Bike travel companies. Faves?

[merckxman]

Another terrific bike hotel is Garda Bike Hotel, https://www.gardabikehotel.com/en/

Originally Posted by dave thompson

Not a bicycle tour company, but a bicycling oriented hotel in Italy, the Belvedere ( https://www.belvederericcione.com/en...taly/34-0.html ) provided me with one of the very best vacations of any type that I have experienced. Guided rides are daily, anything from flat-ish scenic rides to very serious pro-level, guided by ex-pros.

Marina, the owner, is a long-time friend of Pantani's mom and family and has been involved in the cycling scene in Riccione seemingly forever. She provided some of the very best customer service I've encountered in my long lifetime. I still get birthday cards from her after years I was there.

Feel free to email/PM me if you have questions. I whole-heartedly recommend them.

[donevwil]

Originally Posted by makoti

I would love to do one of Andy's rides, but I've done Italy so much that I've been pretty much everywhere outside of Sicily. Have they branched out to other countries?

Just seeing this. They have done Switzerland in the (distant?) past (I asked), but I don't believe there is currently any desire to venture beyond Italy unfortunately.

[tv_vt]

We had a good trip with Grand Tours Project last fall in Switzerland.

For single-base-location type of trips, I can recommend a few: VeloVentoux near Malaucene (Mt Ventoux), Ustaria Posta bike hotel in the Dolomites, VeloVercors for riding in the Vercors (great location a bit under the radar), and Bed Breakfast Bikes Pyrenees near Foix in the eastern part of the Pyrenees.

Some of my favorite tour companies aren't around anymore: Forever Cycling, Pyractif, and the Col Collective. Had really nice trips with all of them.

[TomP]

I have gone with Andy Hampsten, Ericksen, and Lizard Head. All were very good.

[Turkle]

I don't want to derail the thread, but I do have a question.

My partner is very supportive of my cycling habit, and we ride together a bit, but she is definitely an extremely casual cyclist and is not very comfortable on busy roads. (We mostly ride together on a car-free path here in VA.)

She expressed tentative willingness to join me on a cycling trip in Italy this year or next, but I don't know if it would be too much for her. The good news is that it looks like most of these tours / hotels offer e-bikes, so she would likely be just fine from a fitness perspective.

Have any of you dragged your casual-cyclist spouse along with you on one of these trips? Good idea or not? Should I just spare her and go alone somewhere?

Thanks, and apologies if this is a threadjack.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by makoti

Starting to plan for a trip this season, no idea of where other than "someplace new".
Looking for travel companies you've used and been happy with OR ones you would avoid again.
Last year, I went to Portugal with Trek Travel, thanks to BRad704 who gifted me a voucher that made it more "affordable". Still spendy, but a bit less so. I must say I loved it. Everything was covered, basically (don't really drink, so that expense was not an issue). I didn't need my wallet from the time they picked me up until I left them a week later. I thought it was actually good value. And a decent bike to ride.
Flip side? SaddleSkedaddle out of the UK. Did two tours with them, the first to Africa and it was pretty good, but subcontracted. I was happy enough with them.
The second was to Italy, and easily the worst experience I've ever had on a bike. In Italy, which I love. Nothing was ready for us. On our own for everything. Lied (yes, lied) to about the route and previous scouting by the tour group (again, a subcontractor). They literally drew up the route the night before we did it. We ended up being routed onto a highway at one point, and one of our guides just left in the middle of one of the days. Was riding with us, then just was gone. Supposed to start in Venice, we started 80 mile away. That was one of the main reasons I took the trip. It was so bad that SaddleSkedaddle, to their credit, refunded every person on the trip $750 after it was over.
Your experiences? Did they supply a bike? If so, what and quality? How did they look after you? (I didn't have to load the Garmin, pump my tires, worry about carrying food or water with Trek. Wake up, go eat, grab my bike, go ride)
Thanks.

It just dawned on me that you can't start in Venice, b cause there is no cycling in Venice. Don't even know if biking the bridge out of Venice is possible, or safe. Starting inland was smarter? Padua?

[donevwil]

Originally Posted by Turkle

I don't want to derail the thread, but I do have a question.

My partner is very supportive of my cycling habit, and we ride together a bit, but she is definitely an extremely casual cyclist and is not very comfortable on busy roads. (We mostly ride together on a car-free path here in VA.)

She expressed tentative willingness to join me on a cycling trip in Italy this year or next, but I don't know if it would be too much for her. The good news is that it looks like most of these tours / hotels offer e-bikes, so she would likely be just fine from a fitness perspective.

Have any of you dragged your casual-cyclist spouse along with you on one of these trips? Good idea or not? Should I just spare her and go alone somewhere?

Thanks, and apologies if this is a threadjack.

Cinghiale (Andy Hampsten) offer tours with this in mind. They are culinary tours with daily riding distance options and activities (cooking, wine tasting, restaurant visits) for those who choose to go shorter or skip a day altogether.

[rogerspam]

1) I don't have any personal experience with European operators but you can find my earlier post about one in Japan which was great (Bike Tour Japan)

2) highly recommend e-bike for non-bike enthusiast partner. Might actually make them become one or at least make it more enjoyable for them Don't get mad if they drop you on the climbs.

[wooly]

Kind of a watered down hybrid choice but my wife and I have done two Backroads cycling trips. They’re not for the super serious cyclist but was perfect for me, who likes riding, and my wife, who is a very casual rider, in it for the sites. We rode anywhere from 30-45 miles a day and the trips are typically 5-6 days. There are multiple routes or extensions for folks who want more miles. Rides in the morning and you can tour the small towns and villages in the afternoon. It’s really a nice blend of riding, culture and site seeing. Highly recommend.


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[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by merckxman

Another terrific bike hotel is Garda Bike Hotel, https://www.gardabikehotel.com/en/

I visited this hotel once driving across northern Italy since it was close to the highway. I was impressed. Not old school Italy charming, but, comfortable modern. Pool, deck with post ride buffet, nice bikes. And just two blocks to the train station that will get you to Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and Milan and Venice on a little longer ride. Choice of flat rides to climbs.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

It just dawned on me that you can't start in Venice, b cause there is no cycling in Venice. Don't even know if biking the bridge out of Venice is possible, or safe. Starting inland was smarter? Padua?

And that would have been fine if the description didn't SAY that we started in Venice. If we had started outside of Venice, but where we could visit (as mentioned), it would have been fine. We met at the airport and immediately drove some two hours away. Never saw Venice.
The point is that SaddleSkedaddle either didn't know what the tour was going to be or was misled by the Italian group that actually ran it.

[bikinchris]

We have done several bike and barge tours in Netherlands and will probably go again. This company also offers other countries, but we've only done Belgium on a tour from Brussels to Amsterdam.
They're VERY couple friendly and not having to drag luggage to a bus every morning is great. In fact, you don't even need to unpack. The food was very good cooked in the barge galley. You eat breakfast and the encourage you to pack a sandwich for lunch. You always stop in a city square for lunch, and we would eat at a restaurant and order frites so we could wash our hands and use their restroom. You NEVER need to share the road with fast traffic. Inside the cities, with very low speeds, you did need to share the road.
https://cycletours.com/cycling-holid...e-netherlands/

Another company we have used to follow the Tour de France. Used to be named Graham Baxter Tours but is now named Sports Tours International. They are not as leisurely as the above, but interesting and well run. It's just that the pace needed on their tours was too fast for my wife many days.
https://sportstoursinternational.co.uk/

[Kirk007]

Re casual spouses on a trip. I tooky wife on one of Andy's tours on a tandem. It was great. Riding the roads and Italy and France is nothing like riding in the States. Of the companies I've used I would say that Andy will use stretches of busier roads to connect places on occasion. I'd look closely at itineraries and don't hesitate to ask questions


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[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by makoti

And that would have been fine if the description didn't SAY that we started in Venice. If we had started outside of Venice, but where we could visit (as mentioned), it would have been fine. We met at the airport and immediately drove some two hours away. Never saw Venice.
The point is that SaddleSkedaddle either didn't know what the tour was going to be or was misled by the Italian group that actually ran it.

Oh, well, that's pretty awful. Everybody should see Venice once in their lives.

As per the OP, after hearing about a Trek travel experience in Italy, and if I was rich, I'd take one or two of them a year. But, alas, I am not rich, and 5-6 grand for a week of cycling makes no sense to me. If I want to see Europe, there are much cheaper ways, and I'll see so much more.

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by Turkle

I don't want to derail the thread, but I do have a question.

My partner is very supportive of my cycling habit, and we ride together a bit, but she is definitely an extremely casual cyclist and is not very comfortable on busy roads. (We mostly ride together on a car-free path here in VA.)

She expressed tentative willingness to join me on a cycling trip in Italy this year or next, but I don't know if it would be too much for her. The good news is that it looks like most of these tours / hotels offer e-bikes, so she would likely be just fine from a fitness perspective.

Have any of you dragged your casual-cyclist spouse along with you on one of these trips? Good idea or not? Should I just spare her and go alone somewhere?

Thanks, and apologies if this is a threadjack.

E-bikes are a game-changer for riders like you (and me). My wife is a casual rider and had an absolute ball last year on our Provence trip with Backroads because of her e-bike.

Our Backroads trip was awesome, would definitely use them again. Very good bikes, great guides, great routes - everything. They are pricey, but some trips have a "casual hotels" option that we had and the accomodations were excellent.

More info on our trip in this thread.