Tough mountain bike race bashes through Bella Vista, Bentonville
Mountain bikers in colorful jerseys hustled through the woods, trying their best to make the scenic route around town the fast one as the first Pedaler’s Bash mountain bike race came through Bella Vista last Saturday.
Stillwater, Okla., resident Dylan Postier, the first to finish, tore through gravel and sailed over obstacles, charging hard through the single track trail near the beginning.
“Great event overall, great weather. Turned out perfect,” he said after crossing the finish line and chatting with some of the other riders.
This was his first time riding in Arkansas, he said, but he was impressed with what he saw. The trails, he said, are great to ride and likely to benefit the area as they bring in riders who spend their money in the area. The Back 40, he said, was unlike any trail he’s been on, winding through the town and popping onto streets periodically. At times, he said, it felt like he was riding in someone’s backyard.
“It was pretty neat,” he said. Kevin Bennoch, the proprietor of Pedaler’s Pub and director for the race, said he expected the approximately 150 entrants to have a good time with a rough course — and one that could only happen in the Bentonville and Bella Vista area.
“You’re doing a 45-mile urban mountain bike race. Right in the middle of town,” he said. “You don’t see that.”
The course, he said, comes in at approximately 45 miles with roughly 5,000 feet of elevation change through portions of the Razorback Greenway and Slaughter Pen trails before going into the Southern portion of Blowing Springs, then starting a counter-clockwise lap of the Back 40 trails in Bella Vista and winding back through another part of Slaughter Pen and finishing at Compton Gardens.
To finish, he said, riders had to show up with two wristbands, one collected as the course slips over the Arkansas-Missouri border and the other picked up on the way back through Slaughter Pen.
That course, he said, should take between three-and-a-half and seven hours, depending on the rider. In the event of an accident or a mechanical issue, he said, a handful of aid stations were also set up on the course.
Proceeds from the entry fees, he said, are going to the Pedaler’s Pub race team, as well as local nonprofit Pedal it Forward, which fixes bikes to donate to families who might not be able to acquire one otherwise.
Bennoch said he appreciated help from the cities of Bentonville and Bella Vista to put the event together, as well as the weather, which decided to cooperate.
Another rider, Dathan Atchison, came from Branson, Mo., to ride. He rode the north portion of the course last year, he said, but this was his first time seeing a lot of the trail system — which proved challenging.
“Forty-five miles of that, my legs are tired,” he said.
But the community’s support for the trail system and the work that’s gone into making northwest Arkansas a mountain bike destination, he said, is impressive.
Postier said he agreed. He’s the manager for the Garneau-Easton team, he said, which is primarily focused on Cyclocross but expanded to feature mountain biking this year. He’s prepping for a national championship event in Arkansas early next month, he said.
And while he challenged himself on his first ride in northwest Arkansas, he said he’ll be coming back to enjoy the trails at some point.
“I need to just come back and just screw around out there,” Postier said. “There are so many fun jumps.”