Originally Posted by khan
Markf,
That's what I noticed. We're both avid cyclists and when I looked at a lot of the larger touring companies, they talked about 25-35 mile days and the rest of the time eating, site seeing, etc. Well, the Hampsten tour, for instance, we did 40-70 miles days and there was still plenty of time to eat and drink while most of the site-seeing occured on route. We had big hills rolling hills and not so hilly days. I think the bigger companies attract people who are more tourists than cyclists and the smaller companies are just the other way around with the understanding that people who ride 50-60 miles are a different kind of tourist. We didn't come there to see the "tourist sites," we came to see the countryside and the people who inhabit it.
I think that when a bicycle tour company starts offering rides in the luggage van on a regular basis to anyone who just doesn't want to ride that day's full distance, that company has started to lose touch with what bicycle touring is all about. I also think this is the point where a bicycle touring company starts to attract people who are more tourists than cyclists.