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Arkansas Mountain Bike Championships

Wow! It’s that time of year. Mountain bike racers have been tuning up for the Arkansas State Championships all year. The 2004 event will be held September 18th-19th at Devil’s Den State Park near Winslow, AR. Racers will be treated to a whole new experience this year. The Holt Road cross country course has been dropped from the weekend events due to damage to the Blackburn section of the course from Spring rains. Cross Country racers will race a 5 mile loop on the Fossil Flats Trail. The course features a 1/2 mile climb that will help break up the competition. The two day event will feature a downhill event, trials competition and cross country race.  The Downhill event will start at 10 am on Saturday. Registration will begin at 8 am at the horse day use parking lot. Trials will start hopping at 2:30pm. Registration for this event will be held at the Visitor’s Center at 1:30pm. The cross country race will be held Sunday at 9am. Registration will be at the restaurant next to the swimming pool from 6-8pm Saturday night and from 7-8:45am Sunday morning.   The awards ceremony will start at 2pm at the pavilion next to the playground.

 There will be free food Saturday night at the park’s café pavilion. Expect a healthy helping of hamburgers and top it off with some homemade ice cream. Make sure to warm up your cranking muscles, because your going to earn your dessert. The parkas cabins, café and store will be open all weekend. The closest fuel and groceries are located in West Fork or Winslow.

 Volunteers are welcome to Contact Devil’s Den State Park at (479) 761-3325. Tim Scott would love to set you up with your choice of jobs; course marshal, trials judge, registration, course sweep, etc. Come on out and enjoy the new Championship weekend.  Click here for more information about this years NWA Championships.

IMBA Trail Care Crew Visits Arkansas

IMBA will be sending a new Trail Care Crew to Mountain View for a Trail Building Workshop on October 7th-10th.    This event is sponsored by the Arkansas Trails Council lead by the Arkansas Trails Coordinator, Ian Hope. The trail care crew will roll into town Thursday and get a chance to scope out the trail for Friday and Saturday’s trail work. Classroom sessions will be held at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View starting at 9 am Friday and Saturday. Trail work will follow lunch both days. Lunch will be available at the Ozark Folk Center Cafeteria at a minimal charge. Expect to work on the trail for about 3-4 hours. Land managers from all of Arkansas’ State Parks will be invited to attend this years events. Other attendees will includes representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. All trail user groups are welcome to attend the trail building workshops. The event is totally free to the public, but registration is required for the event due to space limitations. There will be some tools available onsite, but it is recommended to bring additional tools.   Recommended tools include: pulaski, McLeod, fire rakes, clippers, and pruners. There will be organized mountain bike rides, ohv rides, and horse back rides available through out the weekend. We can’t be expected to work all weekend. Contact Arkansas State IMBA Representative, Don West, for more information about the mountain bike ride times at (479) 582-5338. Contact Ian Hope at (501) 682-1301 to register for the event or send you name, address, phone number, and the date you will be attending to Arkansas Trails Council, Attn: Ian Hope, One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201. Or CLICK HERE to download the registration form. Click here for more information about the IMBA Trail Building School.

Fatty Fest Wrap Up

Well, the 7th annual Fat Tire Festival is under our belts. This year’s event was FAT. Downhill and Trials events brought riders from around the country.  The cross country event attracted record numbers of racers. All in all we brought over 250 racers to this year’s event. The Fatty Film Fest was better than ever.  How about those Red Bull podiums.  Now that’s classy.  Even the bike parade from Harmon Park to the Auditorium brought out a smile or two.  Now it’s time to thank all the volunteers who made this festival possible.

The OORC would like to thank all the volunteers, city administrators, sponsors, competitors, and spectators for making the Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival the # 1 mountain biking event in the state. A special thank goes out our staff members: Dave Renko, How and Kate Kuff, Don and Alison West, Chris Kaiser and Andrew McQuie, Kathy Stafford, Tim Scott, and Randy Middleton.  More thanks goes out to some key volunteers including: the White Family, the Blasius family, Larry Harrison, Lori Mcleod, Melissa Ruby, John Bryan, Daniel and Jesse Smith, and Bob Romano.

We always are thankful for the generous support of our key sponsors Community First Bank, Adventure Subaru, Basin Park Hotel, Gatorade, Saris, Tyson, Specialized, Highroller Cyclery, Fayetteville Bicycle Company, Get Out Magazine, Lewis & Clark Outfitters, Local Flavor, New Belgium Brewery, Somfeargear, and the Eureka Market.

We can’t get away without thanking some of the key city administrators and employees who have gone the distance:  Kathy Harrison (Mayor), Pearl Brick (auditorium), Lynn Berry (CAPC), Thomas Accord, James Loudermilk and Earl Hiatt (police department), David Stopple and the Fire Department, Kirby Murray and Amy (public works), Eric Howerton (Get Out Magazine) and Bruce Lavine and the Parks staff.

 Look for a bigger and better Fat Tire Festival next year. Dave Renko always has something new up his sleeve. We’re looking at bringing back the short track event on the streets of Eureka Springs near Harmon Park.  We’ll be improving on the downhill course for next year, and you can guarantee we’ll change things up on the cross country course.  Let’s keep up the good work.

12 Hours of Ben
     Dust off your bike lights and lube up your chamois.  Mark Palmer will host the 12 Hours of Ben at Ben Garen Park on October 16th.  Mark has built 8 miles of new trail at Ben Garen Park in Fort Smith, AR and he want you to come try it out. Expect tons of singletrack and a few connecting dirt roads.  Race starts at 11am and finishes at midnight.  Entry fee is a reasonable $50.  Door prizes will be awarded, live music, and a pancake dinner will be served up for the racers.  Mark can’t build all those trails by himself, so give him a call to volunteer your time and energy.  Trail work will begin every Monday at 6pm.  For more information about the event log on to www.nolimitsracing.org.

2004 National Public Lands Day

     It's not too late for IMBA-affiliated clubs across the U.S. to schedule volunteer projects for National Public Lands Day and enter the IMBA/B.O.B. Trailer Trailwork Challenge. This one-day celebration of public land will be held Saturday, Sept. 18, 2004. Register your project on the IMBA website.  We'll record your club's contribution to the nationwide effort and enter your group in a drawing for a B.O.B. IBEX Suspension Trailer with trailwork tool racks ($500 retail).

     To learn more about National Public Lands Day in your state visit: www.npld.com/background.htm. To request National Public Lands Day brochures and newsletters for your trailwork day, email Robb Hampton at hampton@neetf.org. For more information contact Brandon Dwight at brandon@imba.com.

 The OORC will be working on the trails at Hobbs State Park - Conservation Area in September and October. Al Knox will be leading trail work on the east side of Townsends Ridge Road. Trail work days will include: Sept. 11-12, Sept. 25-26, And Oct. 16-17.  Volunteers interested in working on the trail should contact Ira White at (479) 582-5916 or e-mail Al Knox directly at al.knox@worldnet.att.net.  If you are interested in commenting on trail access during the hunting season, contact Mark Clippinger, Parks Superintendent at (479) 789-2380 or the Arkansas State Parks Planner, Randy Roberson at 1-888-287-2757 or send your e-mail to randy.roberson@mail.state.ar.us.

Not quite sure if you’re ready for adventure racing, but ready for some good old dirty fun?  Well, we have what you’re looking for. Little Rock Parks & Recreation is proud to announce that during the 2004 Raid the Rock we will host a 5k Mud Run.
     Advanced racers will register on October 22 from 4-7pm. Racers will go through a skills test before heading over to the pre-race meeting at 7pm.  There will be 3-person teams with at least 1 female.  The cost for the event is $375.00 + USARA license ($8.00).  For more information about the event log on to www.raidtherock.com.

Golden Gate    By: How Kuff
     Ahh... the very end of the eastern roads.  I am riding my bike to the end of Sloat Blvd. at the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco.  The morning waves are dotted with surfers looking for the rush of adrenaline riding the earth’s movement toward the shore. We pedal down the bike path along the ocean... just trying to soak it al in... the cool morning air and fog, the great ocean and the natural grace of life on the very western edge of our country.
   The Fresh wind blows in our faces as we bike up the beach to the park of the Golden Gate. It is Sunday morning in the park and we are riding the myriad of trails through Redwood forests and Eucalyptus groves, around ponds, streams, lakes and flower gardens. Over asphalt then dirt, rocks and sand.
     We pass a wedding in a clearing near the trail, a Korean barbeque festival, soccer games, ultimate Frisbee games, walkers, joggers, runners, skaters, bikers, and  horses. We ride up behind a brightly colored parade of Hari Krishna devotees, banging drums, pulling large sculptured floats, singing and dancing, and ride our bikes with them for a while amid a crowd swaying and dancing to the beat.
     We see dog walkers, dog runners, women on inline skates pulling babies in small carts. We hear people speaking English, Spanish, French, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, German, and Indian.  The trees open up into small glades where dogs are chasing Frisbees, Tai Chi masters and students are practicing their ritual movements and families are setting up picnics.  The sound of music brings us around a bend to a large group of swing dancers twisting and twirling to Dixieland jazz recordings.
     On this fine morning we pedal our way home from the Pacific Ocean to the Haight and back again trying to ride every little trail along the way. I am glad to be here amid this cacophony of human life.  Glad to be alive at this moment and glad to be cycling along these paths through the beautiful groves in the midst of such human diversity and expression.  At the moment I know of nothing better.

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