I admit it - I’m just a weenie when it comes to getting dirty and getting close to nature. Those tiny 6-legged creatures that fly and crawl do not fit in my comfort zone. Mountain biking may be one of favorite sports, but I’m always a hot shower away to returning to my clean suburban home, soft feather mattress, and biodegradable citrus cleaners. Today I took the opportunity to get an intro to off-roading at the Toyota Trail Teams outdoor demo at the Sea Otter Classic in beautiful Monterey, CA. Essentially, the Sea Otter Classic is northern California’s largest cycling event and I was at Laguna Seca for four days covering the event for our sister sites - mtbr.com and roadbikereview.com.

Now, how does a bicycle race fit in with a car review site? Some car manufacturers are smart to tie in with the cycling crowd, such as Subaru and Gary Fisher Bikes and the Volkswagen/Trek team up. Toyota uses the Sea Otter Classic and similar outdoor events to promote their trucks and SUVs. Last year year was the Tundra. This year the Toyota Trail Team constructed a small course so that anyone can test the 4×4 abilities of the FJ Cruiser and Tacoma trucks.

Mike gives me a “thumbs up” before heading out on the course

The setup is fairly simple. You walk up to the demo area, register, hop into an FJ Cruiser or Tacoma, and an instructor helps you navigate the course while demonstrating the vehicle’s off-road capabilities such as the limited slip differential and vehicle’s maximum lean angle. Turns out this is a great hands-on introduction for first-time noobs and for drivers of 4×4 vehicles who have never taken their SUV or truck beyond anything more extreme than a gravel road.

The FJ Cruiser and Tacoma used for the outdoor demo are purely stock with only a few minor upgrades such as a 2″ RevTech lift kit, ARB bull bars, and 33″ BF Goodrich all-terrain tires. Oh yeah, the Trail Teams decided to pull some parts from the TRD shelf and give the Tacoma a little more horsepower. The supercharger outfitted in the Tacoma is available from the Toyota Racing Development catalog and boosts the 4.0L V6 engine to 304 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque. Factory specs for the Tacoma are 236 hp and 266 lb-ft of torque.

My co-pilot for my brief session was Garrett who is one of the instructors that travels with the road show and outdoor demonstrations. This guy lives in a trailer and is out on the road (and off-road) 9 months out of the year. Last year Garrett logged over 60,000 miles traveling across North America and teaching noobs, like me, how to have fun and be safe traversing treacherous obstacles that look as menacing as a 25 foot wave does to a surfer.

Sadly, the driving demo only takes a few minutes to navigate the course. I had a lot of fun maneuvering through the course in both the supercharged Tacoma and FJ Cruiser. This off-road stuff is definitely worth exploring further. Where can a noob like me sign up to learn and drive more rock crawling trails?