Favorite Climbing Books

In my cycling library, two books are well worn, much more so than all others. These two are the climbing bibles from John Summerson:


The Complete Guide to Climbing (By Bike)

The Complete Guide to Climbing (By Bike) in California

The first one contains 100 climbs from all over the US and was my go-to resource for quite a while. For me, the list of climbs was, if nothing else, a great motivator. I quickly started treating it as a bucket list, trying to knock off as many climbs as I could.

This was eventually followed by the California edition, which became my go-to for CA climbs. It is the same format as the first one, but with better overall coverage of CA. Whenever I am considering a new climb, it is always the first book that I reach for.

John Summerson also has a few other region specific books out:


The Complete Guide to Climbing (By Bike) In Colorado

The Complete Guide to Climbing (by Bike) in the Southeast

While I don’t have personal experience with either, I’m guessing they are also quite good, based on the quality of the US and California editions.

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