'As a former elite athlete, and now Head Coach at the Santa Cruz Syndicate, it is great to see mountain biking getting the attention it deserves. This sport has given me everything and continues to do so. It’s allowed me to travel the world, meet new people, and experience many different cultures. Hopefully, this collection will help to bring these cultures to a wider audience, whilst encouraging more people to get out on their bikes.'
Steve Peat, Head Coach with the Santa Cruz Syndicate and Downhill World Champion
'Mountain Biking, Culture and Society is the definitive text for anyone interested in understanding mountain biking as a sport, practice, community, identity, and embodied experience. It brings together the most cutting-edge research from scholars around the world, each advancing new ways of thinking about sport, moving bodies, technologies, and the environment. This is highly recommended reading for critical and social scholars of sport, physical culture, action sports and outdoor recreation, as well as those passionate about mountain biking.'
Holly Thorpe, University of Waikato, New Zealand
Introduction: Mountain Bike Culture as a ‘Structure of Feeling’, Part I: Mountain Biking Identities, 1. Exploring Mountain Bike Coaches' Perceptions Towards Learning to Coach through Story Completion: Coaching Happily Ever After?, 2. Evaluating Competitiveness as a Personality Trait Among a Sample of Mountain Bikers, 3. The Motivations, Identities, and Environmental Sensibilities of Contemporary e-Mountain Bike Users: The People Behind the Power, Part II: Mountain Biking Bodies, 4. A Sociology of How Things Go Wrong in Mountain Biking: Falling into Place, 5. An Exploration Into the Sensory Experience of Pain in Mountain Biking, 6. Encounters with Mountain Bike Trail Centre Spaces: Experience Landscapes, Part III: Mountain Biking Environments, 7. Downhill MTB, Digital Media, and DIY Urbanism: Riding with Red Bull, 8. Sustainable Mountain Bike Trails: Towards a Holistic Approach, 9. Repairing and Caring for DIY Designed Mountain Bike and BMX Trails: No Dig, No Ride, 10. Air Pollution as ‘Slow Violence’ During Multi-day Mountain Bike Trips, Part IV: The Cultural Politics of Mountain Biking, 11. Women and Barriers to Participation in Mountain Biking: The Impossible Climb, 12. Hegemonic Masculinity and Sexualisation in Mountain Bike Trail Naming Practices: What’s in a Name?, 13. Portrayals of Ideals of Authenticity in Mountain Biking Multimedia: Escaping to Find Yourself, 14. Reflections on Trails, Mountain Biking, and Indigenous-Settler Relations in British Columbia: Ride, (Re)Connect and (Re)Build
Jim Cherrington is Senior Lecturer in Physical Activity, Sport, and Health at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. His research explores how identity, bodies, knowledges, and objects are materialised in/through everyday life, with much of his recent work dedicated to investigating the socio-historical, socio-technical, and onto-political conditions of mountain biking.