Our Story The OORC has been working on trail advocacy since 1997.  Over the years we have been involved in opening new trails, maintaining existing new trails, building singletrack, hosting trail building schools, and much more. We would like to share some of our stories so we can brag a little about our success and maybe motivate new volunteers to join the effort to develop more trails for mountain biking. Lake Leatherwood Lake Leatherwood was one of the OORC’s first trail building projects. Originally there were only 4 miles of trail the circled the lake. Former OORC president, Dave Renko, began working with the City of Eureka Springs in 1998 to allow mountain bikers access to the park. It wasn’t long after that the OORC got permission to build more trails in the city park. The first trail project was a short section of trail that dropped down from an old road bed to the Beacham trail. The trail was fairly steep with several rock drops and tight turns.  We thought it was great. Through the years we added the Miners Rock trail, the Dam Overlook Trail, the Twin Knobs Trail, Leatherwood Creek Trail, and several other spurs and connections. There are now over 17 miles of trail in the park thanks to efforts by Eureka Springs residents and OORC volunteers. In 2000, we had our first visit from the IMBA Trail Crew. On there visit we worked on a switchback on the Miners Rock Trail. We found out really quick how to build a rolling crown switchback the correct way. After about 24 hours of collective volunteer hours we completed the project. The IMBA Trail Care Crew returned again in 2002 to help us route a section of the Twin Knobs Trail. In 2002 the city received a $30,000 grant to build a new sports complex in the Leatherwood Creek Valley.  Since then a trail has been built around the area, which connects to the rest of the trail system. One of the OORC’s crowning achievements has to be the Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival held every year since 1998. The race was originally used to replace the Trigger Gap mountain bike race held in the Madison County Wildlife Management Area. It has grown from a one day cross country race to a three day event that includes a downhill race, trials competition, live music, childrens race, film festival, and cross country race.  This event is held together by none other than Dave Renko, event director.