Book Review: Joe Parkin's "Come and Gone"
“Come and Gone” is an honest and unglamorous look at the effort required to be a
professional cyclist and make a living racing your bike
Come and Gone
A True Story of Blue-Collar Bike Racing in America
Joe Parkin’s follow-up book “Come and Gone” picks up exactly where “Dog in a
Hat” (his recollection of racing in Belgium) left off. Fresh off the plane and
back in the U.S. without a team and contract, Parkin packs his bags for
Minneapolis (recommended by an ex-girlfriend) and sets out to figure what the
hell a former Euro pro does in the American peloton. From 1992 until 1997,
Parkin switches between teams and sports, and “Come and Gone” is a book about
his struggle to make it as a professional cyclist both on the road and on the
dirt.
At the end of Parkin’s road career, American cycling is in the midst of a
transition. Greg LeMond retires in 1994 and there are a couple more years until
Armstrong fills the gap as the face of American cycling. In the meantime,
mountain biking was quickly ascending and taking the limelight as American road
cycling struggled. And right the middle of all this is Joe Parkin, whose road
career coincides with the demise of the Coor’s cycling team and starts a career
in mountain biking trying to get selected for the 1996 Olympic team.
The book’s story line, however, is a bit threadbare at times. Written very
linearly, Parkin’s personal focus edits out quite any extraneous story lines,
characters or themes. Which is a shame considering his career could tell us a
lot more about cycling in the United States during that the 1990s: its
organization, popularity and growth (or decline) in both the road and mountain
biking worlds. Also absent from the book is any depth to Parkin’s personal life,
and even though Bob Roll shows up, there’s not even a good Bob Roll story to go
along with his appearance. Parkin also encounters a young Chris Carmichael, U.S.
MTB champ Tinker Juarez and other people central to cycling and mountain biking
in the U.S. Maybe over a beer or two, you could get some good stories out of
Parkin but they’re all absent from the book. The result is that at the end we
know only about Parkin the cyclist and very little about anything else; but that
may be enough...
What Parkin does well is capture how heartbreaking and frustrating it can be
trying to break out of the amateur ranks.
“Come and Gone” in an honest and
unglamorous look at the effort required to be a professional cyclist and make a
living racing your bike. In addition to the year-round training, lots of travel
time and a paltry salary, Parkin’s story is one of “close but no cigar.” The man
is obviously a talented athlete but can’t seem to put together a race resume or
career that guarantees him stability. At the end of most cycling seasons, Parkin
is shopping for a team and trying to figure out a plan for the following year.
“Come and Gone” doesn’t romanticize the cycling world. The book’s
narrow focus mimics the tunnel vision that can happen with intense training. The
outside world recedes and it’s just you, your bike and the passing road and all
the scenery that’s come and gone.
Come and Gone: A True Story of Blue-Collar Bike
Racing in America
by Joe Parkin
Paperback with color photosection
6" x 9", 208 pp., $21.95,
978-1-934030-54-7
Publisher:
Velopress
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