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Bentonville - 8.5 hr drive from Austin


throet

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On 6/20/2021 at 11:01 PM, TheX said:

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

I did not ride it.  I think that's in Slaughter Pen phase 2?  I rode the Bentonville trails only on the last day and I had to go pick up my car so I did not get to explore much.  It ended up being more of a recovery ride which I needed.  The "mandatory gap" signs were all over the place both in Bella Vista and in Bentonville.  Even though it said "mandatory" these all had rollable alternatives and they were all in blue trails which was very puzzling to me and why I asked if anyone knew what this was about.

I stayed in Bella Vista, a 2 minute ride from the Tunnel Vision trail, which connects to the Back 40 through the Sugar bridge.

Day 1 I rode the Back 40 loop ccw early in the morning.  It really sucked with heat and humidity until about 10am then it dried out and felt better.  This was the day after the trip and I did not get great sleep so I did not feel great for it. https://www.strava.com/activities/5496761551

Day 2 I rode the inner trails off the back 40 and I also rode over to Blowing Springs and rode that.  The best part of the back 40 are the special trails.  Blowing Springs felt like what we have here and it also seemed like the worst draining trail in the area.  I checked out metfield skills park mostly to get water but also played around in the concrete pump track.  I spent almost 7 hours on the bike, 5.5 of them moving (not very fast but still, it was a big day for me).  https://www.strava.com/activities/5503517869

For both these days in Bella Vista, I didn't feel like the trail markings made sense.  I rode blues that were more technical and had higher consequences than some blacks which had dire warnings at the entrance.

At midnight of day 2 and through the morning of day 3 we had lots of rain and thunderstorms.  Around 2pm it stopped raining and Tunnel Vision is a trail you can ride while it's raining, so I went there.  The temp at 2pm was 70°F.  I was tired but the cool air and the awesome trails had me going faster than I thought.  One bummer is that the construction interrupted the loop.  You could ride to the cutoff point but you'd have to then ride back.  They had well marked detours so I rode the inner trails which were also super fun.  This was my favorite ride even though I ate 2-3 bugs and one went down my trachea.  https://www.strava.com/activities/5508245877

Day 4, my car was severely overdue for an oil change which they couldn't do before I left for my trip.  I dropped off my car at Superior Mazda where the service manager is a MTBer and had his arm in a sling from doing the "one last run" on a jump he'd done many times.  I shared my "one last run" story with him as well.  I then tried to ride the Razorback Greenway into town but there's a ton of construction and several detours that are not marked well at all.  I finally made it to Compton Gardens and rode that, Park Springs, then finally to Slaughter Pen.  Park Springs had the gnarliest trail out there (Apple Turnover) with a skinny line on wet rock and with a big enough drop to cause some damage if you fell.  I ended up walking most of it.  This was a true black IMO.  The rest of Park Springs was greenish blue to pure green with lots of stuff for beginners.  Tons of kids just playing around on All American.  That trail was perfect for my level and it made me want to learn how to jump properly.  I wanted to try Ozone which looked like the longest downhill area but I was exhausted from 3 days of riding.  https://www.strava.com/activities/5513563577

Overall, I think Bella Vista is more XC oriented and Bentonville is more flow oriented but there's plenty for both in either place.  My original plan was to stay in Bentonville but they had the big MTB fest that weekend so there were not many options for me to stay in. The airbnb I used in Bella Vista was basically the basement of a house and they cater to MTBers.  They have a wash station, a repair hook, bike hooks outside (and they'll store your bikes in the garage and give you a remote), and a bucket with brushes and a towel.  It's a 3 bedroom 1 bath 2 queen and 1 king bed.  Enough for 3 couples to share.  In Bella Vista it's not as convenient to ride to restaurants/pubs.  For that Bentonville is much better.

A note about water.  Not all the water stations were open but a few were at the parks.  Now at a bunch of trail entry points (not even trail heads, this is just where the trail meets a street) they are installing a bunch of foot-operated hydrants.  I made a point of looking up the model b/c I want to ask TTF if I can sponsor a memorial hydrant at Town Lake.  This is really cool and something I wish we'd do here in Austin.

Oh, I did not get a chance to try Coler or the Railyard, but I did ride by the pump track in Bentonville.  They are building HUGE slope style jumps.  There is construction everywhere in that town.

I checked the Pedaler's Pub.  It seems like a lot of locals go and I sat at the bar between a couple of older couples that just liked going there.  The wood fired oven pizza was pretty good.  But my favorite place was The Pressroom.  It seems like pretty much any place in town will be good.  The other 2 nights I grilled steaks on the airbnb's back porch.

Edited by AntonioGG
Added last 2 paragraphs, then clarified Park Springs blue/green
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  • 2 weeks later...

I’m planning a trip with my family to bentonville in august. It will be my wife and I and our 2 sons (2 and 6). Any thoughts on the best area to get a house rental?  I’m looking at downtown bentonville just so that we can walk places. But I’ve never been before so I’m flying blind. Any thoughts would be appreciated. 

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14 hours ago, crane said:

I’m planning a trip with my family to bentonville in august. It will be my wife and I and our 2 sons (2 and 6). Any thoughts on the best area to get a house rental?  I’m looking at downtown bentonville just so that we can walk places. But I’ve never been before so I’m flying blind. Any thoughts would be appreciated. 

I think downtown Bentonville would be perfect for your first time there. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Any locals visited Bentonville during Outerbike in past years? Seems late Oct would be a great time of year to visit, and I suppose the event itself would serve as a form of entertainment when not riding. Seems any races that are part of the event are only on one day - so closure of trails shouldn't be a big issue if staying multiple days. Given the abundance of trails, I wouldn't think that overcrowding would be an issue either. Any thoughts from folks that have been or are familiar with the event? 

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Just did a last minute Bentonville trip to see Phish play at the Amp in Rogers, Ar. First time there and holy shit those trails are a blast! Rode the kickass downhill run to Slaughter Pen the first day and was blown away. Rode some of the Back40 yesterday am before leaving. We'll be back this Fall for sure. Amazing that the city pours so much $ into a trail network like that! Mind blown.

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Me and @Teamsloan attended OB there 2 yrs ago.  It rained from start to finish!  It was an absolute muddy mess.  Everyone tried to make the best of it, but no getting around how much rain (and cold) we had that weekend.  But yes, BV is a great place to go for most any riding reasons.

Cheers,
CJB

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  • 2 months later...

They've finished the overpass in Bella Vista now, so getting into Bentonville is much easier (the 1-2 PITA lights in BV have a ton less traffic now).  Much nicer if you're staying in BV and want to run into Bentonville.

The tunnel under is somewhat back up and running.  They're still working on it so if workers are present they'll probably chase you off, but on the weekend it's easy to ride over to SP using the path.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anybody completed this Strava Club Challenge? It looks like the early part of next week might be the only real nice stretch of riding there for the rest of the year (at least for those of us who prefer temps in the 60s). Plus my cousin who lives there tells me the fall foliage is primo right now. I considering taking this on but can't figure out where the actual routes are posted for this challenge.   

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13 hours ago, AustinBike said:

142 miles in slightly longer than the average EB time? Hmmmmm

Well first of all, I wouldn't compare Peyton to an 'average' EB time -- I'd compare him with the fastest. Some numbers for you: this year's fastest elapsed time was a tad over 7 hours, at an average speed of ~11.5 mph. Peyton's elapsed time was over 17 hours, with an average speed of 10.5 mph, so quite comparable in my view. 

Not of course, that you are implying something is up with his posted Strava track ...

Edited by TAF
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  • 4 months later...

Just came back from Bentonville during spring break and want to do a quick write up.

For 2 separate days, we rode SP  with 2 other families with kids ranges from 9 to 14.   

Day#1.  We rode the Black Apple Creek zone, which they have redone. (by the water treatment plant and Tiger Blvd tunnel) and it is easy zone for the kids and the un-initiated.   

Day#3.   We checked out Choo Choo and Boo Boo, (only Choo Choo is open), and they opened another drop-in zone/ hub, it now has as a green DH run (Walter's Whistler) and black DH (Techgnar).  Both runs are short and fun.   I took one of the better skilled kid and rode Tristan trail, which they cleaned up since last year, super fun and flowy.   All of us ended up at the jump line by SP phase 1 and everyone took turn hitting multiple times, and saw some local kids boosting big jumps and landing in a manual.  We stopped by Masterpiece also and all the kids did a couple runs and photo-ops.

There is a new zone near the east-end of SP phase 1 which they are still building (you can find in Trial fork).   It is another drop-in zone/hub, it has 1 green, 2 blues and 1 black DH runs.  The blues has 3 wooden bridges and perfectly manicured berm, the black is a rock garden DH run.   I think they would build more DH runs given the size of the hub (it is pretty massive).

Between day #1 and #3 was wet weather day.   So me and my buddy headed to Hobbs SP, and this trail just magically shed water.   Tractions are an unbelievable given how much rain it got.   It is a fun flowy trail with a little tech section sprinkled by the shoreline.  Sawtooth and Timberjack are both DH runs that has a nice return trail.  For those who has ridden LGT/Goodwater loop, it is the complete opposite of that trail. 

On my last day before I headed out, I rode solo at the Handcut Hallow, which is the Northeast side of SP proper.  Any Austin/Central TX area riders would LOVE THIS ZONE!!   This reminds me of one of the unmentionable trail in Austin, it shed water well.  (I rode 1 day after it has been raining all day) it has drop-in zone with multiple DH runs, and a Traverse loop about 7 miles that goes around the zone (which I didn't ride).   I did all the blues and saved the black for another time (didn't want to ride blind on black run with no one around).   It also has this crazy uphill tech climb called zone 4, it looks gnarly.   I was only able to spend 1 1/2 hour here, but you can easily spend at least 1/2 day or more here. 

We also took a trip to Coler on one of the days, alot of blue/black DH run at the hub was closed.  So we rode down Family flow and Thunderdome a few times, and only a portion of Oscar since the trail leading to the hub was closed.  It seems Coler is more susceptible to closure due to rain.

Overall, I was only there about 9 months ago, and there was already a bunch of new stuff and I could spend another full day or two just to ride the new stuff.   There are also newer stuff in back 40 that I didn't get to ride (ie Huntley etc), or. Centennial park in Fayetteville, or Devil's Den.    

NON-BIKING RELATED:  I was at the Wal-Mart neighborhood get some ciders (Hibiscus Cider by Black Apple Cider), we went through self-checked out and then a lady came and checked my ID, and then she asked for my wife's ID.  She forgot hers, and she told us I can't buy them before of corporate policy (??!).  In a separate occasion, my friend tried to buy a 6 pack around 11pm and they told him they stop selling after 10pm (at another. Wal-Mart).    Anyone else has problem with buying alcohol in Bentonville??

 

 

Edited by hawkhai
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  • 1 month later...

Returned last night from first trip to B'ville - 4 straight days of riding. Biggest takeaway for me was the vibe itself, and how nature and humanity are blended so seamlessly together, whether riding the abundance of varied trails around town or hiking over to Crystal Bridges Museum from the Airbnb. The setting is simply idyllic. 

We spent the first and last of our 4 days just riding SP and other close-by trails. Definitely had some favorites but can't recall them all (Apple Turnover kicked my ass). Rode Coler South and North on our second day. While I can definitely see the appeal for those who like to launch themselves into the air, Coler really isn't my thing. I did enjoy Here's Johnny and Rock Solid though. Loved the Ledges and Back 40 on Day 3. 

Looking forward to getting up there again and checking out more of the surrounding areas, such as Devil's Den, Hobbs, and Buffalo River / Ponca Downhill areas. 

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1 hour ago, throet said:

Returned last night from first trip to B'ville - 4 straight days of riding. Biggest takeaway for me was the vibe itself, and how nature and humanity are blended so seamlessly together, whether riding the abundance of varied trails around town or hiking over to Crystal Bridges Museum from the Airbnb. The setting is simply idyllic. 

We spent the first and last of our 4 days just riding SP and other close-by trails. Definitely had some favorites but can't recall them all (Apple Turnover kicked my ass). Rode Coler South and North on our second day. While I can definitely see the appeal for those who like to launch themselves into the air, Coler really isn't my thing. I did enjoy Here's Johnny and Rock Solid though. Loved the Ledges and Back 40 on Day 3. 

Looking forward to getting up there again and checking out more of the surrounding areas, such as Devil's Den, Hobbs, and Buffalo River / Ponca Downhill areas. 

BTW - Huge thumbs up for both Wright's BBQ and Tusk & Trotter. Had the Prime Rib plate at Wright's and it was outstanding with Collard Greens and baked Sweet Potato. Had the Bison Burger and Spicy Fries at T&T - outstanding as well. Both had great local beers as well (cans only at Wrights - no tap). 

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9 hours ago, throet said:

BTW - Huge thumbs up for both Wright's BBQ and Tusk & Trotter. Had the Prime Rib plate at Wright's and it was outstanding with Collard Greens and baked Sweet Potato. Had the Bison Burger and Spicy Fries at T&T - outstanding as well. Both had great local beers as well (cans only at Wrights - no tap). 

Nice! Was that the one in Fayetteville? I vaguely remember really liking the bars on downtown square🤣

 

Wife gettin' after it on slaughter pen

IMG_5102 (2).jpg

Edited by ATXZJ
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11 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

Nice! Was that the one in Fayetteville? I vaguely remember really liking the bars on downtown square🤣

Both are in Bentonville. We hit several food trucks too while there and all were good.  

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Just got back from a quick trip to the MBCotW. I've been there a few times, but one of the guys on the trip was a first-timer, so we tried to hit a good mix of old favorites while also checking out some of the newer stuff that has popped up since the last time I was there a year ago.

Day 1 - We rolled into town a little after noon and after a quick lunch we hit Slaughter Pen Phase 1. We sessioned All American Heroes, spent some time at the skills area, but spent the bulk of our time at a new zone at the far SE end of Phase 1. I've seen it called The Castle, but I'm not sure it has an official name yet. They are clearly still working on the hub, but the trails seem to be done and they didn't disappoint. We hit Catapult (big berms, big rounded wood bridges, and a few dirt tables) and Medieval (flowy jump trail) multiple times and Dragon Scales was an awesome techy black trail with a ton of man-made rock gardens and optional rock features. There's a nice return trail to get you back to the hub.

After checking into our VRBO, we headed back out and went to the Huntley Gravity Zone. Another awesome spot if you like flowy jump trails. There are only a few trails here, but Shock & Awe and Air Raid alone are worth the trip if you are into that sort of thing.

Day 2 - We knew rain was coming, so we hit Coler first and spent some time on Thunder Dome and Family Flow. After some time lost to a mechanical, we headed to the other side. Unfortunately, after 2 laps on Fire Line (amazing flow/jump line) the skies opened up and it rained like hell for a couple of hours. That was it for Day 2...

Day 3 - Thankfully, the rain ended mid-afternoon the day before, so things were pretty well dried out by Monday morning. We headed over to check out Handcut Hollow, which turned out to be a favorite for everyone on the trip. We parked at the J Ave. parking area and rode over to the hub. Turns out there's another parking area that might have been closer to the hub, but it was a pretty nice ride from where we parked (although it involved a fair bit of climbing). Once you are at the hub there are 6 trails that go back down the hill (5, if you don't count the return trail). They were all fun and there's some good variety. Interplanet Janet was a blast, with a little bit of everything - flow, rock features, jumps. We all really loved Schoolhouse Rock as well because of it's super fast sections and rocky tech.

After lunch, we headed out to hit as much of Slaughter Pen as we could. Ravine Trail, Masterpiece, Boo Boo, Choo Choo, Techgnar, Leopard Loop, Barn Burner, Red Barn, Hammer Down, Ozone, and Schroen Train. Of course, we had to show the new guy the Bush Push. We were all dead tired by this point, but he actually tried it and made it all the way up.

I had hoped we'd be able to hit some of the Alice in Wonderland trails (Mad Hatter, Ace of Spades, Area 51) but we ran out of time. Maybe next time...

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On 5/19/2022 at 11:04 AM, olddbrider said:

Just got back from a quick trip to the MBCotW. I've been there a few times, but one of the guys on the trip was a first-timer, so we tried to hit a good mix of old favorites while also checking out some of the newer stuff that has popped up since the last time I was there a year ago.

Day 1 - We rolled into town a little after noon and after a quick lunch we hit Slaughter Pen Phase 1. We sessioned All American Heroes, spent some time at the skills area, but spent the bulk of our time at a new zone at the far SE end of Phase 1. I've seen it called The Castle, but I'm not sure it has an official name yet. They are clearly still working on the hub, but the trails seem to be done and they didn't disappoint. We hit Catapult (big berms, big rounded wood bridges, and a few dirt tables) and Medieval (flowy jump trail) multiple times and Dragon Scales was an awesome techy black trail with a ton of man-made rock gardens and optional rock features. There's a nice return trail to get you back to the hub.

After checking into our VRBO, we headed back out and went to the Huntley Gravity Zone. Another awesome spot if you like flowy jump trails. There are only a few trails here, but Shock & Awe and Air Raid alone are worth the trip if you are into that sort of thing.

Day 2 - We knew rain was coming, so we hit Coler first and spent some time on Thunder Dome and Family Flow. After some time lost to a mechanical, we headed to the other side. Unfortunately, after 2 laps on Fire Line (amazing flow/jump line) the skies opened up and it rained like hell for a couple of hours. That was it for Day 2...

Day 3 - Thankfully, the rain ended mid-afternoon the day before, so things were pretty well dried out by Monday morning. We headed over to check out Handcut Hollow, which turned out to be a favorite for everyone on the trip. We parked at the J Ave. parking area and rode over to the hub. Turns out there's another parking area that might have been closer to the hub, but it was a pretty nice ride from where we parked (although it involved a fair bit of climbing). Once you are at the hub there are 6 trails that go back down the hill (5, if you don't count the return trail). They were all fun and there's some good variety. Interplanet Janet was a blast, with a little bit of everything - flow, rock features, jumps. We all really loved Schoolhouse Rock as well because of it's super fast sections and rocky tech.

After lunch, we headed out to hit as much of Slaughter Pen as we could. Ravine Trail, Masterpiece, Boo Boo, Choo Choo, Techgnar, Leopard Loop, Barn Burner, Red Barn, Hammer Down, Ozone, and Schroen Train. Of course, we had to show the new guy the Bush Push. We were all dead tired by this point, but he actually tried it and made it all the way up.

I had hoped we'd be able to hit some of the Alice in Wonderland trails (Mad Hatter, Ace of Spades, Area 51) but we ran out of time. Maybe next time...

The whole time there we kept saying how much we wanted to hit the Hand-cut Hollow Gravity Hub, but we never actually made it over there - next time for sure. We did manage to hit the Castle, but didn't ride Dragon Scales. I'm thinking it was roped off the day we were there. Catapult was huge fun! 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 5/16/2022 at 10:14 AM, throet said:

BTW - Huge thumbs up for both Wright's BBQ and Tusk & Trotter. Had the Prime Rib plate at Wright's and it was outstanding with Collard Greens and baked Sweet Potato. Had the Bison Burger and Spicy Fries at T&T - outstanding as well. Both had great local beers as well (cans only at Wrights - no tap). 

Ask for the brisket Mac and cheese next time. So good.

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  • 1 year later...

Any locals heading up to Bentonville for Outer Bike this year? I was thinking about maybe checking out the Outer Bike venue for a day or two and then heading east to ride Hobbs and Eureka Springs. Thinking there might be some nice fall foliage towards the end of the month. 

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10 hours ago, throet said:

Any locals heading up to Bentonville for Outer Bike this year? I was thinking about maybe checking out the Outer Bike venue for a day or two and then heading east to ride Hobbs and Eureka Springs. Thinking there might be some nice fall foliage towards the end of the month. 

I'd imagine hotels will be pricey. Have you looked into them? You can stay in Fayetteville (much nicer) and just drive 20 minutes or head east towards Eureka. That little town was on our list when we lived in ATX but never made it. There's a cool old hotel there and some killer bike park riding.

Weather should be perfect. We did our last ozark trip in feb 2020 while raining and it was still rideable. 

https://www.americasmosthauntedhotel.com/

https://www.oztrails.com/trail-locations/lake-leatherwood/

Ponca is a short drive too. Was around $20 for all day shuttle and people were super cool.

https://www.buffaloriver.com/biking/ponca-downhill-mtb-trail/

Edited by ATXZJ
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