Dark Peak Mountain Biking 08 - £14.95

At last. At long, long last, somebody has written a decent guide to mountain biking in the Peak District. And what's more this is only the first in a series of guides. Let's face it, it's an area that has been crying out for some proper, professional guides for years. And I don't mean the Peak, I mean the whole country. So, what does this guide offer us? Well, in a nice, glossy, compact volume we have 26 well researched, well described, well illustrated rides, from easy classics, to killer loops, enduro's and A to B's. Firstly let me get my major gripe out of the way: why, of why have the authors gone the way of that infamously frustrating climbing guide 'On Peak Rock', and categorised the routes by type? It is intensely irritating to have to wade through the whole book to find the cluster of rides near your chosen area. Why have they not included a couple of extra indexes listing the rides by area and grade? It seems to me to be a glaring error, but one that is easy to fix for future editions. In fact, Vertebrate Graphics, the printers and authors from my understanding, could easily offer some downloadable indexes via their website. Gripe over. Other than the above, I have only good things to say about it. I like the format, with simple uncluttered maps and the associated text being unambiguous. The photos are pretty good on the whole - I find good biking shots even more difficult to take than good climbing shots, but then that could perhaps be because I normally choose to go biking when the weather is rubbish! I loved the inclusion of pub and cafe locations along the routes, acknowledging that it is not just elite bikers who use our trails