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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.