Customer Reviews

Bicycling the Backroads of Northwest Oregon

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

 

 

Good road selection, accurate maps and helpful text make this book an excellent guide to road bicycling in northwest Oregon. The forty-five rides listed nearly all start within short distances from Portland, Corvallis, Salem, or Eugene. Ride distances range from a short 11 miler to the three day 177 mile Oregon Coaster loop. Each ride in the book includes a clear map of the ride, a cue sheet/mileage log, an elevation profile, and a few paragraphs of descriptive text. This book was extremely helpful in planning a recent ten day bicycling trip around northwest Oregon. While I did not, strictly speaking, ride any of the 45 rides in this book, the information in this book contributed greatly in road selection and understanding the terrain. For example, in the Mt. Hood area, if I had relied on the Delorme atlas, our route would have included several gravel roads. Jones and Henderson's book, however, shows which roads in the vicinity are gravel thereby helping us avoid them. For those of you fortunate enough to live in northwest Oregon, this book would be an excellent way to discover some new rides. For the non-Oregonian, the book can serve as an excellent resource in route-planning. As a sidelight, I would comment that I have yet to find a book published by The Mountaineers that has not been uniformly helpful, whether the content is bicyling or hiking.

Did my first ride out of this book today. I noticed I hadn't been riding much this year as I was going over many of the same roads as previous years. This book opens up many great locations with excellent turn by turn directions. Looks like it works hard to keep you on the less traveled roads. Just what I was looking for.

I'm not sure why this book hasn't been updated in so long, and I'm not sure why there isn't more competition from other guides in an area as bicycle crazy as Northwest Oregon, but this is the best guide currently available. In general, its maps and tips remain accurate, so I give it a thumbs up.

And, please, wear helmets!