Just use common sense and you will be fine. The maps just recently became available and people have been riding in Simcoe for years without them. SCORRA puts on several events each year to show new riders around. It really is a great group that runs the club and a fantastic area to ride. I think when you get up there and experience it you will see that the maps are not such a big deal.
Yes, I certainly can- it's easiest to give you full directions over the phone. I don't feel it's ridiculous, but I do know we have many improvements to make. As has been mentioned several times, we are not the OFSC - yet. We don't yet have all the infrastructure in place that they do, which, it appears you may have had some expectations of. You also don't pay OFSC prices yet either. As also mentioned the OFTR does have a new website coming soon which will improve things. Following soon is a mapping system.
That's great, except last time I was in Hendrie going down a double track some guy stopped me and said I wasn't permitted on that trail. I said thanks for letting me know, however I have no way of knowing which trails I am supposed to be on. Later on I was coming out of some trail at the edge of the tract and some guy started running at me from his house a few hundred meters away. I didn't bother to stick around to get another lecture that day. So what happens when I get a trespassing charge from a County Officer for being in the wrong part of a tract? We all know that ignorance is not an excuse for breaking the law.
The rule of thumb in Simcoe cty; use the sections of double track that lead from the parking areas until you see single track. Then follow the arrows in the Single. Most of the single track is arrowed in SC. At least it is in Horseshoe, Williams, Orrock, Hendrie, and Phelpston. I think it's arrowed in Orr lake as well. Following double track will likely get you into the issues you ran into.
WOW! Just got back from a 6 day, 3700 km road bike ride down to the Tail of the Dragon and back via NY, PA, MD, VA, WV, KY,TN, and NC. Four of us following paper and GPS mapping, on great roads and all very social - key to all forms of motorcycling that I have done and continue to enjoy. Once home and unpacked, I checked in on this forum as is my custom, every couple of days. I see two major themes in this thread. ODSC membership rights and OFTR mapping. Its not like these two haven't been kicked around a lot. I better declare who I am, before I start my rant. I am not now, or even have been, a member of the ODSC executive or inner circle, whatever that means. As as 45+ year licenced motorcyclist, I ain't no spring chicken. I started riding on friends' bikes before I was 16, got my own Suzuki 80 at 16 and progressed through dual purpose British and Japanese bikes, Triumph street bikes, road racing bikes, sport touring bikes, 2 DR650s and 8 KTMs. Over 50 bikes owned. I am a motorcyclist. That is how I define myself. I am also a volunteer to motorcycling, and an executive on a small OFTR club. OO was formed in my basement and I have remained a director since its inception. I love motorcycling, and really enjoy most motorcyclists' company. I don't believe in a free ride, which might align me with the old farts getting in the way of the thirty and forty somethings that are trying to show us the better way. I predate paper maps specifically intended for off-road motorcyclists, GPS mapping, ODSC, OFTR, and SCORRA. OFTR saw the messy issue of access to trail maps coming before the first hand drawn map was distributed. There was always the concern that if you make maps available to the general public, you may lose some potential club members at the expense of the paying members. Not to mention the concern of the maps falling into the hands of renegades on 'clapped out', very loud motocrossers. When there was a substantial cost involved in producing and distributing paper maps, requiring membership to access the maps seemed justifiable. IMO, in the electronic era, once mapping has been created it gets shared, whether intensionally or not. Therefore, all the mapping in areas covered by OFTR agreements should be made available to all OFTR members. Visser is a much different motorcyclist than I am, but I very clearly get his point about the double jeopardy of being in a motorized tract of Simcoe County as he is allowed to be, but not knowing when he is not on an authorized trail, and therefore subject to a trespass fine. As I understand it, OFTR's mapping initiative, once completed, will still not completely address this problem, since 'private' club trails in motorized tracts will still exist. For everyone's clarification, OFTR's use agreement with Simcoe County predates the existence of SCORRA. SCORRA was created to provide stewardship over the legal ORM trails, existing and future, in the forest. As for visitor rights on the ODSC forum, why not just allow 'view only' privileges to non members, like so many other forums do. If you want to participate further, join. It costs all of $65 if you are not already an OFTR member. $10 for OFTR members. AND, no one is compelled to read this forum, so if you don't like what you read here, why go on about it - stop reading, and go riding. AND, Brian, I understand that you are trying to inform and give context on these issues, but I get that it might come across as 'lecturing' and making excuses for past f-ups. I am often guilty of the same also. I know now that my thousands of hours and dollars into off-road motorcycling mean zero to those starting out today. Funny how that has changed since I first bought a machete and got schooled on how to use it. Keep riding everyone. Once you have paid for the bike and insurance, its crazy not to use it. Rick
I see one of the "executive" felt the need to go into the locked thread and do some finger wagging: http://www.odsc.on.ca/.xenforo/inde...dual-sport-dirt-bike.22247/page-2#post-143365 Too funny.
