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I used this book in conjunction with Adventure Cycling maps on a Canada to Mexico ride in 2007 and found this book to be more complete in it's description of routes and facilities. It's very easy to follow, takes you on less-traveled roads without going to ridiculous extremes to avoid well-traveled roads, and gives excellent descriptions of available facilities such as campground amenities, points of interest, libraries, etc. I would highly recommend this book if you are planning a bicycle tour along any or all of the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route.
While I did notice some inaccurate information, specifically, the book mentions that there is no camping on Hornby Island while I stayed in a huge campground there, It is mostly accurate as I read it cover to cover upon receipt to relive my last ride from Powell River BC to Seattle. I bought this because I wore out the old copy I had and it was a little out of date. This book is so valuable to cyclist up and down the coast that they simply refer to it as "The book". This book is indispensable for anyone considering cycling any part of the coast from Canada to Mexico. Don't leave home without it.
Riding from Half Moon Bay to Morro Bay in three days, our riders, some of them very experienced [one had ridden the Road Across America], said, "This is the most beautiful day of riding I've ever had," only to say the next day, "Today was even better." Some of the riding encounters fast traffic and no or small shoulders, so take care in those sections. Let's hope Krebs produces a riding guide for the rest of California.Despite the many inaccuracies of the Kirkendall book, this is a great bike ride and no one should be deterred by a crappy guidebook.
Mileages often were wrong; elevations frequently were wrong [one climb described in the book as 800' turned out to be 300']; climbs were in the wrong place; towns which were on the bottom of climbs were placed by the book at the top; important places were missed entirely; the maps often did not conform to road maps. Today, I finished cycling the Pacific Coast from the Oregon border to Los Angeles [900 miles] and can say without hesitation this is one of the most inaccurate guidebooks I've ever used.
Unfortunately, Krebs has published no map for the Southern California section. Worse, some alternate routes, such as the ride over San Marcos Pass into Santa Barbara, were described positively, but were found to be hellish experiences---5,000' total of climbing, bumper-to-bumper traffic driving at high speeds, minimal shoulders.
The authors also missed some obvious alternate routes, such as Santa Rosa Road from Lompoc to Buellton, a gorgeous lightly-traveled country road through wine country in favor of highway 154, a boring 4-lane highway with fast-moving traffic.A much more accurate, and easier to use, cycling guide is the Krebs map for the Northern California coast. Some sections are absolutely sublime.
Also, avoid weekends in the more tourist-oriented sections.
But.as we started our trip we found the maps were very valuable (the rest of the book.so/so). You will be surprised how many different maps you would need to carry. You can also follow bike signs or bike lanes along the way, but they're not always around when needed. We used Yahoo Yellow Pages to print out high level city maps with all the hotels listed with contact info and pre-plotted on the map. We usually ripped the page out of the book and only carried the small map vs a bunch of maps.
This was very handy when trying to find a motel in the evening. We bought heavy duty tires at a bike shop in Santa Cruz and never got another one the whole trip. We avg. We initially thought we could ride route 1 the whole way, but found we couldn't in many of the bigger cities, which is where the book came in handy.
They didn't always reflect the map in the right scale, but it worked well enough. I was initially disappointed. Normal road tires are too soft and get too many holes. I bought this book prior to the trip hoping it would shed some light on what to expect, tips, training, etc. I hear going in April or Sept are best to avoid tourists and still have really good weather. The maps showed which side streets to take.
speed of 15.5 miles per hour, allowing us to get from SF to Mexico in 8 days. In a few areas like Santa Cruz, South LA, La Jolla and South San Diego (near the boarder) we couldn't find the streets on the map. We just completed a coastal ride from San Francisco to Mexico. I also recommend buying the toughest tires you can find (i.e. Specialized Armadillos).
Between the two of us we had 6 flats and a tire slash in the first day leaving SF.very discouraging.
We got lost, but usually found our way via other streets using general navigation.
Make sure you know how your bike fits you and your body reacts to long days, esp multiple days.
The altitude scales were okay, but good enough to set some level of expectations.
I started to ice my knee and quads every night, which made me feel much better the next day.
Use the book and maps as a general guide, but don't be afraid to wing it.
Other tips the book doesn't give.wear bright colors, in SF and LA you will be on busy streets with cars zipping by.
about 78 miles per day with an avg.
All in all.it was a lot of fun.
I brought regular maps for the trip, but ended up only using BTPC for reference throughout. I used this book for a trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles and found it to be extremely useful for determining route, elevation changes, distances and overnight stops. Its up-to-date and informative, and you don't have to follow the described overnight stops for it to be useful. The book is portable enough to bring along for the ride, or you can easily photocopy just the pages you need and stick them in your mapcase. I'll be taking another trip further up the coast this year and will be using this guidebook again.
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