Trillium Tours

Ontario's motorcycle touring industry flowers

 

This story first appeared in Long Riders Magazine

May 2009

Ontario, Canada's second largest province and home to over 13 million people, welcomes springtime with a profusion of wild trilliums – its provincial flower. April rains have washed away winter's highway sand and salt and ushered in May flowers. As the airs fills with the smells of spring, motorcyclists are digging away at the traces of snow remaining between shed and driveway – and those that are successful are found flitting here and there, clad in full leathers and heated vests.

The Canadian Shield, Precambrian rock that covers a good portion of the Ontario's northern region as well as Canada itself, together with the province's Great Lakes offer motorcyclists a truly breathtaking touring experience. Dotted with thousands of rivers and lakes, Ontario is not short on riding opportunities with her twisty, scenic highways and biways.

As seasoned riders, we know what is involved when forging plans for our next motorcycling destination. Maps, planning out routes, bungee cords and packing light are all considerations when all you have is a notion and two saddle bags to work with. But what if you want a no-brainer? Someone else to do the planning, and all you need to do is show up. Kind of like going to someone else's party – just show up, eat their food, have fun and let them do all the work.

For Liz Jansen of Orangeville, Ontario, getting the party started began with a two-month solo motorcycle odyssey in 2002, an escape during a significant personal life transition. What she didn't know at the time was that her biking tour would lead to a venture that would combine her passion for motorcycling with a service never offered before to the motorcycling community of Ontario. And in the process, she would acquire a license to operate a registered travel retail operation in Ontario that was strictly for motorcycles through the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO), the regulating body. According to Jansen, “It had never been done before, was outside the box and took a lot of persistence to achieve.”

A veteran rider for 30-plus years, Jansen drew from her experiences on the road to build a motorcycle tour service that would cater to riders of all levels of experience and lifestyles. Doing what she loved and helping others realize their adventurous dreams seemed like the right thing to do. Starting a tour company that specializes in motorcycling wasn't accomplished without challenges though.

“The other ground that had to be broken was obtaining appropriate insurance for my motorcycle and business,” explains Jansen. “Here again, it was unheard of for insurance companies to offer commercial liability insurance for a motorcycle and it took a lot of searching and expense to find someone that would cover this requirement. [Additionally], website design and development, logo, marketing collateral were major expenses. Administrative – office, phone, fax, computers also had to be arranged.”

Trillium Tours offers more than just tour packages. Clients can ride their motorcycles in and learn basic mechanics of their machine and how to do oil changes during spring and fall. Trillium also offers tele-classes – virtual classes on a variety of motorcycle-related topics.