Bicycling Coast to Coast: A Complete Route Guide Virginia to Oregon [Paperback]

Donna Lynn Ikenberry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996

Coast-to-coast biking guide covering 10 states and more than 4,000 miles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898864682
• ISBN-13: 978-0898864687
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could be a lot better, February 28, 2000

By 

slain (pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bicycling Coast to Coast: A Complete Route Guide Virginia to Oregon (Paperback)

I biked the TransAmerica trail last summer and I used this book for pre-trip planning and as a guide while on the road. The vast majority of the route Ikenberry takes is along a trail that was first ridden in 1976 and was designed by Adventure Cycling. If you just need maps of the roads to take, you'll be much better served by getting them from Adventure Cycling. If you want to use this book as a companion to the maps, you should realize that this book was written for westbounders. If you are riding from west to east (like i did) get ready to learn what dyslexia feels like as you try to decipher all the directions backwards.

The book is thin on trip planning info and simply points readers to other sources for info on bike touring. In general, most of this book merely describes points of reference along the TranAm trail (ie: mile 1 - You'll pass a convienence store on the left; mile 2.3 - You'll see a lake with picnic benches to the right). I felt that it lacked a real focus (sometimes it reads like a diary, sometimes it reads like a guidebook, etc) & was full of superfluous fluff (the state flower of virginia is blah blah, a family in kansas fed me cake, etc) that only made my saddlebags that much heavier.

Overall though, it's not my objective to dissuade you from buying this book... as unbelievably it seems to be the only guide written about riding the TransAm trail. Ikenberry's book certainly has some usefullness - perhaps mostly so in providing info on places to sleep along the way. But even then, she fails to mentions whether these places have showers or food on numerous occasions. It's worth the 15 bucks... but the book could (& should) have been so much better... (for example: there is no mention anywhere of suggestions on what kind of bike to use, gearings, tires - nothing even remotely technical)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful Book but Outdated, January 4, 2003

By 

Pedro O'Reilly "Luv2Bike" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bicycling Coast to Coast: A Complete Route Guide Virginia to Oregon (Paperback)

I used this book this summer, riding from Florence, OR to Yorktown, VA (yes, the book goes from east to west, so I was reading "backwards"). For my purposes, I used the book to help figure out how large towns were and what services they offered. 9 times out of 10 the book gave fairly accurate assesments of services. There were times when "full-service" towns were no longer in existance and the grocery or restaurant we had been relying on was nowhere in site.

That said, I would NEVER bike the Trans Am, or even a portion of it, without consulting Adventure Cycling first [on their web site]. Their maps are indespensible and when used in conjunction with their up-to-date addendums, they are incredibly accurate. Ikenberry makes it pretty clear that she is using the Adventure Cycling maps as her guide as well.

I also found it odd that Ikenberry only biked the Trans Am once. She makes comments on terrain and areas which are purely cicumstantial (such as mentioning "dog-prone" areas in Kentucky - where we had no more dogs than any other day - and areas with mean drivers.) It was sometimes hard to tell whether her descriptions of places were based on one pass through or fact. Plus, I would have trusted her judgment of "steep" and "trafficky" had I felt more confident in her bike touring past.

On the plus side, Ikenberry does offer some nice background information on historical areas which the Trans Am cyclist may not otherwise recieve.

Overall, I am glad I lugged the extra pound on my tour. It was helpful and since I wasn't relying on it for accuracy, I wasn't affected at all by the closed services. It would be great if someone would update the book! Some towns in the book are no longer on the Adventure Cycling route. Also, she breaks the route into 70 different biking days. Some are rediculously long. She must have had some serious tail-winds at some points! Again, had she biked the route several times, I am sure her days would have been more "normal" in some instances.

In any case, bike the Trans Am since it is awesome and contact Adventure Cycling for your most accurate information. If you have [any money] left over and some room for a medium-sized book, squeeze Ikenberry into your pannier.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide for a cyclist or an interested party, August 3, 2010

By 

Gary (Tucson) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bicycling Coast to Coast: A Complete Route Guide Virginia to Oregon (Paperback)

My son is bicycling the Transamerica Bicycle Trail and it gives me insight into his trip. When I showed it to him he liked it because it had some additional information that he didn't have.