Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Motoventures Trials Tours Motoventures helps to overcome the Sailboat Syndrome. experience, we highly recommend it these bikes are totally different than "regular" motorcycles), you'll also receive helpful pointers that will likely improve your dirt-bike technique as well. (If you're lucky, as we were, National Trials Champion Geoff Aaron will be on hand to provide instruction; number-two Women'sclass rider Carrie Williams was also present to embarrass us.) Our tour took place a couple of weeks before the National Trials round that will take place at the Motoventures facility (see box), s'o LaPlante decided to take Kit and I on the National loop - fortunately, he chose easier sections than those that the pros will face. That's good, because we were plenty challenged By CHRIS JONNUM PHOTOS BY KIT PALMER AND JONNUM think I would like to own a sailboat. I don't just mean in the "Well, sure, if you're going to give it to me" sense, but really, passionately eryoy being in possession of a sailboat. The problem is, I've never sailed, and I don't happen to know anyone who owns a boat - at least not one that they're willing to lend to an inexperienced landlubber for a day or two. And, although I'd seriously consider taking out a loan or selling my house in order to buy one, I wouid only do so if I were absolutely sure I'd enjoy sailing, which means chances are very good that my affinity for the pastime will never advance beyond my current distant, abstract fascination. I suspect that the same is true of many motorcyclists concerning trials. We've all heard about the quirky offroad discipline being a lot of fun and great technique practice that transfers over to everything from motocross to road racing. But trials is so small that not many of us have friends with the appropriate machinery, and rare is the rider who will drop five- or six-large on a completely unfamiliar bike and sport without firm evidence that he or she will get a return (fun) on the investment - no matter how consistently enthusiastic the testimonials. It's a Catch-22 situation that has no doubt prevented many a potential trials afi- O 20 APRIL 25. 2001 • cue I • cionado from ever entering the sport, and one that has probably helped keep trials itself pigeon-holed as a idiosyncratic oddity rather than a mainstream. Call it the Sailboat Syndrome. Former Honda P.R. guru Gary LaPlante hopes he has come up for a solution for the Sailboat Syndrome, and he recently invited Kit Palmer and I to see what we thought of it. LaPlante - a longtime trials enthusiast - is the brain and brawn behind Motoventures, a multifaceted Southern California company that specializes in off-road and trials motorcycle tours and training. Armed with an arsenal of modern Gas Gas trials bikes, LaPlante offers something elegant in its simplicity: the opportunity for those who are curious about trials to give it a shot without a major commitment. This may seem like somewhat of a niche business, but that's appropriate since trials itself is a niche sport. Motoventures' trials classroom is the rolling, boulder-covered area around Aguanga, just west of Temecula - arguably the best trials-riding site in Southern California. LaPlante takes clients on laps around customtailored loops of approximately five to 10 miles in length, stopping periodically to tackle sections of appropriate difficulty. If you opt for instruction as well (and if you have limited trials n • "" so by just the loop itself, which Kit described as "some of the tightest, coolest off-road trails you can imagine - doubled - but without killing you." With just a bit of advice from LaPlante, Kit and I soon became quite comfortable on the foreign-feeling machines, and were having an unbelievable amount of fun. Ridden properly (or even in our poor imitation thereof), trials bikes can fairly easily navigate terrain that would require a major workout on a dirt bike. Even better, their minimal sound output and lack of wheelspin mean you won't make enemies or tear up the trails. As mentioned above, the loop itself is a blast, just tough enough to tryout your newly learned technique, (Top left) National Trials Champion Geoff Aaron was on hand as a guest instnactor at our reporters' class. No, students were not expected to pull off sketchy drops such as this, though we did appreciate the demonstration. (Above) Motoventures uses modem Gas Gas motorcycles for Its classes and tours. Trials bikes are weird-feeling at first but, after a couple of pointers, you'll feel relatively comfortable.