Best Bike Touring Groups?

[itself]

The other thought is to do it with a group. They seem to get pricey. Any experiences that any of you can share?

Thanks!

Lisa

[KathiCville]

I had a great experience with Womantours five years ago on the Natchez Trace tour. Not inexpensive, certainly, but I was celebrating my 50th and decided to splurge. We stayed at lovely inns, ate well, saw beautiful scenery, and felt supported every inch of the way. Both guides were terrific. I'll definitely sign up for another trip with them.

[Crankin]

I've had varying experiences with different companies. I loved the leaders and food from Trek Travel, but not so much the people on the trips. We did 2 trips with Classic Adventures; the first was great and the second was horrible. The trip was rainy and we got lot of flats. The owners, (well the wife), drove the support van right past my friend who was by the side of the road, struggling with her tire.
My favorite so far is Cycling Country, which is based in Alhama, Spain and they do trips in Spain, Potugal, and the UK. The owners are from London and Canada, gave up the corporate life to start the company. The trips don't have a lot of people, and draw an international crowd. It felt warm and personal. We even got to meet their 3 year old daughter when we rode to Alhama. We are going to do a trip with them next fall (Lisbon to the Spanish border).
DH and I typically don't ride with a group on these tours, but in Spain we did some of the time. The first Trek Travel tour we did was justa weekend in VT., so we could drive there and "test" them out. Half the participants were from the Midwest, and were unprepared for the cold weather in October. They made fun of our winter gear at first, but when it was 38 in the morning and misty, they shut up. They also tried to start political conversations about controversial subjects (i.e. pro-life). On our other trip with Trek in the Czech Republic, half of the 20 people were friends from college from 25 years ago. All they did was drink. The rest of the people were racer types. I had not been riding that long then and I was not happy. But the history, restaurants, and knowledge of the leaders sort of cancelled that out.

[shootingstar]

Itself, don't know where you are located.

But Velo Quebec, is both Quebec's cycling advocacy group AND they organize paid group bike tours in Canada, part of the U.S. and Europe. Yes, amazingly. Don't worry, most Quebecois who travel are bilingual. Check out their web site.

[marni]

have done three cross countries and several shorter trips with Woman Tours and thoroughly enjoyed them. More short ones are in my future. Yes they are a bit pricey but it is so worth it to me to be able to just ride, eat, and sleep with a group of like minded females. Long live mommy camp. Id rather do a Wt ride than any other sort of vacation, spa or anything else. For a mixed group the SAG guy and I have done 1 tour with Sojourn Adventures which was also lovely and not quite as pricey.

[Crankin]

Just ask a lot of questions and research. Call references. I would not be able to stand a "mommy camp" atmosphere. Even the words give me the creeps. We're all different and that's why you should make a very informed choice.