Joe Parkin came into my purview more than 30 years ago. We first crossed paths when he won the 1992 Chequamegon 40 mountain bike race (I was waaaaay off the back in the sea of 2,400 participants), then at the Chicago Area Bicycle Dealers Association (CABDA) Show a few years later. We became friends over the years, when he moved to Santa Cruz, CA in 2008 and we saw each other regularly. I interviewed Joe for some magazines a few times, and in turn he hired me to contribute to Paved and BIKE Magazines when he became editor a year or so later.

He married Elayna Caldwell, whose subsequent job took them to Chicago, then Germany, before landing in Colorado. Joe and I haven’t seen each other in a few years, but as kindred spirits over many things, we text and talk on the phone as frequently as the days allow. We’ve led somewhat parallel lives, and I’d be remiss not to do a proper interview with Pal Joe to share his story. 

I was U.S. editor of BikeRadar.com, a British cycling website that launched in July 2007. Bicycles were my life, and I was neglecting a BMW R 90/6 in the garage in favor of the 15 or so bicycles hanging from the rafters. It was my job, after all, and my 43-year-old body needed to stay in shape. A few years later I became aware of a new book called “Shop Class As Soulcraft” written by a guy who owned a one-man motorcycle repair shop in Virginia.

Thomas Edward Lawrence — better known as Lawrence of Arabia, made famous by David Lean’s 1962 classic movie of the same name — loved his motorcycles, specifically the spendy and powerful Brough Superior. He owned eight of these beauties.

‘The Road’ is Chapter 16 in Part III of T.E. Lawrence’s book The Mint, written in 1929 but published posthumously 20 years after his death in 1935 (as per his wishes). Lawrence writes about ‘Boanarges’, the name he gave his 1928 Brough Superior SS100, his only earthly indulgence.

Fictional Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire hates motorcycles as much as Indiana Jones hates snakes, but the New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson loves bikes as much as he loves his horses and Wyoming ranch.

With his 19th novel ‘The Longmire Defense’ set for early September 2023 publication, we spoke with the 62-year-old West Virginia native about his motivation and discipline for writing, how he spent several promotional tours visiting bookstores on his BMW motorcycle, and that time many decades ago when he nearly lost an eye during a motocross race.

Little is known of blue-eyed author Craig Johnson’s career path prior to publishing his first novel, The Cold Dish, at age 43 in 2004. Johnson appears to have stayed on the right side of Johnny Law, and at some point was inspired to develop the characters which appeared in the book. He certainly has a vivid imagination and a penchant for writing about trials and tribulations of people on and off the Indian reservations around the greater Wyoming area.