Mountain Biking Oregon: Northwest and Central Oregon: A Guide to Northwest and Central Oregon’s Greatest Off-Road Bicycle Rides
29
Jun
Product Description
Featuring nearly 50 of the greatest mountain bike rides in Northwest and Central Oregon, local mountain biker and author Lizann Dunegan leads cyclists to some of the most scenic and varied landscapes in the state. From the northwest corner of Oregon, where rocky coastline meets the pounding waves of the Pacific Ocean, to majestic Mount Hood in the Cascade Mountain Range, to the dry sagebrush desert near Bend–this part of Oregon mesmerizes everyone who passes throug… More >>
Unless you have never ridden a bike before anywhere in Oregon, I wouldn’t recommend this book. Not knowing many trails in Oregon I bought this for some new trails to ride. When I got the book I decided to take a look at a few of the trails I am familiar with and quickly realized that the information presented was inaccurate or misleading. For example Mary’s Peak; she says to ride up and down east ridge trail and rates it as advanced. You ride up east ridge trail because it is easy and you ride down north ridge trail, not a out and back. And riding back down east ridge trail would be an easy to moderate rating and I am only an average to above average rider. I noticed a lot of her rides were out and backs and that is rare with my experience, either you ride in one trail and out another, loop or ride a service road up and single track down. Another expample is McKenzie River, even she says its 26 miles of great riding but her directions have you ride 9 miles then turn around, once again a totally uneccesary out and back. There are a lot of great trails around where I live and none mentioned, also some of her honorable mentions trails are better than some that made her list. There isn’t a index at the back of the book, so you have to know what region the trail is in if you have a trail name. She gives a lot of historical information on some trails, which being a history buff I can appreciate but if I buy a book for mt bike trails don’t puff it up and waste space that could have been used for more practical information just because you needed to fill pages. Basically, because the information on the few trails I know was wrong, I feel I can’t trust the information on trails I am unfamiliar with. It might be a reference to find a trail name and go ask someone at the bike shop about it, but other than that a waste of money, better off just going to bike shops and asking, I’ve had great luck with that before.
Rating: 1 / 5
The book does a nice job of describing various rides. The descriptions contain enough information for you to make an informed decision when trying to decide between various trails.
Rating: 4 / 5
The other Falcon Guidebooks seem to be a lot more in-depth in their trail selection. Looks like this one only covers the NorthWest–despite the title suggesting it also includes Central. How can any decent guidebook on Oregon mountain biking not include the 78 mile epic Umpqua River Trail? Hello! That’s the biggest reasons I purchased this book. And decidedly in the Central region of the state.
Rating: 2 / 5