Customer Reviews

Mountain Bike America: Virginia, 2nd: An Atlas of Virginia's Greatest Off-Road Bicycle Rdes

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Mountain Bike VA is an excellent book for the mountain bike enthusiast or just someone who enjoys biking at a more leisurely pace. Divided by VA Counties; each ride has detailed instructions on how to reach the trailhead, associated costs, distances, type of trail, difficulty, a trail diagram which includes a trail terrain profile, a couple of pictures and a witty, descriptive narrative. Well worth the minor cost and then some. I highly recommend it.

I found the format of this book to be quite useful. Trails are divided into geographic regions with detailed instructions on how to get to the trailhead. Each trail in the book has a standard trail map, an elevation map (useful to gauge the trail's difficulty), some text to give more detailed directions, and other trail details such as parking fees, whether or not you can bring your dog, etc. Don't buy this book if you are interested in riding in the Lynchburg / Bedford / Roanoke area as it seems the author has not spent a great deal of time in this part of the state. Otherwise, Northern and Eastern VA are well covered.

This book is well organized and detailed. I have not been lost due to bad intel and have thoroughly enjoyed each trail so far. The difficulty ratings are fair, too. The lists of 'best rides' at the beginning of the book that go beyond geography are very nice.

Overall a pretty well organized book but, since it was published in 2003, could use an update. Most of the larger parks and trails are fairly accurate but some of the smaller ones have morphed into something else (read: subdivisions) or are completely gone. As an example, after a 2-hour drive I found the "Centreville Power Lines" completely changed - and most of the technical parts either overgrown with brush or fenced off by a golf course. The road maps are still pretty accurate and you can find your way around the blocked off sections, but be prepared to find something completely different than what the author describes. I went to ride trails and ended up on asphalt for most of the time.
His writing style and graphic descriptions of what you'll find at Fountainhead, Prince William Park and others are still enough to lure me out though. He's an excellent writer and I hope he updates the book - I'll definitely be in line to buy it. This version however.... ehhhh.