Training With Wentzel

words and photos STEPH

There are few women in the trials community more passionate about getting more women riding motorcycles than Toni Roach. In her history of riding, she’s become comfortable riding with the guys, but has realized that not all women, especially those new to the hobby, feel the same way. So, she reached out to Quinn Wentzel, former Pro Trials Rider, and asked for a women’s only trials training class, to which he happily agreed. The five available spots filled up quickly, and soon there were five women geared up and ready to train at The Compound, Quinn’s personal training facility in North Benton, OH. Quinn is a sponsored rider for Rieju USA on the enduro side of off-road, but as the US importer also dabbles in Electric Motion, Quinn has one of those, too. Not surprisingly, the Electric Motion, the all-electric trials bike, makes for the perfect demonstration bike – during the class, Quinn was able to talk while demonstrating the next challenge, explaining everything from body positioning to clutch and throttle control as he did so, elevating the quality of teaching to the next level.

Following traditional February Ohio weather, the day was chill with a slight breeze, but enough to merit moving the class within Quinn’s Quonset hut. For those who have never had the opportunity to visit

The Compound, the Quonset hut is filled with concrete tubes, rocks, and logs for every skill level. And knowing trials riders, they can take even the simplest-looking obstacle and find a way to force a high-level skill out of it, making the facility the perfect training grounds.

As most of the women in attendance were riding at a Novice or Intermediate level, Quinn started the class as he normally does –talking about body positioning. Talking through placement of the controls, making sure levers were at the right angle for quick access through most maneuvers, and foot positioning on the pegs. Then it was all about balance. Because so much of trials is at slow speed, being able to balance on the pegs without dabbing a foot and taking points is crucial. The girls spent some time working on balancing with the engine off, learning how to find the balance point and stabilize with only slight movements from the handlebars.

As trials is done with the rider standing on the foot pegs instead of sitting in the seat, there was discussion about how to properly move with the bike, especially around turns, and after a quick demonstration from Quinn, it was back on the bikes for practice. Then it was the dreaded cone slalom, which forced the women to weave around cones only a bike-length apart from one another; the goal was not to see how fast they could navigate the course, it was how slow and controlled they could reach the finish, riding back and forth around the cones. With each pass, they would continue to improve until everyone had passed through the course several times without dabbing or running over a cone.

Next up on the agenda was the wheelie. Quinn laid a 2x4 on the ground and showed the women how to lift their front tires – the goal was not a standing wheelie, but just enough lift that the front tire didn’t touch. For some women, this was more a mental challenge than a physical one. Those who had a little more experience, or were already riding at a higher level, took to the wheelie rather quickly. After a break for lunch, provided by Quinn’s dad, Bob, and the Vintage Movement, it was back to the hut for more wheelies and obstacle-crossings. Once Quinn saw the women were comfortable lifting their front wheel, he moved them to a slightly more difficult obstacle, railroad tie, then a small concrete tube, then a larger rock, and so on until he found everyone’s comfort level. For the others, the 2x4 proved a significant challenge, but they kept at it, hitting it over and over again until they started to see progress. The final portion of the day was spent working on hitting obstacles at an angle, or through a turn. Cones were moved around rocks and logs to simulate the ribbon typically used as section boundaries in competition. At the end of the day, everyone was in agreement that Quinn’s method of teaching was spot-on. But why a women’s-only class? When it comes to co-ed classes or rides, many women still fear making a mistake and looking foolish, or holding the class up because they may not be as fast or as skilled as the guys. There’s an inherent fear of asking questions and feeling silly for not already knowing the answer. To some, this may sound ridiculous. No one is an expert right out of the gate, but with motorsports still being dominated by men, the women are slowly and tentatively testing the waters to see if they are welcome. Quinn provided a great environment for learning, making sure to take time with each rider and allowed the class to progress naturally through the skills he demonstrated, without feeling pressure to hurry.

“Quinn was freaking awesome,” said Michelle Robison. “I know that he’s kind of a quiet guy, but he was very informative, broke everything down, and that makes it so easy for us girls, or anybody, really. I think this class ranks right up there with the Ryan Young training class I’ve taken. It was kind of the same thing – all about breaking down each section or technique, and I think he did a really good job.”

“Quinn is so great at giving you the skill, showing an example of the skill, and reiterating it, but giving it to you at your level,” explained Nicole Robinson, who currently rides the Novice class in Trials Incorporated. “He’s really calm and gives you confidence in the way he delivers the information. He gives you time to work up [to a skill] if you’re not ready for it right at that moment. He encourages you and tells you exactly what he sees that you’re not doing and what you’re doing correctly. It was a great class – I’m really excited; I feel like I got two new skills today that I had shied away from for two years. It was a baby wheelie, but I’m gonna own it! The other skill was climbing up those rocks and the square timber; anything squared off like that really intimidates me, but you get the little lift there and lean back a little bit and you go right over it.

I think it gave us a venue to not be intimidated and not feel like we had to over-push ourselves, but still feel like we could do things. I think had I been in a class with a bunch of other guys, I would’ve thought I was taking too much time of some of the obstacles. Today, I felt like we had the time for everything that we wanted to do, we had the space. Quinn was attentive with every one of us, walked around and saw everything everybody was doing. I think it was a great class size, and I think all girls is a great thing.”

“This was the first all-women’s class,” said Quinn. “It went really good; we had a great group of ladies, all fairly close in skill level, so that makes for a more pleasant learning experience. What’s good about having an all-ladies class is that they’re more comfortable learning together. Sometimes when there’s other guys around, they can make them a little bit nervous. This way, everybody gets a lot more comfortable and willing to try more stuff and push themselves.

As far as it being different from an all-men’s class or a co-ed class, honestly today I didn’t think there was much difference because the ladies were really willing to let it hang out [laughs] – they were sending it, which is awesome! Sometimes, I guess you could see a little bit more timidness within a ladies class, but honestly, today everybody was killing it.”

I thought today’s training was really good," said Toni Roach. "I had a good time, I definitely learned some stuff to go home and practice, which is kind of the idea of these kinds of schools.

Last year I took it and I was the only girl with a bunch of guys. I know so many of these gals get uncomfortable because they haven’t been in that environment their whole life, and so I thought this would be better having an all-girl class, and it was – it worked out great. I loved how serious everybody was about learning but still having fun.

That class last year, I was intimidated, but only because it’s indoors with the obstacles, not because it was with the guys. Listening to the other women talk, they are so much more comfortable