Mountain Biking: Over the Edge [Paperback]

Bill Strickland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1998

Hit the trail with the assurance and daring of a pro biker. Get the adrenaline rush of flying under your own power. And take Mountain biking along. It's packed with all the nuts and bolts of mountain biking: Equipment ("Homemade," "Beware," "Must Have"); Techniques--with real-life examples. Strickland writes from his own experience--and he takes you along.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Mountain biking is wild, thrilling, brutal, beautiful, and over the edge--the ride of your life--The Ultimate Ride.

It has the fringe feel of extreme sports, but just about anyone can do it, just about anywhere. (You don't even need a mountain--honest.)

Strickland writes from his own experience--and he takes you along. He's become the mountain biker he would've wanted to ride with as a novice. Could've saved him a lot of troubles, he says. And skin.

It's skill-intensive: You'll need plenty of techniques and tricks--stuff that's simple to understand and enact, but not so easy to discover on your own. Bill Strickland can show you what you don't even know you're missing.

This book is packed with all the nuts and bolts of equipment and techniques, with real-life examples. It's like the best mountain bike ride: loose, expert, and a little in love with the unexpected.

About the Author

Bill Strickland is a contributing writer and staff member for Mountain Bike magazine, was managing editor for Bicycling magazine, and has written about mountain biking for Bicycling, Men's Health, Men's Journal, Verge, and Blue magazines. No stranger to tough rides, he once rode eight days across France and Belgium--about 100 miles per day.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070387036
• ISBN-13: 978-0070387034
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Individual Sports > Cycling > Mountain Biking

More About the Author

I'm not the famous and nice philanthropist Bill Strickland who helps people lead better lives. I'm just a guy who writes about life, mostly about bikes and life, as it turns out. Besides the books you can find here, I've published stories in Bicycling, Mountain Bike, Men's Health, Men's Journal, Parenting, Parents, Backpacker, Rouleur, Embrocation Cycling Journal, The Indianapolis Star, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Book Review and other magazines and newspapers, and I've commented on cycling, memoirs and other topics for Good Morning America, The Early Show, CBS Sports, ESPN, NPR and other networks. I got to work with Phil Liggett a few times providing narration for race videos. I race road and cyclocross, just a little bit and not very well. I'm the editor-at-large of Bicycling, the biggest cycling mag in the world. And I am an amateur and barely competent goatherd.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, Marvelously Instructive, June 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mountain Biking: Over the Edge (Paperback)

Strickland's book is perfectly constructed. It is just the right combination of step-by-step instructions, personal anecdotes, illustrations, and mountain biking philosophy. Rather than writing as a Cycling God, Strickland writes as a person who has Been There, and amuses the reader with many references to his most graceful face-plants and other humiliating experiences. He writes wittily and with a casual style without insulting the reader's intelligence. Truly the Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Ride.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short , Sweet, Informative, July 27, 2002

By 

TOL (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mountain Biking: Over the Edge (Paperback)

My complaint with most mountain bike "how-to" guides is that they gear the reader toward being a professional rider. That's because they are most often written by professional riders. Seldom has a book been written that just covers the basic questions like "How do I jump a small dirt mound?" or "What is the difference between the different types of rear-suspensions that are available?" This book answers those basic questions without getting into so much detail that the average rider will be bored. The text and illustrations are clear, concise, and entertaining. The outline of the book brings the reader from shopping for their first bike, right up through explaining some of the most basic "expert" techniques. But, again, the book is very much geared toward first time or beginner riders and is intended to gradually step them up through the ranks of bad, to better, to good.

In short, this book covers most all of the basic techniques you will need to be a good novice mountain bike rider. And that's exactly what I want to be.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really is the ultimate guide, April 25, 2000

By 

Colin D. Bennett (Spokane, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mountain Biking: Over the Edge (Paperback)

An excellent book! Strickland's style is casual, funny, and fun to read, while still being packed with information. I recommend this book to all fat-tire enthusiasts out there.