Lee McCormack is a mountain bike skills instructor and coach, and he's the author of nearly a dozen books, including the NICA Skills Training Manual. He's written extensively on bike fitting and fitness training, and just last year he launched his own bike brand, Mistress Cycles.

• How have mountain biking techniques changed over the years?
• What's the difference between a good mountain bike racer, and a good mountain bike coach? 
• Is pedal cadence important for mountain biking? How do you know if your cadence is too fast or too slow? How can you improve your cadence?
• Why are you such a fan of pump tracks. Why?
• How do Moto Cranx work on a pump track?
• Do you think mountain bikers tend to be overconfident, or underconfident in their skills?
• Do you think it's possible to be faster in your 40s or 50s than in your 20s by maintaining fitness and progressing your skills?
• How did Mistress Cycles come about? What is it about "modern" mountain bike geometry that you find frustrating?
• You've come out with some innovative products over the years, like the RipRow trainer and Moto Cranx. In addition to the bikes from Mistress Cycles, do you have any other projects in the works?

You can keep up with the latest from Lee McCormack on Instagram @leelikesbikes, where you'll find links to all of the projects we talked about today.

An automated transcript of our edited conversation is provided at singletracks.com. Click here for an unedited video of our conversation, where Lee illustrates many of the concepts discussed. Note: may contain brief language some readers find offensive.

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