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Four hours away by air, from Northern Europe you can find your self in Motorcycle off road paradise. The variety of the terrain and tracks mean days of riding never covering the same ground twice. Oh and the locals are pleased to see us. Temperatures in southwest Turkey hardly ever fall below 15c even in winter. Yes it does rain but it lasts for hours rather than days and makes the going even better. Riding an off road motorcycle is by far the best way to see Turkey. We visit places that no other tourist will ever see. So not only do you get to ride on the best variety of terrain in the world, but you get to see the real Turkey and sample the hospitality that Europe has forgotten. The difficulty of the tracks depends on the guest’s ability, ranging from easy gravel tracks to full on extreme. Please take a look at the site or contact Chris. http://www.taurustrax.com chris.pascoe@hotmail.com Cyprus Active Nick Bointon has moved from Wales to North Cyprus and set up Cyprus Active. www.cyprusactive.com offering a range of motor bike options in the sun! Guided trail riding is the main business but the Supermoto and Trial riding have proven very popular. We also have ‘pay and play’ at the new MotoX track and the adjacent Supermoto circuit. The sun shines (down to 16 degrees today) and the living is cheap and easy. We have 5 comfortable villas with heated pools near the beach for our guests. Turkey Creek Tours Announces Motorcycle Tours in Mexico Turkey Creek Tours, LLC, a Colorado based motorcycle-touring company, has added new seven day Mexico adventure tours beginning October of 2006. These unique and out of the ordinary tours are created for the motorcycle traveler looking for something different in Mexico’s northern Sonoran desert. These tours travel back to undiscovered Mexico, untrammeled and unspoiled and feature day rides on maintained, paved, twisty roads through forests of saguaro cactus in the Sonoran desert and into the Sierra Madres through towns founded over 300 years ago. Tours begin and end in Bisbee, Arizona, a small mining and tourist town close to the Mexican border, with two over-night stays in a turn of the century hotel. Tours will cross the border at Naco and travel south through the Sonora River Valley to Banamichi, a colonial town, in the State of Sonora, Mexico, located on the river. Travelers will spend five nights in unique, luxury accommodations at La Posada del Rio Sonora, a completely refurbished 18th century hacienda situated on the town plaza. The Inn’s restaurant serves specialty local cuisine including salsa de chiltipin (a fiery chili pepper condiment), and world class Sonoran steaks along with many other traditional Mexican dishes. Tours include live entertainment by Mexican artists, visits to the local hot springs, visits to 17th century Spanish missions and churches, a copper mine tour, luxury accommodations, all meals featuring the finest authentic local cuisine Mexico has to offer, complimentary beer and wine at the Posada, welcome and farewell dinners, support vehicle and trailer. An optional visit to a working Mexican cattle ranch and horseback riding are available. Tours are priced at $1,750 (single occupancy) and $2,800 (double occupancy). Turkey Creek Tours is a Colorado-based company providing motorcycle-touring adventures in Colorado and Mexico including woman only tours. To book a tour or for more information contact Lynn Matthews at Turkey Creek Tours, 1-888-763-6185, lynn@turkeycreektours.com , or visit the company’s website, www.turkeycreektours.com Utah ELITE TOURS, Moab Utah, Here at ELITE TOURS we offer a wide range of riding adventures. We have guided tours that range in skill level from simple roads to technical trails for the most advanced rider. Our guides are home grown and have been on motorcycles all their lives, they know the area and its features. Rides are designed with fun, safety and environmental awareness in mind. ELITE can plan your vacation so you spend your time riding, the South eastern area can be a dangerous place for newcomers as well as veteran desert rats, due to the vast differences in terrain let a professional crew do the planning so you stay worry free. We are the ONLY FULLY LICENCED MOTORCYCLE TOUR OPERATOR in the four corners area with legal access to BLM and National Forest Service land. All tours are custom arranged to fit your personal needs we provide late model motorcycles, KTM 4 strokes, all riding equipment, lessons if required, of course if you wish to bring your own riding gear then please feel free. This is truly an adventure of maximum proportions, there is no other way you can experience the vastness of the canyon country and have the kind of access that we can offer. IMAGINE-: RED ROCK DESERT, SAND WASHES, NARROW CANYONS, MOUNTAIN TRAILS, PHOTOGRAPHIC HIGHLIGHTS, INDIAN ART, SLICKROCK, WILDLIFE, GEOLOGICAL FEATURES AND MUCH MUCH MORE. All our trails are permitted through the state, BLM and National Forest Land and our tours are conducted with respect for the environment, we will help you learn how to take care of our precious resource and hope you will respect and enjoy the beauty, history and incredible geology of our very unique area. CONTACT, ELITE ON 001-435-259-7621(U.S.) or 07970945042(U.K.) FOR MORE INFO/PRICES Details (Please note tours DO NOT include flights, accommodation etc, only motorcycle/gear hire/guiding/some meals included) Guatemala Catours is an Overland Motorcycle Company with over five years experience specialising in tours in Central America, specifically in Guatemala. A lot of people today are seeking to find the spirit of adventure and Catours are about finding like minded people who are looking for a Riding experience with a difference. We are offering a 14 day all inclusive package tour of this Fascinating country, that will give you a great combination of everything. Apart from all the fun of riding, you will visit the Temples and Ruins of Tikal, the Awesome Lake Atitlan and much more. Although this tour has been designed for people that really like a good ride, it has also been superbly planned so that participants can relax by the pool, enjoy the local bars and taste traditional cuisine. We also offer short excursion tours, from a single day to two, three day trips. If you have a personal desire to do or see something for example climbing an active volcano, diving or rock climbing then please get in touch as we will cater for most personal tour requests. Touring Guatemala is what we do best so if its on the map we can take you there... If you book for a group pf 3 or more before the 31st January 2005 you will receive a 10% discount. If you would like more information then please visit our website www.catours.co.uk or give me a call on the numbers provided below and I will be happy to send you one of our full colour brochures with our itinerary Dancing in Cambodia Dancing Roads Dirt Bike Tours is a Cambodian-English partnership which brings together East and West. By combining local knowledge with Western standards, we offer the best- value dirtbike experience in the country. Dancing Roads Dirt Bike Tours was established in the year 2000, with the intention of giving visitors an alternative means of travel around the country, whilst providing them with a deeper insight into its history, customs and people. And what better way to negotiate those dancing roads than to go off-road with a dirt bike! Details West
Country Trail Bike Tours now have new HONDA CRF230’s available for
hire. Building
on its success West Country Trail Bike Tours now have new HONDA CRF230
Trail Bikes available for hire…. The
HONDA CRF230 costs £100.00 per day to hire and this includes all your
fuel and full insurance. A
two day ”Coast to Coast” guided tour with B&B costs £140.00. This
is your chance to test the fabulous HONDA CRF230 as featured in the
May issue of TBM on the green lanes of Somerset and Devon. Call
West Country Trail Bike Tours for date availability. Phone:
01460 281173 Mobile:
07940 885867 Kazakhstan Motorclub “SILK OFF ROAD” welcomes you. We are situated in Kazakhstan and we love motorcycles as desperately as you do. Huge territory of Kazakhstan spreads from deserts and valleys till snowing peaks which are 7000 m height, and that is why we prefer travelling with motorcycles of “enduro” class. If you want to see the beauty of the immense Kazakhstany territory and feel the freedom of endless roads, we shall welcome you cordially. Welcome to Kazakhstan! Our club is rather young and needs development. After some reflections we have chosen trade of really kazakh carpets as our additional income. We think these carpets are the most interesting and valuable products, which are made in Kazakhstan. If this information is interesting for you, welcome to our site: Kazakhstan Trailriding
In New Zealand I am 52 years old and have been riding motor bikes on and off road since I was 7 years old. My Dad was a trials enthusiast and bike dealer a half-decent competitor in the 30’s 40’s & 50’s it seemed natural enough for me to inherit the same enthusiasm if not the same talent. Over the years I have dabbled in Trials and motorcross and in later years Enduro and Rallies I have never been a keen road rider because the excitement of riding is to go fast and it’s a lot safer off road than on. Having said this the thrill of doing a long distance overland trip on a big trail bike has always driven my imagination. I’ve read plenty of books like Jupiter’s travels. Going round the world on a bike is not within the reach of 99% of most motor cycle enthusiast unless they are either very wealthy or are willing to give up their jobs and take a chance on getting back to a normal life when they return. It’s one thing for a young person in his 20’s but quite another for someone in there 40’s or 50’s with a good job or business to think of. Trips like Chris Evans excellent Raids in France are therefore very popular I have been and would recommend them to anyone. It would be my dream to do something like the Optic 2000 or the Danube before I am too old, but I fear they may prove too hard for me and I imagine that this could be the case for others, and then there is the cost of course! Now to the main point of the story. About 3 years ago I was on a business/pleasure trip to New Zealand and I had a week to spare, so I hired a 650 DR Suzuki and having been a regular visitor to the country I new my way around a bit. I set off to do a tour of the South Island. It was fantastic, quiet roads a real pleasure to ride it was better on tarmac on a big trail bike than off at times. Not that I stuck to tarmac, I did plenty of gravel as well. NZ back roads and tracks often consisted of fords and wide river crossings, but I have got to say some of the main ones got a bit hairy. In fact on the Rainbow road out of Hamnere springs after about 10 crossings the only reason I didn’t turn back was because I dared not recross. After this small taster of the delights of bike riding in NZ. I wanted to return as soon as possible, but this time with companions, there is more safety in numbers. So in September 2001 I set off back to NZ to get organised for my son and a friend to join me in October. The idea was I would go out and buy 3 old XT 600 or similar. So we could carry spare parts to fit all bikes, wheel bearing, chains, sprockets, disc pads, levers etc etc. This sounded like a good idea at the time because the quotes I had been given for hiring 3 bikes for 3 weeks was quite high and there were restrictions as where we could use them. I.e. no enduros or adventures trails etc and as I wanted to do at least one proper off road event. We thought buying and then selling on afterwards seemed a better proposition but more of that later. While looking through the local magazines for the bikes, I found there was to be a 2 day adventure ride to be held on the central plataux around Mt Tangarero National Park in a weeks time. About 150 Klick’s per day, mainly on good gravel with a number of optional routes thrown in of a more technical for the more experienced. Sounded just my cup of tea, so I rang the organisers and got a late entry. They warned me it could be very cold, as it was still early spring and most of the terrain would be over 2000 feet. Even better it will be just like Yorkshire, where I live, and considering we have done nothing round that area since Foot & Mouth I was looking forward to it. It was to be based at the Ski Lodge at Rareumu, “basic but cosy accommodation,” was the description. I expected maybe 50 or 60 entries as NZ has only got a total population of 5% of the UK so I was very surprised to see almost 200 entries when I arrived on the Friday night for the Saturday morning start. I was also very surprised to see some of the hardware, new KTM 400’s & 520’s, new Yamaha 426 WR. I hadn’t even seen one of those in the UK as that time. Plenty of XR’s and lots of nice light Yamaha 2 strokes from Japan that we don’t get in the UK. I thought “..how tough is this trail going to be me at 52 on a 88 XT 600..” I was getting a bit psyched out already especially when the weather forecast was pretty bad for the weekend. The organisers gave me a great welcome they couldn’t do enough for my wife and I. She was asked to ride around with the main organiser Mike Brittons wife in there 4WD and trailer, they were going to meet us on route for fuelling etc etc. We were introduced to some of the older riders who suggested I ride with them and play it by ear as to whether we would tackle any of the more technical stuff. There were to be three such options and at the riders briefing. Mike told us if anyone had any trouble with the first 2 options they must not attempt the 3rd as this had a very large up hill rutted path of about 2 K’s long and if it rained could cause problems for the trail bikes. We had a great night on Friday everyone getting to know one another some renewing old acquaintances and reminiscing over previous events and getting plenty of beer down. The route was handed out based on the Tulip Diagram system. Some cut them into strips and fed them into road book readers, but I improvised with a large freezer bag, which would take an A4 with ease, and tie wrapped it to my bars. This worked very well and proved completely water proof, which was a good job as it pissisted it down for most of the event. Which made me feel even more at home, but I must admit I wondered why I had travelled 13000 miles to ride a kick start XT600 in the rain I could be riding my KTM 200 EXC at home (oh no, of course I couldn’t because of Foot & Mouth) Saturday dawned very wet and foggy, a great pity because the scenery is beautiful in that area with the snow capped peaks of Ruapeha and Tangariro. The first leg was to take in the ski fields of the 2 mountains but this proved a disappointment due to the weather and the pace of the other riders proved too slow and by the time we reached lunch we were almost the last on the road. After refuelling and enjoying a hearty meal I decided to head out on my own and tackle some of the technical options on offer in the afternoon. I got round but by the time I arrived at the final option we had been warned about I was almost a stretcher case! XT’s and big ruts don’t go together and kick start XT’s that you can’t get a good swing at because of the depth of the rut are a definite no no (come back old XR 650E all is forgiven!) The fact I was knackered and couldn’t consider the 3rd difficult option proved a blessing as it turned out and the thought of a warm shower and a cold beer back at the lodge was far more appealing anyway. By the time I arrived at the lodge the rain had penetrated my old Gore-Tex suit and gloves not to mention boots, but that was from stream crossings I had a pair of mole grips serving as a brake lever and I had lost the rear winkers. But I have to say I had enjoyed it immensely all the more rewarding because it was unfamiliar terrain and a long way from home. The look after each other ethic prevails even stronger in NZ that it does in the UK and when I made a plea for a replacement brake lever at the lodge that night I had at least 10 offers within 5 minutes. The third optional route proved too difficult for 20 riders and bikes, who got stranded in the bush until midnight and the bikes had to be air lifted out by helicopter on the Monday. If you want to see pictures of this, visit www.adventurerides.co.nz on the web. At the riders meeting on Sunday morning, Mike warned everyone that unless they were confident about riding on slippery grass conditions it would not be wise to do the Sunday loop, because the track was very narrow and consisted of a number of slips and wash outs with big drops. Anyone without proper knobbly tires must not attempt it. The fact I had nobblies, new at the start of the event and the thought of riding on grass instead of that awful Pumis type clay that turns to glue I decided to let my tyres down to about 10lbs and have a go. The Sunday run although a lot shorter than intended proved the best riding of the weekend mostly on technical single track through beautiful virgin bush with good views despite the weather. There was a prize giving at the end of the event although it wasn’t a competition as such just an adventure ride sponsored by Yamaha. This was a very nice touch on the part of the organisers and sponsors and consisted mainly of Yamaha products from chain lube to tyres, engine oil etc. Prizes were given for first entry received spirit of the event best helper etc. I was given an award for furthest travelled; I felt a bit of a fraud as I was in NZ anyway but thanks Mike for that. One guy got an award for riding his Suzuki GS400 road bike round with trails tyres fitted. He had to remove his front mudguard to keep the wheel turning, good on you Brian. Thanks to Mike Britton and his family and I look forward to doing his other events on my next visit to NZ but not on a kick-start XT thank you. My Son Will and Brian arrived on the Monday 15th November and we spent the first 2 days in Auckland getting over the jetlag. On Wednesday we packed our rucksacks and set off for a quick Northerly loop to take in the delights of some beach riding near Wood Hill, it is amazing and exhilarating. We then made our way south to Teahora and spent a pleasant day exploring the Kamei Mountain range and soaking in the hot mineral pools. NZ is the adventure capital of the world and it would be a great shame to spend every day on the bike. 3 solid weeks of riding maybe necessary when doing a long overland, but I believe variety is the spice of life and with some of the opportunities available to you in that country it would be mad not to take advantage of them. During our trip we spent a day canoeing 48 rapids on the Wanganui river, cave rafting, pot holing, hill walking, gold panning, Looge racing, jet boating, etc. In the passed I have been white water rafting, water skiing, para pending, jet skiing, mountain biking, diving and snorkelling. In Wanaka one of our stop overs we visited a transport museum the likes I have never seen and you could go up as passenger in a tiger moth, a pits special, a havard trainer and even a second world war mustang. As you can see the sky is the limit. When we were visiting the famous Cardona tavern we came back out to the bikes and there was a leaflet advertising riding as a navigator in a Mitsubishi Evo 6 rally car around a special stage. We had a fantastic run down the west coast in fine weather not a cloud in the sky but a 500 K’s run and wanting to get there before the bike shop closed we had to hussle a little. Queenstown, next stop, via the Crown range Mountain Road. This used to be a gravel road but was tarmaced and very well worth the ride, even if it’s just to visit the exquisite Cardrona Tavern and see the view over Arrowtown and the Remarkables at the eastern end. You can have a good rolling race down the 20 or 30 hairpins. I never managed to win one of these even though I won 4 races out of 5 in Rotorua, I blamed it on the nobbley tyres, Will blamed it on my lack of bottle. We spent 2 nights in Queenstown and explored Skippers Canyon and beyond into the aspiring Park, all off road and steeped in Gold mining history. Skippers is not for the faint hearted the riding is easy but the drops are a bit daunting. The main of the off roading in the South Island is in Central Otaga very remote Gold Mining areas, easy to run short of fuel we spent 2 days here in the high tussock grass lands. The riding is not technical in the dry but it’s hell if it rains the roads are pumice to clay and turn to glue when wet, no good for cats poor tyres and big trail bikes but perfect in warm dry weather. But you have got to like your own company because you could ride 100 KM’s and never see a soul, but maybe a million sheep. There are lots of old mine workings and the odd ghost town. We made our way steadily north, drinking in fabulous scenery up to Mount Cook and eventually Hamner Springs which we had intended to visit on our way south but alas we were not blessed with good weather again but Hamner is a spa town with a fabulous complex of hot pools which are better in the rain anyway. The following day still not being able to do Rainbow because of the previous days rain we headed north via the inland Kaikara range. The sky was blue, the weather cold and the riding superb with the snow on the mountains, the fabulous green valleys and the twisty twiny roads with no traffic. We reached Picton and crossed on the Fast Linx this time and managed to reach the Art Décor city of Napia by nightfall. This is a beautiful city with lots of atmosphere, lots of bars and very continental in flavour, you could be in the south of France except for the many wooden buildings. By this time we were running short of time as we had to be back in Auckland in a couple of days get the bikes cleaned and hopefully sold before we flew out on the Friday and this was Tuesday. We rode up the east coast of the north island to Tauranga and Mount Monganui had a swim in the surf at Bowan Town on the North Tauranga Harbour. I know this little bay where you can swim in total privacy we spent our last morning swimming under blue sky’s contemplating the cold and rain back in Yorkshire still without any off road routes open. Thanks to all the hospitable Kiwis we met. Thanks to my life long friend Garry Hill for his help and never-ending enthusiasm. Thanks to Mike Britton and family and I look forward to my next adventures ride with them. Also thanks to my long suffering wife who lets me go. Anyone interested in a tour like this can contact me by phone 0044 1756 797652 or email me john@midgley.co.uk or if you want to write to me at MMC Off Road, Airedale Business Centre, Keighley Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 2TZ, ENGLAND.
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