Comments on Tom's review of Sustainable Energy in Motion Bicycle Tour

Tom H.
1 review
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Great concept, but a huge disconnect between principles and actions

I love the idea of these tours; bike touring while doing community service projects and learning about sustainability. Unfortunately, the stated principles of the company are at odds with the way they actually do business.

I have been bike touring regularly for over 15 years, and I have never ridden with a company which had so little regard for its riders. Every day there were new rules imposed that had not been disclosed before the trip; we were threatened with being thrown off the tour if we violated them. (For example: After the tour had already started, we were told that we could only ride in groups of 2, and had to keep at least a quarter-mile between each group--for a group of 25 riders.)

There was no one riding sweep to make sure the weaker riders were OK, and the support van wouldn't go out to find people who were late or lost; we were told that if we got lost, they would call the police for a search and rescue mission, which we would have to pay for. The company provided only rudimentary maps, and their directions were often confusing.

The company owner (Vladislav) also micro-manged his tour guides, not allowing them to make basic bicycle repairs (such as adjusting a derailleur or fixing a stuck chain link)--members of the tour had to fix their own bikes, and at one point the company drove a new bike out to the coast instead of fixing a minor problem.

The guides (other than Slav) were OK, and the projects we worked on and people we met were really energizing. I hope a company with more clue about bike touring takes this concept and develops it into something truly green and enjoyable.

Tom's keywords: bike tour, sustainability, portland