Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127603
loggi ng town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Cranbrook is located in the hea rt of the Rocky Mountains, the same mountain range tha t runs as fa r sou th as New Mexico and as far no rth as Alaska. My mission (which 1 ha d gladly chosen to accep t, b y the way), was to come to Cranbrook and participa te in a five-day d ual sport trail ride put on by Off-Road Adven tu res Motorcycle Tours. Off- Roa d Adven tures is the brainchild of David Ma rtinda le, a fo rmer freig ht train engineer wh o was born in Wa les b ut has since made Canada hi s home. Th e 34-yea r-o ld Ma rtindale is new to the d ual sport touring business. His first official ride /tour took place last May, and he has since orga niz ed seven to u rs and le d approxima tel y 20 custo me rs on d ual sp o rt bikes into (and more i mportantly, ou t of) some of the mos t remote a reas of th e Canadian Rockies. "I've been wo rking for the Canadian Paci fic Railway (CPR) fo r the la st 15 yea rs as an enginee r," said Martindale. "For th e fir st 10 yea rs, running trains was a blast, but the last five years, well, it was getting a little old. The hours are b ru tal! Then everybody started cutting bac k and the CPR basically pa id me to retire. I was ready for a change in life, so 1 took them up on their offer." With a big wa d of money burning a hol e in his back pocke t, Ma rt indale, a long-time off-road motorcycle fanatic, decided to start his own business in the mo torcycle indu stry, and what could be a better way to mak e a living than rid ing on/off-road bikes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains? Martindale couldn't think of one. "1 went out and bought five Suzuki DR350S dual sport bikes and 1 was basically open for business," said Martindale. "1 chose the DR350S because 1 think it's the best all -around on / offroa d bike and appeals to a wide variety of people." All of the DRs are sligh tly modified, thou gh . Each bike has been fitted 'w ith a larger fou r-gallon IMS ga s tank, and Bark Buster hand gu ards, and have had the stock tires replaced by full -knobby Pirellis . That's about it. "1 make sure that each bike is always well taken care of. 1 don't want people to come here and ha ve to ride beat-up (Abo ve) Tou r guide David Martindale, in the cen ter of the photo, knows the Canadian Rocki es like the back of his hand. Leroy Winters, on the far right, has had enough of the fresh, clean air of Canada and fires up a N cig." The Suzuki DR600 belongs to a friend of Martindale's w ho joined us on the last day. (Right) You can literally ride for hours and no t see any signs of civilization in Canada. At this po int, we were at least 70 miles from the nearest town. bikes. If it' s possible, 1 even . have all the bikes washed after each d ay during the tou rs. So far all of the bikes ha ve proven to be extremely re liable, and they even start easily ." As far as th e tours go, Martindale offers an ywhere from one- to five-day packages. The fi ve-d a y /fournight tour costs $1295; fourd ay / thr ee-night $995; three -d ay /two-night $695, and two-day / o ne-nigh t $495 . One-d ay tour s a r e also available for $120. All the to urs include meal s, hotel accommo da tions (except the one-day tour), motorcycle ren tal, baggage transfers a nd local airport tr ansportation. Riders supplying their own bikes can subtract $45 for each d a y. Martindale run s his tours from May to October. " So m e p eople as k for easy trails; some wa nt more technical trails, a nd so me ask for plain old lots of riding. There are enough trails and dirt roads up here to satisfy anybody's needs." • My little escapade at the airport in Los Angeles cost 5