If you are looking for service - don't look here...

After talking with one of the owners (Dominic Cassidy) I decided that I would choose this operator to take a bucket list trip from London to Paris on my road bike. Dominic assured me that this tour was road bike friendly, and in fact he hadn't don't this route in a while, so he was going to join the tour also. What became very apparent as neither Dominic or his assistant on the tour Chris had any clue about what to expect, is that neither of them had done this tour before. And I was also not the only one lead to believe that I was paying for local knowledge and experience along the way, as most of our group had the same impression. The route guides were virtually useless, and even Dominic during the tour admitted that he never used them (and only used his garmin to navigate), however, at first both Dominic and Chris professed that the route guides were the best way to do the tour and most accurate, even though people were lost at several points along the way using them. I stuck to my Garmin and made it to each destination. The route was mostly road bike friendly, but I would not have encouraged anyone with any road biking experience and nice bike, to do this tour. The gravel roads and of road trails were not appropriate for a road bike, and not surprisingly I sustained a couple of punctures along the way because of this (even after trying to ride preventively over these parts.) But the worst part was the service and disorganization. After getting a puncture on my tire while with the group, I worked quickly to repair it, as someone who has ridden over 6000 km this year, this was something I am well used to and find easy. The one bit of help that Chris (the trip mechanic) provided was to fill up the tube before I put it in the tire, but I was surprised to find that he had way over filled it and I needed to let air out before it would go into the tire correctly. A rookie mistake that an experienced bike mechanic would never do, but I overlooked this and didn't mention it. The next day I had to ride the last part of the day with no back derailleur as my cable had snapped in the shifter. After arriving at the destination I called Chris to see what I should be doing, and he said I would just have to wait because he was driving that day, and wouldn't be available for sometime. After using my French and asking around (since neither Chris or Dominic spoke French) I was told by the locals of a good close by bike shop, and even called the shop to arrange for my repair. When Chris returned and I asked to go to the bike shop, he was most annoyed and told me he wouldn't A) look at my bike or B) bring me to the bike shop, since I didn't let him help me change my tire earlier. I was beyond flabbergasted, and only after another rider on the tour negotiated with him, was I taken to the bike store. (I should mention that on the way back, Chris hit a bridge with the van and rode over a few roundabouts. Yikes!!). I should also mention that Dominic was riding that day, on his one bike that he owns. A double suspension mountain bike, with full thickness slick tires. That in itself should speak to the quality of riders running his operation. When I complained to Dominic about the terrible incident with Chris, Dominic was dismissive, and instead decided to tell me that I had come on the trip with baggage and that I was too stressed out and should quit my job because it was obviously too hard for me. I probably would have thought that he might have been right, if he hadn't spent more then 10 mins talking to me, and if he wasn't so far off the mark with his mean spirited psychoanalysis (which is so wildly inappropriate that it has motivated me to write this review.) The next day I went it alone, and decided not to meet up with the group to ride into Paris together and this was the best decision I could have made. I arrived at the hotel at 1:30 pm and had a wonderful afternoon in the neighbourhood. By 6:30 pm the group had just started to arrive, after Chris had gotten the group lost twice while in Paris, including the 45 minute detour from the tower to the hotel (which was located 200 m from the tower and took me all of 30 seconds.) So be aware when booking this tour, there is a reason that this company isn't on Yelp or Tripsdvisor, and Dominic is a great sales person, but don't expect for him to deliver.

Suzanne Hurding - 14/10/2015 | report this review