sparkout

I will ride BAK (Biking across Kansas) this summer, and plan to bring at least one, maybe more new riders with me. BAK is an eight day, 500 m/l mile fully supported tour. You throw your gear in a truck every day, and voila !! there it all is at the end of the day. Anyway they offer a "Sherpa" package with Pedro's, which takes the whole thing a step further. They set up and tear down their own, much nicer tents, handle your gear, have drinks and snacks. All you have to do is ride, drink beer and repeat. This is purely a vacation tour, I am wondering if anyone has used a cycle Sherpa, and what you thought of the service.

Best

zoltani

It's another name for a SAG. Many tours have this, such as the AIDS/Lifecycle ride in California. It sounds like a fun way to tour, if the situation fits. At the AIDS/Lifecycle I heard they even have masseuses, which would be great after a long day in the saddle. Hmmm, I think I need to convince my wife and touring partner to go to massage school.

CCrew

The bike touring version of camping... when "camping" is in a $300k diesel RV? LOL

zoltani

^ I suggest you reread the post.

LOL

CCrew

I didn't miss anything.

I'm just envisioning the "Jeeves, Fetch me my bike, and while you're at it can you pedal it for me too? " , The RV reference is like my wife's idea of camping. She's "roughing it" if there's no room service!

In all seriousness.. Sounds like a relaxing way to ride a bike multiple days, although I'm a bit remiss to call it touring.

mthayer

In my opinion, I would save the $400+ and do everything myself. I can see your point in having the luxury of not having to pitch a tent, wash clothes, etc..., but is it worth it to you?
Ah, the hell with it, do it. I started doing some figuring, and your going to spend $40-$75 extra a night do it. If you were to go on vacation, and stay in a hotel/motel your going to spend $80+ for a decent room, and even more if for a nicer room. When you go to hotel/motel, your paying for the room services and a place to sleep. No different with Padre's service. Your going to be on vacation, and if you are willing to pay for the added services, then do it.

skilsaw

Suffering is optional.

JimF22003

I use a sherpa service when I do Bike Virginia. After a long day on a bike, I don't have to set up a tent in the hot sun. The one I use provides nice sleeping bags with a big thick air mattress, a camp chair, a place to charge the GPS and phone, coffee in the morning, clean towels etc. It's a pretty cushy way to "tour" but when I do this ride, it's more about the ride than the camping etc. Not for everyone, but there's nothing wrong with it.

staehpj1

I am not too inclined to do that type of tour, but if I did I would use the sag service. I consider that type of ride to be more of a rolling party than what I think of as a tour. Nothing wrong with that if it is what you want though.

I've never heard of the sherpa service though. How well that would work would depend on how good of a job they did.

BigBlueToe

I have no experience with this, but I did ride RAGBRAI once. I used the luggage service - a University of Iowa Athletic Department semi-truck. You had to have your luggage there early (8:00 a.m.?) They'd toot the horn to warn you there were 15 minutes left to get your stuff to the truck. A couple of times we were bleary-eyed and tired, and barely had started packing when the horn went off.

When we got to the campground in the afternoon (after 70-80 miles) we had to find our stuff, find a good camping spot, set up the tent, find a shower, find a place to eat dinner, and then come back to the tent and crash. It was exhausting.

My bottom line is that it would have been such a nice luxury to get to camp and have the tents up, chairs set out, cold drinks waiting, dinner bought (and soon to be prepared), and solar showers lined up in the sun. It would have been equally luxurious to get up in the morning and only worry about eating breakfast and getting ready to ride, rather than also having to stuff sleeping bags, deflate Thermarest, take down tent, pack everything, and make it to the truck before it left.

If you can afford it, and your ride is anything like my RAGBRAI ride, I'd say the sherpa service would be wonderful!

sparkout

Thanks for the responses. I am just as happy to tour with all my gear, as I am to go plush and just bring the credit card. In this case the BAK really is all about the ride (except me, I'm always looking to bring home the six pack) I am bringing in a couple of people who I know will enjoy the tour, but it will be their first. While this is nothing like RAGBRAI (it is capped at around 800) It can still be a hassle. I think I will book a couple of tents and see how it goes.

twobadfish

Dude you really aren't a real "rider" unless you carry all your gear, sleep in the sand, and hunt your own food. Ride 24 hours, sleep 5.

Get like us bro.

4000Miles

Sand? In my day we had to tote and build our bed of sharp gravel each and every night. And we were GRATEFUL.

indyfabz

What he is talking about is an extra service on top of the SAG that is provided to all riders. On Cycle Oregon, which I have done three times, they call it "Tent & Porter Service." It's wildly popular.

I don't mind setting up my own tent and carrying my luggage to and from the truck so I would never pay the extra money for it. In fact, on Cycle Oregon, local kids help find and carry your luggage and you tip them. They use the tips for things like class trips and sports equipment.

Some possible downsides:

1. The tents are not always as nice as they make them out to be.
2. Since they pitch the tents, they determine where the tents go. There might be nicer and/or more convenient spots.
3. On Cycle Oregon, the tents are pitched in rows very close to each other.
4. You are typically assigned a numbered tent that you sleep in every night, which means you could end up next to a loud snorer every night or find yourself having to negotiate a switch.

twobadfish

I would personally prefer to set everything up myself. Depending on the location I often don't sleep in a tent. But when it's purely vacation/fun and there is the intent of drinking... that would change things a bit.