Booking a trip with a bicycle travel company can sometimes feel a bit impersonal, especially if you choose to book with a large agency. But if you book a bicycle tour with a smaller company, it will treat each guest as special and aim to exceed expectations. That is the benefit of traveling with a small, family-owned business like Outfitter Bicycle Tours.
Who is Outfitter Bicycle Tours (OBT)?
The company is a family-owned and operated business founded in 1996 by Dick and Marilyn Powell. The Powells owned a bike shop in Los Altos, CA, called The Bicycle Outfitter, but they loved travel and cycling, so Outfitter Bicycle Tours was born.
Based in Asheville, NC, the company is run by Joy and Jamie Gilpin, two former bike racers. Joy also spent many years as a mechanic at shops in the Bay Area and San Diego. She is the main mechanic on OBT’s guided tours. Jamie handles the operations part of the business.
What Makes An Outfitters Bicycle Tour Unique? Environmental Sustainability
What makes OBT unique as a bicycle travel company is that it accounts for the impact (and that of its guests) on the environment. That is why it offers its guests the choice to contribute to OBT’s carbon offset program.
Guests can pay the $67.50 per hour during trip registration to cover their own carbon footprints. This calculation is based on “An average tour with us…[that creates] approximately 4.5 tons of carbon emissions per person.”
Destinations and Type of Trips OBT Offers
Outfitters Bicycle Tours is a small company. In fact, it may be just Joy and Jamie Gilpin who handle all its tasks. That means the number of trips the company can host is not as diverse as that of other bicycle travel companies.
OBT Primarily does trips in Italy, France, and, of course, Asheville. The trips themselves are either guided or self-guided.
- Tuscany (Italy)
- Provence (France)
- Dordogne (France)
- Burgundy (France)
- French Pyrennes/ Alps
- Tour de France experience
- Asheville, NC (United States)
What’s Included in an Outfitters Bicycle Tours Trip?
A visit to OBT’s website doesn’t explicitly list what’s included for one of their trips. So, a lot of the following information was gathered from the company’s FAQ page and its Tuscany trip page.
If you decide to book a trip with Outfitters Bicycle Tours and you have questions, I would either email or call them. That said, here is a general idea of what is included on one of the company’s trips.
- Local guide
- Choose the date and name the place for a custom tour
- OBT states that it includes “all luggage transfers, jerseys, comprehensive routing instructions, and much more.”
- High-quality rental bikes: road, hybrid, eBikes, and mountain bikes
- A mix of 3 star and 4 star accomodations
- Bring your own bike! OBT will even send guests a bike packing guide and sell them a bike case if needed or desired
- Trips are geared toward both casual and avid cyclists
- Meals included are all breakfasts, no lunches, and some dinners
Typical Cost and Number of Days for an OBT Trip
The company doesn’t list any prices for self-guided tours because that’s determined by location, number of days, amount of guests, etc. Some of the guided tours do have specific dates with prices.
OBT’s Tour de France experience, for instance, is $3,995 for double occupancy and $4,895 for a single room. To rent a road bike from them, it’s $395. The 2024 trip covered a good portion of the race at 10 days and 9 nights.
Last Thoughts
Outfitters Bicycle Tours looks like a good company to work with for a trip, especially if you’re interested in self-guided tours. OBT takes care of many details for you, so all you have to do is show up and ride.
The guided tours look pretty typical (in terms of details and pricing) to other bicycle travel companies. One unique thing, however, that OBT does offer is a referral and rewards program. These aren’t huge discounts, but it’s a nice amenity that the company gives you something when you refer someone or do repeat trips.
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