Thoughts on a potential MTB/gravel tour in Georgia

[Scott roy]

I recently moved to the tiny and country of Georgia in Eastern Europe. Since my first visit here I was struck by how beautiful the country is, its very mountainous, green (in summer), is steeped in history with many old forts and monasteries and has loads of Jeep track style roads through the mountains.

Additionally the food here is excellent and the beer fantastic, they also claim to be the origin point of wine for the world. 
 

I’ve been contemplating the idea of doing MTB/gravel tour style trips for South Africans (simply because I know them), this has been spurred on by friends and friends of friends saying they want to come tour and cycle here. 
 

I’m looking for some insight on a few points, mainly:

 

Would South Africans be willing to fly half way round the world to come cycle around for a week. Obviously this would be a fairly small target market. 

How many days would they want to ride? I’m thinking something like a week here with maybe 1 rest day, maybe an extra day before flying back home to explore the capital for instance. What would you guys want to do?

What kind of distance and elevation would be most suitable? Due to all the mountains it’s not hard to do 3 000m vertical ascent in 80km, I would think maybe one day like that, followed by a shorter day of maybe 40km with under a thousand metres ascent and the remainder of the days around 70km with varying elevation. 

Would it be better to stay at one location and do all the riding from there, one would definitely need to then drive to some places and ride from there then drive back (not an issue as I have a couple of Vito’s). Or stay at a different town or place each evening and move around like that, logistically that could be tricky. Or a mix of both, stay one or two nights in 3 separate locations. 
 

Regarding the above point, having family along would make the staying at one location rather nice as the wife and kids or whoever can do there thing and you could come back to them each afternoon/evening. 
 

Backup vehicles, do people want one or not? I feel it’s very nice to have in some regards but in others it seems to take some of the thrill out of it, additionally routes would have to be doable by car which will definitely be more limiting. 

Group size, I think groups of no more than 12, but maybe people want more?

What to do if it rains? Push through and ride or rather rest up, explore, eat and drink beer? But if it rains for a couple of days people are going to be cheesed off at having payed for a trip that’s not lekker. 

Lastly, what are people willing to pay? I’m not looking to make money out of this but rather do it for the love of cycling and sharing the experience. My idea is a package that has air tickets, transport and accommodation. However even (just covering costs) prices will be from about 22k (best case scenario) to 35k per person depending on group size, ticket pricing and how busy it is (accommodation wise). This is a lot of money for anyone. 
 

The trips would be in early and late summer so as to not be too hot or too cold (think June and late September)
 

I would greatly appreciate any input, advice, suggestions or anything else. 

[Scott roy]

Bump 

[michaelbiker]

I’ve done a couple of these style trips in SE Asia. Firstly, it’s a lot of work and planning. You need to know the route and area well and you need to know the local language well too. 

Small groups are better for everyone. I did a trip with 6 and a trip with 10 and the larger group had more likelihood someone will struggle, get sick, get injured etc. 

You’ll need at least two guides and a follow vehicle. The follow vehicle is important for emergencies. It’s also great not having to carry your own food and water for an entire day and it allows some to bail if they aren’t up to it.

Point-to-point vs stay-in-one-place, that I guess is up to logistics. Booking hotels and guesthouses individually along the way can be difficult and complicated if plans change.

The first trip I did in Thailand was very well managed. There were 6 of us, 2 guides and 2 double cab bakkies with drivers - one of the drivers doubled up as a guide to give someone a break. The one had a bike trailer as we didn’t ride from the accommodation every day but started sometimes out of town. There were sections where we didn’t have a follow vehicle as the road / trail wasn’t passable. Thailand is quite well suited for tourists and we weren’t ever in a very remote location.

The second trip we did in Laos there were 10 of us. Laos is a lot poorer than Thailand. I think it’s classed as the poorest country in SE Asia. We had two guides and 2 follow vehicles. One was a flatbed truck with racks and the other was a Toyota Quantum. It was also point to point and on one day we had to cut short due to bad roads. The guides weren’t fit enough to keep up with the group, so they would often just ride in the truck behind us. It was an amazing trip but a lot tougher and a lot rougher than Thailand.

Long story short - unless you are keen on making money out of this and love people, I’d give it a skip. Particularly a point-to-point option with follow drivers for larger groups. 

You have to make sure tired, grumpy cyclists are happy after a very hard day on the bike yourself. You have to be super flexible if you need to change plans. You have to be able to help when there are mechanicals and deal with scary medical situations. You will need staff to help with guiding, driving, booking etc. You will need to deal with special dietary requirements. The list is endless.

That being said: guiding small groups around a specific area might work.  I wouldn’t mind visiting Georgia and checking out those mountains and roads. Sounds beautiful. Send pics!

[Scott roy]

13 minutes ago, michaelbiker said:

I’ve done a couple of these style trips in SE Asia. Firstly, it’s a lot of work and planning. You need to know the route and area well and you need to know the local language well too. 

Small groups are better for everyone. I did a trip with 6 and a trip with 10 and the larger group had more likelihood someone will struggle, get sick, get injured etc. 

You’ll need at least two guides and a follow vehicle. The follow vehicle is important for emergencies. It’s also great not having to carry your own food and water for an entire day and it allows some to bail if they aren’t up to it.

Point-to-point vs stay-in-one-place, that I guess is up to logistics. Booking hotels and guesthouses individually along the way can be difficult and complicated if plans change.

The first trip I did in Thailand was very well managed. There were 6 of us, 2 guides and 2 double cab bakkies with drivers - one of the drivers doubled up as a guide to give someone a break. The one had a bike trailer as we didn’t ride from the accommodation every day but started sometimes out of town. There were sections where we didn’t have a follow vehicle as the road / trail wasn’t passable. Thailand is quite well suited for tourists and we weren’t ever in a very remote location.

The second trip we did in Laos there were 10 of us. Laos is a lot poorer than Thailand. I think it’s classed as the poorest country in SE Asia. We had two guides and 2 follow vehicles. One was a flatbed truck with racks and the other was a Toyota Quantum. It was also point to point and on one day we had to cut short due to bad roads. The guides weren’t fit enough to keep up with the group, so they would often just ride in the truck behind us. It was an amazing trip but a lot tougher and a lot rougher than Thailand.

Long story short - unless you are keen on making money out of this and love people, I’d give it a skip. Particularly a point-to-point option with follow drivers for larger groups. 

You have to make sure tired, grumpy cyclists are happy after a very hard day on the bike yourself. You have to be super flexible if you need to change plans. You have to be able to help when there are mechanicals and deal with scary medical situations. You will need staff to help with guiding, driving, booking etc. You will need to deal with special dietary requirements. The list is endless.

That being said: guiding small groups around a specific area might work.  I wouldn’t mind visiting Georgia and checking out those mountains and roads. Sounds beautiful. Send pics!

Thanks a lot for your input

Having a backup vehicle won’t be an issue, I have a 4x4 vito that I’d be willing to send off road so that will work fine, I also have driver working for me so that won’t be a problem. 

I’m curious as to why you suggest two guides, would that be one to lead and one to bring up the rear of the group? 
 

Reading what you say I think maybe a group of 6 would be ideal as I can get racks for 6 bikes for the one vehicle (I’m not willing to send a second vehicle out on those roads). 
 

Regarding knowing the area and language, I live here full time now so I actively ride some of the roads I have in mind and I would ride all planned routes beforehand. Each rider in the group would also get the routes for their headunits. As for language, I am learning but I do think we could get by, I could also invite a Georgian cyclist I have met along for that purpose. 
 

Keeping people happy is one of my larger concerns, as specially with weather I feel. It rains plenty here so its bat would be tricky. 
Meals wouldn’t be included in the package, I think suggesting restaurants and each has their own order and bill is the way to go. 
 

I am somewhat connected/in business with a company that does winter (ski) trips here so I can do accommodation and travel arrangements through them, that would work out better for the station one place option and then drive out from there. I think staying in two places would probably be for the best though. 
 

Medical problems is a very valid point, were any of your guides trained to some degree? As far as mechanical issues go, I am a certified bicycle mechanic and I could put together a emergency parts bin

 

Lastly, what kind of distance/elevation did you guys do per day and how many days was your trip?

[michaelbiker]

4 minutes ago, Scott roy said:

I’m curious as to why you suggest two guides, would that be one to lead and one to bring up the rear of the group? 

Yes correct. Even though everyone had the map on their head units didn’t mean they could read it. Also the guide in front should know where the dangerous parts of the trail are. Riders are essentially riding the route blind and the group will have varying skill levels. Same for the rear, riders will have quite varied fitness. Having a sweeper at the back is important in case of mechanicals / medical issues etc. 

6 minutes ago, Scott roy said:

Medical problems is a very valid point, were any of your guides trained to some degree? As far as mechanical issues go, I am a certified bicycle mechanic and I could put together a emergency parts bin

Yeah they were supposedly trained in first aid. We didn’t have any incidents apart from fatigue and light heat stroke. Mechanical issues we mostly had to deal with ourselves, particularly with spares.

8 minutes ago, Scott roy said:

Lastly, what kind of distance/elevation did you guys do per day and how many days was your trip?

First trip in Thailand was about 40-50km per day for 5 days. It was a mix of tar, gravel and singletrack. The last day was not possible on a gravel bike. MTB only. Ascent about 800-1200m per day. Just bear in mind these places are hot and humid and muddy.

Laos was a lot harder, we had two 80km+ days with 2500m of climbing. Both days took the entire day to ride and we finished in the dark. The other 3 days were less hard - around 800m to 1500m and went from 40km to 65km. The roads are in very rough shape but some of us were fine on gravel bikes.

The group had a mix of age and fitness and some people really struggled on the harder days. Particularly because they weren’t used to the sustained climbs. This made the days longer as we had to stop at points and wait for them to catch up. The vehicles on both trips took strain and in Thailand we had to have the radiator in one replaced and in Laos our truck ended up bending a rod after a river crossing - so it was knocking all the way. Laos roads were mental!

[Shebeen]

On 2/12/2025 at 12:44 PM, Scott roy said:

I recently moved to the tiny and country of Georgia in Eastern Europe. Since my first visit here I was struck by how beautiful the country is, its very mountainous, green (in summer), is steeped in history with many old forts and monasteries and has loads of Jeep track style roads through the mountains.

Additionally the food here is excellent and the beer fantastic, they also claim to be the origin point of wine for the world. 
 

I’ve been contemplating the idea of doing MTB/gravel tour style trips for South Africans (simply because I know them), this has been spurred on by friends and friends of friends saying they want to come tour and cycle here. 
 

I’m looking for some insight on a few points, mainly:

 

Would South Africans be willing to fly half way round the world to come cycle around for a week. Obviously this would be a fairly small target market. 

How many days would they want to ride? I’m thinking something like a week here with maybe 1 rest day, maybe an extra day before flying back home to explore the capital for instance. What would you guys want to do?

What kind of distance and elevation would be most suitable? Due to all the mountains it’s not hard to do 3 000m vertical ascent in 80km, I would think maybe one day like that, followed by a shorter day of maybe 40km with under a thousand metres ascent and the remainder of the days around 70km with varying elevation. 

Would it be better to stay at one location and do all the riding from there, one would definitely need to then drive to some places and ride from there then drive back (not an issue as I have a couple of Vito’s). Or stay at a different town or place each evening and move around like that, logistically that could be tricky. Or a mix of both, stay one or two nights in 3 separate locations. 
 

Regarding the above point, having family along would make the staying at one location rather nice as the wife and kids or whoever can do there thing and you could come back to them each afternoon/evening. 
 

Backup vehicles, do people want one or not? I feel it’s very nice to have in some regards but in others it seems to take some of the thrill out of it, additionally routes would have to be doable by car which will definitely be more limiting. 

Group size, I think groups of no more than 12, but maybe people want more?

What to do if it rains? Push through and ride or rather rest up, explore, eat and drink beer? But if it rains for a couple of days people are going to be cheesed off at having payed for a trip that’s not lekker. 

Lastly, what are people willing to pay? I’m not looking to make money out of this but rather do it for the love of cycling and sharing the experience. My idea is a package that has air tickets, transport and accommodation. However even (just covering costs) prices will be from about 22k (best case scenario) to 35k per person depending on group size, ticket pricing and how busy it is (accommodation wise). This is a lot of money for anyone. 
 

The trips would be in early and late summer so as to not be too hot or too cold (think June and late September)
 

I would greatly appreciate any input, advice, suggestions or anything else. 

Have done a few bikepacking trips with mates around the western cape - unsupported. Our mantra has been if something goes wrong, we fix it. If it is fubar issue then the group will make a plan to get you sorted, then "abandon" you to hitchhike/whatever with our original plan. This makes it an incredibly cheap holiday, but that's not really the point it is more the simplicity we like.

I think you need to decide what you want from this. Do you want to start a profitable side hustle, or just open the experience to other saffas? If it's the former then you should really be looking at the european market too. There's nothing stopping my crew from flying across the world to do what you're offering, but you doing the local knowledge/school fees first would make it a worthwhile service to pay for.

People are different. the different options here will apply differently to those interested. Personally I'd want to do a point to point/circular "journey". Coming back to family each day after a tough but rewarding day in the saddle is not my fun.

BUT, first thing you really need to do is go explore yourself. work out some options.

 

 

 

 

 

[Scott roy]

[Scott roy]

Just now, Scott roy said:

The duller photos were taken in winter

[Shebeen]

this looks FKN epic

 

https://bikepacking.com/routes/caucasus-crossing/

[Scott roy]

6 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

Have done a few bikepacking trips with mates around the western cape - unsupported. Our mantra has been if something goes wrong, we fix it. If it is fubar issue then the group will make a plan to get you sorted, then "abandon" you to hitchhike/whatever with our original plan. This makes it an incredibly cheap holiday, but that's not really the point it is more the simplicity we like.

I think you need to decide what you want from this. Do you want to start a profitable side hustle, or just open the experience to other saffas? If it's the former then you should really be looking at the european market too. There's nothing stopping my crew from flying across the world to do what you're offering, but you doing the local knowledge/school fees first would make it a worthwhile service to pay for.

People are different. the different options here will apply differently to those interested. Personally I'd want to do a point to point/circular "journey". Coming back to family each day after a tough but rewarding day in the saddle is not my fun.

BUT, first thing you really need to do is go explore yourself. work out some options.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks I’d like to do it as a fun project for the fun of it and if it gets to a point that there’s a demand and I feel it’s up to standard then I’ll maybe try make it a small enterprise of its own. 

[Scott roy]

8 minutes ago, michaelbiker said:

Yes correct. Even though everyone had the map on their head units didn’t mean they could read it. Also the guide in front should know where the dangerous parts of the trail are. Riders are essentially riding the route blind and the group will have varying skill levels. Same for the rear, riders will have quite varied fitness. Having a sweeper at the back is important in case of mechanicals / medical issues etc. 

Yeah they were supposedly trained in first aid. We didn’t have any incidents apart from fatigue and light heat stroke. Mechanical issues we mostly had to deal with ourselves, particularly with spares.

First trip in Thailand was about 40-50km per day for 5 days. It was a mix of tar, gravel and singletrack. The last day was not possible on a gravel bike. MTB only. Ascent about 800-1200m per day. Just bear in mind these places are hot and humid and muddy.

Laos was a lot harder, we had two 80km+ days with 2500m of climbing. Both days took the entire day to ride and we finished in the dark. The other 3 days were less hard - around 800m to 1500m and went from 40km to 65km. The roads are in very rough shape but some of us were fine on gravel bikes.

The group had a mix of age and fitness and some people really struggled on the harder days. Particularly because they weren’t used to the sustained climbs. This made the days longer as we had to stop at points and wait for them to catch up. The vehicles on both trips took strain and in Thailand we had to have the radiator in one replaced and in Laos our truck ended up bending a rod after a river crossing - so it was knocking all the way. Laos roads were mental!

If the backup vehicle drives at the back of the group could that not do away with a second guide?

[Scott roy]

8 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

this looks FKN epic

 

https://bikepacking.com/routes/caucasus-crossing/

I recall reading this a while back, it’s definitely stunning here and I would really love to get more South Africans out here

[michaelbiker]

3 hours ago, Scott roy said:

If the backup vehicle drives at the back of the group could that not do away with a second guide?

Yeah I guess that could work. It depends how much some of the riders want to have a car behind them the whole way. I still would feel better with two guides. Particularly if one of the guides gets ill or has an issue. We had a guide that broke a spoke in Thailand and he had to go back to the city to get it replaced.

Photos look amazing, thanks for posting.

[Scott roy]

41 minutes ago, michaelbiker said:

Yeah I guess that could work. It depends how much some of the riders want to have a car behind them the whole way. I still would feel better with two guides. Particularly if one of the guides gets ill or has an issue. We had a guide that broke a spoke in Thailand and he had to go back to the city to get it replaced.

Photos look amazing, thanks for posting.

Valid points, thank a lot. 
There’s definitely a lot to think about but I for sure want to give it a try, even if it fails I can at least say I tried.

Another big point I forgot to mention is South Africans don’t need visa’s here. 

[Scott roy]

@michaelbiker you have experience with these type of excursions, is the pricing above out of line? That is merely cost, no profit. 

[michaelbiker]

31 minutes ago, Scott roy said:

@michaelbiker you have experience with these type of excursions, is the pricing above out of line? That is merely cost, no profit. 

We paid approximately $1100 each for full board, accommodation and transport but excluding tips, alcohol and flights for both trips. I am not sure how expensive Georgia is but both Laos and Thailand have cheap accommodation, food and labour costs.
 

I don’t think what you are suggesting is too bad but I’d leave out the flights and include meals. Have the guests find their own flights. That way the prices don’t fluctuate too badly and you don’t have to eat the changes.