Bryan Kowalchuk and I went to Gopher Dunes for the first time last weekend and I thought I’d share our experience for those who haven’t been. We are far from air time MX stars as you’ll see in the video but we had a great time messing around on the sandy track.
It only took an hour and a half to get there from Mississauga ( less than Google Maps said). As a result we arrived early but the gates were open even if the track wasn’t official open yet. We used our time wisely and consumed some Tim’s breakfast sandwiches. The staff was very welcoming and gave us a quick orientation. We were hoping to ride the track and trails but the trails were still closed due to the long winter. Turns out the track was plenty big to keep us occupied.
They appear to have a great lesson program for new riders and a bunch of new Honda bikes available for rental in varying sizes. The property is huge with a big grassy field on sandy soil. Looked like the beginners were doing a little lap around a circuit with a gentle hill. Looking forward to taking my family there to try it out in a few years.
The mini / kids track looks really fun. It’s a good size and the jumps are pretty impressive. Probably would have been more appropriate for our skills but it was kids only.
The main sandy MX track was an absolute riot. Wide, open feeling and not intimidating. Nice,range of jump sizes and some easy whoops. All table tops or singles so no need to be a hero. Think I worked my way up to clearing the smallest table consistently by the end of the day, woohoo! The track developed some fun sandy corner ruts and a bit of chop by the afternoon. The big banked corners are particularly fun. The sand take some practice and certainly gives you a workout. At least it’s soft when you fall.
No major mishaps and asleep by 7:30pm 🙂
A great day overall and I would highly recommend it.
Bring on the Mini Pine!