Rough Riders
Author:
Bob Friel With a sudden roar and a rolling cloud of dust, the pack of ATVs comes flying down the gravel road and into the paddock. Ida, a tourist from Germany, blanches and clutches her husband as the snarling, mud-loving four-wheelers skid to a halt in front of us. A burly guy jumps off the lead ATV and introduces himself as Felix, our guide. He flashes a big smile.
The ATV Adventures base is in Babonneau, a hilly region of switchback roads lined with fruit trees, banana plantations and pockets of tropical forest 30 scenic minutes west of Castries, St. Lucia. There are eight of us, aged 30-something to something like twice that.
Felix gives us a primer on the ATV's simple controls and starts one up. He motions for Ida to get on, but she balks. Felix reassures her that it's very easy to drive, but says she's welcome to ride with her husband. Her husband eyes the idling ATV warily and shrugs. He's never ridden one either. In fact, none of us has ever been close to one of these machines. Ida decides to chance it on her own.
The first part of the tour is an easy glide down a dirt road, but then we turn onto a rocky, pitted path that climbs steeply up a hillside. The rider in front of me bounces over a rut and pitches up onto three wheels before she remembers to keep her weight forward while going uphill. This is definitely not a controlled, theme-park ride -- and it's a blast.
We tour plantation trails, stopping at the ruins of a water mill, where Felix explains the life cycle of the banana and how the plantations are worked. We follow twisting paths through heavy forest, and cruise semipaved roads that look out over lush green valleys. We learn to trust the ATVs to take on whatever rocks, potholes, tree roots and mud slicks we encounter. Soon we're all leaving room between us and the ATV ahead so we can go full throttle down the straightaways, accelerating to over 30 mph. Everyone, that is, except Ida, who sits bolt upright, arms stiff, fingers locked on the handlebars in a white-knuckled death grip, braking and throttling in fits and starts.
The highlight of the 90-minute ride comes after a stop under shade trees for a snack of iced mango juice and freshly cut coconut. Felix leads our pack of ATVs to a slow-moving stream meandering through a plantation. With a grin, he throttles up and charges through. One at a time we follow, plunging into water up to the tops of our knobby tires. Machine after machine splashes through, spraying water, caroming off submerged rocks and clawing its way up the muddy embankment on the other side. And right in the middle of the pack is Ida powering through the brown water, throwing a wake like a battleship, her new confidence showing in the white smile shining through a face caked with well-earned road dust.
EASY RIDER
St. Lucia's ATV Adventures tour costs $130 per vehicle, and each ATV can carry up to two people. Drivers must be at least 18 years old, but kids 13 and older can go as riders. Price includes transfers from hotels and cruise ships, instruction on the ATV and refreshments during the tour. For more information, visit www.atv-stlucia.com or call 758-458-8280.
Posted online 09/15/01.
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