
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve reviewed a few books published by Vertebrate Publishing and been impressed by all of them. Steve Peat’s book is different, in that it’s an autobiography rather than a guidebook.
‘Essential reading’ is a common phrase but often just hype. I reckon this book is genuinely essential reading if you’re a mountain biker. I was going to add ‘over a certain age’, but actually, if you’re interested in the history of the sport it’s for you. Steve Peat is a genuine legend of MTB, even if ‘legend’ is overused these days. There are people in MTB with similarly long and successful careers but not many!
Steve is unwaveringly honest, he seems to need to be, or it’s just who he is. I suppose there are lots of bikers that expect to know what they’ll be reading in advance, and there are ‘those’ stories! There’s a lot more too; his life hasn’t been all plane sailing.
As you get from the cover, it leads up to a world champ win, and one of the more dramatic ones! Rob Warner’s commentary added to the occasion… It definitely wouldn’t have been n line with major broadcasters’ impartiality rules!
I’ve very much enjoyed the book – finding out how someone so essential to UK mountain biking got to be what, where and who they are today has been fascinating. He’s roughly my age but grew up in a different part of the UK to me. This means a lot of his recollections of life in the 70s and 80s are similar to mine, although a lot are different too.
You can buy from the Vertebrate Website, here as well as good, bad & intbetween bookshops elsewhere.

Chasing Trails isn’t paid or sponsored by Vertebrate Publishing.