Customer Reviews

Bay Area Bike Rides

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book about a year ago when I first moved to the Bay Area, and did all of the East Bay road rides, and a few others. With the exception of one error that I found the hard way (in the Calaveras Road ride, Evans Road doesn't really turn into North Park Victoria Drive -- you have to make a right turn!), this book is accurate, interesting, and the routes are well-chosen and as nice as any I've found in the Bay Area. Most of the rides are fairly challenging for a casual rider, but certainly not impossible. I've used it as a basis for my own explorations, stitching various routes together.

I can't speak for the mountain bike rides, as I haven't tried any of them.

All in all, this is a great sampling of rides and a interesting read with your Sunday afternoon beer, after an invigorating ride through the beautiful Bay Area hills and canyons.

"Bay Area Bike Rides" by Ray Hosler is a collection of dozens of Bay Area bike rides. The rides range from 4 miles to 104 miles and include rides in the North, South, and East Bay, as well as the Peninsula.

Hosler's book is broken into three sections: Mountain Rides, Road Rides, and Casual Rides. Each of the rides includes a text narrative taking you through the highlights of the trip (including historical commentary), detailed directions with mile-indexed checkpoints, a map of the course, and a topographical graph of the ride (showing areas you will go uphill and downhill, as well as the difficulty of the climb or decent). This book is very easy to read and seems to have been very well researched. I recommend it 100% for anyone living and cycling in the Bay Area.

This is a very practical book written by a pretty serious cyclist, it has the information you really want to have and pays attention to details often lacking in similar books by other authors. While there are some pretty good rides left out of the book, he covers a very good sampling of the best near the bay area including rides from all around the area. Suggestions on where to park, where services are available (and warnings about where they are not available), rough topological profiles, very complete route sheet distances and even a very decent amount of history relating to the areas of the routes is included. In cases where different books are suggesting routes involving the same road areas I have found Ray's rides usually to be the better suggestion. It is true that there are some long rides included in the book, but just a few, and they are great rides that are worth the effort.

April 23, 2002 - The third edition is out now and SHOULD be available at Amazon.com.
This edition offers 13 new rides and addresses observed shortcomings posted by another reviewer. The maps have been improved so that now it's easy to distinguish between dirt and paved roads. There's a section called "How to get there" that describes the best way to get to the start point. Still, I always recommend bringing a road map, if you're unfamiliar with an area.

The book quality is also substantially improved, with better quality paper and rounded corners.

I think you'll enjoy the new rides, most of which are shorter than in past editions. The mountain bike rides are particularly noteworthy.

...Let's ride! Ray Hosler

Doesn't tell you how to get to the starting point. Maybe should also give directions from major highways. 2) In the mtn bike section, could not figure out where I can start on a path. I chose mtn bike riding because I don't like being on the roads. It was hard to tell the difference on the key between dirt road and paved path. The key icons look very similiar.

It's a comprehensive guide, with 51 routes of varying skill levels, but lacks a few things:
- Enough information on public transit connections.
- The pages could have been better laid out so the mile charts and maps could be a spread that could easily be photocopied and carried in a pocket, but they are often spread in a way that does not make this possible.
- I'm not sure if this would be possible, but rating climbs as cat4 to cat1 would be tremendously helpful.
That said, I'm happy I bought this book. It's a pretty good intro to biking in the Bay Area.

The book is old so some of the newer paths are not in it. Also some of the additions to existing paths such as the Iron Horse trail are not in it. The book is good though. Very Good

Great book! Very helpful when it came to clear, concise descriptions of what I would encounter on my ride. Have lent this book to about 5 friends and they've all said it was helpful. My book is pretty beat up now but still going strong!