Cotswolds Mountain biking: 20 Classic rides, a review

Review of Tom Fenton's Cotswolds Mountain Biking: 20 Classic Rides

Cotswolds Mountain biking, Published in 2010, contains 20 Mountain bike rides in the Cotswolds, covering a fairly wide area it contain rides of different type over different terrains and covering routes from 15km flat and easy routes to 70 km hilly adventures.

I have had cotswolds mountain biking for just over two years now and have done all but five of the rides, most of the rides that I have done from the book I have done multiple times, the last few are on the list to complete this year. A lot of the rides in the Cotswolds are inspired by the routes in the book.

Review

So having been using the book for a while, I won't say reading as its not really a book that you read, however here are my rambling thoughts on it.

There are 20 rides in total  few of the do overlap or use parts of other rides within the book, the rides are graded medium, hard and extreme or easy, medium and hard depending on which reference in the book you use.

There are a few other bits of the book that do let it down slightly the grading key you can get over, it's still blue, red, black, slightly more annoying are the directions. It can't be easy to write clear concise directions to fit into a pocket sized guide, some of the directions do cause confusion the map of the route does help on these occasions.

The grading of the rides is a matter for debate, I think that the publishers will always err on the side of caution, the overall classification of the routes are about right but the details of the ascents and descents aren't always accurate, so don't be put off, none of the descents or climbs can't be walked.

Split into four sections the routes are organised by length from short through to long, I always find it hard to pick a ride based on where I want to go as each section covers the whole area, so you have to flick backwards and forwards to find a ride in the North Cotswolds say.

Summary

Over all it covers a good varied  cross section of the Cotswolds, putting together mountain bike routes that are interesting in the Cotswolds isn't easy as its so spread out. Tom Fenton has manage to put together a series of rides that make the most of what the Cotswolds has to offer Mountain biking.

What's in the guide:

Route 1. Cotswold Water Park
Distance: 15km. Grade: Easy
Route 2. Cold Aston
Distance: 13km. Grade: Easy
Route 3. 
Distance: 21km. Grade: Easy
Route 4. Charlbury Classic
Distance: 29km. Grade: Easy
Route 5. Bredon Hill
Distance: 20km. Grade: Medium
Route 6. Winchcombe & Cleeve Hill
Distance: 20km. Grade: Medium
Route 7. Charlbury & Shipton
Distance: 28km. Grade: Easy
Route 8. Bibury
Distance: 30km. Grade: Easy
Route 9. Guiting Power
Distance: 28km. Grade: Medium
Route 10. Castle Combe
Distance: 27km. Grade: Medium
Route 11. Naunton
Distance: 34km. Grade: Easy
Route 12. Nailsworth
Distance: 30km. Grade: Medium
Route 13. Crudwell Classic
Distance: 44km. Grade: Easy
Route 14. Birdlip
Distance: 29km. Grade: Easy
Route 15. Snowshill
Distance: 30km. Grade: Medium
Route 16. Bisley
Distance: 30km. Grade: Medium
Route 17. Cam & Uley
Distance: 25km. Grade: Hard
Route 18. Wotton-under-Edge
Distance: 21 or 40km. Grade: Hard
Route 19. Nailsworth and Wotton-under-Edge
Distance: 59km. Grade: Hard
Route 20. Winchcombe Beast
Distance: 77km. Grade: Hard

You can buy the book on Amazon