Today I went with 2 other guys from work, Craig and Greg, to TrailTours to learn how to drive a dirtbike, after seeing it highly recommended on the ODSC site. I’ve wanted to try riding off-road for a long time now, and am considering a dual-sport bike, and this seemed like an ideal way to get my feet wet.
TrailTours is a short ride from Toronto: about 90 minutes including a stop at Tim Hortons. After meeting up at 9am and signing the paperwork we were let loose to gear up. Everything is provided: you literally only need underwear and socks (and maybe a change of clothes for the end of the day): all the other safety gear (jersey, pants, helmet, gloves, boots, shin/elbow pads etc) is provided for you. They had lots to choose from in every size:
“Do these pants make my butt look big?”
Once you got everything on everyone got a name attached to their chest protector, so the instructors knew who we were. The woman making the tags was quite creative: what your name actually was and what she thought you should be called were often entirely different things 🙂
“Hello big guy: I think I shall call you ‘Susan’ “
If you’ve never been dressed up in full off-road safety gear before, it takes some time to get used to how your friends look:
“You look like a Power Ranger!” “Don’t make me hurt you”
The owner, Steve Weycamp (left) explains the rules of the road. Don’t do anything stupid! Have fun! Pull over for horses! (seriously – mixed-use trails and all that):
“Play nice with others!”
Finally we got split into groups (dirtbike beginner, advanced, and quads) and the learning starts. It was a hot day and we were glad we could park the bikes in some shade. The instructors did a fantastic job of explaining things for people that have never been riding before. Right from what all the levers do, to starting it up and moving in little 10-foot increments to get used to the clutch and brakes. Every time we learned something new the instructors helped each student individually to make sure they understood what to do.
“Try not to wheelie!”
Finally we were released to terrorize the local flora and fauna of Ganaraska forest! (actually we were free to do laps around the entry-level track as they helped us learn critical skills: like how to get into second gear! 🙂 )
Mike Craig Greg
“Errr… is the engine supposed to make that noise?”
After roaming some of the local trails were went back to camp for some food (sorry no action shots: can’t learn to drive and use a camera at the same time). Lunch was great: lots of sandwiches, veggies+dip, cookies+watermelon, and all the water and iced tea you could drink. And yes, an outhouse for those who perhaps drank too much 🙂
“Whoever took my cookies is going to be in a world of pain”
They had lots of different bikes to ride for every sized person: 150s, 230s and 250s were the most common bikes since most of us were just learning…
…and quads as well:
Here I am on a 250 trying to appear like I have things under control. The trails were anything from dirt roads near the camp, to narrow single-track… with most being hard-packed and sandy trails through the forest. This is part of a little practice loop you can drive around to learn to corner on sand better, and to learn how to get through whoops as well
This is the flat half:
“This is easy: ESPN Extreme Sports, here I come!”
Then here I am in the whoops: notice my not-so-delicate 260 pounds is bottoming the suspension in the dips. The instructors were clear not to go too fast, and don’t try to jump the bike. But my speed limiter wasn’t the fear of getting some air: it was the the forks crying “Uncle!” 🙂
“Bike, I’m so sorry to do this to you. Please forgive me and get me home safely!”
In the afternoon we got to stop at a spring for a drink, cool down, and hook up with the other groups. This was perfectly timed for me because I was hot and very thirsty. The main mini-waterfall of the spring is behind the tree in this pic…
…and here’s the quad group that arrived just before we did:
…and finally a better look at the spring itself where you could scoop up ice-cold water to drink and cool off:
We hit a few more trails after the spring, notably a large sandy hill-climb that I didn’t make up (botched a downshift and stalled half way up, grrrr!). Only a couple minor spills in some of the groups and everyone went home safe with big smiles on their faces! (I’m the guy with no hair)
“I’m so glad we’re taking a break…”
Once we got back to the camp it was actually a quick end to the day: get out of your gear and turn it in (I was _so_ glad to get out of those motorcross boots), say thanks for the terrific work of all the staff, and head back to the cars. The instructors were still hard at work washing down all the bikes for the next group of people they’ll take through the forest.
“You like that don’t you? You dirty, dirty bikes…”
We had a great time: I’ll be going back for sure, and will hopefully get more friends to come next time after telling them about all the fun they missed this trip.
Special thanks to the 2 instructors that were extremely patient with my group all day. Pat (on the left) made sure no one was left behind, picked us up and dusted us off when we tipped over, and patiently waited when we stalled the bikes for the hundredth time on a hill 🙂 . Jessie (right) kept us pointed in the right direction and entertained with an extremely outgoing attitude and an I-can-barely-restrain-myself-I-wanna-jump-off-every-root-and-rock riding style (showing incredible self-control by keeping both wheels on the ground the entire ride). They made a perfect mix of personalities to help us learn the sport.
