May 1: First Workday of 2011
Sunday, May 1st, starting at 10am: Come down to the park and help get the trails ready for the 2011 season! The jumps are rough after another long Chicago winter, and there’s plenty of work to do. RSVP
If you’ve never been to a Garden workday, now is the time to come lend a hand. Your participation will go a long way to making sure the event goes off without a hitch.
What will we be doing?
- Moving dirt
- Working the lips / landings / berms
- Raking
- Bagging trash
- Cutting / moving fallen trees and branches
- Draining standing water
- Riding, eating, meeting new faces
We have a shed full of tools including rakes, brooms, and wheelbarrows. Trailbosses will be on site all day, and volunteers are welcome to come and go throughout the day as their schedules permit. For volunteers 17 or under, safety waivers will need to be signed by a parent (bring your parents).
Thanks! See you at the trails. RSVP
Snowed in
Just because the trails are buried, doesn’t mean you can’t get yer fix. Here’s a list of some roadtrip-worthy indoor spots. Join the Chitown takeover at Rays MKE pretty much every weekend this winter… and probably some of the other spots too.
- Rays MTB MKE Milwaukee, WI
- Rays MTB CLE Cleveland, OH
- 4 Seasons Skatepark Milwaukee, WI
- Krush Skatepark Tinley Park, IL
- Steel Wheels BMX Hobart, IN
- Walworth County BMX Elkhorn, WI
AT Showdown Bike Check
If you’re looking for a new instrument to play with in dirt, take a look at what the pros were riding at the recent AT Showdown.
You will find plenty of inspiration right here.
You can also watch the finals video from the event here.
RaysMTB 2011 Season Pass and Course Maps
Buy a season pass to RaysMTB and you’ll get your wristband plus all the stuff shown above. It’ll run you $299, and it’s good for both Milwaukee and Cleveland locations. Pretty dope.
Also check out this year’s course maps. The Milwaukee layout looks clean and well-planned. We’ll have a full report next week after the grand opening.
RaysMTB Cleveland 2010-2011 First Impressions
RaysMTB Cleveland opened this weekend, and I had the chance to swing by and check out the updates for this season. Here’s a quick overview of what to expect.
The big differences
- Ray has put some serious effort into expanding the XC experience by adding a bunch of new line choices throughout the course, and a lot more rock and logs. Awesome! The new Moab Room, however, is a complete fail. The room is small, transitions are awkward and jagged, there isn’t a single line to take with any speed. This room is not fun and I’d even call it dangerous to anyone riding with a jacked seatpost.
- The beginner room is a lot more fun with a few new lines and a taller table.
- The sport section is really dense with longer ladder bridges, a new turnaround box, and a new beginner XC-style jump line.
The details
- Everything has a fresh coat of paint. Lots of red.
- Trek logos everywhere replace a variety of former sponsor logos. (Trek now owns RaysMTB.)
- No more BLKMRKT, Kona or Superco rentals… only Trek
- New computer-based sign-in process
- New elevated entrance and catwalk to expert section
- The foam pit has been updated with super-nice red and black foam cubes, and a net around the box to keep everything in.
- Cleaner, repainted bathroom
- Free air from compressor, not just hand pumps
- Log tables are out, picnic tables are in
- The jump lines, pump track, street section and rhythm room remain largely unchanged except for fresh layers of wood and paint.
Overall, the changes are exactly what one would expect from a yearly update. I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed coming off of last year’s addition of the Rhythm Room… but I know that Ray has spent the entire year building the Milwaukee location from the floor up so I don’t mind that the old Cleveland location had to take a back seat this year. The place is still a lot of fun, and the new XC stuff makes me want to bring a bike with more than one gear.
If you want to check out the Milwaukee Grand Opening with us Nov 13, we have a crew going for the weekend. Details at CFR.
