Road Cycling - Touring companies...any thoughts

I am new to the sport and have set a one year goal. I want to take a multi day tour next year (2005) and I have been training towards that goal. I'm thinking about 7 days would be great and seeing as I live in the southeast U.S., I found a ride from Myrtle Beach, SC to St. Augustine, FL. The company providing the tour is America By Bicycle (http://www.abbike.com/) and the cost is about $1,500. Looks like it includes all meals, hotel rooms, support vehs, luggage transportation, etc. I would just need to get there and that souldn't be too much of a problem.

Anyone done anything like this before? Done it before, but with some other outfit? Any thoughts on what to expect, what to bring? Obviously it is still a year off, but I am trying to make some decisions now.

I've done a bunch of week-long tours. I try to do one a year as my summer vacation. All kinds of people do them from hard-core types trying to get a couple-hundred miles of training in, to people on cushy hybrids, to everything in between. Two groups to check out that I've had experience with are Adventure Cycling (http://www.adventurecycling.org/) and Cycle America (http://www.cycleamerica.com/). Both tend to cater to somewhat more -- not sure what word I'm looking for here -- self reliant? advanced? riders. While they'll both provide you with plenty of water / food stops along the way, you won't be seeing the sag wagon patrolling by you every 10 minutes to make sure everything is ok. You're a little more self-reliant. Actually, most of Adventure Cycling's tours are self-supported. You are truly on your own.

I haven't done anything with America-By-Bicycle yet, but I've heard good things about them. One other group to check out is Cycle Events (http://www.cyclevents.com/).

Week long tours are definitely a blast. You have nothing to do for a week but ride, eat and sleep. What else is there? You owe it to yourself to try one.

I can think of a lot of things I could do with $1500. Instead, I'd do the BRAG ride or Bike across NC or something like that for $150 - $250. And get a few hotel rooms along the route.

i dunno if this is similar or if they transport you between 2 locations or what not, but my friend tried out trek travel last year and had a blast. it's more of a "luxury" type deal, but was highly recommended. might be for more of upperclass people, but my friend didn't mention anything about it. They supply you with a Trek 7700 or Trek 5200 for the week.

http://www.trektravel.com

melloboy