First Ride at Paradise Playground | Monarch Singletrack | Mountain Biking in Victoria, MN

The new Paradise Playground trails are a first of their kind in the Twin Cities Metro area. Located within the Monarch Singletrack Trails, in Victoria, MN, Paradise Playground offers four downhill trails, a small skills course, and two trails that take you back to the top. The downhill trails are the stars here, with a couple jump lines and a couple drop lines. These are progressive trails that will allow riders to gain confidence on jumps and drops. The trails are a great addition to Minnesota mountain biking.
This video highlights my first ride on the trails, as well as a conversation with Matt from ‪@ridindirt‬. Matt works for Pathfinder Trail Building and helped to build the new trails, so it was great to hear his perspective.
Thanks to Three Rivers Park District, One Track Mind Foundation, and Pathfinder Trail Building for bringing these trails to the area!
0:00 Intro
2:30 The Silo (home base)
3:30 Thresh It
4:25 John's Jam (blue skills line)
4:49 Reaper (blue)
5:34 John's Jam (black skills line)
6:04 Bale Out
6:59 Reaper (black)
9:01 Ride with ‪@ridindirt‬
10:08 Trail talk with ‪@ridindirt‬
11:57 Final Look

[@ridindirt]

Yes dude, super well done! 👊🏻 Glad I was there and could get a lap with you! 🤙🏻

[@robonbikes]

Likewise, I had a blast, need to make it happen again this summer! Thanks for making time and sharing some deets on the great new trails! 🤘

[@Dialed1]

Great showcase of the Paradise Playground. I’ll be riding Monarch a bit more with this addition.

[@robonbikes]

Heck yeah buddy! 🤘

[@harrygrimley4352]

Wow. Nice video. Place looks amazing. Pathfinder did a great job. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@robonbikes]

Thank you!!

[@MTB_Rider_96]

I think we climbed back up 7 or 8 times - they need a lift or a shuttle of some type. And those Effing Mosquitos! Bring Bug Spray!

[@robonbikes]

Yeah the skeets are real

[@Kirk_Knoll]

Great video and very informative! Glad you got to check it out AND get a lap with Matt. It's SO much fun. Nice work on getting that drop too! Not being able to see anything off the end when you are rolling up can be a bit scary.

[@robonbikes]

Thanks Kirk! It is fun! Yeah the drop was great once I hit it but was psyching me out for a bit…. Definitely want to get back out there!

[@MTB_Rider_96]

Great Video! I was there on Wednesday and Loved every minute of it! There is also an excellent jump line on the mid-point of Ravine Rush that we did a few times. Yeah, I did 3 or 4 run-up to that Big drop, then decided I'm not quite ready for that. Next time.

[@robonbikes]

Never a bad idea to walk away! I didn’t even get to Ravine Rush but really want to get back here to ride everything, was just feeling so enamored with these downhill trails 🤣. Thanks for watching, you’ll get that drop when it feels right! 👊

[@michaeldevries2482]

Great vid!! I’m terrible at jumping yet really want to get better and this is just the kind of place I need to go.

[@robonbikes]

Thanks! This place is perfect for that 🤘

[@Randy_Johnson]

Great video! Looks like a blast to ride. I need to get over there the next time I’m in the metro. My main “home” trail is Piedmont, in Duluth, so it would be a nice change of pace to ride Paradise Playground.

[@robonbikes]

Piedmont is awesome, pretty great trail to call your home trail! There are other fun trails at Monarch too, so definitely worth a stop.

[@ElTerrible2011]

Nice work man. I’m loving Matt’s “gives ya the speed ya need” philosophy. Even at places in our state with a lot more elevation to play with I feel like that’s an issue some times. Rock solid make amazing trails, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I find myself having to work as hard downhill as up to clear some of their jumps whereas with Pathfinder 95% of the time it really comes down to whether or not you want to truly send it or not. Nice work hitting the drop. That thing was in my head the first couple runs as well.

[@robonbikes]

Thanks man! Yeah I really appreciate the ease at which these trails ride. Great place to work on jumps when you don’t get tired and can repeat all day. Now I’m getting greedy and want something like this closer to my house! 😂

[@ElTerrible2011]

@@robonbikes Not sure where you’re situated but it appears PF is cooking up something in the east metro. Then again if you were out there Shake n’ Bake at WTR is an incredibly fun and sessionable jump line with drops

[@robonbikes]

SireSingletrack Ham Lake, it’s a MTB black hole. There are wonderful sod fields but they don’t like when you go out and a schralp up the seedlings. I do need to get to WTR looks like a lot of fun!