Best Bike Touring Groups?

[Karenanywild]

We are booked for the Tuscany trip next year with Trek Travel. After researching we chose them for the following reasons:
1. They are the only company I found that has a vested interest in making sure you have awesome equipment for the trip. i.e. they are hoping you buy a bike from them. An expensive bike trip with crummy equipment would be awful.
2. My research said, 'oh trek travel, they just took the best of everyone else and packed it into their own company'. Sounds like a plus to me.
3. For our work we spend a lot of time in hotels. When on vacation I absolutely don't want to stay in a stinky, old hotel room.
4. Very professional and organized. Their staff were a great help answering questions.

Hoping it turns out being a good choice. There are 6 in our group going.

[Crankin]

There are other companies that provide the same level of service as Trek, who don't have the vested interest of selling you a bike... Backroads and Ciclismo Classico are 2. They also have excellent bikes. Backroads now gives you a choice of upgrading to a Specialized Ruby.
I liked the Trek trips we took. I did not like the participants!
This is one of the reasons I built a custom bike with couplers that I can take on bike trips. I may or may not do this for my trip to Portugal. Cycling Country now has access to Trek bikes, instead of the Orbeas we had last time. If they can get me a 47 cm wsd Trek, my own bike will stay home.

[Thorn]

Travelling with groups can be great fun; some are pricey; others not so much. In the end, it is the makeup of the group that makes or breaks the group experience.

For us, while we've encountered exceptions to the rule, generally speaking if the company is about cycling as a way to travel and explore, we enjoy the company of the group; if cycling is secondary to the "vacation experience", we find there is a higher the probability that you have group members that tend to be....uh...err...for lack of a better term...demanding. These are the type of people who are too worried about getting the most for their money than going with the flow of the trip. For example, we were in Spain, in the heart of the Rioja wine region and one of the guests was bemoaning to everyone and anyone his inability to get a good Scotch and how much it cost him for the mediocre one they sold him. Really? Try the Rioja, dude, it is fantastic!

But, I digress. Check with people you would like to travel with and see what groups they like. Make a list of what you're looking for in a trip. Going with a well known company like Trek Travel, Backroads, or Sojourn will probably guarantee you a well organized trip with great guides. But don't discount smaller groups. UW-Stevens Point Adventure Tours, Timberline and PAC Tour are some of our favorite groups--all seem to attract a fun group of people, although we've encountered that "demanding" guest on them as well although not as often. And, if you do encounter them on a trip, you'll be amazed at how, an early start on the road gets you away from them; and maybe a dinner on your own one night to escape....go with (or in this case, against) the flow and enjoy the trip.

Based on this thread, I'll be looking at Crankin's Cycling Country recommendation -- sounds like our kind of group. Thanks Crankin

[Crankin]

You're welcome. You can tell Geoff and Maggie that Robyn sent you and he will know who it is...
Funny, none of the people who bothered me on trips were of the type you describe, Thorn. They all were interested in riding. Some were stronger/racer types, and others were like me, good, but slower riders, and some were much slower, but still good, experienced riders. What bothered me was the drinking and other weirdness (we had one trip where the wife sat on her DH's lap and did a lap dance during the orientation, when there weren't enough chairs to go around ). And the Trek trips definitely had competitiveness in riding. I hate that, but back then I wasn't confident enough to ignore it. DH and I know we like to ride slowly on a tour, to see the stuff, especially the big climbs. I made it through a 10 mile climb that is part of the Vuelta a lot of years; the only way for me to do that is to do it slowly, like 3-6 mph slowly. Somehow, the group in Spain really clicked and we rode together, a lot.

[shootingstar]

And, frankly, I don't do so well with a large group of women, unless they are already people I know

I'm fine with day group women-only rides. But hanging out day after day with large groups of women who I don't know/hardly at all for long periods, does tend to make me crawl into a rabbit hole from the standpoint of socializing. Strange that I would be like this....I grew up surrounded by 4 sisters.. and I've always liked their company.

A good friend of mine did 2 Women Tours on bike ...1 via Glacier National Park, MT and another in the Carolinas. She enjoyed it a lot.