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The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, Mecca, Pyramids of Giza, The North Pole, The Louvre, Big Ben, The Amazon - I visited them this weekend.  I jumped in my Jeep with three others, drove 11 hours, arriving in a blizzard, and returning in a blizzard.  I have seen the 8th wonder of the modern world.

Ray's Mountain Bike Park in Cleveland, OH, encompassed the most amazing scene of ingenuity and cycling Darwinism known to man.  The ability of the owners to take objects with seemingly no worth to anyone, and create an biking oasis squeezed  between the finger of Lake Erie and and dull straight cement snake of Interstate 80.

A run down asbestos covered pile of brick, windowless - tarp covered forgotten rooflines of a once mighty industrial community in the heartland - proved that life can bloom in the most unexpected places.  The sign posted above the door, adorned with a bike chain glued into a cursive stolen Iowa quote said it all…  "If you  build it, they will come".  

We came.  We drove through the night.  Faced black ice, and countless jackknifed tractor trailers sprawled out like toothpicks dropped from Raymond Babbitt's box of makeshift pancake eating utensils.  My fellow travel companions, Mark W., Jeremy H. and Iowa City Don. crossed over the Iowa border - and into the great beyond at 8:00pm on Friday night.

At 3:00am, and just shy of Toledo, we stopped to bed down for the night as the road conditions were just too treacherous to continue.  We started out again only 6 hours later, and drove through the morning to come to rest at the Holiday Inn, just 3 miles from Rays.  Our misrepresented "Double Queen" room was actually a "Double Full" or maybe even a "Double Twin" room.

What did Jimmy Buffett say about Warm Beer and Bread and a Holiday Inn?

The hotel scene in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles popped into all our heads when staring at the beds, wondering how two grown men would fit without bumping into each other in awkward ways.  We got dressed, and made our way to Ray's.

I wont bore you with any play by play "and then I took the GT jump box 24 times, and of those jumps did seven 360's, eight 180's, crashed twice… "  I will however give you my feelings toward the place and the trip in whole.  Ray's can only be explained by traveling there yourself.  All the utility and descriptive words in my vocabulary would never be able to explain the place correctly.

When walking into the building, and setting my things down on wooden picnic tables, and getting my gear ready, I was reminded of a ski chalet.  Kids of all ages.  Adults, women, men, even dogs and a cat were roaming the place freely.  I took my stuff out of my bag, and laid it on the floor and left it there.  I didn't even worry about locking my stuff up while I was there.  There were lockers available, but the environment just led to trusting your fellow cyclists.  A chill type of feeling comes over you will all the different bikers around you.  

The Boys.  (L-R) Jason, Xander, I.C. Don, Mark, and Jeremy

On my first lap around the joint, I do have to admit to having a bit of disappointment.  My imagination had run so wild with the place, that I had imagined a Walt Disney World type of spacious expanse.  Your mind can't imagine how big (or in this case) how small 103,000 square feet can be.  Reality finally settled in, and I told myself that what I had imagined could not be created without using half of Orlando FL.  I put that out of my mind and started to respect what I was surrounded by.  This place has it all.  The guys I was with, for the most part, are jumpers.   They love to jump stuff.  Matter of fact.  Xander W., Jason C. (who traveled a day earlier than us - but met up on Sat) all had dirt jumpers.  Mark and Jeremy quickly rented jumpers, and parked their MTB for the remainder of the weekend.  At $10, their rental cost is such a small amount - why not do it?

Speaking of the costs.  Ray's has to be the best value in cycling.  I paid $39.50 to ride all day Saturday (the placed opened at 9:00am, and was to close around 2:00am as a large group of BMX'rs from Iowa were in town as well, and talked the staff into staying open longer).  And all day Sunday (9am to 10pm).  What a bargain.  Halfway through the ride Saturday, I needed some food to keep my energy up.  Grabbed a bottle of Mtn Dew, a Snickers, and a bag of Pizza Combos.  I expected the sales person to say $5 (best case), and $7 (worst case).  "Three Bucks".  I was shocked.  This place is here for the bikers.  They didn't try to rape me for the little things - even after I got in the door so cheap.  The hotel… Tell them you're there to stay and ride at Ray's.  Your room is $74.01 (tax included).  While at the park, order a Dominos Pizza.  They deliver right there, and the staff announce your name over the intercom when it comes in so you can continue to ride until it shows.   "Jeremy - your pizza order is here.  Better get here right now while it's warm… Or we're gonna eat it".  

Back to the riding.  So.  You want to jump.  We got that.  Go to the pro track.  Ride over the GT box, and do your 360 and turn into the wall ride.  Or go into the rhythm room and try your luck in a true bmx stunt track.  The foam pit if you're just learning to jump.  The half pipes, quarter pipe.  Even the flow sections of the xc course.  You want technical north shore stuff.  Got it.  Teeter toters, log climbs, rock gardens.  Got that too.  If your like me, and like to ride technical type single track stuff.  Try their XC course (they have time trials over that course throughout the winter).  It goes all around and over the whole place.  Go work your heart on the pump track.  Full speed riding and turning without ever having to spin your peddles.

When I said there were people there of all ages.  I am not kidding.  Eight year olds dude, 60 year olds.  Boys, Girls, Men, Women.  All types of bikes, all types of abilities, and all types of riders.  Mom's video taping their 8 year old doing a teeter toter.  A little 11 year old boy clearing the GT box.  It was an amazing scene of biking diversity.  Everyone I ran into was positive and helpful.  The staff couldn't not be friendlier.  And no one had a rushed, "get out of my way, I'm next" attitude.  I have never, in my life, been to a place - even with half the crowd - and not run into one asshole.  There wasn't one asshole in the whole place.  I didn't see one person getting upset at anyone.  It was as if we all knew how special this place was, and we all respected the fact that it was a great privilege, and not our right, to be there (Like I said, the place had a small town ski hill chalet feel - but when it came to polite handling of others - that is where the likeness went away) no hill ever was this "chill".

One of the many younger kids riding through out the joint.  Flower Power and Log Climbs

Jeremy had done a jump on the rental bike, and bent his rear rim a bit.  He walked it over to the service area (rear wheel skidding all the way), and within 30 seconds, had a different bike.  No additional costs.  No questions.  No guilt (other than his own).  Nowhere in this world would you have seen that.

In my opinion, Ray's Mountain Bike Indoor Park is a fountain of youth, religious temple, sociology experiment, heart stress test, and joiner of cultures all wrapped into one Mesothelioma Causing-Brick Cracking-Roof Leaking-Hall of the Gods.

Talk about trust - we locked up our bikes Saturday night, and left them there over night.

A little bird did tell us that there may be a Ray's II opening up in the near future in Milwaukee (to make our trip shorter) - but until that day.  Everyone owning a bike, and enjoying the less traveled path or the bike/skate park needs to make the trip at least once in their life.  You will never forget it, and the stories told between you and your fellow traveling companions will last for ever.

I will post some photos on the joint int the Photos tab of the blog.  I am working on some of the video I took, and and hope to have something up soon.  Please remember that this Wednesday is Round 5 of the Roller Derby.  See you at Lorado's. Racing begins at 8:00pm.