LOOKING
BACK by Doug Hunter
Terrorizing the trails around Osgoode - The late Colin Snider and Mike Busby (right) with Chris Busby (still with us!) in the middle. Taken at Doug Hunter’s house in Osgoode, Sept 1987
Colin Snider, 1967-1996 The BMA’s Colin Snider memorial harescramble at Woody’s has been running since the late 1990’s. However, I suspect there are many members out there who know the name and the event, but perhaps nothing of the person being honoured. I was asked to share a few memories here. Colin was like many BMA riders in that he was accomplished in other aspects of the sport before discovering/rediscovering dirt/trail riding. He was a successful roadracer, with several regional titles won in the 125 and 250cc GP championships, and top finishes in the old Yamaha RZ350 cup series. He is also largely responsible for me not going roadracing! Back in the 1980’s, after borrowing his RZ cup bike for the RACE school on a Thursday, I had lined up Mike Busby’s Honda CBR600 for a road racing debut on the Canada Day long weekend at Shannonville. Accompanied by Jon Gee with his bike, the school went well on the RZ and I got a Friday practice in on the Honda. For some reason Colin then got out on the CBR, and of course completely trashed it into a ball of metal and plastic that never saw the track again. As always, he bounced right up and jumped on another bike, while I was suddenly bike-less. I took the incident as divine intervention though, and anytime the thought of road racing came up again, I laid down until the feeling went away. By the 1990’s, a number of us rediscovered dirt riding, putting behind the commitment, costs and injuries of roadracing and MX. Or in some cases increasing driver’s license demerit points from street riding! Colin proved to be a fast off-road rider, and became known for bouncing back from the most extreme crashes, seemingly right into the saddle and continuing on without missing a beat. Trail
rides in Calabogie, Larose and Marlborough forests were common, along with local pit riding and selected harescramble events at Woody’s and Bill Bak’s in the Perth area. This was a period where many trails in Calabogie such as Tantrum, Broken Toe and Clutch Cover got named (or renamed) due to various incidents and antics. The latter was named after Colin had a huge high side on a fast but (then) green and slick trail that saw him roll and bounce forever before typically jumping back up on his feet. However, a severely holed clutch cover was discovered. Tools and preparedness were not Colin’s forte (after all, everyone else had tools along) and my roll of duct tape allowed the ride to continue. Another time Colin fouled a plug on his CR250 on the very top of the Quinn’s trail…possibly the worst place one could chose. Of course, no spare plugs or even a correct wrench could be produced among our group. After again being scolded for lack of preparedness, his response was typical Colin: “with all those tools and spare parts you have (including a four-stroke plug) why couldn’t you pack a two-stroke plug!” The resulting whiteknuckle towing session down one of the knarliest trails in the region, out of the bush and up the #77 trail with my old XR500 was eventful to say the least. The only high point was pulling into the High Falls parking lot right on the tail of the rest of our group, to a few surprised looks. Colin was as fast coasting under tow as he was with a working throttle, and was constantly demanding more speed when the tow vehicle slowed down! Ironically, the only other time I ever had to tow a bike was from that very same Quinns location with Steve Garnsey about 15 years later. A regular visit to Colin’s garage was always a worthwhile trip, as there you could recover the borrowed torque wrench/tie-downs/handlebar/acu-mix can (or you name it) you hadn’t seen in months! Still, he never lacked enthusiasm and was always eager to head out for a ride when everyone else was complaining of being tired, sick, hun-