Lopes Book

I picked up Mastering Mountain Bike Skills by Brian Lopes and Lee McCormack a week or so ago. I had heard about the book quite a while ago, but wasn't going to get it. Over the summer, I saw a bikercross race on TV that Brian Lopes was in; after that I decided I needed to read what he had to say! I finished my first read through it yesterday. If nothing else, it's a pretty entertaining. You know a book is going to be good when it has a section titled "How Good is your Kung-Fu?".

Despite the laid back style of the book, I think there's a lot of good stuff in there. It's obvious that these guys have spent some time thinking about what they're doing and why it works. It's a little overwhelming to think about all at once, so I'll probably go back through it again a bit more slowly, focusing on the basics first. Reading the book has got me pretty juiced up to ride though, I'll have to try to hit the trail sometime this week.

There's a quote near the end that I like, "...most recreational cross-country racers can't turn worth a damn...". Obviously, Brian snuck out to Michigan and saw me ride. I'd love to be able to rail corners the way those downhillers do. Got to begin at the beginning though.