I've run the gamut of tours, from the bike-club-camp-or-stay-in-student-residences to the luxury-hotel-we-can't-do-too-much-for-you tour, and all I can say is you do, to a certain extent, get what you pay for. On a high-end tour the ride leaders will have the authority to spend extra money if they need to to keep the paying customer happy, and they may be more flexible in terms of riding distances or changing the plans. I think I've done 20 tours, probably more. Each one is different.

Having said that, I'm happiest with the small-group mid-price tour where you stay in B+Bs and eat good food rather than the ones with luxury hotels and fancy food. Depending on where someone wants to go, I'm happy to pass on tour company recommendations (or non recommendations) by pm.

I may have mentioned this organized event before, run by the biking organization Velo Quebec, here in Montreal.
Its called Le Grand Tour, is generally 7 days cycling, sag vehicles, meals provided, tech support. Usually about 1200-1800 people do it each year, vast majority go with the "sleep in your own tent" option, they carry your stuff to each days destination. This year the cost for this option is $835, so roughly 120 Can. per day.
You figure camping will cost X per day anyway, food Y per day, so the extra is for all the infrastructure setup and all the details others mentioned.
Ive done this with my wife a few times simply because my wife doesnt want to do loaded touring, so this means we can do a biking thing together. Le Grand Tour is also a huge social event, the average age is over 45, so in general its middle aged folks (many single) who enjoy meeting other people and biking. Its perfect for those who have no interest or experience planning a trip on their own, so having a route set up clearly for you, on-road bikers to help with any problems (incl fixing a flat), sag vehicles available if you cant make the days distance, not having to think of where you will stay, not having to think about food....plus meeting lots of people, its a model for organized trips that is very successful.
I believe this year is the 20th year, and I have to say, its pretty well organized.

I think it was pretty smart of Velo Quebec (the bike organization I mentioned that runs it) to set it up this way, it attracts people exactly like my wife (so gets people out biking, which is always good in my opinion), keeps the costs down, and each year they change the destination (nearly always in Quebec, or at least within a 3, 4, 5 hour car distance) so this is great for repeat "customers" as the area changes each year.

They offer limited hotel room options, and have even started another option where for a fee, they set up a tent for you each day (again, trying to attract folks who dont want to even take 5 mins to put up and take down a tent each day) It must be successful, as they are still offering it this year.

Like others have said, organized trips can be all costs, but its great to see that this approach of keeping the costs down can be done successfully. Obviously smaller companies have a different feel with less people, this one really is quite an event just in terms of numbers. Field full of tents etc.

The first bike tour I did was with Bicycle Adventures. It is a high end tour with nice hotels and sit down meals. Personally, I wouldn't do another one.

The main reason for this is that it is a van-based bike tour. We started each day (after breakfast) piling into a van and driving to the starting point. Some people would start there, others were driven further. We ended each day in the van getting driven back to our hotel for the night.

As it turned out, I did this tour the weekend after 9/11 and only half the participants were there. Still, the van felt crowded and the driving time was not enjoyable. If all the people signed up were there, it would have been unpleasant.

If you do decide to do a supported tour, make sure exactly how much time you will spend on the bike and how much time in the van.

Good point on the van. I look for vacations where I ride from hotel to hotel -- it's much more fun that way.

Some companies, especially in Europe, also do self-guided tours. They provide bikes, maps, and a cue sheet and each morning you have breakfast in the hotel and then leave your luggage at the front desk. And you set off at your own pace, stopping to look at the sights, or to have lunch, coffee or cakes. Come evening, when you arrive by bike at your new destination, your luggage is in your room.

Heh. I did it. Think it was in '08. Started at the ski hill in Tingwick. It was the year of the rain. It rained every day. And much of the time it was a hard rain. The only day it did not rain when people were on the road was the first day. People who got to the start late and had to park in the farm field had to have their cars towed out by tractors because they had sunk into the mud. Since I went up the day before and camped before the start, I got there earlier to enough to find a spot on the gravel lot.

That aside, it was a nice event. Well organized. The food was terrific. Fresh fruit and other goodies for breakfast. The boxed lunches were filling and tasty. Real iced tea, not that stuff made from a mix. Real juice. Dinner was equally good. We even had duck one night. Wine bar where you could choose from a pretty wide selection by the bottle or glass. There was also entertainment, like disco night.

The riding was, for the most part, very pretty, although some of the roads we used were banged up in places. One thing that struck me was how well the farms were maintained. You didn't see things like junked cars littering the landscape. Probably the oddest cultural difference riding-wise that I noticed was that guys didn't bother to go off into the woods for nature break. They would simply go on the grassy berm without bothering to go into the trees. Women would ride by and either not bat an eyelash or would say things to the guys with smiles. I didn't spaek French, but I could tell they were not offended.

As with almost any business, I would assume that most of their costs are due to salaries and insurance.

However, if you are seeking lower-cost tours, I would recommend any of the various state tours such as Bike Virginia, Cycle NC, BRAG, GOBA, TRIRI, etc. Most of these tours cost in the range of $350-500/week (at least the ones I have ridden on). The fee covers SAG support, cue sheets and/or maps, food stations, camping spaces, luggage transfer, and sometimes meals and special events such as live concerts. I've never considered the fees to be unreasonable for these sorts of tours, and I've ridden a bunch of them in NC, GA, VA, OH, IN, WI.

So what's the appeal with organized tours? Just asking because I've never done one.

I've never done one either. I did a lot of touring before the organized tour business got organized. If you are travelling in a foriegn, or a distant part of your own, country. Finding your own way; finding food and shelter; and meeting the local people or other travellers, is part of the adventure of bike touring. The people on tours seem so much part of a closed little group on their own tight schedule. But manyof them are busy in their own lives and professions, that they might not have the time to do an independent self supported tour.

Some of the appeal should be obvious if you think (use your imagination) about it.

* It's easier to organize (you don't have to do the arrangements).
* Reduces the risk of the unknown/unfamiliar.
* It provides other people to socialize with (this is an important one).

(etc, etc).

Note that these things might not appeal to you (to each, his own).

I can see why they would be real expensive. Let's do the math for example, 20 riders and a support team of 2. The support team obviously has to be paid, so let's say $150 a day per support team member. Then the cost of the support vehicle including gas and such. Let's call it $100 a day rental and $50 a day in gas. So right there, that's $450. Then THEIR hotel cost, which for two people, let's call it $100 a night. Then their meals. So right there, that's $4,000 a week minimum for support and I think I am lowballing it. Then of course a profit margin to run the company doing the supported tour. Then throw in your meals, your hotel rooms, etc....... Yea, very expensive.

People are conflating two distinctly different events - organized, multiple day rides with hundreds to thousands of participants, corralled like chattel into school gymnasiums and parks, and the intimate, small group organized tours of a dozen people or so, rolling to common destinations each night, with some flexibility and autonomy vs. some version of RAGBRAI.

I think small organized tours like those by Adventure cycling to be quite high priced for what's offered. over a hundred bucks a day for self contained camping seems heinously expensive, to someone who's done a lot of self contained camping. Self contained tours by that company are different from van supported tours. Suprisingly, the prices for van support seem very close to self supported, although i didn't crunch the numbers too closely.

Organized tours are not for everyone, but I think they are a lot of fun. Some reasons:
-- Routes designed to minimize traffic and maximize scenery and attractions, with cue sheets and maps provided.
-- Organizers carry your luggage so you can just ride your bike rather than lug around a bunch of gear at a slow pace.
-- Free camping (as part of entry free) and often transportation to nearby hotels for an extra charge.
-- Opportunity to ride with other like-minded people, make friends, socialize.
-- Costs often very reasonable if you camp out.
-- SAG support as well as rest stops with food, drinks, mechanical support.

The main drawback to organized tours is the sheer numbers of other cyclists. Some of these rides, such as RAGBRAI in Iowa, can attract thousands of participants. That can make riding sketchy when caught in a pack of inexperienced or unsafe riders, and campgrounds crowded and noisy. Food stops can be crowded, with waiting lines. For those reasons, I personally avoid large rides like RAGBRAI that attract thousands of riders. However, there are plenty of other organized tours that limit the number of participants or aren't as well known, such as Cycle NC, Bike Virginia and TRIRI.

+1

The only organised tour I've been on is the Elbow Valley Cycle Club's Golden Triangle tour, and their Logan's Pass Hub-and-Spoke tour.

At the time I didn't have anyone in Canada to tour with, and I wanted to do a short tour in the mountains. I could have gone by myself, but I wasn't really keen on that idea, so I decided to go with a nearby touring club. I also rode with them a couple times on day rides, so I had met a few people involved.

And it was a lot of fun.

The Golden Triangle tour had about 250 people on the years I did it, and people of all different skill levels. It was really well run and very enjoyable. The Logan's Pass hub-and-spoke had about 25 people or so, and was quite different, but it was also really nice.

Thanks for this info! Slightly off topic, but I'm moving to Wilmington NC soon and have been looking for organized rides ala RAGBRAI on the east coast. Cycle NC is now on the "must ride" list.

first of all, glad you enjoyed it, despite having the bad luck of such terrible weather-thats a real drag and all in all unusual for august. We can have some rain, often big storms, but they come and go. Its unusual in aug to have such a prolonged number of days of crappy weather.
Yes, they do a pretty good job of the food, despite having to deal with a heck of a lot of people.

re taking a pee, part of that is the French thing, we (I say "we" despite being an Anglo) certainly have a diff to Americans or Brits vis-a-vis things like that, same with sexuality, its all part of life and not something to be ashamed of. Even though Im not French, coming from an outdoor background, seeing having a quick pee is for the norm when hiking in a group, so this aspect of French culture was certainly a part of Quebec society that I liked (not peeing in public! I mean being less uptight about stuff)

cheers

My understanding is that that year was a very abnormal one. It had been raining all month. Some of the school fieds we camped on were saturated. You had to watch where you walked because the grass was half sumberged. One day we had to take a detour because a river had flooded the road.

I hear what you are saying about the culture, Language aside, I felt more like I was in Europe than N. America. One night I went to get something to eat in a restaurant. I actually felt like I needed to ask if service was included like it is in some European countries.

One funny langiage-barrier story I like to tell. One day we had some smooth dirt riding. Because of the rain there was a little mud. I had finished and was walking in camp when a woman who was just finishing was screaming in French and wobbling as she rode very slowly along sie of me. I had no idea what she was saying and thought maybe I had done something to piss her off. All of a sudden, she grabbed me in a panic. I was thiking "What the hell did I do?" Then I realized what was going on. She couldn't get unclipped. It was probably the mud. I grabbed hold of her bike and let her lean against me while some other people worked her shoes free of the pedals. In the background I heard someone say in heavily accented English "Don't worry. He will hold you up."

Re: screaming, clipped in lady- funny story, told my wife and she got a giggle out of it.
That summer in Aug I luckily missed that period, was camping etc with French friends in France, but did hear it was miserable.
Cheers

First off, there's a huge difference between one tour and another. What some folks call tours are just highly organized rides where your luggage is waiting for you at hotel/motel accommodations they arrange for you. Likewise, for meals you may be on your own or it might be a "grill" or something like that.

The more expensive tours include luxury accommodations, which are expensive to book for anyone, and given the fact that tours can only be so large before service starts to slip, the groups are often not large enough to get huge discounts. And on the expensive tours, the food and wine, etc. are substantially better than you'll have. The high-end tours I've gone on have included private dinners at small wineries, nice gourmet picnic lunches, etc. And when you consider the fact that in addition to food of this type, you need 3 people for the week to support the kind of service, you can easily see how the cost adds up.

So the question really boils down to whether people see a value or worth in paying for that kind of experience just like some will always choose a Motel 6 over a Ritz Carlton.

I agree these are somewhat different beasts.

I've done a variety of these different rides ranging from:

- Small organized rides with BikeChina (3 participants) and Spice Roads (3 participants once, ~10 participants another time). These were about a week long and in foreign destinations where I had limited time and appreciated the extra logistics.

to

- Organized events such as Ride the Rockies (4 times, ~2000+ participants), Bicycle Tour of Colorado (~900 participants)

and some that come in between such as the HI-AYH Christmas ride (~100 participants) and BRAT (~100 participants), TX Hell week (~300 participants), Tour D'Afrique (~60 participants) and some we've organized with local cycle club. I've also done a fair amount of my own self-supported cycling both in US, Canada and overseas. The first six months of this year I'm actually doing a mixture of all three: TDA across Africa for 4 months, my own self-supported ride in USA for 1 month and Bicycle Tour of Colorado for a month.

I enjoying doing a mixture of different types of rides including organized tours. For me the appeal is different for the different types of rides:
-- Organized tour overseas, I like appreciate extra logistical support in some places I've been e.g. across Africa, as well as making sure I see some of the highlights along the way.
-- Self touring in US or areas easy to travel, I like the freedom of the road and deciding where I go. I have more and better interactions with locals. Costs are lower. For an extended trip across a continent, I like being able to adjust and adapt.
-- Event riding; I like the challenge. Being part of an "event" has its own fun for a while and bit more party atmosphere. Costs aren't as much as the small organized tour.