Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about preparing for your Velo Escape.
Build a base of consistent weekly riding until a single tour day feels routine, then add back-to-back rides, riding a good distance one day and again the next on tired legs. That teaches your body the cumulative fatigue of consecutive days, which is the real demand of a tour. Match your training to the terrain, dial in saddle and comfort on long rides, practice eating and drinking on the bike, and taper the final week so you arrive rested.
Start with a destination and season where you can ride good roads day after day, then plan each day as a repeatable distance rather than one long effort chopped up (most fit riders do 40 to 70 miles a day depending on climbing). Line up lodging on or near the route, map your food and water stops, and have a bail-out plan for mechanicals or a bad day. The hardest part is the logistics, lodging, resupply, and backup support, which is exactly what a guided, supported trip handles for you.
Most full-service guided road cycling tours in the US run about $250 to $500 per person per day, which puts a long weekend or week between roughly $1,500 and $3,500. Premium luxury operators charge $600 to $850 or more a day, while budget or self-supported trips can dip to $150 to $250. Whatever the headline number, it should cover lodging, most meals, a guide who rides with you, and on-road support, so always compare the full list of inclusions and the refund policy, not just the price.
There is no single best one, because the right trip depends on your fitness, your calendar and the altitude you can handle. For winter riding, southern Arizona and the Mount Lemmon climb are unmatched; for spring, the Texas Hill Country; for a first long multi-day trip, the Natchez Trace Parkway, where commercial traffic is banned and there are no stop lights for 444 miles. If you want to be tested, the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Vermont gaps will do it, and the spring bike-only window on Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier is the best single day in American cycling if the snowpack cooperates.
Most guided road cycling trips run 3 to 8 days, and 4 to 6 days is the most common length. Remember that the trip length is not the riding length: a 5-day trip usually has 4 riding days, because you arrive on the first day and ride short before flying home on the last. On a riding day expect 30 to 80 miles, with one bigger day in the middle, and check the climbing per day as well as the distance, because that is what decides how long you are out there.
A guided bike tour has staff with you all day: guides riding with the group, a support vehicle on the route, a mechanic, and most meals included. A self-guided tour buys you the same planning, hotels and daily luggage transfers, but you ride the route on your own from GPS files and written notes, with a phone number as your only backup. At the same operator a guided trip often costs roughly double, and the extra money is the people, the vehicle and the food.
Nothing. Tips are not required on a Velo Escapes trip and we do not accept them. Everyone who works on one of our trips is paid a fair amount up front, and any tip owed to an outside vendor, a driver or a hotel, is paid by us out of the trip price. The price you see when you book is the price you pay.
That is a deliberate choice by our founder, who rides every trip himself. A tip is a cost moved off the price you compared against other trips and onto an awkward conversation on your last night, which makes it a hidden charge, and we do not believe in hidden charges.
Worth knowing when you compare trips: every other bike tour company does expect a tip for its guide team, commonly around 10 percent of the trip price or 20 to 50 dollars per rider per day, and that amount sits on top of the price you were quoted.
No major US airline charges a separate bicycle fee any more. Your bike flies as a standard checked bag, which is $45 to $50 each way for the first bag on American, Delta, United, Alaska and Southwest, and four of those five waive the oversize charge on a bike case. What catches people is weight, not the bike: the overweight fee starts above 50 pounds and runs $100, and a travel case with a road bike and a few extras in it lands close to that line. Weigh it at home before you go. Alaska is the one exception, waiving the overweight fee on a bike up to 70 pounds.
On the bike, eat 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate an hour on a short day and 60 to 90 grams on anything over two and a half hours, mostly through a drink mix so you are not chewing nineteen gels. Off the bike the total is what matters: 6 to 10 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight on a normal riding day and 8 to 12 on a big one, with the first four hours after the ride at 1 to 1.2 grams per kilogram per hour plus 20 to 40 grams of protein, because you ride again tomorrow. On our trips breakfast, on-bike fuel and hydration are provided, so the part you own is practicing your own products in training instead of trying them for the first time on the biggest day of the week.
On the bike you wear a full-zip jersey, bibs or shorts, cycling socks, cycling shoes, gloves, riding glasses and a helmet. Only three of those repeat: the jersey, the bibs or shorts, and the socks. That's a set, and you want three sets for a week, so one's on you, one's clean and ready and one's drying. Pack laundry pods or sheets. One pair of shoes, one pair of gloves, one pair of glasses and one helmet is all you need. Two sets are enough only on a trip under about three days. Add arm warmers, knee warmers, a wind vest and a packable shell. They weigh almost nothing and they cover the twenty to thirty degree swing between a cool roll-out and a warm afternoon. Off the bike you need comfortable clothes, one pair of walking shoes and a warm layer for the evening.
Tucson has six rides. Mount Lemmon is the main one, 27.8 miles and about 6,276 feet of climbing on smooth pavement with a mile marker the whole way up. After that it's Gates Pass and the McCain Loop west of town, the 8 mile Cactus Forest Loop Drive in Saguaro National Park East, Madera Canyon and Kitt Peak to the south, and the Chuck Huckelberry Loop, 137 miles of paved path with no cars on it. The season runs November through March, and February through April is the best of it.
Ask how many riders will be on the trip, and how many have booked so far. Ask what happens when riders ride at different speeds. Ask what the miles and the climbing are for each day. Ask whose bike you're on. Ask who's leading, and whether they ride every day. Ask what's included, and what you pay for on top. Ask what happens to your deposit if your plans change. Most of these have no right answer. Companies answer them differently. The point is knowing which trip you're buying before you pay.
A century is hard. Eating and pacing matter more than raw fitness. Can you ride 60 miles at a conversational pace and finish feeling tired but fine? Then you can finish 100. It'll take you 7.5 to 9 hours including stops. The climbing matters far more than the distance. Over about 4,000 feet of climbing, it becomes a climbing ride that happens to be 100 miles long.
Your accommodations, most meals, a support vehicle on every ride, mechanical support, and a host who's there the whole way - the founder rides every trip. You ride; we handle the rest. Each trip's page lists exactly what's included, down to the meal.
Every trip tells you honestly who it's for. Each trip page publishes the daily mileage, the climbing, and plain-language distance and effort ratings - some tours are built around big days in real mountains, others leave room to ride as much or as little as you want. Read the ride profile before you book; it's written so you know exactly what you're signing up for.
Yes - we're built for riders who bring their own machine, and most of our riders do. If you'd rather not travel with yours, many of our trips offer quality rentals through a trusted local shop; each trip page lists that tour's rental options.
No - our insurance coverage doesn't extend to e-bikes, so every rider is on a standard bicycle. If you're unsure whether a trip's routes are within your range, reach out before booking - every tour offers shorter options each day, and we're happy to talk it through.
Simple and clearly posted: every trip has a refund cutoff date, shown before you book and on your booking page. Cancel before that date and everything you've paid is refunded. After that date, payments are non-refundable. The full policy is in our Terms and Conditions.
Absolutely - solo riders are a big part of every trip. Lodging is priced by room occupancy: take a room to yourself, or share one to lower your per-person price. Either way, you're riding with the group all day, and our groups are small enough that nobody stays a stranger for long.
Each trip is scheduled for its destination's best riding window, and every trip page includes a weather summary for those dates. If a day turns ugly, your host adapts the plan - the support vehicle is never far away.