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Your Complete Guide To Trials Riding: Augmented


TrashZen

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Why bother with paper in this age of digital and free online information?

As a mature sport, I reckon that trials riding deserves a solid book of its own. So far, the closest reference manuals I came across are all about general mountain biking skills, which in my opinion, are as inadequate for trials riders as a tennis handbook would be for someone willing to learn ping pong (you could also say the same of skate board versus surf).

Of course, you could argue that everything is already there somewhere on the web, accessible for free (I should know, silly me). Right, but you rarely get everything all nicely tied-up into one place, and the internet is mostly helpful when you seek just one answer, one bit of information.

What's more, skipping through hundreds of web pages is not as convenient or as comfortable as holding a real book, especially in the case of a very technical sport, practiced outdoors where internet access is not always practical. A print edition is something you can refer to, that is always “on”, battery-free, open it and it's ready.

Over the years, I had received several requests for such a book (from visitors on TrashZen), but only recently I started to think this could be an interesting project. At least something I could learn from while adding another milestone to the promotion of bike trials.

Because I had already written quite a bit on TrashZen, I thought the time was right to edit this knowledge into something more tangible than html code, something nice and easy to carry around. That’s what I have been working on over the last two years, in stealth mode (mostly after-hours and late nights) and I am really excited to make it official today, I named it “Your Complete Guide to Trials Riding”.

handbook-makingoff.JPG

A mock up of the cover on what my desktop looks like these days.

That's 240 full-colour A5 pages entirely dedicated to our sport. Over 40 techniques thoroughly detailed from basic bike maneuvering to expert-level moves, plus extra pages on choosing and tuning your bike. You'll also find out what geometry means to your riding, some observations on bike trials' evolution, as well as competition and preparation tips.

Since I wanted this book to represent today's trials scene as observed at competitions (on a technical level), many of the pictures used to illustrate the text where taken at UCI competitions, featuring riders from the top ten performing at their best.

This will also be my small tribute to them and to this sport in general, which brought me so many good friends and memories. The step-by-step sections are illustrated by myself, on the Atomz AKII, courtesy of Christian Gugliotta.

Coming very soon… so stay tuned. I’ll give you more details on pricing, distribution etc... when I receive my first proof copies from the printers.

Edited by TrashZen
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Right, I love this idea, and I'll most likely buy a copy either way because I think this sort of stuff should be supported, but I'm gonna have to be that guy.

It looks, as in aesthetically not content, terrible. I think that if you're plowing a hell of a lot of time, effort, and money into this already then that little bit extra of all three (or just money and get someone else involved) could make this into a really awesome product that more riders would buy, whether they actually need it or not. It's impossible to say this without coming across as a bit (or a lot) of a dick, so I want to make it clear that I think it's going to be great anyway - I just think that it could look even better.

I should add I definitely couldn't do better, and that this was definitely meant constructively.

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Right, I love this idea, and I'll most likely buy a copy either way because I think this sort of stuff should be supported, but I'm gonna have to be that guy.

It looks, as in aesthetically not content, terrible. I think that if you're plowing a hell of a lot of time, effort, and money into this already then that little bit extra of all three (or just money and get someone else involved) could make this into a really awesome product that more riders would buy, whether they actually need it or not. It's impossible to say this without coming across as a bit (or a lot) of a dick, so I want to make it clear that I think it's going to be great anyway - I just think that it could look even better.

I should add I definitely couldn't do better, and that this was definitely meant constructively.

Hi JD,

I'll take it constructively. There are many other page variants and I understand that your aesthetical judgement lacks of the full project's visibility.

That photo of uncropped pages and displays is not meant to represent all the design variants.

The design is rather classical "even a little bit vintage :turned: ", but I want to stay away from too fancy designs that distract from the content more than they add to it. I have seen a lot of book designs and I know exactly what I don't want for this guide.

Take it with philosophy, it is one realisation among an infinite number of possibilities... time is finite. B)

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Hi JD,

I'll take it constructively. There are many other page variants and I understand that your aesthetical judgement lacks of the full project's visibility.

That photo of uncropped pages and displays is not meant to represent all the design variants.

The design is rather classical "even a little bit vintage :turned: ", but I want to stay away from too fancy designs that distract from the content more than they add to it. I have seen a lot of book designs and I know exactly what I don't want for this guide.

Take it with philosophy, it is one realisation among an infinite number of possibilities... time is finite. B)

Perfect answer (Y) Ultimately it's your product and you do what you want! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

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Hi JD,

I'll take it constructively. There are many other page variants and I understand that your aesthetical judgement lacks of the full project's visibility.

That photo of uncropped pages and displays is not meant to represent all the design variants.

The design is rather classical "even a little bit vintage :turned: ", but I want to stay away from too fancy designs that distract from the content more than they add to it. I have seen a lot of book designs and I know exactly what I don't want for this guide.

Take it with philosophy, it is one realisation among an infinite number of possibilities... time is finite. B)

Unfortunately I think they style chosen does distract from the content. It is cluttered and out-dated and doesn't encourage me to interact with it. I'm sure the content is great, but I'd strongly advise working with a graphic designer to really make this product something special, whilst being easily digested and direct to the target audience.

Also you talk about different design variants within the book....this worries me as if you're jumping between styles then your risking the overall cohesion of the book, and it could come across disjointed.

I mean this as kindly as possible, but you're not a designer so I'd strongly advise you get one to either design it, or at least sit with you and give you some pointers to ensure the end result is as good as it can possibly be, and also so that you're content is delivered as effectively as possible.....therefore ensuring the books success.

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Unfortunately I think they style chosen does distract from the content. It is cluttered and out-dated and doesn't encourage me to interact with it. I'm sure the content is great, but I'd strongly advise working with a graphic designer to really make this product something special, whilst being easily digested and direct to the target audience.

Also you talk about different design variants within the book....this worries me as if you're jumping between styles then your risking the overall cohesion of the book, and it could come across disjointed.

I mean this as kindly as possible, but you're not a designer so I'd strongly advise you get one to either design it, or at least sit with you and give you some pointers to ensure the end result is as good as it can possibly be, and also so that you're content is delivered as effectively as possible.....therefore ensuring the books success.

Sorry I should have said, different page layouts (the design and look is consistent across all the book, but there is some flexibility in the page layout)

Thanks for your genuine concern, I'll double check, but honestly, I think you can see too little from this teaser to extrapolate and judge correctly.

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Props to you for taking this on. I've been thinking for a while that Trials doesn't have enough printed media. Unfortunately it's a tiny sport.

As said by others already, I strongly recommend that you hire a professional designer, think of it as the icing on the top of the cake. You've spent years working on the content and I'm sure it's at least as good as your website, if not better, but how-ever you dress it up, a fruitcake is not a pretty thing. A christmas cake however, is very pretty, even though they taste the same.

Depends what your audience is. If the book will only ever be available on the internet to members of forums who are looking to improve their riding, then it looks fine IMO. If you want it on a shelf in a bookshop and want people to rock up and be all, "Hmmm, this looks like a very glamorous sport, and this natty handbook will clearly turn me into this Benito Ross fellow", then it's going to fall short IMO. Plus bare in mind that a lot of UK riders are spotty oiks with squeaky voices, and will find the pictures more interesting than the words.

Just my opinion. I'm afraid I won't be buying a copy as it's about as useful to me as LibreOffice (hehe, geek joke), but I will buy a lot of climbing books that look kinda similar to show my support. :P

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Nice work, I really love to see a passion project of this kind. Resources like this exist for other cycling disciplines and can be very useful for parents taking on a "coaching role" with young up and coming riders, especially if they themselves don't have a back ground in bicycle trials.

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This looks great! Any chance you cod put in tutorials on more street style moves? I ride 24" and it would be great if you could put in some tuts for manuals, footjam tail whips, rolling endo 360' and the like... I understand that it is a trials book. But it would be great thanks.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I agree with the design comments, whilst the content may be excellent, it needs to look excellent too.

With any product, people will judge it by it's looks before anything else.

It's a great idea and I wish you success with it, but please listen to everyone here - the design really will affect how many sales you make.

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  • 2 months later...

Tadaaaa!!!!... The baby is out :dance:

Endorsed by the Union Cycliste Internationale, with an introduction by UCI President, Pat McQuaid and foreword by multiple Trials World champion Kenny Belaey for good measure.

Available now... through a rather popular bike shop in the UK to start with...

Ready to move on to other projects :w00t:

Your-Complete-Guide-to-Trials-Riding1.jpgYour-Complete-Guide-to-Trials-Riding2.jpg

Why bother with paper in this age of digital and free online information?

As a mature sport, I reckon that trials riding deserves a solid book of its own. So far, the closest reference manuals I came across are all about general mountain biking skills, which in my opinion, are as inadequate for trials riders as a tennis handbook would be for someone willing to learn ping pong (you could also say the same of skate board versus surf).

Of course, you could argue that everything is already there somewhere on the web, accessible for free (I should know, silly me). Right, but you rarely get everything all nicely tied-up into one place, and the internet is mostly helpful when you seek just one answer, one bit of information.

What's more, skipping through hundreds of web pages is not as convenient or as comfortable as holding a real book, especially in the case of a very technical sport, practiced outdoors where internet access is not always practical. A print edition is something you can refer to, that is always "on", battery-free, open it and it's ready.

Over the years, I had received several requests for such a book (from visitors on TrashZen), but only recently I started to think this could be an interesting project. At least something I could learn from while adding another milestone to the promotion of bike trials.

Because I had already written quite a bit on TrashZen, I thought the time was right to edit this knowledge into something more tangible than html code, something nice and easy to carry around. That's what I have been working on over the last two years, in stealth mode (mostly after-hours and late nights) and I am really excited to make it official today, I named it "Your Complete Guide to Trials Riding".

handbook-makingoff.JPG

A mock up of the cover on what my desktop looks like these days.

That's 240 full-colour A5 pages entirely dedicated to our sport. Over 40 techniques thoroughly detailed from basic bike maneuvering to expert-level moves, plus extra pages on choosing and tuning your bike. You'll also find out what geometry means to your riding, some observations on bike trials' evolution, as well as competition and preparation tips.

Since I wanted this book to represent today's trials scene as observed at competitions (on a technical level), many of the pictures used to illustrate the text where taken at UCI competitions, featuring riders from the top ten performing at their best.

This will also be my small tribute to them and to this sport in general, which brought me so many good friends and memories. The step-by-step sections are illustrated by myself, on the Atomz AKII, courtesy of Christian Gugliotta.

Coming very soon… so stay tuned. I'll give you more details on pricing, distribution etc... when I receive my first proof copies from the printers.

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What a great idea, thank you for writing/making this book! I will 100% be ordering myself a copy of this.

I'm sure it'll be a great asset in my 'riding bag' alongside the trusty Allen keys and spoke key :)

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I'm sure you can link to it seeing as its such a monumental achievement!

http://www.tartybike...c547p11850.html

Congratulations, could have done with one of these about 10 years ago :P

Thanks Tom, (Y)

I wasn't sure about the Netiquette for the link, but yes, I would have been very happy to find this type of material from the beginning when I started Trials.

This was a true labour of love, and honestly, I don't think I would have started if I had known how much work and time I was going to spend on the elaboration of this book.

But I am confident this will be very useful material for many (as well as being a nice book of its own with many interesting photos)

Now I can ride without carrying a tripod around :-

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