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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for beginners, January 1, 2001
This review is from: Mountain Bike Magazine's Complete Guide To Mountain Biking Skills: Expert Tips On Conquering Curves, Corners, Dips, Descents, Hills, Water Hazards, And Other All-Terrain Challenges (Paperback)
Buy it before you buy your bike. The book begins with a bunch of info on how to pick a good bike and more importantly, how to pick a good bike shop. If you stick with the sport you will quickly outgrouw this book, but it covers the most important basic skills and even includes advice on racing. A quick read. I finished it on the first day, but it's worth re-reading after you gain more skill, as everything will make more sense. Given that you've read the book you'll learn way faster on the bike than poring over the book. In fact, it's probably a good idea to take this book and some 2x4's out to a grass field with some rolling hills and go for it. And remember: if you're not falling you could be learning much faster.
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29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Expert? It's written by bozos like us!, January 26, 2002
This review is from: Mountain Bike Magazine's Complete Guide To Mountain Biking Skills: Expert Tips On Conquering Curves, Corners, Dips, Descents, Hills, Water Hazards, And Other All-Terrain Challenges (Paperback)
This book is great fun. It manages to avoid the patronising 10 page filler on why Mummy thinks you really should wear a helmet, and the incomprehensible comparison of the crank end twistor setting downplate angle of 1.72 degrees versus 1.83 degrees (a major controversy at the 1984 Boot Hill Lower Upper Mid South Dakota championship eliminator resulting in several fatalities after a discussion in the bar got out of hand). And it has very amusing cartoons. These (inter alia) explain to newbies that going headfirst over the handlebars can result in 'Pain and misery', while not doing so results in 'Happiness and success', oh yes, this cartoon also explains about hopping over logs, but since my preferred style leans more to 'Pain and misery' it's nice to see this perfectly legitimate method of riding recognised in print (even though it is labelled 'Wrong'). Despite its 'Expert' label in the title, most of the chapters are written by people at least remembering what it was like NOT to be able to do things, and so the explanations really resonate with the new-and-not-so-good. The opening of Chapter 10 about Wheelies as basketball players is, in my view, a classic of gonzo sporting humour, and deserves to be read widely. (But I'm not going to quote it!) I should say that this is probably the most enjoyable book I have yet read on mountain biking, and recommend it to anyone who likes doing inappropriate things on expensive, delcate pieces of metal which usually involve the removal of bits of skin and limping for a week or two.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Learner Book and Intermediate SKill Honer, March 10, 2004
This review is from: Mountain Bike Magazine's Complete Guide To Mountain Biking Skills: Expert Tips On Conquering Curves, Corners, Dips, Descents, Hills, Water Hazards, And Other All-Terrain Challenges (Paperback)
I initially bought this book for my fiance who says I sound condescending when I try to teach her something and ended up enjoying it myself. I would describe myself as an intermediate(Only because my conditioning sucks) to expert rider. I found the book to be entertaining and it helped point out some things I was doing wrong, such as ride preparation, and some things I want to do better such as long climbs and how to pace them and keeping motivation. I find the book is pointed towards experienced trail riders who might be just a beginner to slightly more extreme conditions such as climbs, descents, drops, corners, logs, etc. or want to learn proper form for traversing said conditions to become more of a finesse rider(Of which I am not). I find the caption on the cover is a little misleading. It might make one thing the book is specifically aimed at experts, which it is not. Insted of saying "Expert Tips...", I think it should say "Tips From Experts...". In my opinion this is a book most riders right from beginner to expert should be able to learn something from. They try to keep the tone light and even comedical times. This makes it enjoyable to read. It's broken up as such to keep it interesting and allow you to skip the sections you're not interested in without missing anything that might be important. I can't wait to give it to my fiance to see what she thinks. Highly recommended!!!
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