are bike racers shooting up. Whether or not any given American watches the Tour de France on Outdoor/Versus channel every year of the past decade or not, we've almost all at least heard of it. I don't think that was the case in the late 1980s, so there's no way most of us had heard of all these smaller (to us) races, or had any insight into the hardcore bike culture.
While I'm sure it's still a different world now, it was a very different world back then. I think the fact that Joe wasn't a Lemond or an Armstrong makes the book better in some ways. There's no glamour in this tale. You don't feel like you're reading about a celebrity far removed from reality. Joe's bicycling world was one of hyper reality, where you take all the hits for little of the glory. Beyond his individual story, it's also interesting to get a picture of the racing culture in Belgium, a seemingly bike-obsessed land of Flemish party-goers and drunks who'd just as happily cuss you out as crown you champion. I could have fit right in!
Of the books I've read via the Vine Program, this is certainly the least important. It made me laugh and it clearly shows his love-hate relationship with this world he knows so intimately, but in terms of worldwide importance I could never rank this up there with Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves or When God Is Gone, Everything Is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist. Still, this was a good slice of entertainment. Think of A Dog In a Hat sort of like a Kitchen Confidential Updated E Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.) on 2 wheels.
1 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Tough Bike Racing in Belgium, January 13, 2009
By raceinggreen (Las Vegas)
|
|
Finaly an honest story about bike racing in Belgium and Europe. Fully recomended. Stories make their point and don't drag them out. Strongly recomended for all bike race fans.
1 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Real Life excitement, August 21, 2008
By Columnist, author, credit expe.. (NH)
|
|
The thing I liked best about this book was that it is based on a true story. The story is so interesting in itself that you forget at times it isn't fiction. A great read, that will keep you interested.
1 of 3 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Enjoyable read, June 2, 2011
By D. Gutekunst (Medford, NJ United States)
|
|
Enjoyed reading the stories from the perspective of someone that became truly immersed in the Belgium cycling culture. Was actually expecting some shocking, "inside" stories, but nothing like that. Just the type of writing that me feel like two guys having a beer together and telling old war storied.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Not on the Podium, March 8, 2011
By David Holoman (Raleigh, NC USA)
|
|
A Dog in a Hat, the expression, is a charming Belgian turn of speech used to denote something unusual or out of place. As an American trying to ply the trade of biking in Europe in the late 80s, just around the time of LeMond, the author was indeed a Dog in a Hat. The book is a memoir of those years.
As rider, author Joe Parkin was nobody special, apart from the fact that he was good enough to be paid to ride a bike. As a writer, I thought he was imminently readable with only a couple of glaring howlers (again, is there an editing department on duty?*). There are a number of topics that need better or more timely explanation. Some of the episodes recounted are themselves Dogs in a Hat, but not in a good way.
Unless you're a real fan of pro cycling, or insanely interested in Belgian culture, you can pass up A Dog In A Hat. I, however, almost read it in one sitting, mostly because I thought something was going to Happen. I think the author thought something was going to Happen, too, when he went to Belgium. We were both disappointed.
_______
* the cover art is atrocious, too.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A nice read, December 31, 2010
By Sakediddy
|
|
I enjoyed the story of Parkin. I would have liked some more details on specific training he did in order to become a professional cyclist. The book could have been a little more detailed with regards to his riding back in the USA, just a quick blurb of where his career ended in the mid 90's instead of real writing on those last couple of teams he rode for.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Entertaining and Fast Read, December 12, 2010
By raspell (Memphis, TN USA)
|
|
This is an entertaining and fast read. Not great literature but entertaining and that's what I read for. Parkin is a low to mid-level racer who came from the USA. This carries a negative stigma as there were few good American racers and other than England, there was a significant language barrier. This book does a GREAT job of describing the life of a cyclist, both the good and the bad but centered more on the mundane. Truthfully, Parkin was just a journeyman. But he was a cyclist at the highest level and all that that implies.
This book read incredibly fast and enjoyable but as I said, with flaws. Specifically, the ending trails off. There is no completion or fill-in on what happens in his life later. Also, it is chronological without thought at times. For example on one cycling trip back to the states he spends a large time describing his ex-girlfriend visiting him while he gets a massage. End of story. What was the significance? It adds nothing to the book. But overall, it's a very good entertaining book.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Laid back account of professional cycling in the 80's, March 9, 2010
By J Case of Utah (Salt Lake City)
|
|
I enjoyed this book. I'm a mountain biker, but road biking is also an interest of mine. The book starts out with a little background, and then gets into the real life of a professional cyclist. It's written in a matter of fact way that leaves you making very few of your own assumptions about what Joe is trying to portray. It provides a lot of insight into what happens (or used to happen) behind the scenes in professional cycling during that era. It's also pretty humorous at times. I would recommend it to those of you who are interested in cycling. I would also recommend "It's Not About The Bike," by Lance Armstrong. If you've read it and enjoyed it, then you'll like this book as well.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
An Interesting Look Inside Cycling, November 26, 2008
By Downhill (Barnesville, GA)
|
|
In Joe Parkin's memoir, "A Dog in a Hat" the reader is taken inside a different world than that which has been largely reported following Lance Armstrong's victories in the Tour de France. In this world you read about small teams and mostly unheard of races populated by unheralded riders fighting to make a living. In this world you see the tarnished underbelly of cycling that involves drug use for it's own sake and shady in-race deals that predetermine the outcome of a race apart from true competition.
What comes across most clearly in this work is the day to day life of a mostly unknown American cyclist who, in his own way, helped blaze a trail that many promising young riders now follow into the Belgian cycling scene. You see the struggles, training and pitfalls that awaited the cyclists of the late eighties and likely still exist today.
I would recommend this book for any racing cyclist and for those interested in cycling culture.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Dog in a Hat-, September 19, 2008
By dee (Rodeo, NM USA)
|
|
This is an amazing story of Blood-Sweat & Tears-
You can't put this one down--What this man went thru - because of his love of cycling-is phenomenal. Drugs-being betrayed by his teammates-the coaches etc., is so hard to believe but you must because he swears it is true- A must read---
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Worth The Ride, September 6, 2008
By Author of The Happiness Solution.. (River Edge, NJ USA)
|
|
A young American bike racer treks to Europe to compete as a professional.
This is a true slice of life story that captures your interest but ultimately doesn't reach its potential. The intensity of the early chapters doesn't hold throughout as the themes become repetitive. The author is a fine storyteller, weaving many interesting vignettes, and those were enjoyable. If you are a cyclist or a competitive athlete, you will probably like this book more than most. Even though it didn't seem to go anywhere, it was a fun read and was worth the ride.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
An entertaining but brief sports memoir, September 3, 2008
By DJ Kuul A (Boynton Beach, FL, United States)
|
|
A Dog In A Hat is a smooth and enjoyable read about the adventures of a young American cyclist who treks off to compete in Europe (where bike racing is much more popular than in the U.S.) in the late 1980s, but it could've used a bit more meat on the bone. We meet a number of seemingly colorful characters, but only in passing. Aside from racing anecdotes, there is little description of the author's relationships beyond mention of who was a friend and who didn't get along. We go from race to race and team to team without ever really getting to know anyone other than the author himself. To his credit, while he does come off well, he openly describes his own participation in some shady aspects of his sport.
The book could also have used a glossary. Some racing terms that appear in the book are defined, some can be figured out by their context, and others are left for the reader to look up on his own. Cycling strategies and tactics are touched on but not always explained. Clearly the book is targeted at a cycling audience, and it covers very little ground outside the training and racing, but it's good enough that one doesn't necessarily have to be into cycling to enjoy it. More detail would have been helpful for readers not so familiar with the sport. On the other hand, the book encouraged me to do some research and learn more about cycle racing. I might even watch the next Tour de France on TV.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Welcome to the world of professional cycling, August 21, 2008
By C. Park (Torrance, CA)
|
|
This book first caught my attention bc I just got into cycling. Gives a good picture of professional cycling and the story of the main character is quite interesting. Even though you're not into cycling, you'll enjoy reading about the struggles of a man. Pretty easy read. It won't change your life or anythign, but entertaining.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Readable, but empty, May 1, 2010
By thebige (CA)
|
|
I expected a lot more from this book. Particularly when the book was about four years of a guy's life racing around Europe. Joe just basically tells us what he did in Europe. There's no real message or wisdom passed on to the reader. I was expecting Joe to enlighten me. That never happened.
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Good insight, May 27, 2009
By Matthew Falconer
|
|
The first few chapters are really interesting and provide a fantastic insight into late 80s pro cyclings in europe, especially the ubiquitous doping. Definitely worth a read for those interested in cycling.
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A Dog in a Hat, May 27, 2009
By Golden,Co (Golden,Co)
|
|
Joe captures the day to day life of an American Pro in Europe like no other. He brings out the humor as well as the harsh reality of the sport with ease. Excellent read
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
A Dog in a Hat, February 7, 2009
By cyclist
|
|
Well written and fun to read. Told me what it's like in the peloton, I feel like I've been let in on a secret(having never raced).
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Great read even without an overall storyline., December 3, 2008
By Jonathan R. Miller (Los Angeles, CA)
|
|
If you are interested in bike racing this is a great book. I couldn't put it down, the writer does a good job of transporting the reader to this period of his life. It really gives the reader a sense of how difficult it is to be a professional bike racer......Fascinating.
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Only for Cycling Enthusiasts, September 19, 2008
By choiceweb0pen0 (Lafayette, LA USA)
|
|
As the cover blurb suggests, "A Dog In A Hat" wants to follow in the tradition of other cyclist memoirs like Lance Armstrong's and others. I am not a cycling enthusiast and it's been awhile since my Trek has been off my porch, yet I would love to get into this world of professional cycling through reading a book. Unfortunately, Parkin doesn't quite let this happen because this book breezes through quite a lot of jargon to progress through various races, teams, and occasional mishaps. In addition, I found the writing to be fairly bland, which is too bad, because the events described here from the process of getting ready for race day(s), team member rivalry, and racing itself could have made for a great read.
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
road story for the anti-auto, September 16, 2008
By buckethead noir (saint paul,mn,usa)
|
|
This book was surprisingly better than I thought it would be! A very interesting and cool look into the art of bicycling!I want to buy a bike and go on a road trip now!The plight of the main character came off as genuine and was well-written--a plus.
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Rough Ride, August 21, 2008
By David Zimmerman (Baton Rouge, LA USA)
|
|
The recent focus on use of performance-enhancing drugs in various sports, but especially cycling, makes American Joe Parkin's cycling memoir "A Dog In A Hat" seem timely even though his career as an expatriate Belgian cyclist ended more than 15 years ago. There's little glamour and lot of the title elements of mud, drugs, blood and betrayal in Parkin's story of competitive cycling. Parkin writes colorfully enough so that you can almost feel the crashes, smell the cheap hotels, and taste the nasty road food eaten by cyclists on their multi-hundred kilometer rides. I expect that cyclists and serious cycling fans will really enjoy this inside look at their world. For the cycling lay person like me, Parkin could have provided a more satisfying reading experience by including a glossary to define the many technical terms associated with competitive cycling. 3-1/2 stars rounded down for the difficulty the average reader might have with the cycling jargon.
0 of 1 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
 every 1 did drugs but me, February 22, 2009
By Lance K. Woodbury
|
|
if it wasnt 4 the drug refer it would b a boring story about a lazy career and sorry bob roll we all kno u and every1 was high as hell on drugs dont waste ur money on this traiter trying 2 make a dime on his crappy spoiled life
0 of 21 people found the above review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Thoroughly enjoyable, August 22, 2011
By Edward R. Kriege (Chicago, IL USA)
|
|
If you love professional cycling then I would suggest that this book is a must-read. Insightful, honest, and told from the most intimate first-person perspective imaginable, the author chronicles his trail-breaking career in Europe with the same underlying passion and pedal-turning efficiency of his days in the saddle. There's no wasted effort in the book; each story unfolds with clean precision and an absence of frivolity; Joe allows us to feel what it's like to put it all on the line for something you love, in spite of the odds and obstacles. I now look forward to reading his sequel.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
Great insight into the real life of a pro cyclist, August 27, 2011
By Leo (Wisconsin, USA)
|
|
Although not exactly high literature, this was an extremely entertaining book. All amateur cyclists think they have an idea of what the life a pro cyclist has, but the author gives a gritty truth about what a really hard gig it is. If all the doping is really true, the UCI should have cracked down a lot sooner than waiting for the Festina doping scandal (was it the 1997 tour de france?). I could not put it down, and I finished the book in 2 sittings.
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
View Cart
Bookmark This Page
Contact Us
