Good tours for teens reasonably priced?

[billy50]

I'm in Ohio and I'm looking for a good teen bike tour program for my son that is reasonably priced.  Any ideas?

[knolltop]

What is your definition of "reasonably priced"?

[John Nelson]

Since you want "reasonably priced", you're likely going to want something self-contained rather than van-supported. Self-supported trips guided by ACA run from about $50 a day for the three-month tours up to $110 a day for the one-week tours. Van supported tours are about 50% to 75% more expensive.

There are many other tour companies. Bicycle Adventures runs lots of tours, all van supported I think, and mostly fairly short. Even their "budget" tours are $335 a day and up. Some of their other tours run $500 a day. These prices make the ACA tours sound like a real bargain.

America by Bicycle is another large touring company. Their cross-country ride costs $225 a day, about three times what a van-supported ACA tour costs. Their shorter tours run about $330 a day.

All in all, the ACA tours sound like a good choice, huh?

If you're looking for a teen-specific tour, check out Outward Bound or Apogee Adventures. These are going to cost more. On an ACA tour, you'll son won't have many people his age, but there may be one or two others. The average age for ACA participants is 45.

How long of a tour are you interested in? Are you looking for a tour that caters specifically to teens? And exactly how old is your son?

Note that there are kids out there touring alone or in pairs as young as 18.

[steveithny]

You might try a company called Teen Treks www.teentreks.com .  My daughter took their GAP/C&O trip last year and loved it.  It starts in Pittsburgh, PA which isn't too far from Ohio.  The trips are exclusively for teens -- they have a dozen or so kids with 2 adult leaders (typically >21 year old college kids).  They do mostly camping and carry everything on their bikes in true "self-contained" bike touring style practiced years ago by AYH and now by ACA.  But ACA requires kids to be accompanied by a parent on it's trips (which can work out very well for some families), while Teen Treks takes the kids by themselves.  My teen loved the independence of being away from parents and identified really well with the college student leaders (great mentor/roll models).  Cost is around $125 per day but varies depending upon trip length.  FYI, I have no affiliation with Teen Treks.  Just a satisfied customer (actually my daughter was the customer).

[mjcambron]

If you're open to a 2014 tour, check out www.decyclesindiana.org.  DeCycles is a summer youth cycling adventure for teens age 13-19.  Registration usually starts in February or March.  DeCycles can typically accomodate about 60 youth riders.
Cheers,
Mike