About Bike Tours UK

ABOUT ME

Don't you think that the "About Us" section of a website is often th emost interesting part?  It tells you a bit about how the organisation ticks.  What are its ideals & aspirations and its very raison d'etre.

I think Bike Tours UK is unique in the way trips are run.  Read on down and you may understand why.  A sanitised, tame, well-packaged tour is not my style. There's always an adventure element to it :)

That's me, pictured left, dressed in hot-weather trail riding gear, having just arrived in Khun Yuam, after a long, 150km hard day's off-road adventure from Mae Chaem (Thailand).  This is the only off-road tour I offer, but it's just so amazing, I have to plug it from time to time.

Bike Tours UK is a small enterprise, in fact, just me.

MY CV

I could start by telling you about my days in the corporate world, and bore you to death with exciting tales from within the various Personnel & Training departments, and the thrill of delivering Health & Safety courses,  But I wont.

You don't want to hear a word about ISO9000, SPC, just-in-time manufacturing or any of that old management-speak either , do you?  No, I thought not.

So let's talk about bikes, and travel.

The story starts at the age of 8 years old...

I was an angelic well-behaved schoolboy, taught by Nuns whilst at Primary school. After school, I'd cycle miles and miles with my mate, "racing" around newly built 1960s housing estates, cornering hard on all the bends.  After hitting a sportscar head-on, I learned that "T" junctions should not be regarded as bends. On leaving hospital, I had a new-found respect for hard crunchy things on 4 wheels.  Don't mess with them!

I went on to be a perfect pupil at an all-boys Roman Catholic Grammar school, and even played classical violin in the Yorkshire Schools Youth Orchestra for a while. I could have been heading for a safe career in something like Accountancy, until I discovered engines at the age of about 14.

I built & flew model aeroplanes, powered by small glo-plug or diesel engines. These planes made a lot of noise, and strangley enough, attracted girls to come and watch. A local lad with a proper Trials bike (an Ossa 250) also hung around watching my displays of aerobatics.

So, out went the violin practice, and in came girlfriends & motorbikes.  Trials boy would say someting like, "introduce me to those girls, and I'll give you a go on my bike" and this seemed like a very fair exchange to me.  He got a snog, and I got to learn to ride a top class trials bike in its day, around the fields and up in the woods around Mirfield, West Yorkshire.

(to be continued)

Someone setting up a new bike tour company in a far away, remote part of the world just asked me what qualifications one needs to run a Bike Tour company.  I hadn't really thtoght about it before, but I said this..

Back to the present day

The most rewarding thing for me is to see the real country, meet the real people and see the things you wouldn't usually find on the main tourist trail.   I cannot abide sterile 4 star package tours; mass-produced holidays for the none-too-discerning. 

Bike Tours UK trips just aren't like that.  Not at all.  Not one bit.

My website normally appears pretty high up on Google's first page.   Well, it's either me or White Rose, depending on the search terms you use.  I'm proud of this, and it's not accidental.  I try and add good content to the website, and refuse to allow any irritiating pop-up ads, and and I don't sell junk. 

I try and link only to decent, interesting websites which offer some value to you.  I generally avoid linking to directory sites.

All the information on here will help you to decide whether my trips would suit you, or whether you should go for the softer options instead. (scroll right on down to see a description of YOU)

This is a very small business, just me, running it my way, from home.

I do it because I like it. I treat every tour as if it's a group of friends with me - like the way it started in the beginning.

I have a pretty laid back attitude to life and I prefer the trips to be fun, even chaotic, with plenty of flexibility & transgressions allowed. (It doesn't always work like this, but it doesn't stop me trying anyway)

I have no ambition for this business to become a massive organisation - that would be like working in a proper job again - no thanks!

Because I also have children to look after, I only run a small handful of trips per year (8 maximum normally).  Because of this, I limit my motorcycle tours to destinations which I genuinely believe offer superlative riding.  I don't do tours to popular locations, just because there's a demand for it.

For 6-10 guests, I run these trips quite easily, single-handedly, but above 10 guests, I normally enroll an assistant - see "Meet the Team". Usually this is a friend (John B) or relative (Hugh), but it can be a customer who's been on one of my tours before, and comes along the next time as a helper (eg Scott RIP, or John A).


My tours are not sterile over-orgainsed affairs as they are supposed to be fun - expect the unexpected sometimes - especially in Thailand. 

Things do not always run like clockwork, with even the best planning, things go wrong from time to time, but life's like that.   At least you have a group with you to offer support & help should it be needed.

Photo, below right, my wife & I riding an Enfield 350 in Goa, India. Now there's a great place for a biking holiday!  Sunshine, classic Enfields, great beaches, cheap cold beer and curry.  What more do you need?

ABOUT YOU

It's impossible to predict in advance what the mix of people on a tour will be like. And, actually, it's often the mix of people, the "group dynamics", that can make or break a tour. However I can give you some guesses.

I have tried to describe my trips accurately on this website, and I'm going to make the descriptions even more explicit for 2005 and beyond.

Let me make some wild generalisations.

With most organised tours (nearly all Bike Tour companies I would suggest), you'll usually get the slightly less adventurous type of person, often in the older age bracket, and people who need looking after a bit. The wilder, more independent ones usually organise it themselves and avoid group tours like the plague. The vast majority of people enjoy my trips, but a very small minority have found them a bit too challenging.

I do package tours for people who HATE package tours.

Basically, I enjoy riding a bike, I like the performance of a bike, I like twisty roads and high mountain passes, I like a bit of a challenge, and I purposely select the most demanding and exciting roads to travel along.

I'd drive a car -  or ride a Hardley Abelson otherwise :) 

This approach doesn't suit everyone, so I've started to say that I run "adventurous tours".   I don't plod along, on dead straight roads.  I seek out "real bikers' roads".

Under 2% of customers have found my trips too much of a handful (Too far, too fast, too long - I'm sorry - my tour descriptions do explain this), but no-one has ever said my trips are boring. I'd be absolutely mortified by that!

Many tour companies actually lean towards the steady, more conservative customer. Although perhaps well over half my clients fall into this category, I actually like to cater for the more "young at heart" and carefree types. I'm actively trying to encourage the younger person to give it a go, and prove to them that motorcycle touring is far from boring, and it isn't just reserved for bearded BOFs on BMWs. Actual age, in years lived, has very little to do with it. It's attitude and outlook which count.

On the other hand, some of my craziest, most adventurous guests in the Alps and in Thailand, have been guys who are well into their sixties, with one or two nudging 70!  Dirt riding across Northern Thailand with only a few months to go to 70 years old?  Well, yes.  

At the other end of the scale there have been guys scarcely beyond their twenties who could not manage what this guy did.

I've also had a few Police riders - they know a thing or two about riding as well!

The type of person I get, depends partly on the destination. The further away the destination, the more adventurous the guest is likely to be.

Oh - and what about the mix of male / female?

It's a sad fact that the vast majority of bike riders are male, therefore most riders are male on my trips. Some are single males, some are married but have escaped from the missus just for the bike trip. However I also get couples on one bike, I sometimes get couples on a bike each, and occasionally I get a single female rider on her own bike. This should be encouraged, single females are more than welcome - but be realistic here - how many women ride bikes compared to men?

The ladies are gladly invited to join in the fun, but you'll need to "muck in" with the lads a bit, as rightly-or-wrongly, biking's usually a bit of a man thing.  There'll be a lot of bike talk and bulls**t at the end of the day, and we all become riding Gods (in the telling) after a beer or two.

TT races - overseas guests (mainly USA), late 20s to 50s, high proportion of serious race fans on sporty bikes (obviously) and party animals. Normally quick riders - the TT will be an ENORMOUS shock to plodders.  It is a RACE event after all.

Thailand - the most adventurous trip I do. People must be prepared to rough it a bit, experience heat, dust, discomfort and physically demanding riding (off-road on dirt tracks). For an experienced trail rider, these routes are easy-peasy (much easier than trails in UK) but if you haven't done it before, it can be exhausting, both mentally and physically.

Generally, the Thai fans realise this, and I'll get guys who are reasonably fit and adventurous, aged mainly from late 20s / early 30s, most in their 40s (an income thing, plus middle age crisis to combat?) with some real heroes in their 50s plus.

Alps - France / Italy / Switzerland. The Alps are arguably the most demanding roads in Europe and equal to anything in the world. I actively seek out the twistiest roads, with the most dramatic drop-offs and take people over the highest paved mountain pass in Europe. It's also a fair old ride to get down there - so a certain level of riding skill and endurance is needed - mainly for the journey itself, and but also for the shorter day trips. 

I've had all ranges of riding ability, outlook and ages on this trip. I would say the younger end (or young-at-heart), late 20s to 40s get the most out of the trip - but there are always exceptions to the rule. Campers tend to be more laid-back, and the money saved buys more cheap supermarket beer! The trip sometimes coincides with a motorcycle rally in Bourg St Maurice, and usually also pulls in the Fete de St Jean - a big bonfire party in Bourg. Neither of these events compare to the mayhem of the TT, but they do appeal to those who may want to let their hair down a bit. I rarely get pure sports bikes on the trips - shame really, as these roads are made for them!


Dordogne / Spain - Mid Sept / Oct
Somewhere in between. The roads of the Dordogne are nowhere near as demanding as the Alps, but the scenery is pleasant if not in the same breath-taking league as the Alps. And of course, we do cross over the Pyrenees and go into the Picos mountains, so there is still scope for the sportier rider. Suitable for all except pure novice I'd say.

There are plenty of companies offering gentle, introductory tours for Novices - eg. 3 day trips over the boring flatlands of Northern France. I don't do these. I'd fall asleep at the bars. (Handlebars - not drinking bars - I can already do that quite easily!)

Best of Three - National Parks in the UK.
I do a couple of these a year. 3-day trips, covering 500+ miles in 3 National Parks. Short trips, OK for someone as a try out to see if they'd like the Alps. OK for those of less experience perhaps - BUT BE WARNED - once again, I deliberately pick the most challenging and demanding roads. I call it the "best" of three - ie. in my opinion, some of the best riding roads in these areas. I ride a bike for the challenge, the performance, the concentration and the skill required and of course, the great exhileration and fun. If this doesn't float your boat, buy a Cruiser and look elswhere.  The Wrynose Pass and the Hardknott Pass in the Lake District are likely to be the most intimidating roads you'll see in the UK.

Sorry to be blunt, but that's the way I see it.

Read this http://www.biketours-uk.com/catman/view/17/156/index.cms if you want to partake in a discussion about tour styles. Read it anyway - it pretty much sums up my tour philosophy, although the original text was penned by John Arthur. For practical reasons, I can't use all John's preferences, but go on, read it, and see what YOU think.