DEWITT -- After he first tried mountain biking, Dale Cruce didn't want stop when the snow started falling.
"When winter rolled around I said, where are the mountain bike parks? They said, no - we don't do that. We just ski and snowboard and from then on I said, this is a great idea," said Cruce.
It took almost fifteen years but Cruce's dream is about to become a reality. Cruce and business partner Seth Fischer are putting the finishing touches on Cranx - a 90,000 square foot indoor bike park built in a warehouse off Thompson Road in DeWitt. The park will feature jumps, ramps, a road course and an elevated cross country course. The project cost approximately a half million dollars but is on track to open in early February.
The park will cater to mountain, BMX and road bikes. Fischer says they are expecting tourists from all over the northeast.
Cranx will be one of only four indoor bike parks in North America. The parks in Cleveland, Milwaukee and Ontario, Canada have been very successful at attracting the fast growing action sports crowd.
"We've already gotten lots of e-mail and correspondence from people in Saratoga, New Jersey, New York City, Pennsylvania and Connecticut," said Fischer.
Much of the construction work is being done by local volunteers who are also experienced bikers who know just what angles will work best. Daily tickets will cost between twenty and thirty dollars. Fischer says that is a good value for what is really an amusement park for anyone interested in action sports
"To be able to come with your family and you could have someone in your family who gets paid to ride bikes and they're going to have just as much fun as that person's daughter that's on training wheels," said Jeremy Witek who helped design the park.
The park also has a flat road course running around the edges that will connect with a three acre outdoor section in the spring.
