Customer Reviews

Mountain Bike America: Arizona (Mountain Bike America Guides)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Each time I return to this book I recognize how many little extras it includes, such as vertical profiles, several ways to find or select a trail, a good place to satisfy post-ride munchies, or the phone number of a local bike shop in a nearby town for an emergency repair.

As a 4th generation native of Arizona, I thought I knew my way around, but this book has paid off in directing me to a lot of out of the way trails I never would have found or even heard of swapping ideas with local riders. Do not overlook or underestimate the many "honorable mention" rides included in each chapter.

There's another popular book on Arizona mountain bike trails that is sort of a cartoon. Buy that if you want laughs, but buy Mountain Bike America: Arizona if you want a serious reference tool to get the most out of your visits to and around Arizona.

This book is a must have for mountain bikers who live in Arizona, or are just visiting. It's got all the must-do rides (South mountain, elden in Flagstaff, Sedona, etc) , and plenty of out of the way gems to try. The maps are spot-on, and the mileage logs combined with a good bike computer are invaluable for exploring the new routes.

As an ecotourism operator, and someone who is accustomed to booking mountain biking adventures throughout the Southwest, I find Paul Beakley's "Mountain Bike American (Arizona)" among the best I've ever read. He has taken most of the work out of the usual logistics I end up having to do when planning tours for our clients. Fact is, I feel guilty using his excellent source of knowledge, but not paying him for it.

Still, Paul has written a most excellent mountain bike book that every mountain bike enthusiast will enjoy as well as benefit from the tangible knowledge Paul lays out in his tome. It's all there, too: text; graphics; pictures; and the all important numbers crunch stuff that will help anyone figure out just how much he or she is willing to tackle in any given terrain.

I highly recommend this book for amateur and professional alike; it even does wonders for we who are in the touring line of work...

I bought this for my brother, an avid mt. biker in scottsdale. He loved it, and used it the first weekend he got it to find a new trail.

I had the privelege of riding with the author of this book, and lemme tell you, he rides as well as he writes! A great guy, he took me out on a tour of South Mountain (we skipped national, I was on a rental bike and my pedals/shoes were stolen a few days before so I was on flats and running shoes! Yeah, so its an excuse, and I wouldn't be able to ride it anyway, but thats my story and I'm sticking too it!)

Erm, where was I?

Oh yeah, the review. Ok, here's the lowdown:
- an AMAZING variety of trails, and he's ridden every one at least twice so the information is very accurate
- great, easy to understand writing style that's enjoyable to read
- very accurate maps and directions, in an easy-to-follow format
- a sense of humor... how refreshing!
- all this for the price of a coated map!

Ok, quick anecdote: I was in South Mountain Cycles with Paul, returning the bike I rented, and Paul showed the owner, the mech, and a representative of the local bike store coalition the book. All three said they wanted to buy a copy.

If you're planning a trip to Arizona, and plan to do a bit of biking while you're out there, this is the book to have. In depth and accurate, you won't be sorry!

This book was written by an Arizona native, so the book has just about all of the information anyone will need when riding in AZ. Each section is packed with interesting history of the area the trails are in, accurate trail descriptions, detailed and accurate maps, elevation profiles, best time of year to ride specific trails, and even a list of accomodations and restaurants in the trail area! At 384 pages, this book is the largest guidebook that I own of AZ mountain biking books. You can even download a sample chapter of the book on Paul Beakley's website... It is an excellent book that I highly recommend for anyone interested in mountain biking in AZ!

Great book. Used it when I moved back to AZ to start exploring new stuff. It is a bit dated, but all guidebooks are to some degree. If you expect a guide book to walk you through every foot of trail and spoonfeed you what pretty trees to look at along the way you might as well spend your time surfing the internet for nice pictures of trails. What fun is exploring if it's all in the book?

I used this book as all guidebooks should be used...to get you to the best trailhead and save you from wasting valuable exploration time. To that end, it is a great resource and I'd recommend it to anyone looking to experience AZ mountain biking.

This book is for much more technical areas for mountain biking than we wanted. We wanted gentle trails instead of hard-core trails which is what this book entails.

This thing weighs in at a whopping 19 ounces. Way too much paper filler with all sorts of peripheral information about mountain biking in general, but not enough specific details about the best Arizona trails. The maps were done with a GPS, but a gray line drawn by a computer over a b&w topo that covers only 1/4 page just does not get it. You've probably heard the expression that a camel is a horse designed by committee. This is a book written by a knowledgable mountain biker then stuffed into the Falcon/Globe-Pequot format. This fomulaic (sp?) approach to a mountain bike guide just doesn't work. The local guides and maps are cheaper, better and lighter.

My goodness, book reviews can be deceiving. Especially when an author asks good friends to write positive reviews to help sell a book. One reviewer wrote; "he's (the author) ridden every one (trail) at least twice so the information is very accurate." This is far from the truth. The author wrote about accessing trails where the access was lost to developement years before he wrote the book. He couldn't have ridden the trail even once. The distances listed between turns on existing trails are off by so much you'll find yourself stopping and turning around after you don't see any turn where he says there will be one. Like bikeboy stated in his review, the book is too much filler, the maps are too small to be helpful, the book is too bulky to be carried in a pack, and not a helpful guidebook. No local shops even carry the book because they say it will get you lost. They sell much more accurate local trail guidebooks. My husband and I use guidebooks wherever we travel and this one is the least helpful we have seen.