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Oz Trails Off-Road - Bentonville


notyal

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So me and a couple buddies have been planning a Bentonville trip for some time now, but only recently realized that it's over the same weekend as Oz Trails Off-Road race. We don't have any desire to participate in the race, but do want to ride what the area has to offer. I've never been to a big race/event like this, so my question is will we the trails be so overloaded with racers that we won't enjoy the ride? I can definitely see how it could be really cool to have all the festivities while not riding, but that's not really the objective of our trip.

https://epicrides.com/events/oz-trails-off-road/event-guide/

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Not a problem in my opinion, and I would consider doing the event if i were you, if you can ride that far.  There will be a neutral roll out from Downtown I think near the peddlers pub.  This will sort out Racers from "accomplishment riders" pretty easily.  This organization encourages both. Marathon races have a totally different vibe. 

I am sure but you have looked into the event, but epic rides usually has 3 loops that people can do based upon fitness.  I recommend looking at that loop and seeing where to ride during that event. If you are riding the back 40, I would just time it so you are riding after they have started their loop.  Afternoon should be perfectly fin and weather should be fantastic.  Go in the direction they go. 

One side of blowing springs looks to be unused, Medusa, tamaguche, schroene train, downhill trail and the park stuff around Slaughter pen looks unused, so basically, there is all kinds of good riding for you to do the day of the race.  Unfortunately, Ozone gets used and could have traffic, but its deep in the race, so you could ride ozone early in the morning.  You can hotlap tiger trail, panther prowl, and Ozone for some big time fun. 

Their events are awesome, and the atmosphere of that many riders is pretty awesome. 

Call ahead and make reservations for all of your restaurants ahead of time.  

Oven and Tap, Preachers Son, etc

 

Edited by FJsnoozer
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Looking at the map, there's still a lot of unused stuff you can hit while they race. You would still have a ton of awesome riding, plus you can come back and hit all the goodness after they complete the race. I would say the biggest challenge at that time would be lodging, although it looks like the whole town has their homes setup as rentals.

 Super easy drive up there, except that Oklahoma roads suck, but who cares...you're heading for Bentonville!!!

 Do it!

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10 minutes ago, Yosmithy said:

Looking at the map, there's still a lot of unused stuff you can hit while they race. You would still have a ton of awesome riding, plus you can come back and hit all the goodness after they complete the race. I would say the biggest challenge at that time would be lodging, although it looks like the whole town has their homes setup as rentals.

 Super easy drive up there, except that Oklahoma roads suck, but who cares...you're heading for Bentonville!!!

 Do it!

I just booked the house yesterday. That's actually how I found out about the race. There wasn't a whole lot available in town, but I still found a pretty nice 3 bedroom house for $99/night.

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32 minutes ago, notyal said:

I just booked the house yesterday. That's actually how I found out about the race. There wasn't a whole lot available in town, but I still found a pretty nice 3 bedroom house for $99/night.

Perfect! seriously though. Decide where you want to eat and go ahead and make those reservations. with a group of that size you are going to at least want the option. Lots of the places are closed on Sunday nights anyways, so you may plan a shopping trip to the fancy pantry Walmart that is downtown in order to pick up dinners.

Being in one place with that many mountain bikers is a really cool experience. Everyone is doing normal things when they are off the bike and it feels like any other busy vacation spot, but you realize that everyone is talking about bikes over lunch and dinner. 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, JRA said:

The Walton Family Foundation just donated 3,9 million a couple days ago for another 50 miles of trail before the end of 2019. We need a bullet train from Austin to Bentonville.

Or one of our local billionaires to take such an interesting in bike trails.

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Lots of great trails outside of the Bentonville area, but within an hour's drive.

Head to Fort Smith and hit Springhill Park — fast flowy rolling flat singletrack 10-mile loop that's great going both directions for a 20-mile blast ride. Then hit Ben Geren Park Trail, and after Lee Creek Reservoir Trail (both flowy with some hills to climb)... Then start heading back to Bentonville and hit Mt Kessler (10 + miles of advanced riding), and end with Lake Fort Smith trail (about 7 miles flowy — 14 if you ride the opposite way too — with maybe 600-700 ft. combined climbing depending on how you ride it.

It's a full day of riding if you start out early, that will give you around 70-80 miles of really fast fun flowy trail, with a pretty advanced technical trail thrown in. And that's just for one day, and all within and hour's drive of Bentonville.

Edited by RidingAgainToo
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33 minutes ago, olddbrider said:

I'm not doubting that there are great trails to ride outside of Bentonville, but if you are taking a trip to Bentonville why not just ride the stuff in Bentonville?

The OP of this thread said that there was an event happening in the Bentonville trail area... I was simply giving suggestions of what I know to be good options that are all within an hour or so drive of Bentonville.

I was thinking make a day-trip outside of Bentonville on one of the days of the 3-day OZ event, and then ride the local trails on the other days. That way it's not three days of only riding trails with lots of riders on them.

It's also just a suggestion.

Edited by RidingAgainToo
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Check out kessler if you get too crowded in bentonville. Its basically brushy and greenbelt but with elevation. If you can stick to in town trails, the back 40 would be my first if i were hitting it in the fall.

 

Enjoy!

Edited by ATXZJ
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2 hours ago, notyal said:

Still a month away, but thanks for the bump. I could still use any trip planning tips for Bentonville.

I bet you may have already looked through this, but just in case, I'm linking to it again.  http://www.bikemojo.com/speak/14-austin-voodoo/100879-hey-bentonville-veterans-plan-my-trip-me.html  There is a TON of good info in this thread!  IMHO hitting The Back 40 may be a bit of a scheduling challenge for you considering the race that will be taking place while your there.  But I'd strongly suggest Coler Park, Lake Atalanta, and (the drive) out to Mt Kessler.

-CJB

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I just got back from being there this past weekend. That place is awesome.

You need a week to ride everything there. They're adding trail all the time and Trailforks just can't keep up. Find a local that can show you around.

The town is kind of a mini-classic-Austin. Very family friendly, an emerging hipster/creative element, great food and beer, and enough retail/commercial development to keep it from feeling like a small country town. The traffic is way better though.

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On 9/6/2018 at 12:37 PM, Teamsloan said:

I just got back from being there this past weekend. That place is awesome.

You need a week to ride everything there. They're adding trail all the time and Trailforks just can't keep up. Find a local that can show you around.

The town is kind of a mini-classic-Austin. Very family friendly, an emerging hipster/creative element, great food and beer, and enough retail/commercial development to keep it from feeling like a small country town. The traffic is way better though.

I would think there would be no problem riding Back 40 the day after the race. Its a marathon race, so most people will have had their fill and will not head out to the back 40 for a full loop on Sunday.  There will probably be plenty of people preriding the day before the race which is not necessarily a bad thing, unless you are slow and dont like talking to mountain bikers.  😉

 

Edit: I see the pro race is on Sunday. I would not worry about this since the pro start is at 8:40. They hit the Back 40 clockwise at the blowing springs entrance at mile 10 of their race which will be well under an hour.  I would think that you would be good to enter in there by 10 and start riding counter clockwise.  If for some reason you wanted to ride it counter- clockwise, I would park near Gainford Drive and go from there after 12.  I would hope the course would be all clear from there or else someone is having a real bad day.     You would also be good to ride blowing springs that day too. Though I would not be surprised if there were some parking challenges in blowing springs that weekend due to the race, so you may ride in from teh street near the hospital or park elsewhere as mentioned.  I rode to blowing springs/back 40 from downtown and thats a big day on the bike. 

 

make sure to have a beer and check out the fat tire crit on Friday afternoon.  This is a Pro only event. They have to do a street/dirt race. Its rung what you brung (you can swap any tires) and you have to do a 3 lap Criterium street race on your  Mountain bike you race on Sunday. There could be some singletrack in the street loop to make things spicy for folks who put full slicks on their MTB. 

Edited by FJsnoozer
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On 9/7/2018 at 9:30 AM, June Bug said:

Outerbike in Bentonville October 26-28, 2018.  Not cheap, though, if you go for the demos!

Outerbike Bentonville

And then the Kessler Mountain Jam the following week. Between the Oz Off-road, Outerbike, and the Mountain Jam, there appears to be plenty of Fall Fun in NW AR for 2018. I remember last year somebody pointing out how nice the fall foliage was up there, but I suppose it's hard to know when it would be at it's peak. As RA and others have noted, there are plenty of great opportunities to ride all around NW AR, and probably the best bet would be to spend an entire week checking it all out. 

http://fayetteville-ar.gov/3416/Kessler-Mountain-Jam

Edited by throet
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On ‎8‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 2:00 PM, JRA said:

Why limit yourself ? I think I could spend an entire month driving around hitting trails in Arkansas

A nice plan would be to start out with the Womble and other trails in the Lake Ouachita area, which could consume a few days easily. Then head NE to the Syllamo trails (60+ miles of trail) near Mountain View in NE AR for several more days before cutting across the Ozarks to Fayetville to spend a couple of weeks riding there, Bentonville, and other spots in NW AR. If I can manage to stay retired, this would be a great near-by, month-long getaway. I've ridden in AR both Spring and Fall, and both have been super pleasant.    

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