I’ve always loved sports. Give me something physical and I’m there. I’ve tried pretty much every sport under the sun, and since I’ve skied since I was five, writing about downhill skiing made total sense. But that was The Slope Rules, the first book in The Rules Series.

For The Trail Rules, I decided to write about mountain biking because many skiers and snowboarders bike in the off-season—never mind the fact that the riskiest maneuver I’ve tried on my bike is hopping a curb into oncoming traffic. But I didn’t let that stop me. I interviewed an avid biker to understand the terminology, gear, and what happens when riders encounter each other on the trail. My favorite line in the book, “there’s a hiker in every biker,” comes from that research.

Mike, the main character in Trail Rules, is a beginner rider and is deathly afraid of crashing into trees— a fear she get from me. At the beginning of the book, her boyfriend Evan is teaching her, and the story follows her growing self-esteem and increasing skills on a bike. She meets a new group of friends who are both fearless and welcoming, and starts to realize that everything she thought she wanted isn’t enough.

Because I’m not an experienced rider, I didn’t feel comfortable writing a main character who is, so I made her new friends the experts instead. They drop the lingo and jumps Mike wishes she could, and encourage her to push herself farther. The book is packed with tree-lined trails, spectacular crashes, and a few glimpses at legs so muscular they take your breath away.

In The Trail Rules, cycling is what gives Mike the confidence to figure out what she really wants and go after it, no matter what anyone else thinks. By the end of the book she learns there’s more to life than following the crowd.