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Bentonville - 8.5 hr drive from Austin


throet

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I'm glad I came up here alone, I would definitely be too slow for a group. Rode some things above my paygrade this morning, but had a blast. Basically finished almost all of the trails in Slaughter Pen. Heading out to Coler after lunch.

This is an amazing place, and I want to come back to do Back 40. I figure I can hit them all over three casual days.

The more I ride here, the more I realize how good we have it within 100 miles of Austin. We really do have some amazing riding.

Oh yeah, I think All American is what I imagined a *flow trail* would be. It goes from one end of Slaughter Pen to the other. Parts of it aren't even on the kiosk maps (north end).

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15 hours ago, TheX said:

Coler is like a completely different place. It really is Disneyland for MTB riders.

It's pretty bad ass for sure. The blue jump line is super fun. We were there may of 17 and  burned ourselves grinding up the return road😂

Edited by ATXZJ
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23 hours ago, TheX said:

I really like they way they mark the trails.

image.thumb.png.90e763d84845729904779b6a9863c1f4.png

 

Thats how it works when you have full cooperation from the municipalities and then a multi-million dollar endowment from cycling sympathetic donors.

-CJB

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16 minutes ago, CBaron said:

 

Thats how it works when you have full cooperation from the municipalities and then a multi-million dollar endowment from cycling sympathetic donors.

-CJB

So true, no way we could pull that off here. That's what you get when you have $70,000,000.00 to invest in the trails.

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Thats how it works when you have full cooperation from the municipalities and then a multi-million dollar endowment from cycling sympathetic donors.
-CJB

That and you don’t have dozens of “know-it-all” pseudo environmentalists groups fighting your every attempt to stick a shovel in dirt. Too many of those fighting for microphone time around here.


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What is the cost to ship a bike?

It's an 8.5 hour drive to Bentonville.

Wife's family is from New Orleans and I've done the math on that trip. Being able to leave when you want vs. their schedule, not having to drive to the airport, not having to go through security, not having to take the flying time and not having to deal with a rental car and then driving to your destination really adds up. We assumed a 6-hour best case scenario, door to door to NO and I would bet that Bentonville is similar. 6-hour + airfare < 8.5 hour drive to me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all suggestions, just got back from Bentonville and we were there for 3 full days and had a blast.   We went with other family that also have young kids (age range from 11-5).  All had a blast.    Few observations from our experiences.

- We hit all the major spots in Slaughter Pen and Coler.  Given that we have young children and non-riding spouses.  We (the dads) were able to dedicate about 3 hours in the morning to ride, spend the rest of the day to take kids to ride the Greens (mostly All American).  We didn't expect to ride EVERY Trail and just rode all we could in the allotted time, we were able to turn in about 12-18 miles each day (we are not fast).

- It is HOT and HUMID in the summer, we started our riding early (6:30am - 7am).   It is still nice out until 10-11am and it will be in the high 80s-90s.  

- Most everyone I met on the trail are out of towners, from Texas, Ok, Kansas, other cities from AR.  Every time I mentioned we are from Austin, the first thing they asked "Have you been to Spider Mountain?".  I guess the YouTubers are blowing up that spot. 

- All the restaurants around Bentonville are great, didn't have 1 bad meal while we were there.

- Yes, there are alot of eBiker, I think all the bike shops around there rent them.   I saw this 1 kid on an eBike sessioning the jump line at the All American like 50 times, it looks like he had fun.

- Bentonville is such of clean city, all the trails are manicured well marked and maintained.  (I was at Walnut 2 weeks ago and there was this lady camping right in the middle of BMX park, I was like wtf)

- If you family has young children, have them listen to audio book.   We drove 9 hours in 1 day from Bentonville back to Austin while listening to Harry Potter audio books w/o them screaming for iPad.

 

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For the big loops in Bella Vista, what's the water situation?  Are there stops of any kind (convenience stores, breweries, etc.)?  Should I take my filter?  Looking at the topology, it seems like if we took all our trails in Austin and tied them with a big loop in the greenbelts. 

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For the big loops in Bella Vista, what's the water situation?  Are there stops of any kind (convenience stores, breweries, etc.)?  Should I take my filter?  Looking at the topology, it seems like if we took all our trails in Austin and tied them with a big loop in the greenbelts. 

That’s a good question Antonio. I’ve never done it in the summer when you would need a water refill. There are neighborhoods that you pass through but I don’t think you can rely on that for water. There are very few convenience stores out there. I’d suggest picking your parking place so you can make medium loops that you link into bigger loops?


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On 6/17/2021 at 7:07 PM, AntonioGG said:

For the big loops in Bella Vista, what's the water situation?

Back 40 has at least a few options. Many of the trailheads/parking lots have water fountains with bottle fill stations. Unfortunately not all of them are operational. Two weeks ago the Lake Ann trailhead  at the end of Flo Ride was off for some reason. But the most remote and northern one (most important one!) was on! This lot:

1138094288_Screenshot_20210618-212431_MTBProject2.thumb.jpg.24a90e46dcfcbd08505f0fdafe68e5b1.jpg

 

But probably many more. And there's a convenience store a few miles off the north side as well, with a sign directing you ro it. And hell, if nothing else you're around a shit-ton of houses.  Lots of water hoses if you don't mind asking.

 

 

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That's the perfect spot for me Barry Yes, worst case I'd get some water from a hose if I feel like I'm in dire straights.  I'm staying right in the Little Sugar area so I have 2 big loops here and several different options within the loops.  I can ride to the back 40, and I can connect to Slaughter Pen from there.  I think Coler is the only one I'll have to drive to.  One day of rain predicted so I'll have to plan my rides accordingly.

It is super humid here.  Humidity doesn't drop off in the evening, so I think I'll have to do my rides very early.

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3 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Can someone explain the “mandatory gap” signs here? These are on blue trails and there are b-lines around these jumps.

Did you ride Seth's trail, Berm Peak? I didn't see a b-line on that one, not an apparent one anyway.

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