anyone try these folks?
http://www.womantours.com/
My sister and I are thinking about a cycling vacation.
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anyone try these folks?
http://www.womantours.com/
My sister and I are thinking about a cycling vacation.
Yes, KathiCville did
Yes, absolutely. I have taken two trips with them and leave on Tuesday morning for the Northwest Loop. They are a fantastic company, with solid leadership, and I highly recommend them for a wonderful cycling experience.
See this thread.
Click here for the thread
I did their Lancaster PA trip in late June. Great experience. GO
Yep, as Zen noted above, I booked a trip with WomanTours in April 2008---a week-long jaunt on part of the Natchez Trace. I wanted to do something special to mark my 50th birthday. I had a GREAT experience with them. Terrific guides, well-thought-out routes, nice accommodations, super bunch of companions. I'll definitely do another tour with them!
If you search my old posts from late April or early May 2008, you'll find my long trip report. :)
I have done the Natchez Trace tour and the Outer Banks tour with them. I had a great time on both and highly recommend them. I hope to do another one soon.
It should be a beautiful and fun trip and yes, I hope you have the wind at your back in the Columbia River gorge too! I've done most of the legs on this route and think you'll really enjoy it. Walla Walla, WA is wine country, and so is the lovely Willamette river valley, OR - so maybe you'll have some great winery stops? I did a hot, hot, and hard century into and out of Hells Canyon a few years ago and have also gone on the Tour de Tetons with Womantours, that was very fun and well-supported.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnieBikes
Fyi, it's been hot and sunny - even in Seattle lately - and we're expecting temps in the 90's this week, so pack (and ride) accordingly.
Have a great trip!
Mary
Thank you, Mary. I looked at the weather and saw that it was going to be very hot in Portland this week. However, for a month long trip, I guess I need to be prepared for cool/cold, too! I am packing today! ...so excited. :D:D
You will not be disappointed on any WomanTours trip. The cycling is wonderful, the routes well planned with terrific cue sheets (with BIG type) for us visually challenged oldsters, and great food. On all the long trips, there is a cook except for our rest days. The food is marvelous, and they cater to regular eaters as well as vegetarians. There is a SAG on the road all day every day with food, water and gatorade. We do not LOSE much weight!!! LOL :o
I have gone on the Southern Tier and the Underground RR trips and was not disappointed at all. WT runs two long trips each year. The Southern Tier is their staple and there is always one other long ride. (a month or more)
Interesting that none of their trips go into Canada. For the Northern Tier cross-U.S. trip, it's not much distance to go across the U.S.-Canada border.
One will see more interesting stuff also in Canada. For instance just less than 30 kms. north of the U.S.-Canada border by the tip of Lake Ontario, in Ontario, is the site for the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin (by Harriet Stowe)...the real place where freed slave, Josiah Benson built his place (several buildings) and also helped escaped slaves. I know...because I have a good friend who lives near the historic site. Alot of the U.S. blacks visit this famed site as the final site to freedom for Underground RR.
I realize there are the passport requirements...but no different than going over to Europe.
For the Northwest, one can take a fast ferry to Victoria, B.C. to Vancouver Island from Anacortes Island.
All along this international border crossing, cyclists usually are treated well by border authorities.
I asked one of my two WomanTours guides about why the company doesn't go into Canada, e.g. trips along the Route Verte in Quebec. I might be misremembering the answer, but I think the reason had something to do with Canadian rules about using Canada-based guides. ???
:confused::confused: Well, they should contact the Cascade Cycling Club in Seattle which organizes the annual Seattle to Vancouver, BC bike ride on the legalities. I'm sure as a U.S. organization they are well-versed on type of info. to provide to authorities.Quote:
Originally Posted by KathiCville
There are unique large areas in CAnada that U.S. has no equivalent at all. Province of Quebec is an excellent example.
'Course who knows. Maybe one of their staff members regularily cruise TE forums..which would be a good thing for them as a bike-women centred company.
Thanks everyone! Sounds like they are really solid. I'm thinking about Shenandoah or Utah (Moab)...
Here is another vote for CANADA!!!!!!!!! and yes....I am from the U.S. !!!!
If you do the Shenandoah tour you'll probably have Laurie as your guide. If you do Utah, Pattie will probably do the honors. The two of them led my Natchez Trace trip and were both fabulous!
Just took receipt of the new Woman Tour catalog for 2010 and starting to give consideration to either Moab or Italy so I'll be interested to get your opinion if you ended up with the Moab trip...Quote:
Originally Posted by endurancerider
I am doing the Oct. 11 - 17 Moab Trip. I am excited (this is my 3rd Woman Tours and LOVE the "bike vacation"). But nervous...I am a Florida flatlander, I am under trained and a bit over weight! Most days are 40 miles...very do-able. I may be slow...but I can go a long time. And it IS vacation. My other concern is the descents...I did a bike ride in Colorado and I SAGGED DOWN not up! (probably the only person that goes up but nto down!). And in Hawaii I wore out my brakes decending.
Sorry, off topic.
I'll let you know about the Moab trip sometime later in Oct.!
Ah, I might be another person who sags down and not up!
On my Austria trip, we had a 7 mile switchback descent. The road was wide, but it was a highway, sort of, although very few cars actually passed me. I got to the bottom a full 10 minutes after my DH.
I'm #3 for wanting to avoid descents more than climbs.
I'll be #4 then. ;)
My DH loves to go riding whenever we visit Colorado. I do, too, but dread the descents for months leading up to it. I can't really practice them around here (no hills), so it's a skill I can't develop. I just ride the brakes and say an extra Hail Mary before I head down. :p
Oh, and back on topic- I got the newest Woman Tours catalog of rides and drooled over soooo many of them! We've never taken separate vacations, but I would secretly LOVE to go off on a biking tour one summer when I'm off. Tell us how you like it (both of you doing the Moab tour).
My first-ever tour with WomanTours was bicycling the Big Island, and I've also done the Death Valley tour. They're a top-notch company! Jackie and Laurie are terrific, as are many others.
My three tours with them have all been long ones, Southern Tier, Underground Railroad Route, and The Northwest Loop (this is not in their catalog this year because they rotate their second long trip each year) DO NOT pass up the NWL..I got back from this trip a month ago and it was fantastic.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2009NorthwestLoop
They do the Southern Tier every year and one other long trip besides all their week long ones. Next year they will do the first half of the Northern Tier, and the following year, the second half. In 2012, they will do their Meandering Mississippi, so maybe they will put it the NWL again in 2013. It is a long way off but time flies and it was an awesome ride.
Patti is usually the Moab guide as she lives there and she is wonderful. She cooked for half of our Southern Tier ride in 2007 when one of our guides fell and broke her wrist. Our cook became our guide and Patti came in as the emergency cook. She was superb and cooked with Julia Child sometime in the past!
I have recommended WomanTours before on this forum and I can highly recommend them for quality tours, guides, and food (if you are on a long trip!) Save up, ladies, there is nothing like a women only ride! You will learn so much about bikes, tire changing, riding downhill :( and all in the presence of women who have the same fears and questions as you. They will help you, guide you, and give you tips and pointers without disdain. Women support you, hug you, and let you know that it is ok to worry about the downhills. They do, too! And then suddenly, you realize that it is not intimidating anymore. I went to the Southern Tier never having ridden more than 70 miles in a day and never having changed a tire myself. I did all that and more!
They have tons of week long trips to try them out! TRY IT, you will LOVE it.
I have done 4 tours with Woman Tours-one a week long in Vermont, 10 days from New orleans to Memphis, The Underground RailRoad from Mobile AL to Niagara Fallls Ontario, and this year from San Diego CA to St. Augustine, FL. I have nothing but praise for the quality of the tours, the guides, the food, and support on and off the road, the accomodations, and the people on the ride as well as the rides themselves.
While I have not done the Moab trip, it is on my wish list for 2011. My sister did the Moab trip two years ago and although she found it challenging ,she also spoke very highly of it.
We are already signed up for the Mississippi meandering in 2012 and I will be doing the Texas Hill country in 2010.
hippie biker chick
Thanks for all the great feed back. So much so that it's taken away any hesitation in going abroad with the group.