Books about Mountain Biking

Why are there apparently no non-technical or non-guide books about mountain biking? I've read so many good biogs and histories to do with road-racing, but have never found any to do with off-road.
I know it's still a 'young' sport, but surely a general history of it coul be written. There's enough characters involved to make some good biographies, no? Missy Giove biog? Tom Ritchey? Rob Warner?
Is it the fact there's no real equivalent to the Grand Tours in mountain biking (which lend themselves to epic stories)?

Misspent Summers (The bike bum's guide to Morzine) by James McKnight will be coming out some time…

http://www.mcskills.com[/url%5D

Is a guide though, innit?

Its a pity, Id love to read some of these types of books. John Tomac's biog or a biog of someone like tim gould even would be great.

hmm, Rob Warner Biog? no thanks….

Its because its a sport about getting out there and doing it. Actually sitting at the top of a mountain looking at the long ribon of singletrack that will take you down to the valley, is far better than reading about it.
I have also never read an interesting book on cycling, although I am looking forward to the one by the guy that rode around the world on penny farthing if he ever writes it.

True, it'd probably be a bit of a labour of love (ie. not make much money), but I'm surprised there hasn't been at least a stab at writing up the origins of MTBing.

Shaun Palmer biography could be an interesting read.

MSP – There's LOADS of great books about cycling! Like boxing, something about the sport lends itself to great writing. Also, road biking is abut getting out there and doing it too, but we all have a bit of downtime, no?

Yeah, Tomac and Palmer would both have interesting tales…

Unfortunately a passion for a sport, and the ability to write about it rarely collide in one person.
You need someone who has done something amazing, has some character and personality and the ability to express that in writing. IMO I have yet to find that in a book about cycling.
Joe Simpson did it to a certain extent in climbing (even if is character and personality was that of an irritating prick) but he can be hit and miss as well.

How about Tinkers blog?[/url]

Unfortunately a passion for a sport, and the ability to write about it rarely collide in one person.

That's why they have ghostwriters, so the sportspeople only have to talk about it.

Also, doesn't have to be an auto-biography. In search of Robert Millar, Put Me Back On My Bike, Mr Tom, Sex Lies and Handlebar Tape are all great non-auto biogs.

oh I just remembered a good cycling book

That's why they have ghostwriters, so the sportspeople only have to talk about it.

I have no interest in the hubris of "the stars" of the sport, I want to read about interesting things done by interesting people with the literary skills to draw me in to their adventures.

Re: McKnight's book
DirtyLyle – Member
Is a guide though, innit?

Nope. As I understand it it's about the hilarious goings on in the "underground" (non-touristy) riding scene in Morzine.

James has devoted his life to riding & racing to the extent of mostly living out of the back of a van and sleeping on people's floors to eek out every penny so as to work as little as poss and spend as much time in the saddle as he can.

He posts sometimes on descent world under the moniker of EuroPikey, is a sound guy and can smoke (almost) anyone I've ridden with 🙂

Good question. Climbing has a real depth of high quality literature. Road cycling has produced some real classic books, respectable well beyond the bike niche, mostly based around competition. Even some fairly badly-written books have had some fascinating insights into the life of the peloton. Maybe riding a mountain bike is actually duller than we'd all like to believe? Or is an essentially fairly transitory experience?

Come on Ernest Press, there must be someone out there!

🙂

I have no interest in the hubris of "the stars" of the sport, I want to read about interesting things done by interesting people with the literary skills to draw me in to their adventures.

You're narrowing the field quite drastically then.

The best book I've read on MTBing, Mastering Mountain Bike Skills, was sort of ghost written by Lee McCormack with Brian Lopes.

There is a thing out there called "The Bike Path", written by a chap called Wayne Elliot Lankford.

Wayne is a chubby middle-aged bloke, he is largely skill-less and rides a cheap bike of his through some woods quite a lot. Some day he sees a squirrel while he's out. Other days he thinks about his ex-wife and how she had fat arms, which he hated. Some times his stoke is up. At other times he cannot find the flow.

Do you have any idea how tedious it is?

I have also never read an interesting book on cycling, although I am looking forward to the one by the guy that rode around the world on penny farthing if he ever writes it.

Try this – not about mtbs but a great cycling story..
The Rider

Two main reasons:

1) There are lots of great books about road cycling (racing), but although they might cover time trials, criteriums etc. in passing, they are mostly about the Grand Tours or the Classics, i.e. hard races that last long enough to cause major suffering and for something to actually happen. Most road races are interesting because of the relationships between team members and teams. In a 90 minute XC race there isn't enough time for anything really interesting to develop, and since it is effectively a time-trial that starts with a sprint team tactics are non-existent.

2) Mountaineering has a fantastic wealth of literature because it is difficult, dangerous (often fatal) and, even the lowliest climber can appreciate the fear when you are climbing at your limit and things are only a split second away from going badly wrong. Climbing at (or beyond) your limit is the same for everyone – it's just the limit that's different.

So MTB XC racing isn't interesting enough to inspire great literature, and recreational mountain biking is, well… +1 to the poster who said maybe it's duller than we think.

I've had some pleasant rides on a mountain bike, and I've had a couple of hard XC races, but nothing compares to the barely suppressed terror when four of us were hanging off one wobbly peg as we tried to abseil off a rock face in Chamonix during a thunderstorm. Let's face it, you're trying to compare Heinrich Harrer's "The White Spider" with STW's "squirelly, flowing single-track".

Physical, but not very dangerous hobbies do not lead to the publication of gripping and engrossing books: "I went for a ride in the woods today but it was a bit hot so I stopped and listened to the birds". A pleasant enough experience for me, but a dull tale to recount.

Er, DWH, so there is only recreational mountain biking and XC races?

The area for a good MTB book is something like great divide race or the Iditarod trail race. Again they are both long and allows for a nice narrative and for side diversion into the mind of the rider and flashbacks to preparations.

Similarly there are are some good touring books from people taking the rougher route, although not quite MTBing. As far as short routes go some of the route on the rsf routes web page are written well, but of course short and hence not a book.

Josie Dew's travel books are good
http://www.josiedew.co.uk/

Someone in the chalet this week is reading a book about a guy doing the Great Divide race, think it's called "Two weeks in the saddle" or something. Looks decent from a quick thumb-through.

A good example of a well written short story here,

http://www.rsf.org.uk/images/hist%2006x.jpg

DezB – Yeah, a bit of a generalisation I guess. What else did you have in mind?

Paul Howard has a book out – could be the one stevomcd is referring to.

Just got 'Cordillera' about the Great Divide which is a collection of short essays / stories by various racers.

One of the contributors is Jill Homer (up in alaska blog) has a book called 'Ghost Trails' about riding the 2008 Iditarod. As a journalist I suspect this will be a nice read.
(She has just moved to Montana so her blog may be changing name….)

Shame Thoreau was a bit early for mountain biking… he could have written a fat tyre version of The Maine Woods.

You have to compare eggs with eggs. "Death on the Eiger" and "Today's bimble ride in the woods" are not comparable subject matter.

And then anything invoking the aesthetics, emotional and intellectual experience of mountain biking will be dismissed as "flowery w@nk".

I was watching the DH competition at Leogang on Freecaster – the trail conditions were extreme: one of the riders seemingly lost it then pulled off a great recovery to sail into the next nightmarish section. Nigel Page, who was commentating, simply said: "That… is Mountain Biking".

Like skiing and surfing, words don't exist to accurately describe the sensations. Mountain biking really has to be experienced first hand to appreciate it.

IMO

I reckon the only way to go with mountain biking books, would be biogs of the legends of our sport –

+1 Tim Gould
Ned Overend
John Tomac

Ritchey and the old clunker lot

etc…….

I can definitely see a book on the Great Divide or Iditarod, being of interest. It's a bit niche, but something about the Cape Epic would be of interest to some as well.
I don't buy the argument that 'cos it's not extreme, it can't be written about well.
Is it the case that:
A) As a participation sport mountain biking (to use a catch-all term) is just too niche to justify a history, biogs, whatever?
B) As Buzzlightyear says, anything that attempts to convey the sensations of the sport will be dismissed "flowery w@nk"?
I'm pretty sure I've read some articles in STW that could come under that heading…

If it's "sensations and feelings" people are after they should probably stick to music and poetry. Personally I'm just off to do some hard interval sessions until I pass out 😉

I'm sticking with 'too dull'. It's not too niche – there are millions of people on bikes all out enjoying themselves with various levels of skill and radness. Just too flowery, and you can only do flowery in small measures.

Fell running is an incredibly niche business – you could fit the number of participants in the stands of one lower league football ground. And yet it's produced an absolute classic of sporting literature (and not just running, sporting literature in general) in 'Feet In The Clouds'. Written by a proper journalist, with a passion for the craft and a real depth of research.

The Ride Journal is a pretty good format, but you'll note that most contributions are fall into a template of 'few-hundred-words' plus picture/illustration.

It occurred to me late last night that the definitive mountain-biking novel will be basically like Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. It will involve a selfish, shallow mid-30s man-child with a pronounced interest in suspension systems coming to realise that there are more important things in life than mountain-biking. He will meet the love of his life at the wedding of his very, very fat old school friend Stewart, and she will introduce him to a life of political activism and allotment gardening which he will find infinitely more satisfying than weighing his new suspension forks.

I'll have a stab at a first chapter over the weekend.

she will introduce him to a life of political activism and allotment gardening which he will find infinitely more satisfying than weighing his new suspension forks.

I gave up my allotment and union father of chapel position to spend more time biking, but the rest is pretty close to the bone.

(Actually I got made redundant, but I never let the truth get in the way of a good story).