Rating: 
Summary: The most complete Pacific Coast cycling book
Review: From someone who had never toured on a bike before, this book was my "bible". Having now toured many times in many different places, this book is the most complete, most accurate and most detailed I have ever seen. While riding down the coast, I photocopied the second half of the book to give to a German man who was floundering with his cycling association maps. He loved the review of the day's elevation climbs the most of all. On my second trip down the California coastline, I gave the book away to another couple. It's just that good, a must have book for the Pacific Coast.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent guide to cycling the left coast
Review: From someone who had never toured on a bike before, this book was my "bible". Having now toured many times in many different places, this book is the most complete, most accurate and most detailed I have ever seen. While riding down the coast, I photocopied the second half of the book to give to a German man who was floundering with his cycling association maps. He loved the review of the day's elevation climbs the most of all. On my second trip down the California coastline, I gave the book away to another couple. It's just that good, a must have book for the Pacific Coast.
Rating:
Summary: The most complete Pacific Coast cycling book
Review: From someone who had never toured on a bike before, this book was my "bible". Having now toured many times in many different places, this book is the most complete, most accurate and most detailed I have ever seen. While riding down the coast, I photocopied the second half of the book to give to a German man who was floundering with his cycling association maps. He loved the review of the day's elevation climbs the most of all. On my second trip down the California coastline, I gave the book away to another couple. It's just that good, a must have book for the Pacific Coast.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good and Useful Guide
Review: I bought this book from Amazon in 2002 and used it during a ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in August 2003.It's a very good guide. The directions for their main route were quite detailed and usually clear. I got lost a couple of times, but never badly and it may not have been the book's fault. Milage totals were usually pretty close, although there were a couple of segments that were off somewhat. The guide is much more useful if you photocopy the pages with directions. Then you can use them as daily route slips. The book can be kept in a pannier during the trip to be brought out in the evening to get an overview of the next day's route and stuff you might see along the way. I also enjoy the overall feeling that it was written by dyed-in-the-wool cyclists for dyed-in-the-wool cyclists. This authenticity comes out sometimes in little asides, such as the authors' comment that a northbound tunnel near Gaviota (CA) is like riding through a high-suction vacuum hose. If you've ridden a bicycle through that tunnel, you'd know how dead-on that description is. I didn't give the book 5 stars (although I would have given it 4.5 if there was an option) because it doesn't provide much for the bicycle tourist who prefers hotels and hostels to camping. An appendix with a listing of youth hostels and a selection of cyclist-friendly hotels on the route would make the guide more complete. It would be especially helpful if the authors did this for the more remote regions on the route. The authors also might want to add a little more commentary and detail to the alternate routes they sometimes suggest. For example, the authors suggest an inland route along US101 as an alternate to Highway 1 through Big Sur when the road is closed (which happens fairly often) or during the height of the tourist season. Well, if you're going to suggest a 100-mile detour, do more than just put a shaded line on a not-very-detailed map. (By the way, I don't completely agree with the authors' assertion that Hwy 1 through Big Sur is too trafficy to comfortably ride during the tourist season. Maybe it is on weekends, but I went through on a Monday and traffic was only moderate and not particularly hard to deal with.) Overall, though, this book is well worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide to cycling the left coast
Review: I too gave away my copy of this book to a German man on a tour last summer! I found it such a useful book, I'm ordering another copy.
Rating:
Summary: A must-have guide.
Review: I used this book while riding my bicyle from Vancouver to SanFrancisco in 1996. It provides great background information and isperfect for the camping cyclist. The only reason I can give to NOT buy this book is that everyone you meet on the coast will already have one.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible
Review: I used this book while riding my bicyle from Vancouver to SanFrancisco in 1996. It provides great background information and isperfect for the camping cyclist. The only reason I can give to NOT buy this book is that everyone you meet on the coast will already have one.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for the coast
Review: My first tour was down the coast from Seattle to San Francisco, this book was completely amazing. Day-by-day we knew what to expect on the road, places to detour and check out, and most importantly, where all the hot-water-enabled campsites were :-)
Rating:
Summary: Great book for the coast
Review: My first tour was down the coast from Seattle to San Francisco, this book was completely amazing. Day-by-day we knew what to expect on the road, places to detour and check out, and most importantly, where all the hot-water-enabled campsites were :-)
Rating:
Summary: You won't find a better or more accurate book!
Review: My friend and I used this book (previous edition) to cycle/camp from San Fransisco to Los Angeles. Although the milage/elevation was slightly off the book was indespensable. We meet a guy from Amsterdam who was riding from Seattle to Los Angeles (without a helmet?!?) who was very excited when he saw our book had campsites his maps didn't. 508 miles in 7 days without a hitch, a big thanks to the authors. I also used the book on a ride around the San Juan islands (north of Seattle) it was amazing, I believe these rides are not in the current edition hence the 4 out of 5 stars.
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