The Birth of Dirt: The Origins of Mountain Biking

The Birth of Dirt is a quick, fun read, and offers a quite thorough review of origins of the mountain bike, with numerous contemporary photos and drawings. Berto, formerly the technical editor of Bicycling magazine, has a fine command of the technical issues of bicycle design. But the book holds its good share of entertaining stories as well. Berto has the advantage of living in Marin County, California, where the mountain bike originated, and of knowing and having interviewed most of the pioneers in its development. They are a lively cast of characters, and Berto is a personable and engaging writer. Berto has gone to considerable lengths with his research, yet I found a few minor errors of fact: for example, what is described as an Atom drum brake on page 28 is a Maxicar brake; Berto also locates the home of the late John Finley Scott in Davis, California rather than in nearby Dixon. Though this book is nearly definitive, the last word in such histories always lurks somewhere in the future.

Biking is a great source of exercise, and for some, a great source of adventure. "The Birth of Dirt: Origins of Mountain Biking" is Frank J. Berto's journey to track down the origins of adventurous biking and the bike created to facilitate that purpose. With plenty of full color and black and white photographs tracing the history of the mountain bike, it's intriguing to see the progression of the bike variation. "The Birth of Dirt" is highly recommended to anyone who wants to know the origins of their favorite hobby.

I read a Berto story in Mountain Bike magazine regarding the history of the mountain bike, so when I saw this book, I had to pick it up. It's a great read with all the usual suspects (Breeze, Fisher, Ritchey, Sinyard...), and as an avid mountain biker, factoid freak, and history buff, this book answered a lot of questions about the origins of the mountain bike. Living in Mountain View, CA, it's great to be able to ride the trails (at least the one's still open) where the mountain bike was born.

The article I read about the book is from the local county paper, The Independent Journal dated feb 6,1999. The author is interviewed and the conclusions are discussed openly.It is a great format for the book because each of the men going for the inventor of the mountain title are interviewed and quoted. I went to high school with the real inventor and hung with them. Read the book to see who it was.