The following list of guided tour companies do not come with our recommendations. However, I have checked out their webpages and in several cases, corresponded with the proprietors.

Mercurio Bike Travel* specializes in tours along the Elbe Danube and Mosel for English speaking cyclists. The pace is slow to encourage sightseeing and interaction with each other and the local culture. The rides are mostly flat and soon they will offer the Rhine as an option. Contact: Mercurio Bike Travel (owner Andre Volkel), Gluckaufweg 2, 08062 Zwickau, Germany, Tel.: +49/177/5491102, Fax: +49/375/7788238, www.mercurio-bike-travel.com*.

In Vienna: http://www.pedalpower.co.at/*. These folks are cool, they will rent you a bike in Passau, and you can drop it off in Vienna. To boot, they will rent helmets and sell you a guidebook.

German Cycling Tours*: Based in Germany, German Cycling Tours offer self-led (self-guided) cycling tours and holidays in the most scenic areas of this country like Bavaria, Rhine Valley, Saar River and Moselle Valley, Saxon Switzerland or Elbe Valley www.germancyclingtours.com*.

Bents Bicycle and Walking Tours, http://www.bentstours.com*, was recommend by one of our readers and has tours in several western European countries. They also have one of the better websites, but that is just my opinion.

Rad & Reisen ( Eurocycle-BikeEurope) offers tours all over Europe. Their site is in three languages. These folks do the Main, the Mosel, the Rhine, and Lake Constance. They rent bikes and forward luggage or you can take a guided tour for a little more. http://www.radreisen.at*.

In Prague try Praha Bike, http://www.prahabike.cz* where they give tours in the Czech Republic as well as the city of Prague. They rent bikes too, if you want to take your own tour. You are urged to check these links too: http://www.pubcrawl.cz* and http://www.teambike.cz* I think the text is self explanatory.

Tours all over Western Europe: Euro-Bike and Walking Tours* offers guided tours.

Bike Tours Direct now represents about a dozen different Europe-based bike tour companies offering tours in Germany and Austria. http://www.biketoursdirect.com*.

World Adventures does the Mosel River and several other self-guided tours.

Munich, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris: http://www.mikesbiketours.com*.

Cycle Green Tours Bornholmer Str. 75, 10439 Berlin, http://cycle-green-tours.com*, email: cyclegreentours@googlemail.com. This firm offers tours around Berlin, from Berlin north to the Baltic Sea, Poland, and also in Greece-Peloponnese-Kalamata. They speak both German and Canadian, eh.

I don't know anything about these folks but a reader recommends them highly. I assume this is an English company but learn more from their web site at: www.thechaingang.co.uk*.

Along the Weser River in Northern Germany, try this 6-stop, serviced, self-guided tour company: Der Weserradweg*.

Velociped* offers over 25 guided and individual tours in Germany.

A bike tour through the Ahr Valley is medicine for body and soul. You ride at the foot of imposing vineyards and your eyes meet one sight more beautiful as the last one you passed by. Your hostess is an Australian. And you can rent bikes for as little as €6.00 per day. http://www.zweiradherberge.de/*.

Velotours* offers guided tours around Lake Constance and Southwestern Germany.

Fraülein Marias Bicycle Tours offer bicycle tours in Salzburg since 1999, and are well known for our famous "Sound of Music Bicycle Tour". Their website is.

A great value for both self-guided and supported tours are available at Tour de Spokes*. The firm is based in Germany and the US. They have 30 years experience in the bicycle tour industry.