Art of Mountain Biking: Singletrack Skills for All Riders

An unprecedented new look at mountain biking and trail riding techniques from the author of The Art of Cycling

Riding obstacle-strewn singletrack trails on a two-wheeled machine is one of those seductive challenges that can never be fully mastered, even by the most talented and experienced. In The Art of Mountain Biking, Robert Hurst deliberately avoids discussion of equipment, training, and other subjects that have already been beaten to death in mountain bike books and magazines, to focus on the deeply complex art of riding trails. From page to page and switchback to switchback, he chases the complex mysteries that make trail riding so difficult—and so rewarding—from the application of “soft power” and the biomechanics of balance and vision, to the philosophy of line choice and the Riccatti equations that describe the path of the bike's rear wheel, to the nature of dirt itself.

Built on the author's own quarter-century of experience and the tried-and-true wisdom of many other veteran mountain bikers, this environmentalist and darkly humorous manual provides a collection of unexpected knowledge that will be indispensable to both novices and experts. Throughout, Hurst explains with clarity, revelation—and a healthy dash of wit—the ins and outs of riding a mountain bike.