An extremely cold night out on the ATV Club of Eastern Ontario's trails led into a beautiful morning for a ride on the Nation Valley ATV Club's trails on Sunday, January 18.
A combination of 65 NVATVC members and guests arrived to beautiful temperatures in the -5ºC range, great weather to be hitting the trails.
The ride began at 10 am at the Winchester Pioneer Gas Station, with several participants meeting an hour earlier across the street at the Country Kitchen Restaurant for breakfast. The Country Kitchen Restaurant is a proud supporter of the Nation Valley ATV Club, and is where the ATV club hosts its monthly meetings.
Club executives were on hand at the Country Kitchen to sell memberships and day passes for the event ahead of time, and were in the parking area of the Pioneer Gas Station to accommodate the late arrivals.
With everyone set up with day passes, NVATVC wardens set out on the trails, leading veteran club members and novices alike clockwise around the NVATVC Winter trail loop.
The grooming volunteers had done a fabulous job, and the trails were in great shape: hard packed and easily traversed.
Mid-day, the group ended up at the Sandy Row Golf Course for lunch. Sandy Row had to put on a shortened menu to accommodate that many ATVers at one time. Some participants remained in the parking lot to enjoy a packed lunch. Sandy Row is a favourite place to hit while out on the trails because of their fantastic chicken wings!
After lunch, the group broke up a bit more as some wardens led groups to Rick's gas bar for fuel and snacks, while some of the group continued on their route around the Winter loop. The combination of the afternoon sunshine and the tighter bush trails on the second half of the ride made for a spectacular conclusion to the day.
By 4 pm, all groups had returned to the Winchester Pioneer to load up and head for home. A good time was had by all! Everyone wanted to know when the next ride would be, and I’m sure everyone slept well that night!
