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Mountain Bike! Atlantic Canada: A Guide to the Classic Trails

By  Sarah L. Hale and Jodi E. Bishop

Menasha Ridge Press - 422 pages

Cost: $22.95

Softcover

ISBN 1-55068-096-X

"A Planner's Guide to Mountain Biking..."

reviewed by Ronnie Scullion

Authors Hale and Bishop have thoroughly explored many of the classic and some of the lesser known biking trails that wind their way through Atlantic Canada. Their firsthand descriptions of these trails, describing the flora, fauna and scenery en route is accompanied by much useful information to riders venturing out on rugged wheels.

Most valuable is the 'At a Glance' information at the start of each
trail description. Here the length and configuration, aerobic and technical difficulty of the trail is briefly summarized. A succinct description of what type of scenery you will encounter and any special instructions or comments are given, such as 'Bring your swimming gear', 'Camping opportunities available...', or 'Combine the ride with a hike along the dunes'.

A more in depth and detailed description then follows with an individual map of each trail. Some black and white photographs detail
some of the more scenic and unusual rides. Each ascent and descent along the trail is intimately described. Descriptions of the surrounding area and local resources are also included. Elevation change, hazards and land status are noted.

Instructions on finding the trail, however, are buried amongst these
detailed and lengthy narratives. The guide, although comprehensive, suffers from a lack of good organization. Trails are grouped by province and ordered more or less by location. A map at the start of the book gives the general locations of the numbered rides intermixed with highway numbers making for a confusing 'at a glance' find.

The trail names are colourful, descriptive and sometimes quirky, but do little to orient the visitor in the area. In New Brunswick the tour starts with 'Archer's Alley' moving onto 'Bunker's Hill', two trails in the general vicinity of Fredericton. Unless one is familiar with the names of the trails beforehand, it is an arduous task to ferret out a trail in any particular locale. It requires much determination and a lot of time leafing back and forth through the book.

Once again there are very useful lists of trails grouped by difficulty
or special interest - wilderness, family, historic sites, coastal, etc. But here too, a lot of page flipping is required to get the whole picture or to plan your mountain bike touring. These lists would be more useful if, in addition to ride number and name, the location and level of difficulty were included in the same listing. The guide could benefit from more cross-referencing techniques used in other guidebooks.

The book will be of most value to the experienced rider wanting to fill
in or add to his or her knowledge of Atlantic Canada mountain bike trails. It will be of limited value to the novice rider or visitor unless they have a comfortable armchair and are willing to take the time to find and extract the information they seek. With more than 400 pages Mountain Bike! Atlantic Canada is not a light read or carry-along reference book. My preference would be a few good maps and authors Hale and
Bishop do mention some excellent sources for those!

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