Eric's Bike Adventure 1995

Bibliography and References

These are all of the references I used while planning this bike tour. Some of them are of general touring interest, while others are probably no that useful if you're not touring on the Pacific Coast. This collection does provide a good representation for what kind of information is out there, if you know how to find it.

Here are the references I used:

• Bicycling the Pacific Coast
• The Essential Touring Cyclist
• Oregon Coast Bike Route
• Oregon Bicycling Guide
• Adventure Cycling's "California Coast Section 1" map

Bicycling the Pacific Coast, Tom Kirkendall & Vicky Spring
Seattle, WA: The Mountaineers, 1990. ISBN 0-89886-232-9

Book cover Map detail

This is an excellent book describing a route down the Pacific Coast, starting in Vancouver, BC, and ending in Tijuana, Mexico. The guide has thorough descriptions of the terrain, mile markers, a detailed listing of campgrounds (noting which have hiker-biker sites), places to get food and water, and assorted landmarks. This is the bible for tourists on the pacific coast.

This book is recommended by the Oregon Coast Bike Route map, listed below.

The Essential Touring Cyclist, Richard A. Lovett
Camden, ME: Ragged Mountain Press, 1994. ISBN 0-07-038849-0.

Book Cover

This is the best book on bicycle touring I've read. It's an amazingly easy book to read, even though it was not the first touring book I picked up. It's written well, has a sense of humor, and doesn't suck the life out of bicycle touring. It is definitely helping me get mentally pumped up for this trek.

It covers just about everything you need to know about touring, from basic on-the-road repair, to health issues, to injuries, to equipping your bike for touring. If I only had one resource to prepare for touring, this would be it.

Oregon Coast Bike Route
Oregon Department of Transportation, (503) 378-3432, March 1994.

Map Cover Map detail

This is a map of just the bike trail along the Oregon coast, with a listing of all campgrounds, showers, hiker-biker sites, cities, and assorted off-the-highway detours through the "big" cities along the coast. The map marks how big the road shoulder is along all sections, so you can anticipate dealing with traffic, and includes a fairly detailed elevation guide. It provides a good complement to the Kirkendall/Spring book for the Oregon stretch of the route.

Oregon Bicycling Guide
Oregon Department of Transportation, (503) 378-3432, 1992.

Map Cover Map detail

This Oregon state map marks all of the major bikeways around the state, and includes "most suitable", "moderately suitable", "less suitable", or "bicycles prohibited" markings, to help plan suitable routes. It also includes campground locations, some peak elevation info, and prevailing summer wind direction.

This was useful for navigating from Portland to the coast, something not covered by any of my other resources.

Bicycle Touring Map: California Coast Section 1, Crescent City to San Francisco
Adventure Cycling Association, (406) 721-1776, March 1994.

Adventure Cycling (formerly Bikecentenniel) puts out a hefty collection of bicycle touring maps. I picked up this one in Crescent City, so that I would have a second reference (other than the Kirkendall/Spring book) for navigating down the California coast. It provided a quick reference for food, campgrounds, and mileage along the coast. The map does have some elevation markings, but 1000 foot contour intervals are pretty useless.