Touring - Bicycling the Pacific Coast - The book - Inaccuracies?

In about a week I'll take off on what will be my longest tour to date. SF to Dana Point, Ca!!! I'm really exicted/nervous and hope all that gear I purchased recently online will get here already!!

Part of the stuff I have yet to buy is Bicycling the Pacific Coast (http://http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) . I'll be using this book as opposed to the ACA maps because it is significantly cheaper. While reading the reviews of the book on amazon I read numerous times that people had found that some parts of the book were "outdated" or "misrepresented". Have any of you that used this book find any inconsistencies or bad routes or what have you?

I read there are some routes that riders preferred more than the book directs you down. Anyone out there have specific alternative routes, out of date info, etc between SF and Dana Point (OC)? Any advice is welcome, thank you!!

Mine was printed in 2008 so things change in 2 plus years. Even the most recent ACA maps have updates that you can print online by people doing the tour. Road closures, campground closures and so forth.

I have not toured with the book yet. I'm sure I will run into some stuff that has changed since the time of printing. Not to long ago I heard of some rock/mud slide closures.. things like that are going to require some problem solving along the way.

I'll bet you will do great. Solve any problems that come along and in the end have a great time. Ask people along the way for any tips about the route or road problems... Have fun.

have no suggestions other than keeping the ocean on your right and don't forget to smell the roses, or sea elephants as the case may be

I have ridden from SF to (past) Dana Point annually for the past 5 years (I live in SF and grew up in LA). The most likely place where you will find inaccurate information involves the places to camp. Specifically, Oceano State Beach (just south of Pismo Beach) no longer has a hiker/biker site so, if you want to stay there, you have to get a regular reservation and pay full fare. I'd suggest checking all the places you plan to camp to make sure they still offer the accommodations you expect and are open.

In fact, after arriving at Oceano on a Friday night after a long day's ride and discovering that they closed the hiker/biker site 2 years before, I decided to create a website (see signature below) where such information could be made available to others.

I've written 2 journals (5 years apart) on this ride. Here is the first one I took (70 mile days) (http://www.biketouringtips.com/showJournalPages.php?jid=22) and here is the second one (50 mile days) (http://www.biketouringtips.com/showJournalPages.php?jid=27). I should mention that I don't actually ride from SF. I get a ride to Montera so that I don't have to ride on Devil's Slide, the dangerous road between Pacifica and Montera. On my second ride, I had a friend (I used to live in Santa Cruz) drive me and my bike to Carmel, because I prefer to skip the ride from Santa Cruz to Monterey.

I would highly recommend using www.couchsurfing.org to find free places to stay in some of the towns down the coast.

It's a great ride, have a wonderful time.

Ray

Thanks so much for the responses! Raybo, thanks very much for the links, very helpful!

I would highly recommend using www.couchsurfing.org to find free places to stay in some of the towns down the coast.

... and www.warmshowers.org