Review by Kristopher Larson
As a relative new-comer to the bike genre, I'm fortunate to have read Joe Parkin's first book 'A Dog in a Hat' just a couple months ago. So the letdown I felt at the end of his five-year battle through the small town Belgium race scene was short lived. Reaching the end of 'A Dog in a Hat' I longed for the narrative to continue. Longed to hear of his time on the Coors Light team, his transition to mountain biking, and more of the stories and anecdotes of a working-man cyclist that made 'Dog' such a satisfying read. All hinted at near the end of the book, but left untold.
For those that have waited the two long years
since 'Dog', rejoice. Your time waiting is over.
'Come and Gone' picks up where 'Dog in a Hat' left off. Joe has finished with his European career and is struggling to make a career in the US race culture. The training anecdotes are still there, from team training camps (complete with a pro’s introduction to LT thresholds) to off-season base work on the snow-covered trails of Minnesota. Present too are the detailed recitations of the strategies, personalities, and turn-by-turn vagaries of races across the US and, unlike in ‘Dog in a Hat’, they now bridge the disciplines of cycling (road, time-trial, criteriums, mountains, and cyclocross). And fortunately, some of the most interesting insights, the interplay between elite level athletes and teammates are included.
The greatest difference between ‘Come and Gone’ and ‘Dog in a Hat’, for those that seek the same magic, is the tone. Reading ‘Come and Gone’, it becomes abundantly clear that Parkin finds himself racing in America, but wishes he were still on the roads of Europe. There is a sadness that permeates ‘Come and Gone’, flavored with bitterness of widely varying degrees, that was missing from ‘Dog’. There are still episodes of pure joy, and rides of elation, but they are diluted by the slow end of his career.
‘Come and Gone’ is a superlative record of the mindset and career of a ‘blue-collar’ pro cyclist. Even as a dedicated fan of cycling, too much of my attention is given to the top-tier cyclists, those whom end their careers as legends or at least with names that carry beyond the small world of cycling. ‘Come and Gone’ shows what it is to be at the end of the typical career, trying everything possible to keep racing and extend the great ride, even if it means jumping from the road to the trail.
In combination with ‘Dog in a Hat’, ‘Come and Gone’ forms the bookends of a cycling shelf. If you’ve read the first, and were left waiting mid-career, ‘Come and Gone’ is the perfect bittersweet finish. If you’ve yet to read ‘Dog’, don’t jump into this book. Neither ‘Come and Gone’ nor ‘Dog in a Hat’ should exist in the absence of the other. Together they are the perfect cycling memoir.
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