A view from above: a small section of the action
Things I learned during my visit to Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
1. The amount of rad that can be purchased for $25 approaches infinity.
2. There is an entire generation of riders (maybe two generations) that look way cooler than me.
3. Riders half my age get two times the air.
4. Riders a third of my age have about three times the skillz.
The girl nailing the double teeter totters couldn’t have been older than 10.
5. There were a ton of riders at the park that were a third my age. Kinda sad, also pretty rad.
6. Moms can shred too, and they were doing so.
7. Never underestimate the beginner section: serious fun and skill-building can be had there.
Beginner section to build skills, warm up, or get it on trials-style.
8. There exists a surprising number of dudes who are secure enough in their masculinity to rock rented pink helmets (see above).
9. The guy on the rented bike with his iPod earphones in is probably more concerned with the perfect track to shred to than the safety of the guy behind him. Take heed…
10. That being said, no one had a bad attitude during my 5 hour visit. All was patience and positivity for the beginners all the way through the pros.
11. Regarding gears in this setting: you only need one. I was on a Trek GFC Rig (single speed hardtail 29er) and I was never wanting for a different ratio.
12. Things that are inspiring: little groms.
13. Mountain bike bar ends are a catastrophe waiting to happen. Please leave them in the 90s where they belong
14. He/she with the most Matchy-Matcherson kit will spend the most time posing and fiddling with their purple knee pads and the least time actually riding bikes.
15. You will never ride lighter than a day at the park: no need to carry water, tools, tubes and it’s indoor so shorts and short sleeve shirt are all you need. Makes for maximum shredding capability and highest air.
16. The amount of makeup you wore to ride the park is inversely proportional to the likelihood of you cleaning the teeter totter. This goes for both sexes, I’m serious. Kids these days…
17. The ride to the park is all anticipation and getting amped with the right tunes. The ride home is full of stiffness and thoughts of what plans you may be canceling tomorrow. At least for old guys like me.
Getting close. Cue the perfect 5 tracks to get pumped.
18. I need new gloves; my hands got shredded from shredding.
19. I want to meet the guy who was dressed in the flying squirrel costume killing it on the big jump section. I couldn’t snag a photo of him, he moved too quickly. If anyone knows this dude let me know, he was awesome.
20. All the details are on the website or in the photo below. If you’re within driving distance of Milwaukee or Ray’s original location in Cleveland you owe it to yourself to get there during what’s left of the winter. It was such a treat to grab handfuls of gnar while the snow fell outside.
That about sums up Ray’s. Get there, build skills and fitness, be ready to dominate the spring!
Hilarious. You speak the truth sir.
I gotta get to an indoor MTB park soon…
Steve,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Steve,,,,,,,,,,,,Steve,,,,,,,,,,,,,huhhh?,?,?,?,?,,,,,,,quit daydreaming and get to work,,,,,,,uhhh,,,,o….k… bosss…….hahahhaa,that sounds like a kick in the asss….I gotta make it up there within the near future..thanks for the report luke,I got a rush out of it..
Heading there this weekend, super stoked!
ray needs to build one in portland!
How was the XC loop?
Joyride 150 in Markham Ontario is pretty rad too!
Did they build the part in a old factory that was closed down? There are a quite a few of those in my town as well as old closed Lowes building. Something like this would be great in our area. Although Cleveland is a days drive away…
KVNRBRTS, it’s in an old Menards, which is similar to Lowes or Home Depot. I had a lot of fun this last weekend, was able to get comfortable on my bike in a fairly controled environment (hard to control the speed of other people in front of you) and was able to take detours off into the beginner/sport area to change things up from time to time. By the end of the day yesterday (We were at MKE for 2 days) I was more than comfortable getting a little air under my tires (something I learned to dread racing XC) and was trying lines I wouldn’t normally. I’m hoping to get out there again before they close for the season, but I’ll have to figure out which bike I want to bring with at that point as my new XC rig will be here in 2 weeks.