A big BBQ to start the weekend off!

The man behind it all, Ray.

Slingin' the beez' in the Subaru bowl.

Some serious skinny action on one of the many log rides in the park.

Spinning the spine

Aaron Gwin earning it on a beam ride!

Instructions similar to this were located periodically throughout the park to help give novice riders the basic understanding and concepts involved in developing their own set of skills.

Rock Shox jump zone

Check out the video of my trip down to Milwaukee!

In Canada, we have long winters that make avid cyclist crave the touch and feel of their bikes below them without being frost bitten or drenched in rain. Last weekend I found a cure for this, which lies just south of the eastern Canadian border in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park.Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park is a mountain bike specific park, which opened eight years ago with their first location in Cleveland, Ohio . Since then, Ray and the rest of the crew have expanded and developed not only their first park, but opened a second park nestled in the northern central United States in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee park was originally created to give mountain bikers a haven during the long, cold Wisconsin winters and to aid in the building of a community focused on the progression of cycling, promoting active and healthy lifestyles, and providing an opportunity for new mountain bikers to ride. The park is open and operates from October until April each year.Last weekend I was fortunate enough to escape the early winter rains by travelling nearly 3200 kilometers from Vancouver, British Columbia to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to shred the new park. For Canadians, an indoor mountain bike park is a foreign concept; I have ridden the Air Dome and indoor skate parks alike in the past, but a mountain bike specific park is almost unheard of in Canada. Nevertheless, I was ecstatic when I received the call from Pinkbike offering to send me to Milwaukee!Ray’s MTB Milwaukee Park is a relatively new park since its initial opening last New Year’s Eve. In its short existence, the park has had a significant impact on the riding scene in Wisconsin and the surrounding states. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of my trip to the Milwaukee park, besides being blown away by the vast amount of features to ride, was the wide demographic that Ray’s MTB Park caters to.Mini shred and his family chilling at the park.Typically, most bike-orientated parks and events are filled with teenagers and young men riding. However, at Ray’s I was astonished by how many men and women of all ages were riding. I was very happy to see that the sport is reaching out to women. In fact, Ray’s has women specific days where women can shred the park with their favourite pro riders and receive instruction with no pressure or influence from men whatsoever.Nice Pinkbike!Ray's Mountain Bike Park also features a full service bike shop as well as a small retail store selling anything from handle bars to GoPro's. In addition, there is also a Park Tools sponsored area where a full set of tools are provided free of charge including all the basics and a wheel truing stand.Upon arriving at the park I was given the grand tour by park manager, Eric Schutt. I felt like a kid in a candy shop. There were so many rad features and fun looking jumps, bowls, and mountain bike lines that I could not wait to shred. Eric noted that Ray’s MTB Park is unique such that every year when the park is closed (May to September), there are continuous renovations and upgrades to keep the park updated and fresh. This is a great outlook for an indoor park to possess because most parks rarely change and lack diversity.Eric Schutt, doing business.Although I am not much of a skate park rider by any means, my favourite section in the park was the Subaru bowl. This bowl had it all: quarter pipes, vert walls, wall rides, a spine, and a step up jump. After ripping around the bowl for a while, I could hop right out and drop into the expert jump line. All of the park’s lines are strategically interconnected as to not cause collisions or line-ups.Rally cars, bowls, Subaru does it all.Ray’s MTB Park incorporates an assortment of mountain bike features to satisfy virtually everyone’s needs. There is a large cross country loop that runs around the entire park for XC enthusiasts to get their pedal on, a wooden pump track for those interested in railing berms and manualing rollers, and an entire section dedicated to North Shore style riding, featuring skinnies and log rides. The cross-country loop is an incredibly long and diverse XC ride that loops around the perimeter of the park suspended in the rafters. This loop is great for pedal junkies looking to keep their fitness up in the snow covered winters and offers a variety of low risk stunts with progressive roll around features for all abilities.The park is built around the principle of progression and introducing new riders to mountain biking. In other words, the park’s aim is to get people riding. From my experience at the Milwaukee park, I noticed that most of the features were tailored to novice riders. The various sections helped beginners develop the basics of jumping, pumping, balance, and bike control. Other riders at the park noted that the Ohio location featured larger jumps and stunts better suited for more advanced riders. That being said, the jumps were still loads of fun and could easily entertain me throughout the winter.Both of Ray’s MTB Park locations make it incredibly affordable for riders and their families to mountain bike. A season’s pass is valid at both parks and includes a riding pass and storage for bikes and gear on site. Moreover, for every other family member who purchases a season’s pass, their pass is half the price of the pass purchased prior to theirs. There is also a student night where post-secondary students ride for cheap!During the grand opening, there were numerous pros on site riding and signing autographs including Trek’s UCI downhill overall world champ Aaron Gwin and skate park legend Phil Sundbaum. I had the privilege to ride with both and was amazed at how much both of their skills crossed over into different genres of riding – Aaron Gwin is a style cat and slays 20’s!I had a fantastic time at the 2011 Ray’s Milwaukee Indoor Mountain Bike Park grand opening and I want to give a huge thanks to everyone at Ray’s for their amazing hospitality and letting me ride their great park! I would definitely make the trip out east again to ride the park and would recommend it to anyone looking to have a great time on his or her bike in the cold of winter. I can only hope that one day Ray will decide to open a park in Canada where we really need it.For more information on Ray's Mountain Bike Park, including a full list of their sponsors, click here A big shout out and many thanks to Jon Prat and the Ray's MTB Park photographers for the great shots and Pinkbike for sending me out east.Be sure to follow Pinkbike and myself on Twitter.