Road Biking(TM) Massachusetts: A Guide To The Greatest Bike Rides In Massachusetts (Road Biking Series) Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
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Series: Road Biking Series
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Falcon Guides; 1st edition (November 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0762739096
ISBN-13: 978-0762739097
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #745,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #230 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Individual Sports > Cycling > Excursion Guides #573 in Books > Travel > United States > Northeast > New England #3828 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Nature Travel > Adventure
Fantastic listing and description of beautiful bike rides all over the state of Massachusetts. If you are anywhere in MA and have a bicycle, this book can provide you with detailed maps and directions for all types of bike rides as well as a website where you can go and see what other riders thought of the various routes. "Gotta have" Road Biking Massachusetts!
This is the book we have all been waiting for! Easy to read, concise maps with clear and honest descriptions of road and traffic conditions for each ride. Keep this guide handy since it will be a well-used resource when planning your next road ride with family or friends.
This book is must-have for any serious recreational cylist who wants to have fun exploring some of Massachusetts most gorgeous biking routes.I give five stars for the variety and overall awesomeness of the 40 rides in this book, but two stars for the organization and level of detail in the book.First, the positive, is that you could bike just these routes for years and be happy as a pig in s--t! Two routes that I've very much enjoyed so far are the Whitinsville Challenge, which winds through country roads, past a reservoir, on very hilly terrain, and the Tri-State Cruise, which takes you through three states, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut!This book is ideal for a fit recreational cyclist--regularly doing at least 30-50 miles on weekends and comfortable with hills. It's also great for beginner cyclists, who can test out the easiest routes--such as the North Andover Ramble, with 33 miles of gentle rolling hills-- and gradually work up to the harder ones. The easiest route in the book is the 17.4 mile Marion Ramble, a tour of the waterfront near Buzzard's Bay.Sadly, however, the level of helpfulness and detail in the book does not match the awesomeness of the routes. To be fair, it was originally published in 2007, and some if its flaws seem more pronounced now that information is available on the 'Net with a few clicks. But in any case, the book for me at least has been mostly a list of ideas, while I rely on the Web for better info on critical things--such as where to find bathrooms and better turn-by-turn directions with landmarks.PROS--Awesome routes, with a lot of variety in difficulty, terrain and scenery--Fun organization with the route name suggesting its difficulty level. A challenge is very hard, and a ramble is the easiest--mostly flat and less than 35 miles. In between there are the "cruises." And then there are the "classics'--long and hard, and most people, even fit riders, will want to do them in two days.--A helpful map in the beginning showing locations of each route, so you can figure out which one(s) are feasible as an afternoon escape if you are, say, visiting your Aunt Bertha out in the boondocks of the state.--Elevation grid shown for each ride so you can see where the hills are.--A couple dozen black-and-white photos of the routes. I like the photos. Color, and more of them, would have been nice--but maybe too expensive to be practical.CONS--The route directions are really basic. They mostly appear to be computer generated with no apparent human input. They just say turn right on xxx street, left on yyy street. Few landmarks, such as turn right at the traffic light, or the donut shop etc.. There is occasionally helpful info, such as a note that there isn't a street sign at a turn, or that there's a dangerous hairpin turn. But mostly, very frustrating to follow; I spent a lot of time squinting at my iPhone when I missed turns.--Other than the map showing you where each route is located, which I found very useful, there is no other sorting provided. So if I'm looking for a challenge this coming weekend, I have to use the table of contents to find all the challenges and then go look where they are, how long, how much climbing etc. There should be a list in each difficulty category with the distance and elevation climb summarized. I spent an hour typing out a spreadsheet of the routes, as the book is difficult to use in its current format.--Start points are described in words rather than with addresses. For example, one route says, "Burger King on State Route 228 at the Rockland-Norwell Town Line, immediately north of state Route 3." Okay then, but what is the address of the Burger King, so I can put it in my GPS? Even in 2007 the address of the start point would have been a basic piece of info, but today: indispensable.--Most routes don't have information on bathrooms at the start point, or on the route. The attraction of this book is to discover great biking areas far from our homes, so we will have been in the car for easily an hour or more before arriving. Bathroom info is essential!--Not enough info on convenience stores or rest stop--and the info there is isn't conveniently presented. The text description accompanying each ride does highlight places to stop, and occasionally you see a note about a convenience store in the turn-by-turn directions. But first, this should be highlighted in the summary section so you can plan your stops ahead of time at a glance. And second, the suggestions are often not where you need the stop ie. too early/too late in the route. Part of the problem here--and not the author's fault-- is that these are country routes and options are few. But that only makes it more important to list every single option in the remote areas, which hasn't been done.--Ride times are clearly based on the very fit, fast author and his friends. It would have been good to poll a wider range of riders on how long it takes them. The Marion Ramble, the one really easy ride for beginners is supposed to take an hour for 17 miles; sorry, but only very fit experienced cyclists do that...most people will need to leave 1.5 hours for that ride. I'm a pretty serious recreational rider and today, going with a friend who goes at a similar pace to me, we did the Whitinsville challenge in about three hours and 50 minutes, not including rest stops. The book says it's supposed to take 3 to 3.5 hours...and last year, when I was less fit, it probably took me five hours. The irony is that the super-fit riders are veterans and do not need a time range estimate--they'll simply look at the elevation grid and the mileage and they'll know how many hours to plan. Ironically, you're new enough to biking to need the time estimates to figure out how much time you need to do these routes, they probably won't apply to you; allow way more time than suggested!--The restaurant and hotel recommendations, highlighted in the summary of each ride, are so generic as to be useless--particularly in the Internet age. I really don't need to know there's a Holiday Inn nearby to stay. I can find that in a heartbeat with Google maps. I actually would like to know if there is an amazing, little-known B&B with great muffins for breakfast and a garage for bikes!--I didn't take off any stars for this because, well, the book was published in 2007. But really, it feels completely backward not to have ability to get these routes into a smartphone or a GPS. The maps are really, really small and hard to read. How about a a password protected website for people who purchase the book, with GPX files we can use for our iPhone navigation programs? If this sounds risky because people will simply share the files and cannibalize book sales, consider that awesome, easy to follow routes in gpx format are already available all over the Web for free. A lot of people are already using those instead of buying books. To compete, the next edition of this book will need to offer everything the free resources offer, and then add to it. The bar is way higher now.But yes, despite my quibbles, buy this book. Supplement the sparse directions with a GPS if you have one, or an online program. such as Ride with GPS's new iPhone app. But the great routes are worth it: You'll enjoy many hours of varied and challenging biking.
As a new rider over the past 8 months I have found this to be a terrific resource. I have tried several of these routes and found them to be quite enjoyable. Tom's descriptions are spot on and have led me to try routes in areas I would not necessarily have tried on my own. I look forward to riding them all!
What a wonderful guide book! The routes generally range from 20 to 50 miles, plus a few at 100 miles or more. The rides cover all types of terrain - expect some monster climbs, some gorgeous views. The maps are extremely well laid out with a terrain-style map, as well as a chart showing how the climb varies over the course of the route.There are precise descriptions of the restaurants and food found along the way. I like the photos that accompany the rides, showing you what you can expect to see.The directions themselves are well done with the cumulative mileage as you go, perfect for tying into your GPS or bike computer. I would also like to see mileage for each leg of the journey too.Highly recommended.
What a great book!!! Not only are the rides through some of the nicest roads in the country, but Tom's descriptions are informative and entertaining. I would recommend this book for anyone who owns a bike and lives within 500 miles of Massachusetts.
I've used this book to find great riding in the Berkshires, central Massachusetts and the South Coast. Each ride has been a winner. If you're tired of riding the same old roads around your house, this is the book to get you exploring where ever you find yourself.
The book is quite helpful: it offers a variety of locations to ride throughout the Commonwealth. The maps are clear and concise and the written directions are understandable.
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