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Bentonville - 8.5 hr drive from Austin


throet

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  • 1 month later...

It’s pretty awesome. I rode a portion of it in October and it’s got more elevation change than any other trail in the area. It’s all flow trail, you’re either bombing down it, or you’re climbing back up it on the other side of the ravine. So you definitely earn your turns but it’s fun.


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It's amazing what they're doing up there and I still haven't made it up since the MTB stuff started (as a family we used to visit AR frequently, Hot Springs, Bentonville, Eureka).

I was listening to NPR a few days ago and they had a story about how Port Henry in upstate NY is struggling due to the mines closing, and how they're going all-in on the Lake Champlain monster tourist thing...the whole time I'm yelling at the radio, "MTBing!"

 

https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/42815/20201208/a-struggling-hamlet-and-a-lake-monster-can-champ-help-port-henry

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On 12/16/2020 at 3:47 PM, June Bug said:

This just popped up on FB: Bella Vista Little Sugar Trails adds nearly 50 miles to the existing trails.  Close to Bentonville, as far as I can tell. 

"80+ miles of handcrafted singletrack, 200+ stylish Air BnBs in only 54 square miles of Arkansas wilderness." 

 

It is Bella Vista which sits just north of Bentonville--they are pretty much connected. Hoss and I have a lot on the Little Sugar Trail very close to the Tanyard Creek Falls. I can't wait to build and retire there!

 

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  • 2 months later...

So, 8.5-hour drive or just fly non stop from Austin to Bentonville with Allegiant, starting July 2nd through mid August.   

  • Austin to Bentonville departs Friday at 4:03 pm and lands at 5:26 pm at Northwest Arkansas Nat'l Airport. 
  • Bentonville to Austin departs Monday at 6:11 pm and arrives in Austin at 7:40 pm. 

2 new nonstop routes embark from Austin airport to tourist hotspots

Sad that this option is for summer only.  It would be a much better trip in the fall. 

If doing a weekend blitz trip, where could one rent good bikes? 

 

Edited by June Bug
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The wife is taking my daughter to a soccer tourney in Florida in April.  I have successfully convinced my wife that my son & I need a father/son trip to Bentonville at/around that same time.

My intent was to drive to take mountain & Bmx/dirt jumper bikes.  Stay close the trials (comfort suits bentonville?) and try to get a 3hr+ mountain bike ride in the morning, then lunch/rest and 2-3 hours at a pump track/skills park in afternoon.

I have never been to Bentonville.  Any suggestions?

future thanks for any advice,

Shaner

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Just now, Shanerpvt said:

The wife is taking my daughter to a soccer tourney in Florida in April.  I have successfully convinced my wife that my son & I need a father/son trip to Bentonville at/around that same time.

My intent was to drive to take mountain & Bmx/dirt jumper bikes.  Stay close the trials (comfort suits bentonville?) and try to get a 3hr+ mountain bike ride in the morning, then lunch/rest and 2-3 hours at a pump track/skills park in afternoon.

I have never been to Bentonville.  Any suggestions?

future thanks for any advice,

Shaner

Oh, planning on a 5 day trip, 3 full days of riding......maybe a short one on arrival/departure day.

thanks again,

Shaner

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  • 3 weeks later...
Oh, planning on a 5 day trip, 3 full days of riding......maybe a short one on arrival/departure day.
thanks again,
Shaner
Yall will have a great time. I stayed directly on the Back 40 when I was there recently so can't speak of the hotel route.
But zero shortage for places to stay. I loved the Back 40 and Little Sugar. Coler was amazing to ride and hang also. The Slaughter Pen trails has absolutely no shortage of options. My boy is 14 and he was quite content spending hours and hours and more hours riding various options there.
I'm going back for some solo time soon myself.
Its really amazing and friendly and very extensive. The OZ website has great trail info

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On 3/10/2021 at 7:34 AM, Cafeend said:

Yall will have a great time. I stayed directly on the Back 40 when I was there recently so can't speak of the hotel route.
But zero shortage for places to stay. I loved the Back 40 and Little Sugar. Coler was amazing to ride and hang also. The Slaughter Pen trails has absolutely no shortage of options. My boy is 14 and he was quite content spending hours and hours and more hours riding various options there.
I'm going back for some solo time soon myself.
Its really amazing and friendly and very extensive. The OZ website has great trail info

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thanks!

 

After looking into it more, we may go the airbnb route.  I am surprised out reasonable they are, even for a party of 2.

 

I am rally just looking for a place to be able to eat a bowl of cereal, ride to the trail and keep the bikes safe/inside.

 

I need to figure out what his STAR test dates are, and plan around that.  We want to go when warm, but before summer.

 

Thanks again,

Shaner

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On 2/19/2021 at 7:31 PM, June Bug said:

So, 8.5-hour drive or just fly non stop from Austin to Bentonville with Allegiant, starting July 2nd through mid August.   

  • Austin to Bentonville departs Friday at 4:03 pm and lands at 5:26 pm at Northwest Arkansas Nat'l Airport. 
  • Bentonville to Austin departs Monday at 6:11 pm and arrives in Austin at 7:40 pm. 

2 new nonstop routes embark from Austin airport to tourist hotspots

Sad that this option is for summer only.  It would be a much better trip in the fall. 

If doing a weekend blitz trip, where could one rent good bikes? 

 

Just checked prices for a mid-August trip and it's only $130 round trip.

Phat Tire is the biggest and best known shop in the area. They have a pretty extensive rental fleet. The only other shop I've been in up there is Mojo Cycling. I wasn't particularly impressed at the time, but I think they have moved and expanded since then and they now seem like they are trying to compete with Phat Tire.

There's so much trail in a relatively small area that you could probably get away with not renting a car and just ubering to and from the airport.

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Just checked prices for a mid-August trip and it's only $130 round trip.
Phat Tire is the biggest and best known shop in the area. They have a pretty extensive rental fleet. The only other shop I've been in up there is Mojo Cycling. I wasn't particularly impressed at the time, but I think they have moved and expanded since then and they now seem like they are trying to compete with Phat Tire.
There's so much trail in a relatively small area that you could probably get away with not renting a car and just ubering to and from the airport.

We had bad experiences with Phat Tire but Mojo was great. They have regular rides and were super cool guiding us around. If I had to buy a bike, they’d get my money. With rentals, it’s probably more of a matter of getting a bike that fits and is available.


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On 2/19/2021 at 7:31 PM, June Bug said:

So, 8.5-hour drive or just fly non stop from Austin to Bentonville with Allegiant, starting July 2nd through mid August.   

  • Austin to Bentonville departs Friday at 4:03 pm and lands at 5:26 pm at Northwest Arkansas Nat'l Airport. 
  • Bentonville to Austin departs Monday at 6:11 pm and arrives in Austin at 7:40 pm. 

2 new nonstop routes embark from Austin airport to tourist hotspots

Sad that this option is for summer only.  It would be a much better trip in the fall. 

If doing a weekend blitz trip, where could one rent good bikes? 

 

I have done the math because the wife is from New Orleans.

first, you have to live with their times. I wake up early and can be our the door. 30 mins to the airport, security, waiting for your flight, some stupid delay, land, wait for every bonewipe ahead of you to get off the plane, get off, get a rental car, drive to where you were going. Congratulations, you could have driven there already. No bike rental, you have your bike, ready to go.

As a 2.5M+ mile flyer, with tons of free flights, I recommend driving.

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Yeah, then you also have a floor pump, ice chest, a few extra kolaches from West, TX, etc. Absent the part from Austin to Dallas, it isn't a bad drive. I love the area around Lake Eufalia, and the mountains south of Fayetteville are gorgeous. Of course I35 timing is critical.

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This past weekend I took a solo trip to BVille. I stayed at the recently opened Coler Campgrounds   https://www.peelcompton.org/coler-mountain-bike-preserve/camping/

Since it was just me the small platform was plenty good. There are 16 well spread out site and 6 pads for camper vans (did see a dude with an Outback and teardrop) The sites don't have water and no fires allowed. 

That was fine with me. There is a community fire pit if that's your thing. 

The area itself is on the west side of Coler and about maybe 200 yards from the paved trail but people dont come over and through all the trees I doubt they know there is a campground there. Airship coffee is a short walk away and a couple green trails are right there leading toward the south end and connecting over to Coler.  From this location it is a short ~10 Min drive to the Little Sugar trail. You can ride the paved path south and hit 3rd St and then wind your way over to downtown BVille in maybe ~15 min , so located nicely.

There was a gate that required a code to enter to keep out the riff raff commoners and you park once you go through the gate ( Cars \ trucks are in a lot and and so you don't potentially have your car near the sites)

Every time I came in driving there was a docent there to check my name and pop in the code for me. Super nice people.

The grounds are very clean and nicely kept.

The bath rooms are separate from men\woman and there is a code to enter the bath rooms. They were amazingly clean and heated. The men's room had 5 showers and 3 toilets . Looked nice with the wood and tile.

I was concerned with my bike , I noticed some people would leave the site and keep their bikes at their site. Some people left them on their racks. I kept mine in the back of my truck , I have a cap so it was locked. 

Anyways I'd definitely go back there and was pleasantly surprised how nice it was. 

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Bit rainy this week but trails are in great shape.  It rained a bunch Monday night and I was surprised that the trails were already dry by afternoon minus some slick rocks.  

Staying at the Blowing Springs campground as usual - bit crowded but nice for trail access and cell signal is very good, especially with a booster (required since I'm working from camper and will be here 3 weeks).   The only bummer is that the intersection near the interstate is under construction, and it's pretty sketchy riding to the slaughter pen area or into town.

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