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Joe Parkin, one of the first American bike racers in Europe, tells the hard reality of the life: the drugs, the payoffs, the betrayals by teammates, the battles with team owners for contracts and pay, the endless promises that keep you going, and the rider's sheer physical agony of racing day after day.

Collected by the editors of VeloNews, here's a full year of the best photographs of road cycling, from the spring classics to cyclocross.

Roadie addresses all of the curiosities that accompany the sport of cycling, from shaved legs to colorful jerseys and unbelievably expensive bicycles, shoes, and components.