Motorcycle courses…

J

jc100

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Not been a thread on this for about oooh….a few weeks at least so.

I may have the time and cash to do a course this summer. Choices are Trail Tours full day (~300ish) or Total Control Level 1 (~400 ish). Not interested in track.

Leaning towards Trail Tours only because Total Control seems pretty spendy considering Trailtours includes instruction and bike rental and gear and comes in about $100 less.

Goals…having an expert tell me I have bad habits that need eradicating is always good, learning is always good, more confidence knowing what the bike can do is always good.

Any comments that could sway my decision or help others considering courses this year? Any new courses cropping up? South/central eastern Ontario area but I’m good with a few hrs here or there to get to a place.
 
jc100 said:
Not been a thread on this for about oooh….a few weeks at least so.

I may have the time and cash to do a course this summer. Choices are Trail Tours full day (~300ish) or Total Control Level 1 (~400 ish). Not interested in track.

Leaning towards Trail Tours only because Total Control seems pretty spendy considering Trailtours includes instruction and bike rental and gear and comes in about $100 less.

Goals…having an expert tell me I have bad habits that need eradicating is always good, learning is always good, more confidence knowing what the bike can do is always good.

Any comments that could sway my decision or help others considering courses this year? Any new courses cropping up? South/central eastern Ontario area but I’m good with a few hrs here or there to get to a place.
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Go visit Trials. He's in your vicinity, he can give you instruction and you can report if he's still alive.

Given your two options, I'd probably go trail tours. Skill improvement is faster in the dirt (less traction allows lower speeds and durable rental bikes instead of your pretty bike so you are happy riding closer to the edge).
 
+1 for Trail Tours.
But in general don't overthink it - if it's the hobby you are planning to have for a while - take one new course (or repeat the one you loved) every year. This is what I've been doing for the last 12 years - didn't even have a bike for a while but I'd do a one or two full days at TT to keep my skills alive and learn something new. Cheers
 
jc100 said:
Fastest thread ever…I got in touch with a friend to see if they were interested and they had just booked trails tours and were going to tell me. All done!

The goal of the day will be to lose my irrational fear of sand.
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Sand is fun! Dunes are much more fun though. Not sure where there are any for motorized vehicles in Ontario?
 
Jayv said:
At the end of the day you’ll be shopping for a dirt bike and trailer :)
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this^

Signed up for the racer5 course and already eyeing track bikes
 
Trail Tours is wicked fun if you’ve never ridden dirt bikes before…
Even if you have, they group you into similar skilled riders, just like track days.
Will go through the basics of dirt riding, then start going over logs etc and eventually into single track trails, rock scrambles and more.
Done it 3x so far and can’t wait to go back again.
 
jc100 said:
Don’t know about dunes but I always seem to find sand when wandering down trails recently.
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Not natural dunes, but Gopher Dunes is a crazy sand offroad bike race track. Stupid amounts of physical work to ride there.
 
BigEvilDoer said:
You’ll have lots of fun at Racer5.
Budget on track bike?
Find a suit that fits?
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I asked them for a size 50, figure it should be good

I'll start looking for bikes after the course, im thinking fast enough to grow into, but not expensive enough to cry if I crash it
 
jc100 said:
Fastest thread ever…I got in touch with a friend to see if they were interested and they had just booked trails tours and were going to tell me. All done!

The goal of the day will be to lose my irrational fear of sand.
Click to expand...
Not sure a fear of sand is irrational. FWIW I try to get my butt far back on the seat and then get on the gas. Slow and steady does not win any races in the sand.
 
timtune said:
Not sure a fear of sand is irrational. FWIW I try to get my butt far back on the seat and then get on the gas. Slow and steady does not win any races in the sand.
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Its psychological whenever I see gravel and sand in places where I know I’m going to turn and I find myself overcompensating/not relaxing for it. So…if I can get over that it’ll probably be a good thing. Anything that will help me haul a heavy adv bike across light trails with more confidence will be a big bonus too.
 
jc100 said:
Its psychological whenever I see gravel and sand in places where I know I’m going to turn and I find myself overcompensating/not relaxing for it. So…if I can get over that it’ll probably be a good thing. Anything that will help me haul a heavy adv bike across light trails with more confidence will be a big bonus too.
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You'll have death grip for 30 mins and then be perfectly fine afterwards when the bike is moving all over the place on sand/rocks/gravel.

Start buttering up the wife now :) Ask her which colour dirt bike suits you more....
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