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Tours to "The Tour"
Does anyone have any good info and experience with travel companies that
sponsor trips to France to see the Tour de France? I'm interested in going and want to hook up with a good company/group. Please advise. [This guy's looking for info I've been thinking about digging up for our website anyway, so here's what I've run down this afternoon. Also, if anybody has any experiences with any of these groups, please post in this thread or via email to me ) so I can put the info together for an informational page on our website.] As you're probably aware (and the reason you're posting now instead of later), France is going to be overrun by US folk in 2004, and tours are going to be fully booked before they're even announced (meaning that people are going to find ways to reserve spots on tours they don't even know the dates of, locations, etc). I just did a quick search and found a site that has some info, subject to change, on how they think things are going to run (and their available tours and costs) for '04- http://www.experienceplus.com/tour_de_france.html But I have no idea how good they are. I just got back from a 12-day Pyrenees to Paris tour with the Graham Baxter group (http://www.sportingtours.co.uk/letour/pyrenees2.html). Very reasonably priced, got to see a lot, but it's possibly not the best for someone who's never been to France before and might want a bit more hand-holding than they offer. TREKTravel got rave reviews from everyone I came across who was on a TDF tour with them (we're a very large TREK dealer and have a lot of customers interested in what they have to offer, so it made since to find out everything I could), but they're basically oversold for '04 already, and have told dealers to work on getting people interested in their other trips. Backroads generally gets high marks from our customers; info on their TDF packages may be found at http://www.backroads.com/cgi-bin/tripLister.py Breaking Away is another popular, high-quality organization, with info on their '03 offerings (which will give some insight for '04) found at http://www.breakingaway.com/flash/home.htm Butterfield & Robinson defines the high-end of cycle touring... $6k for their July 20-28th trip for the '03 TDF, to give you an idea. More info at http://www.butterfieldandrobinson.co...=236&csid=135& csid1=1998&fid1=16 Bicycle Outfitters, a shop not too far from our own in the SF Bay Area, runs tours in France, with info on their past '03 offering at http://bicycleoutfitter.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=209. Reasonably priced and good people. VeloVacations (also known as VeloSport Vacations) is a group I've come across frequently in my travels in France, and I found people generally pretty happy with them. Their past '03 offerings may be found at http://www.velovacations.com/tdf_res.html Steve Bauer, former TDF racer, has another high-end touring company, with info on their past '03 offerings at http://www.stevebauer.com/performanc...tourdefrance3/ Velo Echappe looks interesting (they emphasize having big-name cycling greats helping out, including Sean Kelly... wonder if his English is easier to understand in person than on TV?), but I don't know anyone personally who's been on one of their tours; info on their past '03 offerings is at http://www.veloechappe.com/tdf_pyrs_itin.asp Former USPS rider Marty Jemison has his own tour company, and briefly touches on their 2004 plans at http://www.martyjemison.com/tdf.html Inside Track Tours is another one that I'm not familiar with, but there's info on their 2004 TDF plans at http://www.insidetracktours.com/tdf_2004.htm. They do have an added bonus of having Tyler Hamilton, 4th place in this year's TDF and found in the dictionary when you look up "Tough as nails", as a general partner. For many this may be an added plus, as there could be an assumed benefit of being able to at least get an autograph from a real TDF contender! Cycling Ahead runs trips during the TDF, but I know nothing about them and am a little put off by a website that doesn't list prices; you have to fill out a form on their website and they'll get back to you. Info at http://www.cycling-ahead.com/TheTourdeFrance.htm VeloVista is a general-purpose cycle touring site, with a great deal of useful information, including info on the '03 TDF at this page- http://www.velovista.net/tour_trip_03.htm Bikestyle Tours, an Australian touring company, has info on their '04 TDF plans here- http://www.bikestyletours.com/index.php/39 (this is another one I have no references on) Adventure Travel is another Australian touring company, this one with Phil Anderson, former TDF great, riding along. Their info on TDF trips is at http://www.tourdefrance.com.au/default.asp. I don't know of anyone who's done one of their tours, but Phil's wife, Christine, speaks glowingly of her husbands ability to entertain and take care of their guests (I met her in Lourdes at the '03 TDF; details on my diary page at http://www.ChainReaction.com/diaryfr....htm#christine) ================================================== ================== If anybody know of other tours not listed, please reply to this thread or directly to me via email ). One other thing I should add... if you really want to get into the TDF action itself, it may not be practical to be cycling every single day. Conversely, if you want to really get into cycling in France, it may not be practical to see that much of the TDF! You'll most likely run yourself into the ground, and possibly disappoint yourself because things didn't work out quite as planned. The best way to have a really enjoyable experience is to be flexible and recognize that your original plans might need to be altered a bit, and try to decide ahead of time if you want to do everything, in which case you'll probably need a vacation from your vacation when you get back (personal experience talking here!). Thanks! --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com |
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#2
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Tours to "The Tour"
Mike wrote:
Does anyone have any good info and experience with travel companies that sponsor trips to France to see the Tour de France? I'm interested in going and want to hook up with a good company/group. Please advise. [This guy's looking for info I've been thinking about digging up for our website anyway, so here's what I've run down this afternoon. Also, if anybody has any experiences with any of these groups, please post in this thread or via email to me ) so I can put the info together for an informational page on our website.] Mike, you da man! I wonder if any local entrepreneurs (like a bike club or hostelling group) puts something together for members and friends, kindof like joining an Iowa bike club for a week in July. I might look for such. What to wear to the TdF (found while checking spelling on a certain major street in Paris): http://www.4-fragrances.com/women/champs-elysees-w.htm --Karen M. who had loads of good apres conversations at a tour tour this weekend...everyone in celeste knew the name Jan Ullrich |
#3
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Tours to "The Tour"
Karen: I've cleaned things up a bit and put the TDF Tour operators up on a
page on our website. You can see it at http://www.ChainReaction.com/france0...rcompanies.htm Regarding the best "deals" for France, if you wanted to piece together something of your own, you can check out the offerings on www.gotoday.com. My wife and I used them for our trip to Paris last September, and it worked out great... very inexpensive, not bad place to stay. --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com "Karen M." wrote in message om... Mike wrote: Does anyone have any good info and experience with travel companies that sponsor trips to France to see the Tour de France? I'm interested in going and want to hook up with a good company/group. Please advise. [This guy's looking for info I've been thinking about digging up for our website anyway, so here's what I've run down this afternoon. Also, if anybody has any experiences with any of these groups, please post in this thread or via email to me ) so I can put the info together for an informational page on our website.] Mike, you da man! I wonder if any local entrepreneurs (like a bike club or hostelling group) puts something together for members and friends, kindof like joining an Iowa bike club for a week in July. I might look for such. What to wear to the TdF (found while checking spelling on a certain major street in Paris): http://www.4-fragrances.com/women/champs-elysees-w.htm --Karen M. who had loads of good apres conversations at a tour tour this weekend...everyone in celeste knew the name Jan Ullrich |
#4
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Tours to "The Tour"
Mike,
Your the best! Thanks for the info! If anyone out there ever needs a Trek, go see Mike...I bought one from him, parked it under a Semi, and then bought another. Stan (Not my real name, Mike, but you probably remember me...living in San Diego now!) "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message . com... Does anyone have any good info and experience with travel companies that sponsor trips to France to see the Tour de France? I'm interested in going and want to hook up with a good company/group. Please advise. [This guy's looking for info I've been thinking about digging up for our website anyway, so here's what I've run down this afternoon. Also, if anybody has any experiences with any of these groups, please post in this thread or via email to me ) so I can put the info together for an informational page on our website.] As you're probably aware (and the reason you're posting now instead of later), France is going to be overrun by US folk in 2004, and tours are going to be fully booked before they're even announced (meaning that people are going to find ways to reserve spots on tours they don't even know the dates of, locations, etc). I just did a quick search and found a site that has some info, subject to change, on how they think things are going to run (and their available tours and costs) for '04- http://www.experienceplus.com/tour_de_france.html But I have no idea how good they are. I just got back from a 12-day Pyrenees to Paris tour with the Graham Baxter group (http://www.sportingtours.co.uk/letour/pyrenees2.html). Very reasonably priced, got to see a lot, but it's possibly not the best for someone who's never been to France before and might want a bit more hand-holding than they offer. TREKTravel got rave reviews from everyone I came across who was on a TDF tour with them (we're a very large TREK dealer and have a lot of customers interested in what they have to offer, so it made since to find out everything I could), but they're basically oversold for '04 already, and have told dealers to work on getting people interested in their other trips. Backroads generally gets high marks from our customers; info on their TDF packages may be found at http://www.backroads.com/cgi-bin/tripLister.py Breaking Away is another popular, high-quality organization, with info on their '03 offerings (which will give some insight for '04) found at http://www.breakingaway.com/flash/home.htm Butterfield & Robinson defines the high-end of cycle touring... $6k for their July 20-28th trip for the '03 TDF, to give you an idea. More info at http://www.butterfieldandrobinson.co...=236&csid=135& csid1=1998&fid1=16 Bicycle Outfitters, a shop not too far from our own in the SF Bay Area, runs tours in France, with info on their past '03 offering at http://bicycleoutfitter.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=209. Reasonably priced and good people. VeloVacations (also known as VeloSport Vacations) is a group I've come across frequently in my travels in France, and I found people generally pretty happy with them. Their past '03 offerings may be found at http://www.velovacations.com/tdf_res.html Steve Bauer, former TDF racer, has another high-end touring company, with info on their past '03 offerings at http://www.stevebauer.com/performanc...tourdefrance3/ Velo Echappe looks interesting (they emphasize having big-name cycling greats helping out, including Sean Kelly... wonder if his English is easier to understand in person than on TV?), but I don't know anyone personally who's been on one of their tours; info on their past '03 offerings is at http://www.veloechappe.com/tdf_pyrs_itin.asp Former USPS rider Marty Jemison has his own tour company, and briefly touches on their 2004 plans at http://www.martyjemison.com/tdf.html Inside Track Tours is another one that I'm not familiar with, but there's info on their 2004 TDF plans at http://www.insidetracktours.com/tdf_2004.htm. They do have an added bonus of having Tyler Hamilton, 4th place in this year's TDF and found in the dictionary when you look up "Tough as nails", as a general partner. For many this may be an added plus, as there could be an assumed benefit of being able to at least get an autograph from a real TDF contender! Cycling Ahead runs trips during the TDF, but I know nothing about them and am a little put off by a website that doesn't list prices; you have to fill out a form on their website and they'll get back to you. Info at http://www.cycling-ahead.com/TheTourdeFrance.htm VeloVista is a general-purpose cycle touring site, with a great deal of useful information, including info on the '03 TDF at this page- http://www.velovista.net/tour_trip_03.htm Bikestyle Tours, an Australian touring company, has info on their '04 TDF plans here- http://www.bikestyletours.com/index.php/39 (this is another one I have no references on) Adventure Travel is another Australian touring company, this one with Phil Anderson, former TDF great, riding along. Their info on TDF trips is at http://www.tourdefrance.com.au/default.asp. I don't know of anyone who's done one of their tours, but Phil's wife, Christine, speaks glowingly of her husbands ability to entertain and take care of their guests (I met her in Lourdes at the '03 TDF; details on my diary page at http://www.ChainReaction.com/diaryfr....htm#christine) ================================================== ================== If anybody know of other tours not listed, please reply to this thread or directly to me via email ). One other thing I should add... if you really want to get into the TDF action itself, it may not be practical to be cycling every single day. Conversely, if you want to really get into cycling in France, it may not be practical to see that much of the TDF! You'll most likely run yourself into the ground, and possibly disappoint yourself because things didn't work out quite as planned. The best way to have a really enjoyable experience is to be flexible and recognize that your original plans might need to be altered a bit, and try to decide ahead of time if you want to do everything, in which case you'll probably need a vacation from your vacation when you get back (personal experience talking here!). Thanks! --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com |
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