Bicycle Rides: Los Angeles County, Fourth Edition (Entire County Area; 71 Trips, 83 Rides)

The book provides 71 on-road trip descriptions (83 total rides) in Los Angeles County. Rides vary from those for short-length family trips on separated bike paths, many longer exploratory and workout trips for more experienced riders on various quality bike routes, and a few "gut-buster" tours for the most physically fit and motivated bikers. There are over 1100 one-way miles of biking described. Included are a coastal century (up and back) from the City of Santa Monica to Port Hueneme in Ventura County and a tour of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island. Trip domains include beaches, parks, valleys, canyons, harbors, rivers and lakes.

Included is a master map to show ride locations within the county and a master matrix that identifies ride location, level of difficulty, route composition (percentage of route on bike trail, signed bike lanes or open roadway) and a general trip characterization (i.e., Is the trip scenic? Is it in a natural setting? Are there landmarks and/or sightseeing attractions along the way? Is this a mileage and/or elevation workout?).

Each trip description contains a detailed trip map and elevation-distance profile (non-flat rides) and scenic or character-interest photographs are scattered throughout the book. The route maps note the location of water sources, landmarks, sightseeing attractions and campsites among other points of interest.

We wrote our first on-road cycling book, "Bicycle Rides: Los Angeles and Orange Counties," in 1987, because we believed we could do it better. After cycling these county areas for fifteen years, we looked for a guide that could provide us with new riding adventures that were thoroughly documented in terms of written description, maps, photos and elevation/distance contours. We couldn't find such a book and decided to give it a try ourselves. Our first publication in 1987 was a resounding success!

We then set out to cover the entire Southern California on-road area. What followed were a collection of the "Bicycle Rides:" series which included San Fernando Valley and Ventura County, a subsequent revision and expansion of the original book into separate Los Angeles and Orange County guides, Inland Empire, San Diego and Imperial Counties, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, as well as updated/revised editions of those publications.

While writing these on-road tour books, we also spent time in the local mountains with various individuals and groups of riders who were introducing a new and different biking venue. We soon found that mountain biking was a great blend of our bicycling and hiking/backpacking skills and eventually developed "Mountain Biking L.A. County" (Southern Section), which plied the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Susana Mountains, Simi Hills, Verdugo Mountains/San Rafael Hills, Puente Hills, Palos Verdes Peninsula and Santa Catalina Island.

A recent and grandiose project, a diversion from our first love, is "Outdoor Recreation Checklists." This book provides exhaustive equipment checklists and extensive gear tradeoffs for a wide range of outdoor recreation activities. This entry- and intermediate-level four-season book covers both land and waterborne adventures ranging from camping to remote mountaineering to chartered rafting or sea-fishing trips. It was developed based on the authors' 25 years of cycling, hiking, backpacking, snorkeling and downhill skiing experience and the collaboration of a group of grizzled veterans in activities such as rafting, canoeing and kayaking, boating, scuba diving, mountain climbing, cross-country skiing and fishing.

Most recently, we totally rewrote and expanded our most popular books, "Bicycle Rides: Los Angeles County" and "Bicycle Rides: Orange County." Keep your eye on us as there is more to come!