Touring - Looking for a camp/tour type of thing..

I want to take some time off work (not much, just like a week or so) and ride a lot.

I've looked at several websites that offer tour trip packages and although it all seems interesting, it is not quite what I'm looking for.

I'm 27 and ride a road bike on fast group rides 5 times/week. While I would enjoy travelling long distances and seeing cool things, I also want to ride fast. A training camp would be nice. Or a nice fast paced "tour" on road bikes would also be great.

All comments appreciated.

Thanks!!

I'd suggest something like PAC tour. Also, the LD riding group does more fast riding type stuff, I'd check with them. There are also the cross state rides...BRAT, BRAG, Cycle NC, Raggbrai (sp) etc. that are daily site to site camping with someone moving your bags.

These people run a lot of supported tours that are also billed as races for amateurs: http://www.tourdafrique.com/tours You can join on for sections that are about one week long. Some of the routes look pretty nice.

You could chek out the PAN MASS CHALLANGE

See my Links page ... and especially take a look at the links under the More UltraCycling heading ...

http://www.machka.net/links.htm

Under that heading, you'll see links for the Canadian Death Race, PacTour, Semaine Federale (you'd have to look up the one for the current year), Tour d'Afrique (and of course, all their variations) .... and several others.

Bike Tour of Colorado (mid June, still open, see you there!) http://www.bicycletourcolorado.com/
Ride the Rockies (sold out this year) http://ridetherockies.com/
Colorado Rocky Mountain Bike Tour http://www.crmbt.com/
PacTour - Ridge of the Rockies or any of their Desert Training Camps (spring in Tucscon) http://www.pactour.com/
Hi-USA Christmas Trip - a week between Xmas & NY in San Diego - medium miles, older group, but some competitive riding & good paceline skills http://www.sandiegohostels.org/christmastrip

Thank you very much, everyone! That's a lot of great information. Enough to keep me browsing and procrastinating at work!! Great events links and nice personal sites as well.

However, I have not yet run across a more camp-like program.

Thanks again.

That prompts my memory - PlanetUltra and Cycling Escapes run some camp like things.

http://www.cyclingescapes.com

THis calendar has some of them on it
http://www.bbcnet.com/RideCalendar/default.aspx

I haven't done these, they are not cheap.

And there's the Texas Hell Week. I think there are some other "hell weeks" too.

When you go on an event such as the Bike Tour of Colorado, you can ride as fast as you want/can.

I highly recommend Cycle Oregon. Too late this year as it's sold out, but keep it in mind for next year. They usually offer terrific routes, and the ammenities are many. The downside is the cost. It ain't cheap for a supported camping tour.