Frequently Asked Questions
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General
This varies between our trips.
Please check the inclusions of the trip you are interested in to see exactly what is included.
Credit Cards
We have a secure page for submitting your credit card details. You can “reserve a trip now!” We accept Visa or Mastercard.
Bank Deposits
Our bank details for direct debit are:
Account: Bikestyle Tours
BSB: 014 279
Account No: 190 686 962
Things to Remember:
- When making payment use your name as a reference for the deposit.
- If you would like to book any of the optional extras that are being offered with your trip you will need to pay for these at the time of your booking.
- Once you have made payment please send an email to adam@bikestyletours.com to advise of the payment.
- Don’t forget it is a requirement of Bikestyle Tours that you have Travel Insurance for your trip.
If you have any further enquiries please email us at tours@bikestyletours.com.
Our mailing address for payment by cheque is:
Bikestyle Tours
PO Box 253,
Rochedale South, 4123
Australia
Most things are included but airfares are not.
- We collect you from the airport (or train station) at the beginning of your trip.
- We nominate a convenient trip finish location at the completion of the trip, often at an airport.
Non cyclists and spectators are encouraged
- We'll transport you as close as possible to the race course, and get you to points where you can see the race; for example at stage finishes or at the base of the mountains so that the course is only a short walk away.
- We also stay in towns where non cyclists can choose to stay and do tourist walks and shop or just relax if they wish.
Share your experience with a cycling partner
- We meet the cyclists at specific points ie: stage finishes, villages at the base of the final climb etc, so you will get to see your partner during the day and spend time with them if you wish!
Our reservation conditions are simple and easy to read
- Before booking any trip you should read our Reservation Conditions.
As soon as we have a detailed itinerary available to give you.
- We usually send final itineraries within a month or two of the trip start
- We're unable finalise some of our itineraries until race organisers publish their race schedules as the details for each day will depend on the final time schedule for the race
- Information regarding the hotels you will be staying at will be available around the same time as final payments are due
- Ride maps and clothing will supplied to you at the beginning of the trip
- Soon after your booking, you will receive an email to submit your clothing requirements
- Near the issue of your final invoice you will receive an email to supply emergency contact details for your travel, as well as your travel insurance provider
- A few weeks before your trip starts, we will ask you to supply your travel details so that we can track your arrival for any possible arrival delays or departure requirements
Yes, we have a fleet of almost 100 carbon bicycles available for hire.
Please refer to our Bicycle Rental section. However there is nothing like riding your own bike on a memorable trip. You’re familiar with it while on the trip and after it becomes like an old friend that you shared some great times with!
Every trip is carefully designed to see various aspects of the race
For the climbs, do you have a spot set up to watch the race or do you advise the best spots and we just fit in?
We do suggest good viewing spots for everyone but don’t normally have a spot set up as everyone climbs at different paces and go different distances up the mountain. We do our best to have our guides gather people up to watch the race but often people choose to find a few of the group and watch the race together.
We provide you with information on the day to help you choose an appropriate spot. It can get cold sometimes in high alpine areas, so we advise you depending on the race situation, weather and traffic. On some days, where possible, we try and set up our van with drinks in an appropriate area. We can’t always guarantee this, but we try our best.
Our trips are TWIN share, but you have the option for SINGLE SUPPLEMENT
If you have booked a TWIN share, we will pair you with someone of similar ability, age or occupation. We get everyone to fill in a number of forms so we gain an idea of who to match you with.
Every trip, depending on availability has the option for a Single Supplement if you wish to have your own room. The cost of the single supplement is a function of the rooming configuration and single occupancy rate at our hotels, therefore the cost to you is dependent on the trip hotels and duration of the trip. If you are planning on travelling Single Supplement, please book early to avoid disappointment.
Yes internet access will be available in most hotels
- Free wifi zones are also available at many cafés and public areas.
No, not at all but of course the usual greetings and pleasantries always help.
Your trip guides are either native speakers or have a limited vocabulary of the local language and will help you out should you need. You will find that since the amalgamation of European countries under the EU, many locals will understand some English, as long as you speak clearly and avoid using contractions (i.e I’ve, isn’t, they’ll, won’t, shouldn’t).
If you are really stuck, a patient game of charades with locals can often be a fun experience, and communicate a message.
Riding
This depends on how much you'd like to do.
Our professional guides spend the first rides on the trip understanding your riding goals and abilities and help you achieve those throughout the trip.
For experienced riders, we will cater for rides that we give you tour legs and for those less interested in soreness, we recommend targeting a particular ride or two and making those your special day.
We usually break the rides up into three groups:
- Those who want to ride long and hard. Say 100 kilometres plus at a good average speed, or 2000m of climbing.
- Those who want to ride long, but a little slower.
- Those who don’t want to go too far. We send at least one guide with each group.
On longer trips you will find that it is good to have an easier day (or even off the bike), as only a few of us ride every day when we’re at home.
You will always ride in a small group with people of similar abilities.
Our groups are limited to 30-36 people and on a normal day there are 2 to 3 rides, each with one guide or possibly two. We have one of the highest guide to guest ratios in the industry and most trips have 1 guide for 6 or 7 guests.
We consider the terrain being ridden, weather forecasts and possible road closures for how we organise rides and allocate staff. Rest assured, you will see our red-shirts on the road and they are available to help you get the most from this experience.
When there is more than 1 guide leading a ride, there will always be a tail-end staff rider to help you with any mechanical or navigational challenges.
Your safety and enjoyment are our primary objectives, and your trip leader will let you know when you can ride as hard as you like and when we should keep together as a group.
If you don’t feel like riding as much or would like to do an alternative ride, you can discuss this with your trip leader and they will provide you with some guidance.
Yes, we offer rides every day except when making a long transfer.
Average distances vary between groups. We cater for recreational cyclists through to those who want to climb 3 cols in a day. So ride distances each day might be about 35km (20mi), 65km (40mi) and over 100km (60mi). On longer trips you will find that it is good to have an easier day (or even off the bike), as only a few of us ride every day when we’re at home.
Yes, yes and yes we love having female guests
We have an ever growing number of women join our trips. We also have 1 or 2 women cycling guides on most trips. Why not meet our staff? Our ratio or women on trips 2015 was between 30% and 40%. If you are an experienced cyclist or a cycling enthusiast we welcome you to our trips. On some days, one of our planned rides becomes the ladies village tour, giving you lots of time to explore the historic villages, beautiful scenery and cuisine, while the rest of the group grinds its out on a climb. The choice is yours of course.
We do have support vehicles however they don’t necessarily follow the riders.
If there is a problem that requires extra assistance one of our guides will phone up a van for assistance. Rest assured, you will see our red-shirts on the road and they are available to help you get the most from this experience. When there is more than 1 guide leading a ride, their will always be a tail-end staff rider to help you with any mechanical or navigational challenges.
Yes, we have transport for guest to refuel their water, energy bars as well as warmer gear.
However we encourage guests to be as self sufficient as possible.
For all of our large trips, we have a bus and van available to support riders depending on the conditions each day.
Smaller trips will have a combination of 1 or 2 vans available to support. On some days, where possible, we try and set up our van with drinks in an appropriate area. We can’t always guarantee this, but we try our best.
However we do like people to experience the areas we visit, so we encourage you to stop at cafés and enjoy the life!
The timing of rides depends on the race and which part we will be viewing.
But most rides depart around 9am. We always allow time for you to get a good breakfast before starting the day and keep you well informed of when our ride, vans or buses depart.
The trips can be quite busy as we don’t want you missing out on the action and the scenery. When we see an early part of the race, like race starts, we will get you there with plenty of time and offer a ride option after see the peloton roll out.
Travel
Purchase your ticket soon after paying your deposit.
You shouldn’t purchase a ticket until you have paid your deposit and we have provided you with firm dates for the trip.
Yes. It is a requirement, but it also covers you before you travel.
It is a company policy of Bikestyle that all clients traveling with us have adequate travel insurance covering accident, personal injury, loss of luggage and cancellation. You should arrange your travel insurance at the time of booking.
We can help you with locating travel insurance if required. More information.
Equipment
Many do, but we also have rental bikes available.
It may be worth considering hiring one from us if you are combining your trip with some other travel. See our Bicycle Rental section for further information.
If you are bringing your own bike, we strongly recommend that you have it fully serviced before travelling. Consider the following wear on your bike before travel:
- tyres
- brake-pads and braking surfaces
- smoothness of gear and brake cables
- wear on your chain and gears
- spoke tension and general wheel condition
- charge remaining in your battery (for electronic gears)
- condition of your bar-tape
- condition of your pedals and cleats
Many descents can be long and your tyres and brakes are very important to descend safely. We don’t want you to be disappointed on missing out on any rides because you bike isn’t in working order!
Most have hard cases or padded soft cases but a good old cardboard box will do a good job also.
Most bike shops may pack your bike ready for travel for a small service fee. We often store the cases while we travel and collect them again at the end of the trip i.e. they don’t travel with us.
If you are unsure on how to pack your bike or what case to use, please contact us.
Yes we are always there to assist as much as required
However experience tells us that most people like to put their own bikes together.
If you need us to help you with some finishing off or even to completely assemble or disassemble you bike, then we can do that for you.
Mostly double with anything from 28 to 32 on the rear.
Compact cranks can make a real difference as they have a 34 inside chain ring which gives you more gears for climbing. Newer groupsets (like on our hire bikes) have many options for gearing as they handle larger cogs on the rear wheel as well as compact cranks.
If you are unsure, please contact us.
We will have a good range of spares.
Tyres, tubes and just about everything including the kitchen sink! or in this case cleaning equipment.
CO2 cartridges in 12 and 16 (threaded), spare brake blocks, bar tape and the most common cleats.If you have less common cleats, such as Keewin or Speedplay we recommend you bring your own spares.
Due to the many varieties of wheels, we are unable to carry every variety of spoke. If we don’t have the equipment we will help you to source something locally. But if your in doubt, consider bringing with you a spare spoke or two and a spare dérailleur hanger.
Meals
This varies between trips.
On our France trips all Breakfasts are included and a minimum 3 evening meals and on our trips to the Vuelta and Giro, we usually provide most if not all evening meals.
Please check the inclusions of the trip you want to do to see exactly what is included.
People often ask why we don’t provide all the dinners on our trips. Well we used to, once upon a time, but we found it difficult to please the many different palates of all our guests at one restaurant!
While hotel food is quite good, it can become a bit much every night. Most people like to take a walk and find a restaurant to their liking and sample some of the great food and atmosphere.
What ever your dietary requirements are, we do our best to cater for them.
All of our trips have native speakers (French, Italian or Spanish) that will help discuss your needs with the kitchen. We ask that you advise us of your dietary requirements, be that allergy or dislikes, so that we can give our suppliers advanced notice.
As long as we know, we will be able to cater for you at the dinners we organise. At restaurants they will normally cater for you if you ask. It may not be on the menu but they can do it. Plus the French make fantastic salads that are meals in themselves.
- Vegetarians: There is no doubt that France is the last bastion of the meat eaters! Every year it gets a little better and so long as we know who we are catering for.
- Gluten or Lactose Intolerance: While bread and butter are staple foods in Europe, many restaurants are either have GF and LF dishes, or the kitchen is able to modify dishes on the menu to meet your needs. We will advise kitchens, so long as we know who we are catering for.
- Allergies (eg. seafood, crustaceans, nuts): Seafood is served more often in Europe (especially in Spain), so it is important you advise us of your allergies or dislike of seafood. If you know you have anaphylaxis from exposure please advise us and discuss your treatment plan with your tour leader.
We always offer some basic nutrition, like muesli bars, cakes or fruit before your ride or when you meet up with the van during your ride. We have sports powder available. Some sport specific bars and gels are available from stores like Decathlon but it can be difficult to get to these stores at times. On our trips we will have some products available but please check with us before the trip.If you are particular, it’s best to bring your preferred food with you.
Watching the Race
Our vehicles are equipped with TVs but commentary is not in English.
We will ride a part of the course on many days prior to (or after) the race coming through.
Some days we ride 100k along the course and other days we will come from a different direction and intersect the course, riding from the start or to the finish, including the challenging climbs or similar. It is normal to throw in one hard day where you ride the last 80 or 100k over 2 climbs on a tough mountain stage. If you are not wanting to ride that far or that hard we also provide shorter, easier rides on the course.