Stéphanie Galipeau: Ambassador of Adventure

The adventure starts here – in the urban heart of the city.

You wouldn’t expect to find knobby tires and mud-caked fenders in Montreal. These neon streets and café corners normally enclose the kingdom of cruisers. Or more recently, the insurgence of hipster UJMs. But it seems that the old cliché rings true: you can take a Canadian out of the wild, but you can’t take the wild out of a Canadian.

So rolling into a downtown parking lot, I’m faced with 80 adventure riders. They’re dressed for Dakar, but we’re a long way from the desert.

Moto Trail Aventure organizes this bizarre display. They’re a dual-sport riding club that strives to inspire and facilitate the sport. Today’s event is called “ remise en forme .” And the francophones among you will guess that it’s a brush-up course for “getting back in shape.” Specifically, we’re improving fitness for the off-road riding season.

This seminar takes riders across four “stations.” The whole circuit is enclosed within a few patches of urban dirt, but riders find room to practice hill climbs, descents, slow-speed manoeuvers and corner braking. At each stop, a BMW Motorrad instructor – specially certified in Germany – gives criticism and advice.

The president of MTA, Stéphanie Galipeau, discusses the significance of our training:

It’s really special when you start doing off-road classes with dual-sport motorcycles, like we’re doing today. Because it helps to be more secure and to build the confidence to go off-road … If you have the skills it’s much better and you’ll be more comfortable.

This is the third year we’ve had remise en forme and everybody likes it because you’ve been rusty for the whole winter … So it’s kind of necessary to not hurt yourself to get back in shape. It’s a fitness sport. You need to be in shape, you need to be strong.

Born and raised in Montreal, Stéphanie Galipeau bought her first motorcycle during an 18-month sojourn in L.A.

It was a little custom bike. And then I discovered that you were able to have bikes that travel on- and off-road, so you can go anywhere. So then I got into ADV bikes. They open up the opportunities so much.

It’s the most comfortable bike. When you’re sitting on it, you’ve got shoulders, hips and feet all lined up … It’s so comfortable. So secure. I feel like freedom is in front of me, you know?

Stéphanie’s personal goal is to keep advancing – “to learn to go everywhere, and be able to ride anywhere.” Even on this small course, she pushes the limits of her skill. Stéphanie’s Super Ténéré hits the ground ahead of me – a toppled marker on the border of her comfort zone.

Our empty lot sits behind the Moto Internationale building – a marriage between BMW Motorrad and Harley-Davidson dealerships. Even as the adventurers are queuing for their exercises, the neighboring hog riders are preparing (read “revving”) for a group ride. When asked about the competition between show-roommates, a BMW rep tells me that “there is no competition. Because what we do is way beyond them … It’s the future.”

That sounds pretty competitive to me, but perhaps BMW is on to something. ADV motorcycling – a style pioneered by Ze Germans – is the fastest growing riding genre. Consumer advisor Benoît Rousseau tells me that the 1200GS tallies over 1/3 ^rd of BMW Motorrad’s total sales. Indeed, they sell more ADV bikes than any other style of motorcycle, combined.

Today’s crowd is a sterling example of that trend. Nearly 100 Montrealers rode here on their adventure bikes, in hurricane-proof gear, to learn wilderness riding skills. And all of this is taking place in the city – behind a Harley-Davidson dealership, no less.

The barbarians are at the gate.

It’s very easy for city people to [get into ADV riding] … With all the crap roads we have in Quebec, [off-road] suspension is just perfect. You can ride everywhere … and you’re good. You’re set. I don’t know why anybody has other motorcycles!

But Moto Trail Aventure didn’t always have momentum on their side. When Martin Hamel and Valérie Héroux started the club in 2009 – hoping to build a virtual library of dual-sport riding information – the project was too cumbersome for flight. With few ADV riders back then, and even fewer volunteers, MTA quickly stalled.

That’s where Stéphanie Galipeau comes in.

MTA almost died two years ago because no one else wanted to get involved … In 2013 I got involved organizing a few events, and they saw that I was a people person and I was very passionate about this sport … So I said that maybe I could be a secretary or something. And they said, “No we want you to be president, Steph! Because we know we can get some more people [with you as president] .” And I said, “Okay.”

I wasn’t sure if I would be fit for that, but I’m really happy that we got the numbers up. We have over 120 members this year. I think that MTA is very much alive.

Today, I learned that ADV bikes are skyrocketing in popularity (and not just in the boonies). I also learned that Moto Trail Aventure is riding the surge upwards.

Moto Trail Aventure is getting bigger and bigger. So we have to be very professional. Now we have to set up a lot of meetings and it takes a lot of time. I think that’s one of the hardest things. But we’re all passionate ... so we have fun doing it and we’re happy about it. We are a great team.

MTA holds several events throughout the year – everything from rider training, to mechanic workshops, to GPS seminars, to pub nights. They’re open to anything that facilitates the growth of adventure riding.

We would like to be the reference in Quebec for all the dual-sport motorcycling. That everybody that comes here will say, “Moto Trail Aventure is the #1 club for dual-sport … if we want to do really secure and fun riding, we have to go to Moto Trail Aventure.

If you want to get involved, there are three ways to join the adventure:

Become a member – $45 is all it costs for yearly dues, and that gets you access to club events, clinics and group rides. Sign-up can be done online and membership stickers will come in the mail.

Meet the crew – MTA hosts social events that are open to non-members. So if you want to get a feel for the club before committing, check their website for upcoming parties and 5 à 7s.

Volunteer – MTA is always looking for help. If you want to organize an event or create how-to guides for the virtual library, Stéphanie will be glad to have you on board.

Webpage: www.mototrailaventure.ca

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