Mastering Mountain Bike Skills

I took one ride on a MTB, and was like "wow I nearly died (figuratively, not literally) several times!" Still was a ton of fun, so I immediately set out to find a book on how one is to learn to ride, or actually shred. This is by far the best choice and most up-to-date.If you aren't rad enough to speak fluent Californian already, never fear, the glossary will have you up to speed in a hurry.My riding became 100% less scary and 100% more fun in just a couple rides, I am steadily improving as I learn to apply the skills and principles taught in this book. You can pick up a lot from YouTube too, in fact the author Lee McCormack appears in a lot of videos there, so you can fill in the gaps or concepts in the book you don't understand.And outstanding value, if they ever make a 4th edition I'll be sure to buy that one too. Get one, and learn how to develop your bike kung fu!

I've been doing MTB for many many many years. Finally got a modern bike about 1 year ago and went nuts. Bought the whole family Mountain bikes and we have great trails we can access right from the house. We ride a lot.My kids are now 13, 10 and 7 they have all been biking from age 3. I've been struggling to teach them things that really stick, no matter how many mountain bike channels we watch on YouTube, nothing comes close to the practical teaching in the book. My riding has improved immensely in 2 weeks in ways I did not expect, and as a bonus, much of the material can be explained to the kids (and wife) in ways that have materially impacted their riding too.I looked at this book and thought, lame, how can a book out do GMBN or Seth or other MTB channels? It DOES and does is massively for you and for anyone you need to TEACH.I can't recc it high enough. Concise, humorous, and effective.You and anyone in your orbit can learn to ride with confidence, safety and skill. This book has been a game changer for me personally and my family.And for once, something Amazon sells that was not made in China...

It's a very good read. Good skills advice, technique, and instruction. I've been riding since the 90s, but I am self-taught. I can ride a trail and handle most tech and descents that I have a good time on my bike, but I also have a few bad habits or technique bits to fix. I never learned to manual or wheelie, and my bunny hops are effective, but I can't get the kind of altitude I want. I can ride a berm, but not as fast as I want to. You get it, ok but not awesome rider. I need to get this stuff sorted. I can't afford coach time, and Youtube can be dodgy on advise.My overall impression of the book is very good. It is well written, logically organized, and fat with photos, charts, and diagrams to help illustrate concepts. Now that I think about it, vids to go along with the book would be cool. Paper doesn't do that yet. So you just read a section, ponder the knowledge, then go practice it. Taduh. Not as crappy rider as last week.BTW I bought the digital and print versions. The digital is good for general reading, but the print version has much better photo resolution and general layout. The pics in the digital just tend to be placed between paragraphs mostly. Still useful, all the text is there and the message still gets through. I just think the book is better.

I think this is a great book for a visual perspective.Things that are hard to describe in words are often given good visual treatment. I especially liked it when they showed multiple frames to illustrate a technique that might have changes across time.For example, they illustrate performing a jump by showing you various frames including hen the rider enters the jump (showing body position, etc), while he's in the jump, and what he looks like when exiting.This alone puts this book above others I have read on the same topic.I also liked the treatment of many different topics. There's a really good cross-section of useful information covered, so it seems like just about anyone in the sport would benefit from the content.There are a couple of things that I think need to be improved on to make this book better.First and foremost, the book either needs to dispense with all the flowery, colorful jargon, and stick closer to simple English, or it needs to provide a glossary up front.I am a beginning rider (supposedly one of the people this book is aimed at) and there were many times I did not understand a section perfectly clearly because of the specialized language they used.Here's an example, taken from early on in the book:"Pump backsides. Any time the trail turns downward, press down for some free speed".That probably makes perfect sense to someone who understands these terms, but it did not help be as a beginner.What does "pump" mean? Does it mean to "pedal hard"? Does it mean to quickly raise and then lower your body on the bike to "pump it"? And how about "press down" - press down on what? The pedals? The handlebars? The saddle?I've read the whole book and I'm still not 100% sure if "pump" means "pedal", or something else.This problem occurs throughout the book, in some places worse than others. There were spots where the language was so flowery that I actually laughed out loud.I remember one paragraph talking about pimping and nailing and lips and rhino horns. I wasn't sure if somehow a chapter from Alice in Wonderland had ended up in this book about Mountain Biking.The other thing I found confusing about the book was some of the conflicting advice given.I found this especially true in areas related to braking. If one just listed all the sentences related to braking you might see something like this: "Stay off the brakes, speed is the key to smoothness", "Use the brakes to remain in control", "Only brake when you really mean to", "Braking is one of the most important skills", "People rely too much on the brakes", and so on.This all reminds me of an out-take from the movie Poltergeist in which the main characters are giving Carol-Ann advice about how to come home: "Go into the light!", "Get away from the light!", "The light is your salvation!", "The light is the enemy!".I'm afraid that after reading this book I am as confused about braking as poor Carol-Ann is about whether or not she should go into the light.Apart from these gripes, I have spent many hours with this book and feel that I will become a better rider for it.

It has everything I wanted to learn and things I never considered, great from beginners and up and well put together. I had so many questions about the differences on rims, what tires to get, etc… this book explains quite a lot, feels like a manual on biking itself.

Very deep explaination and good topics explain for dummies by a real topic expert.

Buscaba un libro completo con todo lo necesario a nivel de técnica y de funcionamiento de las bicis de montaña, y este libro lo tiene literalmente todo. Eso sí, está en inglés, que yo entiendo bien. El lenguaje no es demasiado técnico y me ha servido para aprender como se llaman muchos componentes lo cual es útil para luego poder comprar y mirar foros de mtb. Muy contento con la compra.

Non ho ancora finito di leggerlo, ma mi pare molto utile.Molto tecnico ma anche ironico e divertente.

Aprendi muito com o livro e continuo aprendendo. As técnicas apresentadas me levaram a um novo nível. Na minha opinião, trata-se de um manual para se desenvolver e evoluir no Mountain Bike, principalmente se você não tem um treinador ou orientador para técnicas de pilotagem. Ao aprender pelo menos algumas das técnicas descritas com detalhes no livro, a diversão e o prazer da prática desse esporte vão aumentar muito.