Ride the Empire State Trail on your own (with a little help)

Tour Operation Services

Tour Operation Services include on-the-ground services while you are out riding your tour. These services could include providing you with rental bikes, baggage shuttle, and/or full-service vehicle support for the days you are riding.

The exact scope of the Tour Operation Services you may need will likely be determined through the Tour Planning process as discussed above. Typical costs for services include:

Hybrid rental bicycles: $250 per week
One-way bicycle rental drop off fee: $400
Baggage-shuttle: $400 per group, per day
Full-service vehicle support: $1,000 to $1,500 per group, per day. (Costs vary by location and group size)

Tour Planning Services

You already know that you want to go on a bike tour across New York State, but there are many questions:

Do you know where you want to ride and how many days?
Do you know where you want to start and end? How will you get there?
Do you want to use your own bike or rent a bike?
Do you know where you want to stay along your ride? Will there be services and good places to eat?
Are you familiar with all of the places you can visit while you ride? Are there particular attractions or experiences that you are interested in? Are there particular foods or local products you would like to try?
Would you like a reliable GPS program to help you navigate the route and provide you with information while you ride? (Just following signs while you ride may not be enough because signs are always missing!)

If you are not at all familiar with New York, you should expect to spend about 30 to 50 hours planning out your tour so that you can be organized enough to satisfy the above questions. If you have some familiarity with New York, perhaps it will take you a few hours less. Our Tour Planning Services are intended to save you this work. Our servcies can also save you money since we can help you identify cost savings that you may not otherwise know about, so they are an excellent value.

Here's what you get:

Selecting the best itinerary. Through phone and email consultation, we can go over options with you to create an itinerary that has the ideal mileage per day for your group. This would include a selection of lodging options in locations that best suit your group.

Getting there and away. We can give you customized options for getting to the start of your ride, and getting back from the end of your ride. This can include logistics for traveling with your own bikes, or for using rental bikes.

Overview maps. Each day of riding will come with a set of overview maps that describe the highlights of each day, as well as the location of services. Emergency medical facilities and bike shops are identified as well as restaurants, convenience stores, and other services that cyclists may need. Click here to see a sample overiew map.

Turn-by-turn GPS navigation. Your entire ride would be programmed with GPS navigation through Ride With GPS. You can run the GPS by using a smartphone app or by downloading it to a Garmin or other device. This GPS will route you directly to and from your accommodations each day, and will help you find restaurants, services, scenic viewpoints, historic sights and more as you ride. Click here to see a sample of the GPS mapping you would receive.

Information, attractions and points of interest. Your overview maps and GPS navigation can be customized to include information about specific attractions, recommended places to eat, good places to take breaks, notable scenic or historical sites and more. The Ride With GPS smartphone app also includes a guide with photographs of every informational panel along your route so that you do not need to stop and read any. The GPS will read you one-sentence summaries about what each sign is about as you pass the sign, so you will know if you want to read it.

Tour Planning Services typcically cost between $500 and $1,200 depening on the length and complexity of your tour.

Not everyone wants to ride the Empire State Trail with a group, and not every group needs the full service of a private tour. In such cases, a self-guided bike tour is the best option. Self-guided tours are designed for cyclists who want to be on their own each day, and generally responsible for themselves.

The Self-Guided tour services that Gotham Bicycle Tours can provide are made up of two components:

Tour Planning Services that include direct consultation to help you narrow down options and work out the best logistical plan for your group before your tour, and

Tour Operation Services such as rental bikes, baggage shuttle, vehicle support, etc. that are provided while you are out riding your tour.