Mountain Bike! Los Angeles County: A Wide-Grin Ride Guide
Customer Review: Sloppy lay out, very little for the beginner or low intermediate
I would have to agree with Serge’s review above. I have not done Sullivan’s Canyon, but when I read the text, I could see that it did not match what was laid out on the map. It makes me very hesitant to do other trails for the first time based on this book, as they might not be labeled properly. Also, the “Key-At-A-Glance” section is sloppy. On some rides Technical Difficulty is listed on the third line and Aerobic Difficulty is listed on the fourth line, but on other rides they are reversed. This could get you into trouble if you confuse the two and do what you thought was a 5 aerobic difficulty that is actually a 5 technical difficulty you are not ready for. And on Sullivan it is inexplicably rated as “Moderate” with no number or aerobic rating at all.
My second complaint is which trails were chosen for the book. I say there are only 33 rides listed because I am not counting the 7 non-LA County rides in here. There is a section called South Bay/Cleveland National Forest. It should really be marked Orange County/San Bernardino County. There are no South Bay rides listed in here (Torrance, Rancho Palos Verdes, etc.). There are other LA County proper rides which are not listed at all in here for some reason, such as Turnbull Canyon. If one had to include some OC rides, why not list some of the plenty that are way closer to LA than El Moro or San Juan?
My third complaint is that most of the rides in this book are geared for the advanced rider. The back cover of this books says “whether you’re new to mountain biking or an experienced downhiller”. I counted 33 LA rides with say 14 being advanced (either having at least one 5 rating or double 4s), 10 rides being high intermediate (at least one 4 rating), 7 rides being low to moderate intermediate (at least one 3 rating) and only two beginner rides, one of which looked like you could do it on your beach cruiser. As an intermediate rider there’s really only about 10 rides I’d attempt in here. I would not recommend it for the beginner as there’s barely anything in it for you. If you are an advanced rider that will try anything, you’ll probably be fine with this book. But then again, if you are an advanced rider, you probably don’t need this book unless you just moved here.
Customer Review: Great Book!
Edgy, humorous, and detailed, this a fabulous book. Another reviewer has noted that the Pacific Ocean was on the right side of the map. The reviewer, though, did not bother to mention that if you turn the map so that the north arrow is pointing up (common sense), the Pacific Ocean magically reassumes it’s correct position. This book is the most up to date and thorough book on LA mountain biking available.
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