Bike Magazine selects NWA for annual Bible of Bike tests

The nation’s leading mountain bike magazine is in Northwest Arkansas after selecting the region as the backdrop for its most popular issue.

Bike Magazine’s 8th Annual Bible of Bike Tests will be the focus of the January issue, with tests conducted in Northwest Arkansas. More than a dozen of the magazine’s editors, writers, photographers and videographers are in Northwest Arkansas for the next two weeks, testing the most promising 2017 mountain bike models and gear on trails in Bella Vista, Bentonville, Eureka Springs, Fayetteville and Rogers.

A small Bike Magazine team scouted the region in March, checking out the trails and other amenities, before determining the region was an outstanding riding destination.

“We selected Northwest Arkansas because the region’s efforts on becoming one of the country’s premier mountain bike destinations are mind- boggling,” said Ryan Palm- er, the magazine’s gear editor. “Since we were here in March, over 40 new miles of trails have been put in for all skill levels, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What’s happening in Northwest Arkansas simply cannot be ignored.”

J. R. Shaw, president of the Northwest Arkansas Tourism Association, said the advertising and promotion commissions in Bentonville, Eureka Springs, Fayetteville and Rogers as well as the city of Bella Vista, the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, the Northwest Arkansas Council and NATA demonstrated to Bike Magazine that the region would be an excellent venue for the Bible of Bike Tests. The NWA Council earlier this year encouraged the region’s cities and advertising and promotion commissions to focus on promoting the region as a mountain bike destination and the region’s sports venues in a collective way, Shaw said.

“Those of us who work in tourism know people travel here from surrounding states to check out Slaughter Pen, Blowing Springs, Mount Kessler, Lake Leatherwood, Thunder Chicken, the Railyard and Lake Atalanta, and we also know they are likely to visit more than one city’s mountain bike trails,” Shaw said. “It made perfect sense for us to work regionally on this project, and we’ll continue to look for those regional opportunities.

“Bike Magazine’s decision helps us introduce ourselves to thousands of potential visitors.”

Northwest Arkansas communities over the past several years have made significant quality- of- life investments that interest tourists, but they also make the region more attractive to people interested in relocating for high- quality jobs. Those private and public investments include such amenities as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Walmart AMP, Arvest Ballpark, the Scott Family Amazeum, the Razorback Regional Greenway and the expansions to the region’s mountain bike trails.