Best Mountain Biking
In Mastering Mountain Bike Skills, Third Edition, world-champion racer Brian Lopes and renowned riding coach Lee McCormack share their elite perspectives, real-life race stories, and their own successful techniques to help riders of all styles and levels build confidence and experience the full exhiliration of the sport. Whether you’re a recreational rider looking to rock the trails with friends, are a seasoned enthusiast, or are aspiring to be a top pro, Mastering Mountain Bike Skills will improve your ride and dust the competition. He has won more than 19 titles in his mountain biking career, including nine National Championship titles, six UCI World Cup wins, and four UCI Mountain Bike World Champion titles, first in 2001 and then again in 2002, 2005, and 2007. Lee McCormack is the world’s leading mountain bike skills author and instructor. In his role as the skill development director for the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), McCormack created the curriculum and wrote the manual used to train high school mountain bike racers and their coaches throughout the United States. As the founder and CEO of RipRow, McCormack is proud to be helping riders develop their skills and fitness off their bikes as well as on their bikes. McCormack has been a mountain biker for almost 30 years, and he is still getting better, which makes mountain biking fun.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a good/useful book."
"I don't have the guts or the endurance to go racing up and down steep mountain sides, but there are countless "secrets" in this book telling you how to handle various situations, how and when to brake in different kinds of terrain/trails, and so on."
"I love riding bikes, but this book have tons of useful info from picking out a bike to how to setup up your seats, how to stay in neutral position and keep feet solid and hands light. Great info on turns and jumps and how to land and pump safely."
"This is a great book, and is justifiably known as the bible of mountain bike skills."
"I was getting back into mountain biking after a long absence, and, being a little older, had lost all of the bravado that let me rip trails when I was a kid."
"The book gives riding instruction, mechanical basics of how your bike functions best and many interesting comparisons between common setup choices of mountain bikes like what tire pressure to run, 26" vs. 29" bikes and other basic choices riders make."
"I bought this book for my twelve year old son and he has barely put the book down which is amazing because he normally doesn't like to read."
"A great read, I have been mountain biking for 10+ years and this book still contains very helpful tips and instruction - even if your riding well today, the theory and explanation behind things you already know will improve your riding and speeds!"
Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance is the world's best-selling book on mountain bike maintenance and repair. --Ned Overend, World and National Mountain Bike Champion. NOBODY COVERS BIKES LIKE ZINN. "Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance" is the world's bestselling book on mountain bike care and repair for good reason: it covers everything you need to know about your mountain bike in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format. His other books include "Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, Zinn & the Art of Triathlon Bikes, Zinn's Cycling Primer, The Mountain Bike Performance Handbook, and The Mountain Bike Owner's Manual."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A little dated, but a good bedtime read."
"This book payed for itself on day 1; I bought it alongside a new mountain bike and the partially-assembled bike had come with the front disc brake assembly not providing enough clearance for the disc brake (it was rubbing, and no adjustments would prevent it)."
"Great book with old fashioned black-and-white drawings."
"I used this book the same day I got it."
"Way better than trying to make sense of Sheldon Brown's confusing online graphics for wheel building."
"I'm still no expert but as I've encountered issues with my bike I just whip out the book and start reading then working."
"This is the right manual to get for hybrid bikes."
"I had seen the book before I purchased it from Amazon so I had a good idea of what I was getting."
For more than 20 years, The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair by Todd Downs has done just that. TODD DOWNS has been a self-taught, full-time wrench since 1989.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"it's very good book for those of us that are out of date."
"This book has taught me so much about the history of bicycle frames style and culture."
"Excellent comprehensive book, which has already been helpful in servicing my new bicycle."
"A must have for the diy person."
"This manual has allowed me to make minor repairs and do the routine maintenance on my bikes."
"On my last trip, web access was sketchy so having the reference book on my reader will save some frustration."
"The website Bicycle Commuters Guide recommended this book."
"It's an ok book for the novice person, if you run anything that's more advanced you'll be in trouble.."
Best Extreme Sports
Crossing rivers, battling illness and injury, and struggling through some of the toughest terrain on the planet, the team and the dog walked together toward the finish line, where Mikael decided he would save the dog, now named Arthur, and bring him back to his family in Sweden, whatever it took. "Arthur latched onto an extreme sports team during the Amazon race - and what happened next will melt the hardest heart"Daily Mail.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"GREAT BOOK IT REALYY TOUCHES YOR HEART."
"Great story!"
"I loved this account of a bond made in an unexpected place and at an unexpected time."
"Great story !"
"A very good read.Thank you."
Best Bike Repair
Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is the world's best-selling guide to bicycle repair and maintenance. New chapter on electronic shifting covers maintenance, service, repair, and troubleshooting of all Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo electronic shifting groups. New troubleshooting charts New master guide to press-fit bottom brackets Also covered in the 5th edition: All derailleur shifting systems (5-speed through 11-speed); all bottom bracket systems (cone-and-cup through press-fit); all brake systems (including caliper, V-brake, cantilever, and disc); all headset, stem, handlebar and fork systems; wheelbuilding for all bikes including cyclocross and disc-brake wheels; special sections on cyclocross throughout including troubleshooting, maintenance, service, repair, and equipment selection; updated and expanded torque tables; complete illustration index and complete subject index. “Longtime VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn’s maintenance books are bibles for both pro and amateur wrenches. Zinn has written this book to help both the leisure bike rider and expert mechanic handle almost any problem associated with road bikes.” ― Library Journal. “Lennard Zinn is a veritable cycling Einstein and, as a naturally gifted teacher, he has the unique ability to explain even the most difficult mechanical task. So unless you currently ride on a high-profile pro team with your own mechanic (and maybe even then), Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is an absolute ‘must-have’ book.” ― Davis Phinney, Olympic medalist, national champion, and Tour de France stage winner. But on those days when your race steed needs some serious maintenance, or even just when you’re proactively researching for a little more knowledge if the worst should strike you on the road far from home – you will be glad you have Zinn in your library.” ― AeroGeeks. “ Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is simple, easy to follow and the illustrations are magnificent…If you are looking for a bicycle repair manual, get this book.” ― Cycloculture. Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is very up to date, very clear―thanks to the profuse illustrations―and accurate and comprehensive…And it’s all in a very enjoyable format intended to be encouraging and confidence-building."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I felt that this book was a great all-in-one general maintenance book for Road Bike Maintenance. It does not give every single detail that is possible for all parts (e.g. shimano brakes, it doesn't tell give you a parts breakdown like one would if you went to the manufacture site and downloaded their technical documents). The book does a great job at sorting the different repair tasks by three different levels, which most takes I feel are generally level 2. This book does not give advise onto which brands to get for all the tools (although they do have some recommendations for certain tools interspersed throughout the book)."
"I'm not particularly fond of relying purely on the internet for information, mostly because network connections aren't the most reliable in my area."
"When it comes to bike maintenance, it just doesn't get any better than Lennard Zinn."
"Great for providing a baseline and the trouble shooting section in each chapter makes diagnosing the issues easier."
"I'm seriously not mechanically but can follow his instructions!"
"This book has helped me out with everything I needed to do on my road bike."
"His reference to removing Shimano cranks notes that a special tool is needed to remove the left crank cap, but doesn't specify which tool it is."
"A must have.... no need to say more - the book speaks for itself."
Best Cycling Travel Guides
In four years he covered 78,000 miles through 45 countries, living with peasants and presidents, in prisons and palaces, through wars and revolutions. A compelling narrative that moves, sometimes at breakneck speed, over some of the world's most beautiful and mysterious terrain ? Extremely readable, full of keen observation, perceptive insight ?
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It took Ted Simon years to complete his journey and it took me a while to finish reading it."
"Here are some more of the books that inspired me: - Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer. - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintainance by Robert Pirsig. - The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara. - Ghostrider by Neil Pearl. - The Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman. - The Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman. - Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon. - Mount Analogue by Arthur von Boennighausen. The last two road trips were originally done in Ford and Volkwagen Vans but can be duplicated on a BMW motorcycle."
"Mr. Simon's adventurous spirit and naivete carry him around the globe and lands him in some fantastic situations, not all of them good."
"Old single cylinder carb bikes, I can carry a set of regular hand tools."
"Ted Simon captures the feelings of long-distance, long-time traveling like no one else I've ever read (although there are some other great books out there, see below). The thrill of departure, the shock of the new, the wariness of the unsupported traveler in a strange place, the difficulties of language and even alphabet, the fear, the exhaustion, the new-place fatigue, the need to just lie down sometimes, the misery of illness (though he was very lucky there), the numinous joy of the great places and views of the world (sometimes even the most ordinary places), the pleasure in seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting new things, the joy of finding your fellow humans all around the world to be very much like you and enjoyable to meet and know, the incredible education that travel gives you, the powerfully ambivalent feelings of the end of the journey and the return to home-place, never again able to see the world as you once had. It touches the universals of human experience found in travel. Some other excellent books about long-distance travel that I highly recommend: Seven Years in Tibet. Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. One Man Caravan ("Incredible Journeys" Books). News from Tartary. Canoeing with the Cree. Sailing Alone Around the World. Two Years Before the Mast (Signet Classics). Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics). The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (Penguin Classics)."
"You know, when you start out to do something and you really aren't sure it was such a good idea then decide it was awesome!"
"I really enjoyed reading this book."