Bicycling the Pacific Coast: A Complete Route Guide, Canada to Mexico [Paperback]

Tom Kirkendall (Author), Vicky Spring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1990

Complete road guide for trip planning and touring along the entire Pacific Coast.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you've ever dreamed of riding part or all of the Pacific Coast this is a great source of information. -- The Cascadian<br /><br />This is a book to inspire dreams of rolling adventure. -- San Francisco Chronicle<br /><br />[A] no-holds-barred look at doing the mighty coast highway on two wheels. -- Oregonian<br /><br />[T]his comprehensive guide will help you down the road. --Adventure Sports Journal --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall, noted outdoor photographers, are the authors of 100 Best Cross-Country Ski Routes in Washington, 3rd Edition, and 100 Hikes in(tm) California's Central Sierra and Coast Range, 2nd Edition, among others. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books; 2nd edition (April 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898862329
• ISBN-13: 978-0898862324
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,953,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have Guide, November 27, 1999

By 

Jeffrey Gaines "Jeff" (San Jose) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bicycling the Pacific Coast: A Complete Route Guide, Canada to Mexico (Paperback)

This guide is a must have for anyone wanting to ride the Pacific Coast. I just used it to for a solo ride from San Francisco to the Mexican border. The guide provides turn by turn instructions to navigate through unfamiliar territory and can even provide some surprises in areas that you may know pretty well. It was very helpful in daily planning for stops for food, water, etc. and for some unplanned needs like bike shops for repairs. The elevation guide was also very helpful in gauging when to take a break or when a big climb is over. The guide provides recommended daily rides which I altered as necessary to stop and visit friends. Obtaining a good tourist guide from AAA would provide a nice supplement to the book for other sight seeing opportunities if you have the time. This leg of my journey was 600 miles and I am looking forward to using the guide next summer on a 1200 mile ride from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best of its kind, October 5, 2005

By 

John Shim (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bicycling The Pacific Coast (Paperback)

This route guide is one of the best I've seen out in the market place. It has all the details that a long distance biker on a budget would need including: road map, elevation map, descriptions of interesting sites, road conditions, traffic conditions, mileage, camping sites with levels of amenities (esp important shower), and where to get food and other supplies/services. I also liked the fact that it wasn't trying to be everything to everyone by not including detailed information on hotels, motels, restaurants, etc except for the fact that they exist or don't exist in a particular town or area.

So why did I not give them 5 stars?

1) Internal inconsistancy - there are a significant amount of these. Mostly it is where the mileage of the description doesn't match with the mileage of the elevation map. Here's an example. In the Oregon Border to Elk Prairie Campground the written route description indicates that the first summit of the Crescent City hills is at mile 34.6 but the elevation map shows that summit at 28 miles. Am I cutting hairs? You decide. But depending on your ride pace a 6-7 mile difference can be 1/2 hour, not so much of an issue in the middle of the day but it might be at the end of the day.

2) Updated content - I have a suspicion that the guide hasn't been updated even though the 4th edition came out just recently. For the most part, the guide was written in a timeless manner that prevents it from showing much age. For example, it doesn't recommend particular restaurants. But things do change. For example on the Elk Prarie Campground to Eureka KOA day the recommended route is on Hwy 101. It's very busy and a couple of nice smaller roads are recommended (Patrick's Point and Little River St Beach). But the Hammond Trail, that takes you from Clam Beach County Park, just north of McKinleyville, South for 13 miles mostly on car free paved path, isn't mentioned. I suspect the trail didn't exist when this guide was written. The authors generally go to lengths to help you avoid nasty highway riding so I suspect that this wasn't a conscious oversight.

3) Out of scale road maps with little detail - It would have been nice if they sprang for some real maps. For example in the Nehalem Bay State Park to Cape Lookout day, the written mileage shows that Cape Meares State Park to Netarts is 4.5 miles and that Netars to Cape Lookout is 6 miles. Which seems about right after biking this portion. But on the road map the distance from Netarts to Cape Lookout appears to be 5 to 6 times further.

Overall, if you are biking down the coast, absolutely get this book but suppliment it with other resources such as AAA roadmaps, Adventure Cycling's bike maps, or the Oregon Dept of Transportation "Oregon Coast Bike Route" (found at the Oregon Tourist offices).

I've ridden parts of the coast, Santa Cruz to the border and Aberdeen to Eureka and look forward to filling in the gaps. Some advice: 1) Go "off season", much of the ride is basically on heavily traveled highways. I didn't know so many RVs existed. 2) Go out of your way to meet your fellow bike tourists. I met people from all over Europe, Asia and even Americans. All with cool stories. 3) Get your bike in top notch shape, before your ride. Let's just say I toured most of the bike shops in Oregon over a four day period. Not fun. 4) Don't ride everyday and don't forget to relax.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but I mailed it home in favor of maps, June 22, 2006

By 

Will McDonald - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bicycling The Pacific Coast (Paperback)

I biked the entire Pacific coast in September 2005, and used this book to help plan my trip. Were I to do it again knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy the book.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good book - I read it ahead of time and it helped me figure out relative distances and times, which helped in planning. In general it seemed very thorough and well put-together, and I met people on my trip that used it.

It's main drawback is that it's a BOOK. It's not convenient to refer to on the road, and the directions, while nicely detailed, are too verbose for real reference. In addition, because it's fundamentally a linear narrative of how to get from here to there, it's not very convenient if you need or want to get off of their path for any reason.

I mailed this book home after I discovered that my Adventure Cycling maps (adv-cycling dot org) fulfilled all of my needs - directions, detail in cities, where to shower, sleep & eat (including phone #s), elevation, and distances. Besides that, they are small, waterproof, and easy to refer to while riding or pull out at a stop-sign.

In general I'm a more visual/map guy than a directions/narative guy, so your mileage may vary. If you want a book to tell you how to bike the Pacific coast, this is the one. If any of what I said sounds like you it applies to you, feel free to skip the book.