If you have never done a cylcling tour, then I would go with a group tour. I have known several people who did a group tour for their first trip and later toured on their own.

I did it differently, cycling twice on my own before doing a tour.

When I tour on my own now, I stay in one place for several days, doing day trips. Then I move by train to another base of operations. This eliminates the carrying of luggage on the bike.

Even if you have only a little baggage, it is a pain to cycle everyday with the baggage on your bike.

I would also check www.ctc.org.uk

pidscott, great web sites. Bookmarked them all. Ireland has not been high on our list but may move it up a notch or two.

maribethp --- what is your cycling experience? That might help with some of the recommendations. As I posted earlier, bring you own big wheel bike is a pain in the butt. The US airline are now surcharging boxed bikes $80 each way. Used to be that Europe airlines did not charge but don't know if that is true today. It has been five years since we hauled a big wheel with us. At one time airlines provided boxes for bikes but I don't think that is the case today.

When we rent bikes we bring our own pedals, saddles, and helmets. They don't add that much weight to our luggage and it is handy knowing exactly what we will be sitting on. However, some tour groups have a poor attitude about using your own bike. So if you are thinking about bring your bike, check carefully with the tour operator.

Maribethp: I totally get the "corporate America" concern. One of the things we liked about our Bike Vermont (Bike Ireland) tour was that 1/2 the people on the trip were teachers,nannies,guidance counselors, etc. Enthusiastic bunch about any tours we took, great conversationalists. Very non-corporate trip. From our Italy trips, I think VBT could offer similar demographic.

As to the biking difficulty: One of the persons on the Bike Vermont (Bike Ireland) trip was a competitive cyclist honeymooning with an almost non-cyclist. The tour guides would shuttle her (and several of the others) up the biggest hills, and they could bike together 1/2 of the time. Then he'd go out on the long extensions with my kids to burn up the extra energy.

A retired couple on this trip and one on a different trip would try to head out early in the morning so they could take their time, smell the roses, so to speak yet keep on faster cyclists' schedules.

Josephina, I think the reference to "corporate America" regarded the size of the pension and not the style of the tour. I know some corporate retirees who love to have a teacher's retirement program. Teacher's retirement programs may not be large but they are not going bankrupt either.

Forgot to mentioned earlier. If you are young enough look at the Elderhostel cycling programs. We looked at a couple of tours that we thought were very attractive around Prague. Don't remember if they had anything in Ireland. Check the web site. However, this was one group that was unfriendly towards bring your own bike. Had to have the specific permission of the tour guide. When I e-mailed the tour guide for permission, I received a response that laid down a lot of conditions -- cannot hold up the group, must do our own mechanical work, cannot use the saq wagon, lots of not responsible, etc. We decided to pass until another time.

The corporate reference was to our long- term earning power, pensions are fairly good. We are not wealthy people, except in human experiences and rewards.These have been such helpful and thought-provoking posts. Keep them coming and kudos to all.

But there are draw backs. We are both in education. M has taught for 37 years but 13 were in Indiana so she only gets credit for 24 in Colorado. Fortunately I could take my years with me so I faired a little better. And then because Colorado does not participate in SS, she is penalized for drawing SS even through she qualified for SS while in Indiana. You cannot win. Too many rules.

I've been following this post with interest. What I'm still not sure of is the bicycling experience level of these two friends.

Do you ride at home? Competitively? For pleasure? Long distance? It biking your life, or something that sounds fun to do on a vacation only? I ask these because that would change the answers (I believe) about tours vs. indepdendent, whether to take your own bikes, etc.

Suze, I wondered the same thing and asked the same question with no response. I am beginning to think that they may be novice riders with no clues about what constitutes touring.

We bike for pleasure.Not competitively. One of us has done day long tours, the other shorter ones. I was thinking that most of the countryside would be rather flat, so we should be good to go.

maribethp--Hmm. On three trips (two west coast, one south/southwest), not much was flat that I can remember. And usually, the spots that were (round the coast by the Barrens) were into headwinds at least part of the time.

Inis Mor was rather easy, I guess. But honestly, one should be thinking hills.

I am picturing gently sloping lovely verdant hills.And riding at my own pace, as the companies suggest.

I used Irish Cycling Safaris several years ago (2000) and they were great. No idea if they still exist but I'd bike with them again if they did. At the time, I paid 600 dollars for a week's tour - lodging and bikes and SAG wagon. Plus airfare, food and souvenirs of course.

By darn, they still exist, but the price has doubled:

http://www.cyclingsafaris.com/safari...ayo_galway.htm

It's now 645 pounds (versus about 600 bucks) for a week's tour.

The above was the tour I took.

whoops, I meant euros, not pounds. so only 1.5 times what it was in 2000. ar ar ar (sigh).

If you're still around: we bike for pleasure, and it showed. My DH and teenaged DS sailed along while my sister and I had trouble. Also, my sister was scared of going fast down hills (she is NOT physical) so she lost most chances of making up time. Definitely take your own saddles and pedals and helmets, and try to get in better shape before you go. Do at least one ride the same length as your longest day, on about the same terrain. Not doing that was one of our many mistakes.

..a bit off topic but a great resource for looking up possible bike trips- bicyclingworld.com. You can plug in the country, dates and "level " and it churns out a list of possibilities. I have found it very helpful.