Cost of pac tour?

A pac tour of a picturesque region of Sweden is being to be launched in
2007. The event will be a recreational tour with full service. This will
include all lodgings and food in addition to baggage transport . Each of the
five stages will be somewhere in the region of 80-90 miles (130-145 km).
This means four stops along the way and two nights in the host town, the one
before and after the tour. This event is still pretty much on the drawing
board.



A previous effort to launch a pac tour in Sweden about ten years ago
resulted in 1 participant signing up despite rigorous marketing. However,
that event was planned to cross Sweden from South to North, a distance of
1200 miles and ten stages of up to 180 miles.



Personally I am a board member of the Swedish Cycling Federation with
responsibility for coordination of recreational rides in Sweden. I would
like to advise the organisers roughly what an event like this should cost
the participants. Any idea, just to put us in the ballpark?



Having lived in Sweden for 18 years I feel that Sweden itself has to be sold
as a cycling summer holiday destination. This country has a bit of cult
status in that department, not many cyclists come here; the ones that do? -
they love it. Does anyone have experience of cycling in Sweden?



About from financial issues what other factors do cyclists consider when
planning an organised tour like the one described above?



Garry Jones

English Cyclist ResIDING in Sweden

Garry,

90 miles is too long to be enjoyable per day. I've done 47 bike tours
in my time (I'm now 56) and when I was younger used to average 70/day,
occasionally doing more than 100. However I discovered as I went on
that I enjoyed myself more doing about 50/day. If you want nutters who
look at nothing go for the 90, if you want an enjoyable tour under 70
and probably about 50

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006, Garry Jones wrote:

Having lived in Sweden for 18 years I feel that Sweden itself has to be sold
as a cycling summer holiday destination. This country has a bit of cult
status in that department, not many cyclists come here; the ones that do? -
they love it. Does anyone have experience of cycling in Sweden?

Hi again Garry
I'm more of an independent than a pacakge-tour cyclist but, as you know,
I've loved cycling in Sweden. I have a few photos (scanned from slides) of
my 2002 trip (Sweden+Norway) at:
http://www.dermott.ca/nord2002/fotos/index.html

My initiation to cycling in Sweden was Vätternrundan!
VR must be coming up soon- maybe Jun 17 ?
Not too many people outside of Scandinavia have even heard of the VR.
When I did it in 1994, there was only 1 other Canadian listed
(and only 6 from USA, and 5 from UK) out of 15000 riders.

http://www.dermott.ca/norden/norden2.html

--

David Dermott , Wolfville Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada
email:
WWW pages: http://www.dermott.ca/index.html

wrote:

90 miles is too long to be enjoyable per day.

That seems to be a rather broad statment. Many tours I've been on have
averaged 90 to 100 miles per day and have been quite enjoyable (and
I've seen plenty and had time to look around). Other tours have been
less (around 50-60 miles per day) and have been good fun as well.

While those that do 50 miles a day might consider those doing 90 to be
"nutters", probably most of the non-cycling folks consider anyone donig
a bike tour to be a bit of a "nutter".

"Jeff Orum" skrev i meddelandet
ups.com...
wrote:

probably most of the non-cycling folks

We call them civilians!

The latest idea for the pac tour in Sweden is to have a low starting fee for
the tour. Then sell different types of accommodation and food packets to the
cyclists based on individual needs. For instance, some might choose to stay
in their own tents and others in classy hotels along the route. Some might
be happy with jam sandwiches whilst others might prefer four course meals.



Anyone with experience of such tours, is this a concept that has been tried
before. I have friends that have done pac tours in USA and Australia and
they have paid a single fee which has included everything. However at 26 and
34 days these were much longer, the Swedish tour is five days with four
stops.



Garry Jones

English Cyclist, ResIDING in Sweden