I convinced the Austin Fairdale/ Odyssey crew to head up to Ray’s for some riding. I am happy to bend my influence to get you to go to Ray’s as well.

I know it is a strange thing to hop on a plane and go to Cleveland in the winter. Of all the places! But Ray’s is only open in the winter and it is worth the trip. I believe it is one of the funnest places you will ever ride a bike and I also believe that is true for any kind of rider.

Acres and acres of stuff to ride. Stuff you never even thought about and leveled so every level of rider from a pro to a first time rider will have fun.

Aaron Ross, Jed Rogers, Mike Gonzalez, Jim Bauer, and I went to ride. Devon Hutchinson came along to film. And my cousin Josh Kurnik made it over for a day or riding with us too. The plan was not to film a serious video but to just get out of the office and have some fun. We justified the trip by bringing along a new colorway of the Fairdale Bikes DJ Hareraiser model that had just launched. If we can film a little video to show the new frame then it is sort of a worthwhile expense. Bigger picture though, getting the folks you work with together to ride some bikes is always worthwhile.

Ray’s is over 220,000 square feet of bike park now. All indoors. Traveling around the place I joke about how I wished my dirt jumper had water bottle mounts! There’s lines that take you up into the rafters, balance beams, foam pits, skateparks, hidden rooms, jump rooms and all kinds of pump tracks. Every time I’m there I marvel at the diversity of the riders. It’s set up kind of like a ski lodge with a big fireplace to lounge around near. Family’s show up, claim a picnic table and then head out to ride together. It is great to see kids, dads, moms, all smiling and having fun.

We put together this little video. Aaron of course does some really cool and creative riding.

Here’s an old video from Ray’s where Jeff Lenosky and I paired up. It was a video contest where we were given one day to film in the park and George Ryan edited it up. I jump a rafter in the end and I’m honored I’ve seen people calling it the #tajgap nowadays.