Lonely Planet Cycling USA: West Coast (Lonely Planet Cycling USA West Coast, 1st Ed)

Rating:
Summary: A gem -- especially for Southern California
Review: I don't know how well this book handles Oregon and Washington, but the Southern California section is outstanding -- meticulous attention to detail both in terms of road info and in terms of background on towns and accommodations. Also, there is tons of fascinating stuff here on local natural history, place-specific cultural lore, and interesting goings-on, all worth many times the price of the book. The writers seem to be in love with this part of the world, and their enjoyment of it is contagious. For anyone planning to ride along the part of the coast south of San Francisco (including Catalina Island), you will be missing out on a lot of useful information if you don't get hold of this gem. ENJOY!!

Rating:
Summary: Buy 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' and maps from the ACA
Review: This book might work if you want to go fast down some mad stretches of 1 and 101, but I would suggest the tried and true 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' and maps form the ACA ... I get the feeling that Lonely Planet drove down the road taking notes, instead of biking it with any sense of adventure or even safety. For instance, LP's route up through Longview/Kelso is extremely dangerous. No shoulder and bad traffic make this section of the ride awful (not to mention that one could skip the town totally anyway).
'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' may be old, but the daily rides and hike/bike campsites are very nice. It's a great way to meet people too, as most people on the road tended to use this book.
The ACA maps have great detours off the main highways (which turned out to be some of the best sections of our ride). I think they cost something like [money] a map, but it's worth it. The maps fold into 30-mile sections and aside from a few tiny errors they were the most reliable route guides we had.
The only time the LP guide did come in handy was when it came time to actually stay in some of the bigger cities along the way. Occasionally the restaurant and accommodation listings came in handy, but we had much better luck asking around.

Rating:
Summary: Buy 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' and maps from the ACA
Review: This book might work if you want to go fast down some mad stretches of 1 and 101, but I would suggest the tried and true 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' and maps form the ACA ... I get the feeling that Lonely Planet drove down the road taking notes, instead of biking it with any sense of adventure or even safety. For instance, LP's route up through Longview/Kelso is extremely dangerous. No shoulder and bad traffic make this section of the ride awful (not to mention that one could skip the town totally anyway).
'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' may be old, but the daily rides and hike/bike campsites are very nice. It's a great way to meet people too, as most people on the road tended to use this book.
The ACA maps have great detours off the main highways (which turned out to be some of the best sections of our ride). I think they cost something like [money] a map, but it's worth it. The maps fold into 30-mile sections and aside from a few tiny errors they were the most reliable route guides we had.
The only time the LP guide did come in handy was when it came time to actually stay in some of the bigger cities along the way. Occasionally the restaurant and accommodation listings came in handy, but we had much better luck asking around.