Guide books

[Pain Freak]

Anyone know of this book, or better yet, what book would be recommended for SoCal riding?

[roadkillross]

ive seen REI has many books on SOCAL

[jruiz]

i picked up that book for $3 on half.com. it's pretty complete in the way that it may show different routes to a particular trail. the edition i have is a couple of years old. but with the availability of sites like geoladders, socalmtb, etc i don't read it as much as i used to. it has trails from slo to sd.

[dstepper]

Better yet is "Trails of the Angeles" by John W. Robinson. Not a bike guide but a rather a complete list of 100 trails in Angeles Forest.

When I go looking for new trails I spend more time on the hiking websites looking for the more obscure overlooked trails by the MTB community.

[Burner]

Mike, I have that book, you can take a look at it if you'd like. It's got the main SoCal trails the you've probably heard of already. These days I use the internet more.

[Pain Freak]

A friend of mine who recently started mountain biking is looking for a good trail guide book. I like most spend time researching the internet then either print maps or follow someone (STJunkie) who knows the way. But he wants a book that he could take with him. I did give him my Fanco maps, and he really liked those, but now he wants to branch out. He usually rides during the week when I'm at work and he's afraid of exposure so he's looking for stuff a little more tame then what I like to ride.

[ThinkFast]

I think GeoLadders is far better than any of the books that I've seen. The trail descriptions, route overview, turn by turn directions, directions to the trailhead and doing some of the scheduled rides are an easy way to ride new areas and find people to ride with. If you have a Garmin Edge then it's fun riding new areas even solo!

[Burner]

the problems with the maps in that book is that they are just simple trail maps (black and white), no topo, elevations, etc, hard to use as a nav tool or to tell what kind of ride it's going to be by looking at the map. The descriptions do a good job though. But a lot of the rides in there are on the advanced side, since he's trying to put the 'best' trails in the region in there. Also, not the most current info in there either.

[dstepper]

Originally Posted by ThinkFast

If you have a Garmin Edge then it's fun riding new areas even solo!

I used a GSP unit for years...it will never replace a compass and a GOOD Topo Map. USGS Maps have so much critical info on them lacking on the Topo Maps you load into a GPS unit. Like where the water is! Nearby structures, blue line streams, power lines..ect.

GPS is fine finding your way around county and state parks...if you plan on going it alone in remote areas I suggest taking both. The best feature of a GPS is electronic breadcrumbs.

If you can not load Topo Maps into a Garmin Edge then it is very limited in my opinion and not worth the money. It is great fun to participate in Geoladders. What other GPS file formats goes Geoladders accept?

[ThinkFast]

Originally Posted by dstepper

I used a GSP unit for years...it will never replace a compass and a GOOD Topo Map. USGS Maps have so much critical info on them lacking on the Topo Maps you load into a GPS unit. Like where the water is! Nearby structures, blue line streams, power lines..ect.

GPS is fine finding your way around county and state parks...if you plan on going it alone in remote areas I suggest taking both. The best feature of a GPS is electronic breadcrumbs.

If you can not load Topo Maps into a Garmin Edge then it is very limited in my opinion and not worth the money. It is great fun to participate in Geoladders. What other GPS file formats goes Geoladders accept?

I've only recently gotten back on a mountain bike. GeoLadders has been great for learning a lot of local trails. The Garmin has added to the fun in my opinion, but it's not cheap...nothing about biking is .

I can't imagine relying on anything electronic in a remote area. If someone is really exploring, and they know how to use a compass and a Topo, then that's going to be a safer way. However I can't imagine doing anything really remote solo. That's just me.

Not sure what formats are accepted. I've only used the Edge.

I did look at a couple guide books before I found GL but non compare to GL for finding your way around locally.