Touring with a Women's Group

[maryellen]

Another satisfied WomanTours customer. I've done their DC/VA/MD tour, Penn Amish Country, Death Valley, Texas Hill Country. Good value for the money.

[Crankin]

Itself, we did 2 tours with Trek Travel, Vermont and Czech Republic/Austria. They were the most expensive, and almost all of the meals were included. The side trips after riding were really good, too. What I didn't like was the fact that there were 20 people on the trips and each trip about 10 of the people came as a group and were clique-y. There was a lot of competitiveness in the riding, too. On the Czech Republic tour, there was a group of drinkers that were obnoxious. I also didn't like their coyness about some of the climbs. Some we were warned about, but then, more would come, and I mean extended climbs with 10-15% grades. I like to know. We chose them because at the time I had a Trek 5200 and I knew it fit me. I am small and cannot ride most bikes. This was a plus. I had the same bike I had at home. And the guides were awesome.
We did our Quebec tour with a group called Classic Adventures. We used them because they were a bit more low key. Three and four star hotels instead of five. And, we could drive there and use our own bikes. Mostly, I liked everything about this tour. There were only 2 leaders instead of three, and we were on our own a lot more. We are using them this year, to do a tour of the Finger Lakes. Again, we can drive there and use our own bikes.
Our tour of Andalusia was the best. The company we used is called Cycling Country. They are small, owned by a young couple from the UK, who ditched the corporate life and moved to Spain. They do Spain, Portugal, and UK tours. The group was small (10) and the whole thing was awesome. There was one huge downside for me, in that the bikes they had just did not fit me in some aspects. They were entry level Orbeas, and I had a 48 cm men's bike, which is what I have at home, but unfortunately, the Orbea did not have the short reach brakes I have! Consequently, I could not reach the brakes from the drops and even using them on the hoods just hurt the hell out of my hands. This is why we are seriously considering buying custom steel/titanium road bikes with S and S couplers, that we can take on these trips. It's not a big deal for DH, but it is for me.

[itself]

Here is a great suitcase that is legal for the airlines:

http://sandsmachine.com/ac_hard.htm

As far as coupling your bike, Bilenky Cycles will do this for you at a cost of course.

Crankin, thanks for the reviews of the tour companies. Other reviews are so welcome!