Customer Reviews

Bicycling the Backroads Around Puget Sound

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Although there is a good variety of trails in this book, I got lost every time I used it. The directions were not unclear- they were completely wrong. The book was written in 1995 so maybe some of the roads have changed, but there has to be a more reliable book out there. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

Being the first in a series of three volumes of Washington State bicycling tours written by Erin & Bill Woods, the fourth edition of Backroads Around Puget Sound was published in 1995. I purchased the first edition in 1972 while participating in the Boeing Bicycle Club (BBC) and it was at that time created from a looseleaf compendium of trips that were planned and mapped out by Bill and his wife Erin. The trips (54 in total) range in length from a couple hours to overnight, and points of interest (with an ongoing mileage logs) are included. Each trip includes a useful elevation map and some idea of difficulty, a good thing since Western Washington is very hilly terrain. In my opinion there could be no individuals better qualified to write these books, and I've been on most of the ones in the book at least once, some a great many times over the years, and often accompanied (led, actually) by the Woods family during BBC outings.

Some of the maps contained may require updating, so unless you're accompanied by a knowledgeable tour group, it is helpful to compare them to current maps (I'd recommend both the 2001 Thomas Puget Sound Street Guide and Directory, and also the free King County Bicycling Guidemap). However, most of the route maps should be OK as they are, and often the best way to use the book is to copy the tour map of interest, higlighting the route and place it in a waterproof clear envelope (this is the Seattle area, after all). In summary, the popularity of the Woods' book is seen from it surviving through four editions, but since six years has elapsed it is perhaps due for yet another edition, and I'll be waiting.