calabogie - accomendation etc.

[justride]

Pro 6 has a two day track school in late May at the Calabogie Track. For those who had taken the course did you set up camp or found accomedation outside the track (where did you keep your bike overnight?) Are there any showers or food available/ around.

If you took your own bike, was it worth the hassel/time/money saved?

Living in Mississauga it will be 4hour one way trip but man it looks like fun!

 

[Brian P]

You can leave your bike at the track; it's secure. I've always stayed at the track although there are a few places to stay in town. The track has good showers. Food, bring your own. The Redneck Bistro in town is a good place.

 

[Lightcycle]

There are lots of places to stay around the track. Here is a good list right on the Calabogie website:

https://www.calabogiemotorsports.com/stay/

You can spend $0 (camping in the parking lot) or you can spend up to $325/night for a track-side suite. Or something in between at a motel or lodge a few kms away.

Pretty much every accommodation has a parking lot so you can keep your trailer onsite. There's a couple of diners in the area as well, we always go to Calabogie Pizza. Also the bigger hotels have a restaurant onsite, like the one in Calabogie Peaks Resort.

If this is a school and not a track day, I'd opt to use their bikes instead of taking your own if you can afford it. Not because of the time/hassle/cost but because you can push yourself out of your comfort zone on someone else's bike. If you're tentative on track because you're worried about binning your own bike, you're pretty much wasting the tuition fee, IMO.

 

[mbroyda]

you will be lucky to make it there from Mississauga in 4 hrs.
they have accommodations at the track but they book pretty fast and are not cheap, you could camp but the nights are pretty cold there in May so pack accordingly, and there are bathrooms and showers right there, also there are several resorts and motels within a short drive where you can rent a room.

 

[RobVN]

There are lots of places to stay around the track. Here is a good list right on the Calabogie website:

https://www.calabogiemotorsports.com/stay/

If this is a school and not a track day, I'd opt to use their bikes instead of taking your own if you can afford it. Not because of the time/hassle/cost but because you can push yourself out of your comfort zone on someone else's bike. If you're tentative on track because you're worried about binning your own bike, you're pretty much wasting the tuition fee, IMO.

We always stay at Jockos. Good accomodation and good rates. I'm not sure I agree with using their bikes. If you are comfortable on your own bike and you have tracked it before then I would ride it. A school is all about learning not pushing. You will be very uncomfortable on a bike you have not ridden. My bike had an issue one year at a Calabogie track day and I rented a bike so I would not waste my track day. I was totally uncomfortable on the rental bike. It felt completely foreign and i did not enjoy it. You want to be spending your time learning skills not learning to ride another bike. Sorry IMO.

 

[Lightcycle]

We always stay at Jockos. Good accomodation and good rates. I'm not sure I agree with using their bikes. If you are comfortable on your own bike and you have tracked it before then I would ride it. A school is all about learning not pushing. You will be very uncomfortable on a bike you have not ridden. My bike had an issue one year at a Calabogie track day and I rented a bike so I would not waste my track day. I was totally uncomfortable on the rental bike. It felt completely foreign and i did not enjoy it. You want to be spending your time learning skills not learning to ride another bike. Sorry IMO.

Track bike or street bike though? My opinion still holds if the OP is taking his street ride. If it's a track bike, then yeah, give'er.

If you're green and taking track school, you're going to be doing things you've never done on your street ride anyway, so everything's going to be new. Might as well do it on their bike.

 

[N3WMAN]

I am always in for wadding up other peoples bikes before my own.

 

[Winales_2017]

I am always in for wadding up other peoples bikes before my own.

Agreed. I was a total novice on 2 wheels when I did mine, and it was instructed by an ex AMA racer and a pro MX guy, and they laughed at me like a total squid (I guess I was) when I told them I had only ridden an R6 for a few hours on some back roads years ago before buying my 1st Fireblade.

They said that I should have started on a smaller 250cc bike before trying to get on that and try to tame that beast as I was just scared most of the time riding it mainly just trying to not crash. They were right. I learned a bit, not a lot and relied on my track experience with cars to carry me through, and I got a perfect score, the same as my friend who did the traditional bike upgrade (250-500-600cc) and had like 20k miles street riding, so I was kind of vindicated as I had done things right, but still kind of clueless as to how to ride my bike to even 1/10 of its potential.

We rode in some seriously crazy winds, like 70-95mph headwinds, which were super cold, too. I ended up dropping my borrowed bike waiting for someone to take off from the start as I got caught by a side gust as I was weaving to slow down and not have to stop for my turn. But the truth is I didn't have the experience to anticipate the sudden weight shift on 2 wheels and it just tipped over and I bailed on it knowing it wasn't mine and was what I paid to avoid.

It got better as the day went, but I would have been ****** off if I did that to my bike because simply because we had snow projected for the rest of the week and all decided this was better than not having a license for the bikes we all had.

I saw them a few years later and hit the track with the MX guy, with the F4 in my avatar, and he was on his supermoto and lapped me and I learned way more that single session about braking, shifting, and lean angle then all the days combined from the course.

 

[RobVN]

True enough then. If you are completely green and never been to the track then it would be a good idea to rent their bikes. I did the same in Mid Ohio when I did the California superbike school . Honestly tho I didn't push it as each session had a specific skill exercise they were trying to teach you. If i had done some track days on my own bike I prolly would have ridden my bike but at that time I had not.