Reagan Park

This review is for Reagan Park’s 11 miles of mountain bike trails.
This park has a combined total of five trails. See the website to see all the trails marked on a map.
All of the trails are challenging! I would say front a suspension mountain bike is a must, and having a rear suspension would make these trails a little easier. I have seen people riding these trails with no suspension. Roughnecks!
The first trail, Huffman Trail, is a low to medium difficulty trail. Though, it is much harder than most the other mountain bike trails in northeast Ohio, based on the little bit of biking I’ve done in the last few years in the Cleveland Metroparks. To me, the climb is probably the toughest part. This trail will challenge you both physically and technically. It starts off flat, but then there is a long climb that will get your heart going. Most of the technical stuff is on the way down. There are several rock gardens and sharp drops that will test your balance.
The second trail, is the Fawn Ridge trail, which connects to the Annex trail, which connects to the River Trail, but for my reviews purposes, I’m treating them as one trail because, well, it feels like one trail when you ride it. Fawn Ridge and Annex are not that long or difficult and there is one section where you actually have to ride along the road to get to the next section. Basically, this is the trail you ride to get to the difficult River Trail section.
The River Trail section is really challenging. There is a very steep, downhill rock garden with small logs that cross the path. It’s very bumpy and hard to ride without losing your balance, while maintaining the right speed. It’s tough to brake because your rear tire is bouncing off the logs and rocks, if you have no rear suspension like me. You don’t want to give too much front brake because you don’t want to fly over the handlebars. Out of approximately five attempts at this obstacle, I’ve only made it past it once without falling and that was during my first attempt! This trail circles back to the Annex Trail, where you will cross the street to the Reagan Park Trail.
The Reagan Park Trail is a large, difficult trail with some interesting obstacles. Lots of climbs and narrow single track. But there is a nice section that is a gradual decline through a pine forest. Very cool! There is a section where you have to cross a creek, and yet another section that has a 10 foot drop that is extremely steep and makes a 90 degree right turn at the bottom. I usually just drag my rear wheel down this part and steer through the sharp turn.
When you ride all three trails, it will get you in shape quickly. You will need lots of water, preferably a Camel Back to keep you hydrated.
There is also an RC car track, which is cool to stop and watch people using while you catch your breath.