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The Complete Guide to Climbing (By Bike) | 
 enlarge | Author: John Summerson
Publisher: Brigham Distributing
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $11.50
You Save: $6.45 (36%)
New (16) Used (6) from $9.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 32613
Media: Perfect Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0979257107
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.63
EAN: 9780979257100
ASIN: 0979257107
Publication Date: July 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Complete Guide to Climbing (By Bike) is the ultimate guide to cycling climbing and the most difficult hill climbs in the United States. Included in its 224 pages are sections on training for climbing, memorable climbing performances and other climbing resources. The most difficult U.S. climbs are described in great detail including: - Easy to read directions with maps - Accurate climb information including total elevation gain, length and average/maximum grade - Appendices include multiple climb rankings (most difficult, highest altitude attained, greatest elevation gained, steepest, etc) and profiles of the 100 most difficult American hill climbs. This book contains everything cyclists need to know to locate and tackle the toughest climbs in the U.S.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Not even close to "Complete" July 21, 2008
This book is a decent review of several climbs in the US but it is hardly "complete." The useful information in this book could easily be cut down to a couple magazine articles and it would probably have better flow than the book the authors produced. The authors focus only on the most notorious climbs in the US. If you have a subscription of Bicycle Magazine, you've probably already read about these. The section on "climbing technique" is very rudimentary and only a couple pages long. Again, you'll get more useful information from a good magazine subscription.
The organization of the book also leaves a great deal to be desired. The profiles of the various climbs are located in the back of the book, apart from the description of the climb. The descriptions are VERY brief, and more information can be gleaned from the profiles than the brief descriptions. The longest description in the entire book is for Mt Washington and it's less than a page. The descriptions come across as what the authors remember most about the climb, several months after the fact. It's obvious they didn't sit down right after the climb to describe it, because they leave out so many important details. Even using their descriptions to find the climbs would be difficult.
Just the appearance of the book is lackluster. Most of the book uses black and white photos and very simple drawings and maps to describe the routes. There are a couple of color photos but they're just piled into the middle of the book with poor notation. It looks like it was organized by a 12 year old.
This is not to say the book doesn't have a few merits. I enjoyed the lists of the most challenging or steepest climbs in the US, but even those lists seem to be incomplete.
I personally wouldn't recommend paying full price for this book. If you can get a good price on it though, it's not a bad reference to have on the shelf.
 Book should be called the Bike Climbers Bible June 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am old and heavy but I still love going UP. I needed a guide to help find climbs and a true rating of one over the other. THE 100 Toughest USA Road Bike Climbs page is worth the price of the book! I have climbed Mt. Washington (#1) 3 times - Equinox (#7) - WhiteFace (#16) - Evens (#20) - Auscutney (#31) and Burke (#50) from the top 50. They are rated correctly - also Mitchell at #85 and Brasstown Bald at #82 are correct in the ratings after climbing them. Note Brasstown Bald is an inflated climb due to the tour - he rates it as a 2.14 Cat 1 - not the Tour of Georgia HC. The maps are great and the directions on how to start the climbs are priceless - you can NOT GET THIS INFORMATION anywhere else. If you are looking to DO climbs and not long winded descriptions of how to or what it looks like GET THE BIBLE!!! This book has changed my vacation planning. Next month is the Death Ride for me and 3 more passes from the book.
 Good if you live in CA June 4, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was a little disappointed when I received this book because the focus of this book is really the west coast. If, like me, you live east of the Mississippi, don't expect to find many climbs within hundreds of miles of you. The sub-title should have been most difficult climbs in Western US with a few thrown in for the east-coasters.
The number of climbs in states are: MA-2; NH-1; NY-1; VT-5; GA-1; NC-6 and these 16 rides are it east of the MS. For the western states: AZ-5; CA-72; CO-14; HI-5; NV-6; NM-2; OR-3; UT-12; WA-2; and WY-7. Even in the Hill Climb Races section, the Core States bike race in Philly that includes the (in)famous Manayunk Wall isn't mentioned. I know the hills are where they are and not evenly distributed, but it would be nice if Summerson would have included some hills from other states for broader interest. It's entertaining to read about far-away hills, but not as much fun if it's not practical to visit them and challenge yourself against them.
The title is misleading June 3, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book should be described as a detailed list of climbs in the United States. There is very little here with respect to climbing technique and training for climbs. I was very dissapointed in this book.
Falls flat June 1, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was expecting something much more than this. The book is poorly produced, the maps are vague, the organization shoddy, and the writing pedestrian. I think the authors did a lot of climbing to get this information, but somewhere the publisher or editors let them down. It's really poorly organized and not very interesting to read. I know a couple of these climbs, and the descriptions here fall flat.
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