Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park officially opened its Milwaukee location, 8365 N. 76th St. in December, The park was constructed in a 110,000-square-foot former Menards store on Milwaukee’s northwest side and plans to host a grand opening party on Saturday, Jan. 29 and Sunday, Jan. 30.
“It’s going to be a great event,” said Eric Schutt, general Manager, Ray’s Indoor MTB Park. “We’re going to have a celebrity barbecue, raffles with amazing prizes and even a chance for our riders to ride along side professionals.”
This is the second location for Cleveland-based Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park. It provides indoor trails on a variety of terrains for beginner, intermediate and advanced skill riders. The also has a street park, similar to a BMX or skate park but geared for mountain bikes.
The facility will only be open for 6 months a year, during the winter and cold weather months.
“We’ll use the summer months to completely rebuild the park, so when riders come back for the new season it looks like a brand new track to them,” Schutt said.
Ray Petro, the founder of Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park, had planned to open the Milwaukee facility for a few years. Financing for the project stalled and Waterloo-based Trek Bicycle Corp. stepped in to purchase the business, allowing the Milwaukee project to move forward.
According to Schutt, the park draws people from all over the Midwest, and Ray’s Milwaukee has developed partnerships with several Milwaukee area hotels, bike shops and entertainment destinations.
“It’s really important for us to make sure the local businesses know we are here to support them as well,” Schutt said. “We don’t want to take away any business from the bike shops because we are not competing with them, if someone needs repairs or a new bike we’ll point them in the direction of local businesses that can help them.”
Weekday passes can be purchased for $19 per day, weekend passes can be purchased for $24 and season passes can be purchased for $200, this season only, Schutt said.
To see footage from Rays MTB click on the video below.
