STRANGE BUT TRUE

Before carbon frames, hydraulic brakes, suspension forks, and million-dollar racing teams, there were riders bombing down mountains on old bicycles that were never meant to leave the pavement.

Strange But True: The Weird History of Mountain Biking tells the wild, funny, and surprisingly strange story of how a handful of experimenters, racers, builders, and thrill seekers transformed battered cruiser bikes into one of the world's most exciting forms of cycling.

Travel back to the days when riders cooked the grease out of coaster brakes during downhill races, hauled heavy klunkers over 12,000-foot mountain passes, borrowed suspension ideas from motorcycles, and experimented with bicycle designs that sometimes looked completely ridiculous. Meet the people behind Repack, the Breezer, the Stumpjumper, early world championships, 24-hour races, single-speed madness, North Shore wooden bridges, freeride cliffs, fat bikes, and the rise of modern bike parks.

Along the way, discover how mountain bikers:

Raced old klunker bikes down terrifying California fire roads
Turned brake failure into the name of a legendary race
Built bicycles specifically to survive mountain abuse
Put shock absorbers on both ends of a once-simple machine
Removed inner tubes and poured liquid sealant inside their tires
Invented disappearing bicycle seats controlled from the handlebars
Raced through the night for 24 hours at a time
Built narrow wooden trails high above the forest floor
Turned ski resorts into summer downhill playgrounds
Rode cliffs and desert ridges that barely looked possible on foot
Made mountain biking an Olympic sport
And somehow turned outlaw trails into professionally designed bike parks

The story also reaches back to earlier off-road cyclists, including U.S. Army bicycle soldiers and British riders who deliberately searched for the worst roads they could find.

Blending real history, bizarre inventions, colorful personalities, outrageous races, and plenty of humor, this is not a technical manual or a dry encyclopedia of bicycle models. It is the story of what happened when people looked at mountains, looked at bicycles, and refused to believe the two should remain separated.

Perfect for mountain bikers, cyclists, outdoor adventurers, sports-history fans, and anyone who enjoys strange true stories about how ordinary ideas become extraordinary.

Klunker Bikes, Brake-Melting Races, Outlaw Trails, Insane Descents, and Other Bizarre Stories from the Dirt.