Bentonville - Spring, 2022
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No big deal, just 24 people from (mostly) Central Texas mobbing Northwest Arkansas for five days of riding bikes! We stayed in six Airbnb’s, most of them right in the middle of the Slaughter Pen Trails in Bentonville.
We departed Austin around 8 am on Sunday, May 15 which meant very little traffic. We stopped at Cackle & Oink in Sherman for lunch (delicious), and then made it to Bentonville by 6 pm. We wasted no time getting to the bikes. Leopard Loop was 200 yards from our vacation rental, so that was the first stop, followed by Apple Dumplin and The Masterpiece. We called it quits early since Monday would be a full day of riding the same stuff…
Monday - Slaughter Pen
The Crew + Rich Drew
Monday was the day when we had pretty much everyone on the same page and riding Slaughter Pen, although we did wind up splitting into a few smaller groups later. I cobbled together a route that would hit most of the fun stuff and broke it up into two rides for the morning and afternoon. With all the vacation rentals right there, it was easy to just stop and relax a minute before going out for more.
A few of us rented E Bikes for the day and it wound up being a smart move, especially for Slaughter Pen. The Trek Rail 7 had 160mm of travel and was perfectly capable of hitting most of the stuff in Slaughter Pen, perhaps except for Boneyard, but I also did not try. I bet it would have been fine. At the end of the day when we were at Boo Boo and Choo Choo, I still had 14 miles left and decided to do as many laps as possible. Then did the same at The Masterpiece. I returned the bike with 4 miles left on the predicted range. Jessie’s Last Stand was the trail that a lot of folks said was their favorite. Mine wound up being a tie between Apple Dumplin and Boo Boo. We managed to be playing around at the castle at the same time as Rich Drew, and he was kind enough to join us for a photo op.
Tuesday - The Runway & The Railyard
The Runway Pump Track
We got some rain Tuesday Morning and decided to scrap the original plan and swap with Wednesday, so we went to Springdale to visit The Runway and then to Rogers for The Railyard.
The Runway is a 2.1-acre asphalt skills park and pump track at the end of an airport runway at The Jones Center and hosted the Red Bull Pump Track World Championship final in 2018. The track was engineered by Velosolutions and It felt dialed (at least to this pump track rookie). This is totally big bike friendly although a BMX or DJ will be more enjoyable. I was absolutely exhausted from the short time here.
The Railyard is an asphalt bike park in Rogers with numerous jump lines including one that goes through a box car. There is a drop zone and mulch lander area as well, and a few folks in the group discovered the xc trails in the woods out back. I really enjoyed the railyard and feel like I made a ton of progress on the intermediate line. The booter at the very end was particularly fun for me, although some others did not feel the same way. The one thing we unanimously agreed on was a distaste for the composite decking berm that was slick even when though it was dry. The tabletop before the berm preceding the box car was so floaty and made me feel like a hero. The part that I could not consistently get right was the box car. It’s better to check up before going into it otherwise you’ll have a hard time keeping the wheels stuck through the rollers and as a result you won’t clear the little tabletop at the exit.
Wednesday - Lake Leatherwood
The Shuttle at Lake Leatherwood
On Wednesday we finally had the weather to ride Lake Leatherwood in Eureka Springs. I had set up a shuttle day in advance for Tuesday originally, but the rain scrapped that. The shuttle service was via Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation, and I could not be happier with how it went. They were flexible with the weather, the price was low, and our driver was super friendly.
It was soaked at Leatherwood. The good news was that all the dirt features at the top of each run were dry enough to ride. It was the lower elevations where things got dicey. Since the water was draining down the mountain, the rocks were constantly soaked and slick, and it was considerably technical, on par with some of the gnar of the Texas Hill Country. It was a white-knuckle day, but it was also a ton of fun. This was a unique experience for a lot of us to be able to ride in the sloppy conditions.
The bikes were filthy, but one of the nice things about Northwest Arkansas is an abundance of public bike wash stations, and even one at the Meteor where we stopped for dinner.
Thursday - Coler MTB Preserve
With Cullen and Greg at The Hub
Thursday, we woke up to the realization that we got a bit more rain overnight and so Coler Preserve was going to take a little while to dry out. Luckily Family Flow was open, and that trail is pretty dang fun. We got a couple of runs in, then decided to go to the hub even though we knew Cease and Desist and Fireline were closed. We wanted to look at Drop the Hammer, and perhaps give Rock Solid or Rock Soft a go.
The journey over via Oscar’s Loop was probably shorter than I recall, but it seemed like a never-ending cross-country slog to get there. To make matters worse, I did not bring my CamelBak, and my water bottle was on Trevor’s bike. Trevor wound up turning around to head back to Family Flow. If Greg did not have an extra bottle I would have been in trouble.
Unfortunately Drop the Hammer was closed or else I totally would have given it a go. Totally. We wound up opting for Rock Solid to head back down, and I was needlessly worried that it was going to be terrifying. It was, but in the best way. It started off with an array of tombstone kickers with mellow gaps through a flowy run, before turning into a chunky, wet nightmare of epic proportions. I was just along for the ride and loving it. There was no option but to just blast through it. Geoff mentioned at the end that he doesn’t often hoot and holler when he is riding, but you can totally hear him up ahead of me in the video footage. He was having a good time.
I did not get a chance to go to Airship last year, so it was cool to make up for it this time. A nice spot to chill out, and the smoothie was kick ass. I needed it since we would not be leaving for quite a while - Julian informed us that they would be opening Thunderdome soon!
We had to wait for Thunder dome to dry
We made it back to the South end of Coler and Thunderdome was not open yet, but to make a long story short I did not ride Here’s Johnny. I remembered how it was last year, and remembered that I hated it so much, and since I SOMEHOW HAD NO WATER AGAIN, I turned around and pedaled back to Family Flow via Esther’s. Thunderdome was opened by the time we all made it back and so began like a thousand laps of Thunderdome because it is seriously one of the raddest trails ever. It’s a double slalom racecourse with tables, doubles, big berms, and three drops. The last one is massive when you hit it at speed.
This was another moment of huge progress for me as I worked on turning my bars every chance I got, over tables, and off the drops. Cullen and I also tried to simulate what Drop the Hammer might be like by sending that last drop as far as we could, and from the side angle footage it looks like we achieved that goal. The issue would be that the landing for DTH is way steeper so that was something that would be difficult to prepare for, even though it is basically a huge bonus in terms of safety.
When we got back to the house, Andre and Geoff went back to Coler to race in the Thunderdome Throwdown which takes place once a year. I was flying a bit high from Thunderdome and Rock Solid and was easily convinced to go do a few evening rips of Leopard Loop with rest of the boys. We decided since Apple Dumplin was also right there, we might as well, and that was one of the best moments of the trip for me. We totally shredded Apple Dumplin and I managed to clear a massive table at the end of the run that had gotten into my head quickly in the beginning of the week. This wound up being the most exhausting day, but I still felt better than I would by the end of Friday.
Friday - Little Sugar, Huntley, Coler
The trail head at Huntley Gravity Zone
The week had taken its toll and by Friday morning I was a zombie. It was no big deal though because I rented an e bike again. Our Route would be in Little Sugar with a stop at Huntley Gravity Zone, and so with the amount of climbing it just made sense to have some assistance for the day. That was a call I am glad I made, even if the Rail 7 was less suited to the tabletops of Huntley compared to the smaller jumps in Slaughter Pen. I am certain it would improve a bit had we taken the time to dial in the suspension, but I think I missed out on a bit of progression from Huntley by not being on the bike I am used to.
Since most of the folks who rode the Little Sugar route had an e bike, we made very quick time back to the trailhead, and wrapped up Bella Vista early in the day. Unfortunately, I did not record audio during the ride at Little Sugar so I don’t have any good POV footage, but I will probably include some of it in an episode of Ride Reels at some point when I can add music to it.
Everything at Coler Preserve was now open, and I informed the crew that it was simply not acceptable to come to Bentonville and NOT ride Fireline. Beyond this, I was now mentally prepared to hit Drop the Hammer, so I decided to leave the rental at the house and took my Jeffsy instead. This would prove to be a mistake.
The e bike did not make the morning easy enough to recover from Thursday – or the rest of the week for that matter. By the time I reached the top of the new and improved “easy” climb trail to Drop the Hammer, I was physically drained. For one moment I came close to it, even going as far as to remove my camelback in preparation, but then the exhaustion crept up and I realized it was probably the stupidest idea. I made a full rip of Fireline, and the adrenaline from that was enough to get me back to the top one more time. Halfway down my second run of Fireline, I basically gave up. It was over. I had nothing left in the tank. I laid on my back on a bench in the parking lot for a half hour while the rest of the crew went to the Airship. I could not trust my legs to get me there and back.
The group closed out the trip by watching some GoPro footage and then heading out for dinner. Ending an epic trip like this is of course the lamest part of a trip like that so I won’t try to jazz it up any. I will say that we were stoked all the heavy storms held off until the last moment. At about 11 pm the sky erupted and provided the soundtrack for my packing. I went out on the patio, watched some Ozark lightning crawl across the sky, and then turned in.
Once again like last year, I left so much to do in Arkansas. There will be another trip, with a huge goal being Drop the Hammer. I also want to try to ride Mount Nebo and Hobbs next time.
Dining
Onyx Coffee Lab was a favorite
As far as dining is concerned, we all really enjoyed Onyx Coffee Lab. Get the ‘Hail Fellow Well Met’ and a ham and cheese croissant for a stellar start to the day.
The Meteor is a bike shop/café with a damn good happy hour and a tasty burger.
The Hub was a nice chill spot for a Rita, and the birria tacos are a good pick from the menu. If you want more options, go around back to Pedalers Pub, but might as well just get the pizza there. It’s legit. Expect this place to be super busy on Friday Evening, which torpedoed our dinner and beer plans so instead we went to The Fire Truck food truck which is across the street from The Hub. This is an all-day Brunch truck, and the Chicken and Waffles were killer. They also have these things called potato bombs which were the truth. Seriously, those lil’ tater balls could have been a meal on their own.
We also went to First Seat Pub which was great, but it is a very tiny place so get there early. Speaking of which, in general you need to take care of dinner early on weeknights in this town because they apparently don’t know what a nightlife is. That’s chill though. Really with all the riding we would do a good night sleep was a priority.
Taqueria Don Guero in Springdale is a good spot to stop for lunch between the Runway and the Railyard, and if you drive out that direction then you might as well do both!
Vacation and bike Rentals
Brian posted up by our Airbnb
If you are looking for a spot to stay in Bentonville, we can recommend these rentals:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48225180
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/35093740
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/41813187
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/20601627
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/35204090
All these locations are within two miles of each other in the heart of Slaughter Pen.
If you need a bike rental, Smiley Bike Rentals has our praise. They deliver the bike to you, and this husband-and-wife team are super friendly and flexible.
Thank you
Thank you so much to Brian, Clint, Cullen, Devon, Geoff, Greg, Kyle, Scott, and Trevor for helping with the rentals or driving or both. Thanks to Andre, Julian, and Devon for helping with bike repairs or lending spares. Thanks to everyone for coming out and having a good time!
If you are looking for group rides and like-minded people to go on MTB trips with, join the Austin MTB Discord group.
