Review of Mountain Bike! Los Angeles County: A Wide-Grin Ride Guide (Mountain Bike!)

Mountain Bike! Los Angeles County: A Wide-Grin Ride Guide (Mountain Bike!)
Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 3
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Sloppy lay out, very little for the beginner or low intermediate

On: 2008-11-12

I would have to agree with Serges review above. I have not done Sullivans Canyon, but when I read the text, I could see that it did not match what was laid out on the map. It makes me very hesitant to do other trails for the first time based on this book, as they might not be labeled properly. Also, the "Key-At-A-Glance" section is sloppy. On some rides Technical Difficulty is listed on the third line and Aerobic Difficulty is listed on the fourth line, but on other rides they are reversed. This could get you into trouble if you confuse the two and do what you thought was a 5 aerobic difficulty that is actually a 5 technical difficulty you are not ready for. And on Sullivan it is inexplicably rated as "Moderate" with no number or aerobic rating at all.

My second complaint is which trails were chosen for the book. I say there are only 33 rides listed because I am not counting the 7 non-LA County rides in here. There is a section called South Bay/Cleveland National Forest. It should really be marked Orange County/San Bernardino County. There are no South Bay rides listed in here (Torrance, Rancho Palos Verdes, etc.). There are other LA County proper rides which are not listed at all in here for some reason, such as Turnbull Canyon. If one had to include some OC rides, why not list some of the plenty that are way closer to LA than El Moro or San Juan?

My third complaint is that most of the rides in this book are geared for the advanced rider. The back cover of this books says "whether youre new to mountain biking or an experienced downhiller". I counted 33 LA rides with say 14 being advanced (either having at least one 5 rating or double 4s), 10 rides being high intermediate (at least one 4 rating), 7 rides being low to moderate intermediate (at least one 3 rating) and only two beginner rides, one of which looked like you could do it on your beach cruiser. As an intermediate rider theres really only about 10 rides Id attempt in here. I would not recommend it for the beginner as theres barely anything in it for you. If you are an advanced rider that will try anything, youll probably be fine with this book. But then again, if you are an advanced rider, you probably dont need this book unless you just moved here.

Great Book!

On: 2008-01-25

Edgy, humorous, and detailed, this a fabulous book. Another reviewer has noted that the Pacific Ocean was on the right side of the map. The reviewer, though, did not bother to mention that if you turn the map so that the north arrow is pointing up (common sense), the Pacific Ocean magically reassumes its correct position. This book is the most up to date and thorough book on LA mountain biking available.

Inconsistent maps and directions

On: 2007-12-08

The problem with this book is exemplified by the map on the inside cover: an overview map of the LA county rides. It has the Pacific Ocean on the right (yes, right, not left). I looked at it for a while. Flipped it sideways, but then you have to read names sideways. Weird. Then I went to check out a ride I know well(Bulldog Loop)to see if the description makes sense to me. Again, it took me a while to figure out what the author is talking about, because the ride direction arrows on the map are reversed relative to what is described in the text. "Must be a typo", I said and went to look at another ride I know very well "Sullivan ridge to Sullivan Canyon...". Here things got even more weird. The arrows are reversed again. He really describes a ride up what is commonly known as Westridge Road (properly labeled West Mandeville Fire Rd on their map), but the text refers to the Sullivan Ridge Fire Road "...the Sullivan Ridge Fire Road provides a great warm up for this ride... and "the entrance to the Sullivan ridge Fire Road" which is really ways away on Amalfi. And the funny thing is that his map does have Sullivan Ridge Fire Road, not being part of this ride. Very confusing. I wonder how screwed up the rest of the ride descriptions are.