Ray's Trip

Indoor riding will never replace the feeling of ripping up some sweet single track. It’s hard to impossible to recreate nature in its fullest from a Mountain bikers prospective. But you can take all the things you love about Single Track riding and condense them into a very enjoyable experience. Working on your skills improves your confidence and adds flow to your everyday biking ability. Either be berms, skinny’s, rocks, logs and yes, Jumps! And where better to work on this than the Ray’s MTB Indoor Park. The world’s First Indoor MTB Park. Ray’s MTB Park is located in Cleveland and boasts a 135,000 sq ft wall to wall dream for any MTB bike enthusiast. The park was made with the intention of satisfying the need for bikers to keep up their riding during the winter months. And who better to build it than Ray Petro, a Mountain biker himself with background in design and a carpetener by trade. And it shows. Every inch of the space is pure bike heaven. At times it’s hard to tell that there is even concrete under all the wood trails. It’s not hard to think that this place is geared toward the Dirt Jump Freaks, but this is simply untrue.

The cross country loop is epic and challenging with options at every corner. With rocks and logs located threw out. It’s not hard to ride for days and not do the same thing twice. The loop has flow that challenges every rider’s ability.

The Pump track is not something you see in our typical Tuesday’s rides. This total body workout will sharpen your overall bike skills and push you to generate power and speed. Using the bumps and Berms to will teach you more than you know till the next time you’re out on that single-track.

Ray’s has two excellent skinny obstacle sections. They are well built and planned for the rider in all of us who want to push the ability’s that we come across every ride. Most of only practice this skill during the ride and earn to get better. At Rays you can work on these skills with all fun and virtually none of the risk. Either be a 2x4 or a log, to the more advanced of a teeter totter or an elevator drop. Most of us will never see an elevator in our trail riding but practicing the balancing skills required will help improve every rider. Not to mention fun as $#!%

Last but not least......Jumping at Ray’s!! To many, this can be intimating and not for the faint of heart. But not here! You are not forced into feeling uncomfortable. The jumps are well built and made so the rider is in full control within their comfort level. By far the best and most famous line at Ray’s is the “Red Bull” wall. A combination of bumps and berms then leads to a couple jumps in front of onlookers with a ride on a huge 8 foot wall covered in the energy drink logo. And when you’re done...you do it againJ

This is no doubt a stop that every rider should make. This has turned into an annual visit for some of the CTS crew. And for good reason. This is the first ever indoor Mountain Bike Park. The cost for the weekend is a lot better than one would expect with Hotel deals and with the Canadian Dollar almost par with the US. A weekend with Fuel, Hotel, and 2 day Park pass will set you back about $160. Rays is the foundation of what other indoor parks inspire to be. So do what you have to, but plan now for next year’s trip.

-Fish