How Much?
 

After our family tour last year, we were considering an organized ride to be more social. We really wanted to try the PALM ride until seeing the cost. http://www.lmb.org/palm/costs.html

Our goal has been to cut back, work less, be more green, require less and enjoy the journey more. Riding is spiritual.

I cannot justify spending our limited funds to pay for companions on a ride. We can tour for a fraction of this cost alone so I guess we will be riding as a family again. Its still a blast.

I can see riding for charity but am I missing something? Do that many people really pay so much to do something that is essentially free?

Not this family. :)

I don't generally do that kind of ride, but it sounds pretty cheap to me. Guided tours can often run upwards of $1000 for week long or longer tours. I am not inclined to do them, but lots of folks prefer them.

The only "organised/group" tours I've ever done have been with cycletouring clubs. Cycletouring clubs usually have day rides, weekend tours, and one or two longer tours. You pay your membership fee and ride as many day rides with them as you want. Some weekend tours might be included in that price too, although you might have pay your own accommodation for some. And for the featured tours, there is usually a fee which will cover the accommodation, food, sag support, etc.

The cycletouring club I rode with was the Elbow Valley Cycling Club in Calgary, and I did two Golden Triangle tours with them, and one Logan's Pass hub-and-spoke tour. The organisation and support for all was wonderful ... very well done. And the price was slightly higher than I would have paid to do it myself, but then, I probably wouldn't have eaten as well or been as comfortable.


None of my other tours have been "organised/group" tours.

I guess I'm just a cheap bast***. LOL. I will just continue map my routes and explore. :)

Having looked at the fees of the event you linked to, that's in line with what a cycletouring club will charge ... in other words ... cheap.


You say ... "Do that many people really pay so much to do something that is essentially free?"

But cycletouring is NOT free. The $120 registration fee includes Overnight camping (Saturday to Thursday), and a whole list of other things. That's 6 nights of camping for $120, or $20/night. That's pretty reasonable ... it's the amount you'd be paying for a campground site if you were travelling on your own. And $6 for breakfast and $10 for dinner isn't bad. You've got to eat when you're cycletouring, and one of the nice things about an organised tour is that they provide the food for you right there where you end the ride. You don't have to go looking for it.

Granted you'll have to pay more than that because you've got a family, but if your kids are under 17, the registration fee is half price.


Go look up Exodus tours or Backroads Bicycle tours for an idea of how much they charge.

Good points. Thanks

being Organized, The group ride has to buy an insurance policy..
those costs are passed along..
riding on your own , that is just your business.

So, if you want to "enjoy the journey more", part of that can be experiencing new things. You've never done an organised tour as a family ... so go do this one. Parents and 2 kids will cost $360, plus some food. That's quite reasonable for a week-long tour. And you might have a lot of fun.

I'm not crazy about group tours, but it has nothing to do with the cost. When I tour solo, I have the freedom to stop when I want, see what I want to see and make some minor route changes on the fly. Also, when I'm on a solo tour in a foreign country, I will get a much closer look at the culture than if I am with a group.

That said, I'm not writing off group tours in the future. There may be a route which lends itself best to a group experience. It just would be different than my usual way of touring.

We'll be going S.E. Asia/Japan in February visiting 4 countries in less than 4 weeks. We are planning to ride in only one of them and flying in between locations. So, lugging around the bikes doesn't make sense. So, we are forced to do a guided bike tour (in Laos.) The guided tour will cost us about USD $1K p.p. but we figured we could learn more that way about this exotic country and its language, history, geography and culture accompanied by a guide.

We are already thinking of another trip where we could bring the bikes and enjoy them much longer. The southern or southwest region of France, Southern Chile and Nova Scotia seem appealing.

+1. Look up something like B.R.A.N. (Nebraska) and CANDISC (North Dakota). Both are supported, week-long trips where food is not included in the price. They are both more that $120. I did CANDISC back in '06 a week after doing a similar supported ride in New York state where breakfast and dinner were included. The New York ride was hundred of dollars more. Possibly $400 or more. (My memory isn't what is used to be.) CANDISC was a better value. I paid for only what I wanted. And the prices charged by the local folks who prepared and sold the meals were very reasonable. The quality and variety was also better. No elementary school cafeteria food like on the NY ride.

I guess I underestimated the organized ride costs. I can understand out of country tours but wasn't expecting it on a one way tour across the state. At least now I am better educated if I choose to do one. For now, we will go it alone though. Thanks for all the info.

Depending on where you land in southeast Asia, you may be able to rent bikes on your own for a reasonable cost. That said, I would consider a guided tour in certain parts of Asia simply because of the linguistic barrier.

Have a look at the prices of the Exodus tours. They've got a choice of 35 cycling tours ...
http://www.exodus.co.uk/activities-a...related-search

The last two are US tours and are, I believe, the most expensive of the bunch. You could spend $3500 each for 13 days cycling the vineyards of California. Chances are their tours would include food, and you wouldn't be camping.

Now compare that with $120 each.

to add, in comparison with the Velo Quebec trips I have done (Le Grand Tour) this 5 or 6 day trip seems very reasonable. Dont know how this is organized, if the route is interesting etc, but certainly seems a great price to have a route planned out, and your baggage carried.
As you say, thats the great thing with bike touring, one can have a wonderful trip that doesnt cost much past equipment costs (bike, camping stuff etc) if you stay in campgrounds and dont eat in restaurants.
have fun whatever you do.