James Hamilton Hibbard is a Northern California-based writer. His debut, THE ART OF CYCLING: Philosophy, Meaning, and a Life on Two Wheels was published by Quercus Books/ Hachette in the United Kingdom and Pegasus Books in the US in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
His second book, RACING THE REICH: The Life and Death of Germany’s Greatest Cyclist and the Nazi Quest for the Super-Human will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the spring of 2027 in North America and by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in Germany.
Favorably compared to the Robert Pirsig classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, THE ART OF CYCLING was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year, Cycling and was covered in outlets including Big Think, Five Books, Outside Magazine, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as many cycling publications and podcasts.
Published in the fall of 2023 in Germany by Edel Books as DIE KUNST DES RADFAHRENS, it received extensive national media coverage in leading outlets including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Tageszeitung and has already gone into multiple printings.
James’ writing has appeared in numerous publications and journals, and he has been selected for residencies and received support from PEN America and Tin House.
A professional road and track cyclist for over a decade, he earned nineteen medals at the United States National Championships, twenty-one California/ Nevada State Titles, and international elite medals on the track as part of the United States National Cycling Team.
His writing is represented by Markus Hoffmann of the Regal-Hoffmann Literary Agency, New York.
Praise for
The Art of Cycling
‘An exceptional read.’
—Paul Kimmage, Tour de France rider and author of Rough Ride
‘Incredibly beautiful’
—John Kaag, author of Hiking with Nietzsche
‘Fascinating’
—John Wilcockson, award-winning cycling journalist
‘a dazzling trip’
—Max Leonard, author of Higher Calling
”Cycling is an extended form of thinking and The Art of Cycling is a dazzling trip on both counts. Taking a racing line between Descartes and Nietzsche, Moser and Merckx, The Art of Cycling dismantles what it means to be a cyclist and puts it together again in thought-provoking ways – and, like a Zen master or cyclist in the mountains, achieves moments of transcendence.”
—Max Leonard, author of Higher Calling
“When you ‘draft’ in cycling, you tuck yourself behind a lead rider and let him or her take the wind and pull you along. In Hibbard’s book, you get to draft along on this incredibly beautiful, meditation of going from here to there at high speed. Drafting can be dangerous if the lead rider is unsteady, but Hibbard proves a reliable guide. The Art of Cycling is worth the ride.’
—John Kaag, author of Hiking with Nietzsche
“Cycling is only the top layer of Hibbard’s multilayer work of visceral philosophy, a work that draws on insights from Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, T.S. Eliot, Dostoevsky, and many others. From the pains and strains of athletic pursuits to the hyper-competitive mire of academia, Hibbard shows how all the detours and dead-ends in life, can lift us into an inexpressible intimacy with existence, where mind, body, and world shed their painful separateness.”
—Jonathan van Belle, co-author of Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living
