Two cycling tours can share a destination, a price and a set of photographs, and still be completely different weeks. The difference rarely shows up on the website. It shows up on Day 3, when someone is struggling on a climb, a derailleur breaks, or the weather turns.
These are the questions we would ask any operator before paying a deposit, including us. A good operator will answer every one of them without hesitating.
1. Who designed the route, and has anyone from the company ridden it?
Many tours are bought in. An operator sells the trip, and a local wholesaler runs it, often on a route designed for a broad market rather than for serious riders. There is nothing wrong with that model, but you should know which you are buying.
Ask who scouted the route and when it was last ridden by someone from the company. "We ride it ourselves before every season" is a different answer from "our partner handles that."
2. What exactly does the support vehicle do?
"Fully supported" covers a wide range. Some support vehicles will pick up a rider and their bike when they have had enough. Some carry only water, food and spares, and stay with the group rather than behind it. Some move luggage between hotels and nothing else.
None of these is wrong, but they suit different riders. Ask whether the vehicle can carry riders and bikes, and whether it follows the last rider or the group.
3. What happens when something breaks on the road?
Is there a mechanic with the group, or mechanical support only at the hotel in the evening? Are spares carried? A broken derailleur hanger is a ten-minute fix with the right part in the van, and the end of your day without it.
4. How hard is it, in numbers?
"Moderate" and "challenging" mean nothing on their own. Ask for distance and climbing for every day, not just the weekly totals, and above all for the hardest single day. An average of 800 metres a day can hide a 1,600-metre day that decides whether you enjoy the week. Then compare those numbers with the rides you already do.
5. How big is the group, and what happens if it doesn't fill?
Group size changes the experience more than almost anything else. Ask for the maximum, and the minimum number of riders a departure needs to run. Then ask what happens if that minimum isn't reached, and how much notice you would get. You should never discover that a tour has been cancelled two weeks before you fly.
6. Is the refund schedule published, and does it offer credit as well as cash?
A good operator publishes its cancellation schedule rather than negotiating it after the fact. Look for clear bands (how much you get back at 120 days, at 90, at 60) and check whether you can take a credit towards a future tour instead of a smaller cash refund. Life changes; a credit option can be worth a lot.
Ask, too, what happens if the operator cancels. The only acceptable answer is a full refund or a transfer to another tour, at your choice.
7. What is actually included?
Count the meals. "Half board" and "most meals" are not the same as a number. Check which nights' dinners are on you, whether airport transfers are included, whether entrance fees to national parks or sights are covered, and whether bike hire is an extra. The total cost of a tour is often decided by the line items, not the headline price.
8. Who leads the rides?
A ride leader who has ridden the route before knows where the climb kicks up, where the café is, and which junction everyone misses. Ask whether the leader rides with the group or drives, and whether they have led this specific route before.
9. Will you get the routes in advance?
Riders who use a Garmin or Wahoo want the route files before they fly: to study the climbs, to plan their own effort, and to navigate if they drop off the back. An operator who has actually scouted the route will have them.
10. Can you see the trip as it really was?
Photographs from a marketing shoot are one thing. Ask for footage, ride reports or rider accounts from past departures and, if you can, to speak to someone who went. An operator confident in the trip will be happy to put you in touch.
And one on money
Pay only to the account details the operator gives you directly, and confirm them by phone if anything changes. A company that tells you plainly it will never email you new bank details is one that has thought about how fraud happens.
How we answer them
For the record: we design and scout every route ourselves and do not pass tours to a wholesaler. Each of our tour pages shows distance and climbing for every day, the size of the group, and what is and is not included, meal by meal, and our difficulty grades give the hardest single day on every tour.
Our cancellation schedule is published in full, with a choice between a refund and a larger credit from 31 to 120 days out, and a full refund or a transfer to another tour if we cancel. Riders' own accounts of past tours are on this blog, and the full film from our Meghalaya tour is on its tour page.
If an operator, us included, cannot answer one of these questions clearly, that tells you something.
Organising a group rather than booking on your own? Our guide to organising a club trip abroad covers the decisions that come first.
Written by Barnowl Adventures.
