Customer Reviews

Moon Northern California Biking (Moon Outdoors)

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

 

 

This is an excellent book. If you are looking for a book of this type, so that you spend your time on rides of the kind you wanted instead of the kind you didn't want, I definitely recommend this book.

Because an early reviewer accused the author of "arrogance", surely an injustice, let me elaborate. I have not met the author, but would happily join her for a ride somewhere, based on her writing tone and the rides she chooses. I have never written an Amazon review, but I am the right person to review this book.

Books on biking have an inherent difficulty: the author does not know who you are. The author does know if your bike is heavy or light ( compared to what? ), if you have really low gears or macho gears, if you are in shape or out of shape or in the middle, how old you are, how much you have biked in your life, or even how tired you need to be before you decide a ride sucks. This is not a problem for automobile tour books, and is less of a problem even for hiking books, as long as they stay away from mountaineering, which has similar difficulties.

This cannot be changed, so readers must "calibrate". Find a ride or two that you know, read what the author says, then don't condemn the author, but use the description to conclude something like: Oh, she's stronger than we are, or less strong, or she likes hills, or she is tolerant of traffic and likes restaurants, or she loves remote rides with scenery and doesn't mind carrying a lot of water. But don't get angry if the author says a ride is moderate and it turns out that it is well beyond your ability. Recalibrate instead. The rider who panned Brown for arrogance probably was disappointed to find that he isn't as strong as he thought, a reason to bike more, not to diss a book on Amazon.

The thing you must have in a guidebook of this type is consistency. The same person needs to have ridden and described a lot of rides in the same way. We (my family) also have Nagiecki and Grob's "Road Biking Northern California", for instance, and it is worse than useless. I never throw away books, but I will probably make an exception for Nagiecki's book ( 3rd edition).

Why? Take two rides ( from Nagiecki and Grob ), the "Palo Alto Cruise" and " Black Mountain Cruise", both in the Bay Area, one starting from my favorite bike shop, the Bicycle Outfitter. Two rides could hardly be more different, save for the fact that they are in the same area. The Black Mountain Cruise climbs Montebello Road, a brutal climb by almost anyone's standard ( I'll describe my own standards later. ) It climbs a little more and then descends on dirt, tricky at times on a road bike but not mountain-bike caliber of roughness, until it hits Page Mill, also not the easiest descent anywhere, due to bumpy pavement, uneven grades, and impatient traffic. The description of the Black Mountain ride in Nagieckie's book is calm and understated, apart from a single sentence that notes 15% grades. ( It not only has those, it goes up a long way. ) The Palo Alto Cruise, by contrast, is entirely flat, yet its description is breezy, refers to "a hearty dose of climbing" ( huh?! ) and refers to a "descent" and a "summit" on Sand Hill, which isn't much beyond the freeway overpass variety of summit. One would likely conclude from the text, including the names of the rides, that the two rides were similar, but one would be dangerously mistaken. Whoever wrote the Palo Alto Cruise description is a neophyte, inexperienced in both biking and writing descriptions. I'd guess a Stanford Student, blabbing about the Stanford Linear Accelerator, which you will not see, and a tower on the Stanford Campus, which will not be a highlight of your ride. The synopsis of that ride (again, Nagiecki and Grob ) would get my nod for arrogant baloney, rather than Brown's measured voice. Make no mistake; Nagiecki did not write this ride's description, but nevertheless put it in his book without telling you that he did not write it. An unforgivable sin for a guide book. Ann Marie Brown, by contrast, must have ridden the rides and wrote them herself ( disclosure: I have ridden nowhere near all of Brown's rides, may be mistaken somewhere. )

To judge even my review you need to calibrate. I am 58 years old, have been biking since I was 16. I do not bike race, but am strong and active, race an occasional 5k running race, and over many years have biked a lot. I am nowhere near as strong as a serious racer in his 20's, but like many older guys I climb well, having lost the speed long ago. I bike tour occasionally ( ride across California, have done longer tours ), bike to work intermittently ( 12 miles ) , am stronger than most cyclists. I have extensive knowledge of bicycles.

The things that matter to a cyclist are varied, and some of them matter more to you than to me. I would nominate traffic, wind, hilliness, distance, heat, scenery, availability of water and sometimes food, safety. Brown levelheadedly addresses all of these when germane. My personal preference is for low traffic and scenery as top priorities; I can carry water better than I can dodge cars. I enjoy a good lunch, but not to the point of choosing a ride. I dislike long stretches of rough road, but will tolerate them to get to a really cool place. I like climbing and descending, but pay attention based on how hot it is and how much riding I've done recently.

To calibrate Brown's book I read her description of climbing Mount Hamilton, among many others. Big hill, limited water, steady grade, but if you have not been riding a lot it will be a hell of a challenge. She describes it accurately, so you will be prepared, though it would not do to underestimate that climb. The back (east) side of Mount Hamilton demands a description, because it is in the "end of earth" category. It would be unsafe to be unprepared for it. You can see the corners coming ( yes, it's steep ), so you can make your own judgements and use your own brakes. You cannot see the limited availability of water and food coming; you rely on a guidebook for that. ( If you go down the back side of Mount Hamilton, be sure the Junction bar is open! )

I say buy Ann Marie Brown's book and get out there ( though this is the sort of information that would be better as searchable online text. I wish we could compensate authors appropriately and just put this stuff online. ) Get a good saddle and low gears and see what you think.

Russell, Palo Alto

We use this book often and find the information accurate and thorough. We have learned of new rides available to us and the difficulty ratings have been helpful and true. Unlike a previous reviewer, I do not detect any arrogance in the text whatsoever. I would recommend this book for recreational cyclists.

I owned this book (the Foghorn version) for four years and have become a stronger road rider over time. The more I use this book the better appreciation I get for the descriptions. They save you valuable time from doing your own research and you can simply trust the author's information and wisdom. The book has the largest amount of rides dedicated to the bay area, which rightfully deserves this attention. I unfortunately live outside of the bay area so I use it to plan my rides way ahead of time for the weekend rides. The one complain I have is about the popular Mt. Hamilton ride. The book suggested a start from the Joesph Grant County Park, but I turned out to be the only road bike starting there, where everyone else started at Alum Rock and Mt. Hamilton Rd T-section. I wonder if the new version also mentioned the more popular starting point. This will be helpful for a non-bay area rider. In terms of the coverage outside the bay area, I have hoped to find more ride ideas. So I bought the other similarly named book, which was a big letdown.