Imagine the kind of holiday activity that is more fun in the rain. Can you? According to the experts, riding a quad bike over rough terrain is much more exciting in the middle of a downpour.
"People who have been out on the bikes once or twice actually prefer it in the rain. You can slide around more," says Eileen Cullen of Quad Attack, near Clonroche in Co Wexford. John Smyth, proprietor of Bridgefield Buggies in Castlemartyr Co Cork, agrees: "It's actually safer in wet weather because, if you accelerate too fast, the bike spins rather than jumps." He laughs: "There isn't much else to do in this country when it rains - except drink!"
A quad bike, for those not in the know, is a squat four-wheeled version of a motorbike. It looks like a baby tractor and comes in various sizes.
Bridgefield Buggies, set up by John and Ursula Smyth three years ago, was the first quad track in Ireland. "It was just an idea I dreamed up," says Smyth. "I didn't realise they were already popular all over the UK." Smyth has a farm with suckler cows and beef stock, but was hoping to diversify: "I went to Teagasc looking for a grant and it turned out that we could only get a grant if we were organising some sort of activity. We thought of lots of things: horses, canoes. When I hit on the quad bike track idea, I felt good."
Inspired by Bridgefield Buggies, Eileen and John Cullen set up Quad Attack with Eileen's brother three summers ago. "There isn't much of a future in farming," says Eileen. "John loves machinery and my brother is into bikes." With their own digger, they excavated a 15 km route over 80 acres. They now have 20 bikes and are open seven days a week during the summer; weekends from October to June.
Meanwhile, Claire Dunne, manager of Glen Quads near Fermoy in Co Cork, got her inspiration from further afield. "The farmers all use them in New Zealand. They are good machines for travelling through fields and spreading fertiliser," she says. Her brother spent time working in New Zealand and on his return bought a quad bike for the farm. By February, they had dug out a quad track in an unused hilly glen.
The Cullens get group bookings from Dublin and Waterford, but also from places like London. For groups of five or six adults, it is £20 per hour each, with a £10 deposit on each bike. Many of their customers are on stag weekends, but they will not accept anyone under the influence of alcohol, nor will they put up with unruly behaviour: "We've had a few wild ones and if they get too carried away they're taken off the track," says Eileen.
John takes a maximum of seven on a ride, specifying clearly the distance to be maintained between the instructor and each subsequent bike. Children (i.e. anyone under 16) have special "kiddie tracks" and their own instructor. The size of bike recommended depends on the height of the child: either 50 or 80 c.c.
As we chat, two boys of about 10 come in from the track. One is exhilarated, telling his parents about it. The other is in tears of frustration because his bike didn't go fast enough. The children's bikes are "low to the ground and very safe" says Eileen. "It helps kids to get used to the idea of real driving from an early age. They learn to be responsible on the road."
The biggest quad bikes Glen Quads provide for adults are 250cc. These cost about £4,000 and can travel at 70 km an hour. "They are noisy," agrees Claire Dunne, "but our course in the glen, beside the main Cork-Dublin road, so you can't really hear them." Like Eileen Cullen, Dunne dislikes the notion that quad bikes are for "mad lunatics": "We want families to come and enjoy themselves in a safe situation. We don't want to scare the living daylights out of people." John Smyth, who has 18 adult bikes and caters for children over the age of six, notes that every so often, someone takes a tumble: "There are two types of characters to watch out for. The one who is unduly nervous, and the one who is unduly gung-ho."
He gets stag and hen parties from all over Britain, most of whom are very well behaved. His wife Ursula tries to screen out the rowdies when bookings are being made on the phone: "I take the key out of the bike if someone makes trouble. You can get some thugs who think it's fun to wreck the place. I'd rather have no business than bad business. There are times when we just won't take people if we don't think it's appropriate." "It's an absolute phenomenon now, especially at this time of the year. Sales of Quad bikes must have quadrupled since we started this business. It's huge."
Bridgefield Buggies: 021-667533; Glen Quads: 086-8871544; Quad Attack: 054-44660.
