Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess, and that includes both bike racing and storytelling. More than 20 years ago I packed my bags for Belgium in search of bike racing. I had no idea what I would find or accomplish. I found minimal fame and minimal fortune but I got to live the life of a blue collar bike racer based out of, what I consider to be, the epicenter of bicycle racing – Belgium. I came back to the States without an impressive palmares to speak of, but rather a bozillion stories and enough American-bred, European-educated cockiness to tell them. Almost 20 years after returning to the United States, I was asked to write a book – so here we are.

 While living in Belgium, I carried a rain cape, of some sort, every single day. If it looked like rain, then a thicker, completely suffocating, clear vinyl one was wadded into my pocket when I left for my ride. If rain showers were not expected, then I would pack just the most lightweight nylon shell in my collection. In races I would always have a collection of rain clothing, gloves, shoe covers, and hats in a “rain bag” that rode along in the team car. In other words, I was never far from some form of rain blocking garment, and while in Belgium, I was wearing a rain cape much of the time. I spent 6 years in a rain cape.

I am an expert in very little but have an opinion on a lot of things. Hey, who doesn’t, right? Ask me questions. Tell me what you don’t like and what you do like. I do, however, ask that you limit your potty-mouth comments to primetime network television levels. Hey man, I cuss like a drunken, truck driving, Scottish sailor on shore leave – in fact, most of my Flemish speaking Belgian teammates learned extra-foul vocabularies from me, but let’s all try and leave the F-bombs for the next time we’re 3 miles into a group ride and put a giant slice in a brand new tire. Okay?

Joe Parkin was an amateur bike racer in California when he met Bob Roll (Bobke II), who advised him to move to Belgium to further his cycling career. He represented the United States at the World Professional Road Cycling Championships, the World Professional Cyclocross Championships and the World Professional Mountain Bike Championships.