Arizona Mountain Bike Trail Guide: Fat Tire Tales & Trails (Paperback)

~ Cosmic Ray (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Before you ride Flagstaff, Sedona or anywhere else in Arizona, you need to buy this guide. -- Mountain Bike magazine, November, 1996

Cosmic Ray has succeeded at the toughest bike trick of all: a cycling resource book you'll love reading even if your butt prefers a La-Z-Boy in your living room over a stretch of slickrock in Arizona. -- Bikesite, Geff Hinds, June, 1998

If you are lucky enough to run into Cosmic Ray, ask him to take you for a ride. You'll remember it for the rest of your life! -- Mountain Bike World magazine, UK, August, 1997

Legendary! -- Outside Magazine, June, 1993

The best all time Arizona mountain bike guide. -- Richard Cunningham, editor, Mountain Bike Action magazine, September, 1996

The best book available on the subject. Ray is legend among the local mountain biking fraternity. A keen knowledge of off-road Arizona. -- The Sunday Times of London, January 14, 1996

This zany little guide delivers the nitty-gritty on Arizona's best Mountain Biking. With Cosmic Ray at the wheel, just reading it is like going for a ride. -- Arizona Republic Outdoor Adventure, 1996

Product Description

The most well known and well loved mountain bike trail guide to the best summer and winter fat tire fun in Arizona. Cartoony, down to earth maps are adapted from topos and forest service charts, yet are friendly and easy to use. Maps are to scale and oriented north.

Each humorous route description includes distance, time, effort and skill required, best season to ride, level of route finding skill required, contour profile and "fear factor". There is also a step by step mileage log when applicable. A "preferred trail" icon is used to indicate a particularly great ride in a given area for those on a limited time schedule. Rides are included for all levels of ability, but emphasis is given to the intermediate / advanced rider. A few severe / extreme rides are also included for those on the lunatic fringe.

Each ride has been personally selected and ridden by the author over the past 11 editions and updated annually. You are guaranteed a favorite ride each time with no "filler". Many of the trails can be found nowhere else as they are based on personal exploration by the author. All rides are current and legal. Areas included are Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona, Phoenix, Tucson, Payson, Prescott and more. Also features a hilarious illustrated glossary of mountain biking's arcane jargon.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Cosmic Ray (April 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0966476905
• ISBN-13: 978-0966476903
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #133,140 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #10 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Outdoor Recreation > Cycling > Mountain Biking
  #36 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Outdoor Recreation > Cycling > Excursion Guides
  #43 in	Books > Travel > United States > Regions > South > West South Central

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All the Best Trails in Arizona under $10., June 18, 2000

By	Flagstaff Bike Betty (Flagstaff, Arizona) - See all my reviews

Cosmic Ray's book is great. This new edition has much improved maps over old editions. The writing style remains hilarious. In this one book you get all the 70 or so best of the best trails from all over Arizona for under ten bucks. If you bought separate topo, forest service or specialty maps, you'd pay hundreds of dollars for this much info. And Ray knows the trails. He's been riding a mountain bike since before they were called "mountain bikes", back in the days when the locals in Flagstaff were making their own mountain bikes out of spare parts. He knows the trails all over Arizona and rides them regularly.

In the very beginning of the book, Ray tells how he rates the rides. He describes himself as a "seedy but sincere middle age male in reasonably good shape" so you have something with which to compare your own level of ability. Then he goes on to tell how the ride felt to himself regarding effort, skill, fear factor (the puck-o-meter rules!). The contour profile lets you know what a ride is like at a glance. If the profile is flat, it's easy. On the other hand, if you see that you have a 5000 foot climb coming up, be warned it ain't no weenie ride.

If you must complain about roots, rocks, mud, sand, dirt etc., then this is not the book for you. If you need a topo map,a GPS and a hand to hold to find your way around a well signed trail, again, this is not the book for you. If you want directions, buy a map. If you want adventure, this is it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great trails, great book., June 21, 2000

By A Customer

Cosmic Ray spills the beans about the best trails in all the best mountain biking areas in Arizona . . . Sedona, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Tucson, Prescott, Payson and more. It is obvious that he is a local and has a keen interest in what he does. He includes his e-mail address in the book so you can quiz him on a particular ride whenever you want. I found this very helpful before I set off on the Flagstaff to Grand Canyon Stage Coach Route.

Each ride is accompanied by a description and a map. The description includes time, distance, effort, skill, find-ability, best season to ride and fear factor (puck-o-meter 1 to 10 !) If you are short on time, premium rides are indicated with a special "primo ride" icon.

Rating ride difficulty is a subjective science and Cosmic Ray makes it clear that he is an intermediate/advanced rider. He rates the trails for the "average" rider, not the racer and not the total weenie. Most trails lean toward the intermediate/advanced rider with a few severe trails just to add some spice. There are a few easy trails as well.

Cosmic Ray's maps are cartoony looking, but he says they are adapted (traced) from topos. They are pretty much to scale and oriented north. The detailed descriptions and mileage log fill in where a map just can't do the job. I found the distances to be mostly pretty close, but not 100% perfect. Any semi-experienced mountain biker can easily work around this.

The best part of this book is Cosmic Ray's sense of humor. It makes for a good read with lots of laughs whether you ride or not.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cosmic Ray nails it!, December 17, 1999

By	marcia (flagstaff, arizona) - See all my reviews

I've done a dozen of the rides from Fat Tire Tales & Trails and Ray delivers the straight skinny on trails in the Flagstaff, Sedona and Phoenix areas. The descriptions are very helpful before doing a ride and the contour profile really lets me know at a quick glance what a ride will be like before I give it a shot. He carefully lets you know how he rates every ride in the beginning of the book. He tells you straight up what kind of a rider he is then uses that for comparison in the amount of effort and skill required.

Ray's maps are usually right on the money. They are cartoony but look as though the route has been traced from a topo . . . oriented north and pretty much to scale. You can tell that he puts a lot of effort into giving you the feeling that he is right beside you along for the ride with lots of insightful tips. Whether you are an expert or a complete novice, this is a great book and Ray's sense of humor makes it a kick to read whether you ride or not.