A Dog in a Hat
October 2nd, 2008 |
Just about everyone that races a bike thinks about what it would be like to be a professional bike racer. The glory, the majesty, the glamour, incredible courses, fame and fortune.
The reality? Not so much…except maybe the courses. Being a professional bike racer means dealing with everything in the extreme: cold, heat, climbs, descents, speed, pace, training, pressure, whacked out competitors, wiggity whacked out team mates, drug use, sickness and loneliness. For 99.9% of the population it would be in no way, shape or form called “fun”.
Not unless, by some genetic and physiological freak of nature, you happened to be born to do it. Born not just with the physical gift to be able to ride at that pace day after day, but also with the mental gift to not only tolerate the physical demands and the mental pressure of everything that involves being a professional bike racer, but to actually thrive off it.
And, at the end of your career, after all that investment of time and energy and pain and agony, the only thing you may have to show for your struggle is the knowledge that you played a roll in helping a team mate win a second tier stage race.
However, if you were born to do this, the roll you played and the memories of your career may be more than enough for you.
It his new book, A Dog in a Hat, Joe Parkin gives us a window into the life of someone who was born to be a professional bike racer. It’s not pretty, it’s not glamorous, some of it is a bit of inside baseball, but it’s a great read. I picked up a copy at Interbike, brought it home and read the 232 pages over the course of two evenings. I literally could not put it down.
My hope is that, with Parkin leading the way, we will see a number of additional books from ex-professional cyclists that will continue to tear the lid off the insular world of professional cycling.
You can buy A Dog in a Hat here.
One Response to “A Dog in a Hat”
Bought it.