All your options are good. Though I can tell you kids love the mud. When my son started riding we lived in N. bay and riding spots were wide open. From our townhouse we could push the bike about 200 meters away and have a field/mud bog to ride on. I would sit the kid on the bike (engine off) and use a hockey stick to make the pushing easier and then let him go once we got there. always stayed legal. a 25 minute drive north with the trailer would put us on crown land trails. It was beautiful. Then we moved here. So hard to find a place to ride. We would go up hwy 6 north to just before owen sound to the motocross track and trails at ? walford? walton? can't remember the name. we went to ride the trails there (which are crap) and found out the motocross track was actually a blast! we would go during the week and sometimes camp over night at the track so we would get two back to back days of riding. Weekdays the place was almost empty. membership cost us $25 each, and then it was $25/day each. very reasonable, camping over was free, and there were showers available. we could even use the power washer for bikes free, they have a small bike shop there, and a restaurant. it was a really great deal overall. they run a motocross school and have a downsized track (no real jumps) for young guys to ride and learn. my kid kind of "hung around" the downsized track during the school - and actually learned some good stuff like always keep your knees tight to the tank when landing from a jump (saves your knees from injury). The young guy (17?) teaching the kids was really good. no pressure. and my son wasnt even in the school-just there hanging out. when we went out on the big track there was never more than 3-6 bikes circulating. the track has a lot of elevation changes and we were slow-so I would ride blocker about 10-20 yards behind my kid and raise my arm to warn the coming from behind fast guys what was ahead (with the hills my kid would be hidden from view and I didn't want anyone to land on him. Everyone was cool about it and didn't mind. they actually embraced him out there on the 50, and later the 80. But I always remembered seeing the young instructer and his scars from broken bones / operations from motocross racing. it concerned me, and my kid kept hinting that he liked the orange bikes (ktm's). he wanted a 50/65 twostroke. I didn't want him to race motocross but never said that to him. So I found out about the hare scrambles races around SW ontario and got him into that to make him forget about motocross. Whew! hare scrambles was a great atmosphere and most kids 10-13 were running mainly 50/65 two strokes (the bikes to have). he made friends with other kids, had a great time, again it was a low pressure type atmosphere. after his race (1 hour) we would put a couple of lawnchairs on top of the mini van roof and watch the rest of the races. The races are run on a ~6-10 km trail (loop) with checkpoints to count their laps. fastest rider wins. hare scrambles was the only way I could find a good place to ride. it was inexpensive and the kids really work up a good sweat with the long races. highly recommended. theres classes for everyone from novice to expert to over 59's! its all done in one day and there are giveaway draws like T-shirts goggles and such (thx royal distributing!) at the days end.
