| Mountain Biking Boise, A Falcon Guide Other |
Geography Parents  Loading... Custom Objects
| Mountain Biking Boise, A Falcon Guide   | 
| Page Type: Other Location: Idaho, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 43.63210°N / 116.21475°W Object Type: Book Review | Page By: Steady Grind Created/Edited: Oct 26, 2007 / Feb 13, 2008 Object ID: 263246 Hits: 251 Loading... Page Score: 87.03% - 3 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Why it sucksA Falcon Guide - "Mountain Biking Boise", by Martin Potucek was a good book about 9 years ago when it was first published. Here's a crazy concept though...cities grow, and subdivisions are developed!
I bought the book in May '07 when I first moved to Boise. I had intentions of riding one of the 40 rides each day until I had ridden them all. Mostly just to say that I had done it, but also just so I had a good idea of the trails and loops in the area.
I started with ride no. 1 and found that there was a new subdivision in the middle of where the trial used to be. I was able to find a new trail around the subdivision and get back on to what I think was the original trail, but I was still unsure if I was where I was supposed to be.
Moving on through the trails, I found that the majority of the trails that weren't on well established roads and/or streets, ended up being interrupted by new subdivisions or private land owners who had blocked access. The only trails that you could ride as written in the book were the ones on pavement...and for a mountainbiking book, there sure were a lot of hard surface rides.
My other issue with the book, which I've already mentioned, is the amount of hard surface riding that it suggests. The Boise Foothills has ample opportunities to ride on dirt trails...one shouldn't need to touch pavement unless one wanted to.
I certainly don't hold Mr. Potucek responsible for the antiquity of the trails that he reported on (and he did a good job), but I would like to see Falcon Guides acknowledge the fact that cities grow and trails are changed. Ten years in a city such as Boise that has had growth explosions is bound to make a drastic change in the trails that border the city.
My suggestion to Falcon Guides...LET ME RE-WRITE THIS BOOK!! I even attempted to contact them to offer to update the book (for a fee of course, I'm no dummy!). I never heard back from them.
Fortunately, we now have MBPOST.COM so people can put in their favorite foothill rides and update themselves as changes occur throughout the years.
One more note...Don't let what is said here scare you away from the foothill trails around Boise!! Even though many of the trails in this book have changed, they are still in existence. In addition to that, many new trails have been developed since the publication of this book and there are many great rides that were created after the book was written. The Boise Foothills is a GREAT place to ride, this book is just outdated.
That's all I have to say about that. Images |
|
