We do special days both for riders using our bikes and for riders with their own, solo, sidecar and quad. We can supply a sidecar if you wish to try driving or passengering. Some days are for big bikes over 600cc, aimed at riders experienced in green laning.
For riders who are interested in trail riding, but not quite ready yet, or riders of big trail bikes with no previous offroad or trail riding experience, our Adventure Motorcycling days might suit you better. They are also cheaper!
We do some women only and women friendly days, to suit a range of riders’ abilities, from days suitable for new riders who are nervous about trail riding, through to some extremely challenging days for the more capable women riders.
Tamsin Jones Weekend
On 21st and 22nd August Tamsin Jones will be coming to do two days’ trail riding and give a talk on Saturday evening about her experiences in completing the 2010 Dakar Rally. Tamsin’s rally bike will be on display and a jacket potato supper with a large choice of fillings, and cakes, will be included in your ticket for the evening. You may do one or two days trail riding, or may just attend the evening with Tamsin if you prefer. Prices if you have your own bike are £58 for two days’ riding, £38 for one day’ riding, or £8 to attend the evening talk only. If you need to use one of our bikes, the price is our normal "weekend" or two full days option (you get the evening free of charge!) There are four leaders available, so rides will vary from a novice easy route with tuition through to a good challenging route. A women-only group can be organised if wished. Bunkhouse accommodation will be organised if there are enough people wanting it.
Here is a story from Richard about his first passengering experience.
Passengering an enduro sidecar... from Richard "the gateman"
Well I have been a road race sidecar passenger for a few years, but I fancied a go on the ’mucky side’. I had been in touch with Marianne for several months about the idea, but I had never been available when suitable dates came up. Well, it was now the morning of Monday 3rd November and I was finally here. The day promised to be crisp and beautifully sunny. Perfect.
After a good breakfast, Max and myself went to collect some protective kit and help load up the van. Max was there to do several days of solo riding experience and Marianne would be leading him round the routes with the sidecar on this day. I was just along for the ride and as it turned out, perfect for another job. Our starting point was the Nant yr Arian Visitor Centre, where we unloaded the van and got changed. In spite of having done road race I found myself slightly apprehensive of what I was about to do. Our initial trails from the centre were quite gentle so I soon settled in and started enjoying the experience.
After a few miles I realised I was destined for another job: gatekeeper. The green lanes cross farmer’s fields, so they are intersected at regular intervals with gates. I soon got into the rhythm of hopping off, operating the gate and then getting back on. I lost count how many. As we ventured across the beautiful Mid Wales landscape I couldnt help but look. The views were stunning. I mentioned this to Marianne. "You ’re meant to be looking where you are going!" she laughed. Though Marianne said the routes we would be taking before lunch were fairly undemanding we still had a good mix of different terrain. Loose surface road, muddy fields and the odd water splash. This all meant as the passenger I did actually have to do some work, rather than just admire the fantastic landscape. The end of the morning we ended up on a proper road. Marianne opened up the throttle a bit, and we sped off to our lunch venue; an excellent cafe near a petrol station. An enduro outfit is road legal, but rare enough sight to turn a few heads as we went down the road. I did smile to myself at people’s reactions.
Over a very welcome lunch Marianne said we would be tackling some more difficult sections in the afternoon. One part she wasn’t sure we would even get the sidecar through due to the extent of the water erosion. After refuelling the bikes as well we were off, and soon we were at the section Marianne was talking about. The road in this section was like a trough, barely a car’s width across with a very deep ravine, carved out by water, snaking its way down it. "We’ll go first" suggested Marianne. Well it was a bit too challenging for three wheels, as we did get stuck. Max got off his bike and between the three of us we got moving again. Then with a bit of careful driving by Marianne we negotiated the rest of this tricky section of road. Next was a knuckle whitening brisk climb and we were then at the top of a hill and once again treated to some fabulous scenary. Definitely worth a stop at that point. On we went along more green lanes and sections of tarmaced single track lane. I don’t think we ever saw another vehicle on these roads. Magical to feel so remote. A turn off one such road and there lay in front us a straight climb up the side of a hill.
I quickly guessed what was about to happen. Marianne opened up the throttle and charged up the hill. What fun! Well, the length of shadows told me the day was rapidly coming to a close. We paused by a turning for Max to catch us up. ’We could go this way back to the van’ said marianne indicating the gentle lane off to her right, ’otherwise there is a more challenging route a bit further on, but we might not get up’ she warned. I knew what I wanted to do. ’Well Max. what do you fancy?’ I asked tentatively. Max was enjoying this as much as me. ’Oh let’s try and get stuck’ he said cheerily. Well quite frankly I would find it a test to walk up, but up Marianne went in the sidecar. One point I thought were really stuck. Grim determination took over, and after a some bouncing over the back wheel we made it to the top. Max made it up also without too much of a struggle. After a pause to get our breath back we returned to the van. I felt slightly sad at that point. It was all over too quickly. I wanted to keep going. Definitely one of the best days out I have had in quite a while. Try it!
Here is a report on a Big Trailie Weekend
Saturday’s route was advertised as being suitable for riders new to trail riding, i.e. on the easy side, and this appealed to Laurence with a 950 Adventure and Mike on a 640 Adventure. Joining them was Rich with a CCM 404 (had planned to have a 644) and Dave on an XR600, Rik on his 950, his girlfriend Clare buzzing along on her KMX200, and Will on a Transalp with his extremely brave partner Jean pillion! Lucie passengered for me so I could lead on my new (to me) XR650 KHR enduro sidecar.
The meeting place was the petrol station in Machynlleth and I was late! There was a fair bit of tarmac out but we took the minor lanes instead of the main road. After about 3 miles Rik was struck with a front wheel puncture. Clare and he stayed to fix it while the rest of us carried on to a cafe at Tre’r Ddol, taking in a short easy lane on the way.
After Clare and Rik caught up, we set off for the ride proper. The first three lanes were grassy surfaced, and unfortunately it was raining which made the down hills a bit tricky. Will and Jean came down very slowly but upright, but Mike’s lack of experience caught him out and he got a bit closer to the wet grass than he would’ve liked!
Then we went on to the gravel and rock surfaced lanes near the Nantymoch Reservoir, breaking for lunch at the Nant yr Arian Visitor Centre. The lane we did before lunch included an interesting hill, which made Will and Jean wonder if they were the only nutters to do it two up. Lucie remembered that a couple of years before she had been pillion with Colin on a TTR600, so the answer was no!
After lunch we enjoyed more of the gravelly rocky but basically easy lanes before another challenge — a river crossing with a bottom of algae covered boulders. The sidecar ploughed across with no difficulty. I don’t have a good reputation with river crossings, so it was nice to be relieved of the fear of falling off and drowning the bike! Several of us stood in the water to give any wobblers a push, and all crossed safely. Jean got wet legs and feet from wading across — I should’ve given her a lift on the platform! Then it was just a few miles back to Machynlleth. We said goodbye to Laurence and Mike who were not riding on Sunday, but in the morning we welcomed Barry on a Honda CRF230 who was on holiday and Nathan on his GS1150.
The first lane we tackled was Happy Valley which I had not done on the sidecar and I must admit I did wonder how we would manage as it is quite rough (no, I mean very rough). Rik had ridden it before, so I knew the big bikes could manage, but it was hard work for the GS and Transalp (no pillion today!) Good thing I had a strong bashplate! Funnily enough it wasn’t the big boulders that we hit, but smaller ones when I was thrown off line. But overall, Lucie and I managed better than we had expected.
On through Bryn Crug and up on to the moorland again beneath Cader Idris. The weather was better and the views spectacular. There we met some of the Mid Wales TRF group who were a bit surprised by our odd array of bikes!
We dropped down to Arthog and I sent the boys and girl across the Fairbourne railway bridge to Barmouth, with instructions to order lunch for us in twenty minutes. The bridge is too narrow for the sidecar so Lucie and I had a blast along to the Penmaenpool bridge. I used to have a road outfit about 20 years ago, and after a drift across the white line had reminded me that I must accelerate round left hand bends, it became a lot of fun. I think I’ll fit some road orientated trail tyres to the spare wheels that came with it!
After lunch we headed up on to the moorland again. The lane ended with a zigzag downhill to a gate which is too narrow for the sidecar, so we took a turn off earlier, meeting the others at Bontddu. The next few lanes took us via Rhydymain and near Brithdir, before heading back to Machynlleth by the scenic route past the slate mine at Aberllefenni.
Here is a report on the sidecar Trail Riding Weekend
The numbers rose to thirteen and then gradually shrank, mainly due to the usual sidecar problem of the bike not being fixed! So in the end just four of us gathered under the gloomy Welsh skies – Karen and Neil on their BSU CCM enduro outfit, Yoshi and Sarah on their CCM enduro outfit on which they do long distance trials, Nick and my fourteen year old daughter Lucie on my KHR XR650 enduro sidecar, and John and myself on John’s Husky LDT sidecar.
It was probably the wettest day of the year! By the time we had our first proper stop after the uphill of ’Happy Valley’ all of us had leaky waterproofs. Even new boots had let the water in, let alone the jackets and trousers. The hard body armour most of us wore meant that upper bodies didn’t fare too badly. But it didn’t matter. We were wet but not cold, and all enjoying ourselves.
We had started off with a few miles of main road before the first little uphill grassy lane, then a bit of forest road, before another few miles of tarmac leading to Happy Valley. Karen and Neil had swapped places with Karen the driver having a go at passengering and Neil getting more driving experience under his belt. The XR sidecar had been Nick’s bike when retired from enduros 3 years ago, and he was enjoying being back on it. Yoshi was recalling past days of trail riding Happy Valley, but on solos then, and I was finding the LDT outfit hard work as a passenger! I bought the XR for myself and Lucie to green lane, and Lucie remarked to me that Nick was a lot quicker than she was used to, and it was a bit scary at times, but she had a big grin on her face, so I think the adrenalin had kicked in!
After Happy Valley we did an easier lane past Cader Idris and along to Dolgellau for lunch at the Mile End Petrol Station. Unfortunately we made rather a mess in the cafe area, and caused rather a lot of mopping to take place.
Every time we stopped there was lots of nattering. Lucie was learning a lot from watching the other passengers. I think everyone had had some scary moments and mistakes (drivers always blaming the passengers, apart from John who couldn’t blame me as he knew I couldn’t do it!)
After lunch we did a couple of short lanes near Brithdir and then made our way out towards the Rhydymain area. John and Yoshi swapped bikes for a bit, and their verdict was "yurgh, horrible, how can you drive that thing?!" Then I had a go at driving and John passengered, and my reaction was "yurgh, horrible, how can you drive that thing? It hasn’t got a steering damper and wobbles about all over the place!"
So it was back to the original positions. I was tiring badly, and half way along the last lane east of Dolgellau we had a longish rest. That gave me a new lease of life, and Yoshi and Sarah led off for the last couple of miles of unsurfaced road. One minute we were following them, and the next they were off down amongst the bracken and gorse. Of course Yoshi said it was Sarah’s fault for being in the wrong place, but actually it was Yoshi’s fault because he chose the wrong bit of rut!
If the weather hadn’t been so diabolical we would have done a couple more lanes, but because of the extra tarmac miles that would had added to the route, it wasn’t worth it. All the wet gear was stuck in a drying shed overnight. Clothes were still damp in the morning, but spirits were cheerful.
John said he would be happy to passenger if I wanted to ride my old KX500 enduro outfit. It hadn’t been used since March, but started up fairly easily. Unfortunately after three miles to the petrol station it stalled and refused to start either on kickstart or bumping down the hill. We were already running rather late, so it was quicker to abandon it and go back to the campsite for John’s outfit.
After the first lane, Lucie and I swapped places. Then I said to John that I’d have another go at driving his bike if he would passenger. After about three miles I felt I was beginning to get on OK with it. There was grassy bit slightly rutted and I thought it would be better to get the bike out of the right hand rut on to the middle. Unfortunately John wasn’t psychic and up came the sidecar wheel and tipped us over. Even more unfortunately my right foot got stuck on the footrest as we went over and I felt something painful happen to my knee as it was bent more than it wanted to! I had torn the ligaments on the inside of the knee about six months ago, and it felt the same, only this time it was the back of the knee. After sitting to recover for some time, Yoshi and John lifted me up and assisted me on to the sidecar seat. By now the ankle was hurting more than the knee! John drove slowly as I couldn’t stand. We were heading for the lunch stop anyway. I sent the other three outfits to do a nice hill while John took me down the easier forest road, We were just getting ready to take a photo when Nick arrived rather quickly, followed by Neil rather quickly and Yoshi not far behind.
When we had had lunch, it was obvious that John would have to take me home by road.
I gave Yoshi the map, and they went back the way we had come, only getting lost once apparently.
Unfortunately because of the weather the only photo from the weekend was of the four sidecars chained together for Saturday night, so the other pic are from another day Lucie and I were out of our sidecar!
© Colin and Marianne Walford