TDF Travel Agents

[siena01]

A riding buddy of mine is turning 50 this year and as a surprise gift his wife wants to take him to the TDF. I told her that I would help her find a travel company that specializes in TDF trips. Five minutes of web browsing has turned up plethora of choices ... but I would like to hear what you guys think. Any recommendations?

Thanks.

[Frustration]

VeloClassic tours and Bikestyle tours are both great.

Asking for feedback was very smart. There is a huge spread between the Crap to quality available in tour groups. Both of these pretty much deliver on what they promise.

[Needs Help]

I read about one trip that rides part of the course in the morning, sets up a picnic for you to relax and get some nourishment until the riders whiz by, and then wisks you to the finish line in time for wine and cheese as you watch the sprint to the line.

[Andreu]

The TDF in their wisdom are banning tour companies who do not pay them a substantial amount of money for 2007. Technically, a company cannot even use TDF images on their website for commercial purposes. The number of tour companies for 2007 will probably not be around to offer people holidays. Clearly some French guy has gone to Harvard got himself an MBA and is now milking every marketing opportunity out of it.
The next thing is we will have to pay as individuals to ride parts of the route.

So, more choice this year. Next year less choice and probably lots of companies out of business.
This is a cracking company that runs tours into TDF is based in Europe but has contact numbers in USA:

http://www.thomsonbiketours.com/

Apologies, I re-read your post and realised it's this year - so you still have lots of choice!
A

[Johnnyg]

I have gone with breaking away and velo echarpie out of Iowa both great companies.

[Serotta PETE]

Depends what you want to see and do in addition to TOUR but Trek Tours while $$$$$ is quite good. A friend of mine is going on the TDF tour this summer.

[Elefantino]

I went in '03 with Custom Getaways, a little company out of Florida. Their Web site is really rinky-dink and might turn you off at first, but Christopher Tardy (who's French), the owner, is a great guy who puts together wonderful trips.

I looked into all the others, but there were only 24 of us on the '03 Paris-to-Marseilles trip with CG and it was great. It was also funny to see the huge caravan of other tour operators (there were 180 riders with one of them) and the folks from Trek Travel squeezed into their minibuses. We were in a 60-person luxury coach and felt like we'd stolen something. (Actually, we did. We crashed the Trek Travel breakfast on the Lauteret.)

Great hotels, great food, well thought-out. We rode everything we wanted to ride (with great maps) and saw everything we wanted to see, and more. Great rider support, too. I'd go again in a minute and have sent friends with them for subsequent trips.

Fine print: I do not work for Custom Getaways but Chris will give me another T-shirt if you go and use my name.

[gary135r]

has anybody done a tour like this and not brought their own bike? Was the experience deminished because of not having your own ride? How hard is it to get a quality rental. I would be afraid to ship my bike to Europe or about anywhere haviing experienced flying fiascos in the past.

[Johnnyg]

My bike has been flown to Europe on four occasions with no trouble. Get a good case, I use a soft case, and back it well. Their is nothing like having your own bike. Johnng Good luck!

[gary135r]

My bike has been flown to Europe on four occasions with no trouble. Get a good case, I use a soft case, and back it well. Their is nothing like having your own bike. Johnng Good luck!
What soft case do you have, or what do you recommend.

[2LeftCleats]

I used Breaking Away 2004 and had a wonderful trip. They offer (I guess they still do) a couple of options. The more expensive was a fully supported tour--they drop you at the starting point and pick you up at the end in a bus. There's full mechanical support. My son and I chose the cheaper version. Similar quality lodging (which was mostly very good), but we rented cars. There was a bit of hassle at times if road construction caused us (with our limited facility in French) to find alternate routes. We also had to pay tolls on the highways which are amazingly expensive. And the cost of gas was also high, even for our small cars. We did not have to keep such a regimented schedule as those on the supported group. Excellent maps were provided for both car travel and the cycling routes. We had good support from the company from the group leader who was stationed at the various hotels. She cut through a lot of the complexity. But we had a little more sense of adventure, I suspect, than those on the other tour. There were 30-40 of us. Sometimes we rode as small groups and other times just the 2 of us. I had difficulty shipping my bike. There was no damage, but the bike arrived a day late because of something screwed up at Indianapolis airport. Fortunately, I arrived a day early to allow my body to adjust, so I didn't miss any of the riding. It was a bit of a problem dealing with the bike box in a crowded airport, but it was amazing how many of us in CDG airport in Paris had them. My trip included the end of the tour and my advice would be not to depart for the States the next day. The airport was a zoo. My son left one day later and had little problem.

[Johnnyg]

What soft case do you have, or what do you recommend.
I have the Bike Pro soft case, they come in sizes and are very well made. They are out of Arizona and have a web sight. Best of luck and safe travels. JohnnyG

[landshark_98]

Glenn Erickson gives far and away the best value. 15-16 days as compared to typical 7-8 for about the same price or less. But they are for seasoned riders. There really isn't much in the way of short routes, but there's always the van. The trips don't follow the tour but a few(Alps and Pyreenees) them do see at least one stage and each days ride ends in time to see the TV coverage. I did the ALps trip two years ago. Spectacular. Rode most of the big Cols, a lot of the smaller ones that were on that years tour, and many small roads climbs that you wouldn't otherwise know about. His trips may be full by now.

[Birddog]

Ditto on the Bike Pro soft case. I have a double and it works superbly. One of the best features is the way you, or more importantly, airport security can access the contents by simply unzipping the side. It is relatively easy to see most of the contents without really disturbing much. Another nice thing about the case, at least the "double", is that it is just heavy enough that no one outside of King Kong is gonna be able to throw the damn thing.
I think most airlines now charge extra for bikes, so be prepared. There is practically no possibility to rent even a mediocre road bike. Bite the bullet and take your own, you will be glad you did.

I did rent a bike while I was in Strasbourg, I think it was $14.00 for the day to rent a "city bike" with lock. It would have been totally impractical to use my road bike while touristing around a city that size. Out on the road, you'll want your own bike.

Birddog

[Hysbrian]

This is a cracking company that runs tours into TDF is based in Europe but has contact numbers in USA:

http://www.thomsonbiketours.com/

A

I'm not sure if this was a good or bad review, but whatever. My father and I traveled with that company and it was a great trip imo. PM me if you have specific questions. or just look here...http://www.thebrianhayes.com/pictures.htm to see how much fun I had.

[gary135r]

Ditto on the Bike Pro soft case. I have a double and it works superbly. One of the best features is the way you, or more importantly, airport security can access the contents by simply unzipping the side. It is relatively easy to see most of the contents without really disturbing much. Another nice thing about the case, at least the "double", is that it is just heavy enough that no one outside of King Kong is gonna be able to throw the damn thing.
I think most airlines now charge extra for bikes, so be prepared. There is practically no possibility to rent even a mediocre road bike. Bite the bullet and take your own, you will be glad you did.

I did rent a bike while I was in Strasbourg, I think it was $14.00 for the day to rent a "city bike" with lock. It would have been totally impractical to use my road bike while touristing around a city that size. Out on the road, you'll want your own bike.

Birddog
Thanks :beer:

[Lanny R. Levenson]

My group used www.experienceplus.com for our tour de france in 2004. They worked with us on a custom tour in the Alpes and Provence. We brought our bikes for riding and several in our group had non-riding spouses. The good news there was that we had van support to take the non riders sightseeing to places of their interest. Contact Rick Price, the company owner and mention my name.

Lanny