Interesting but disappointing

Although the trip was interesting, the attitude and behavior of the chief leader of the trip was poor. He is one of those people who is more concerned with getting to a destination than in actually enjoying and appreciating the country one is riding through, so that often there is implicit pressure to ride faster even though there is no particular hurry, It seemed odd to us that the short and long rides were not very different in pace. Another real deficiency was the effort to enable the participants to appreciate the towns. In one instance, this was exemplified by the leader saying “here’s a map – do what you like and we’ll continue in two hours.” The deputy leader was different in attitude and seemed to make a real effort to have the participants involved with the trip. On the last day, when we wanted to ride the bikes without the leaders, there was strenuous effort to dissuade us from doing so. This seemed absurd. The notes clearly stated that participants could ride solo if they wanted to. On the positive side, the meals were very good. Would I recommend the trip? Yes, but not with this sort of leader.