What's your ride, fav area trails, etc
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easfahl
Posts: 567 Member
Hey everyone,
My name is Erica, and I'm from northwest Arkansas, USA. I raced cross-country and a few downhills in the AR, MO, OK, LA areas back in 2003-2006. I love to take my bikes with me when I travel so I'm always talking to the locals to find out the best trails in the area. I still ride a 2004 Cannondale Scapel 1000. It's a few years old now but I'm not racing right now and it usually gets the job done as far as trail riding goes. Some don't like the Lefty Scapel series as they think they're too squirrelly, so maybe I'm just squirrelly enough to match. Every once in a while I have a hankering to hit the jump-park or flow track on it but I know that'll just beat it (and me) to death. Try to borrow a rig for those rides. Before that I had an old school Specialized V-Frame. It was unbreakable! Much heavier, more robust, and more travel than my Scapel so not as good for trail races here but there are times I want to go out and totally bomb some heavy drops or rugged downhills. My Scapel is just not built for that. Often wish I still had Ol' Blu.
I also do road cycling in the summer but really only as cross-training.
My fav trail here is the Syllamo trail system over in Mountain View, AR. 60+ miles of sweet, incredibly hilly, single-track loop-systems filled with rock gardens. Right on the White River too, known nationwide for amazing trout fishing. Great camping and cabins.
Also the notable Womble down just south of Little Rock, AR. It's 100+ miles of fast, rolling, single-track in a point-to-point system that's good for leap-frog riding and camping.
Another good one worth mentioning is Earthquake Ridge down in Mena, AR. It lies in the beautiful, hilly state park of Queen Wilhelmina. It's a good mix of everthing with plenty of steep hills thrown in. Here again, mostly just camp grounds with maybe a few cabins. Oh, there's also a sweet lodge up on top of the mountain but it's pricier. Haven't stayed there yet but I here it's nice.
One more fav is Dennis Moore's mountain that's practically in my back yard, Farmington, AR. All hand-made, hand-kept trails on private land marked ONLY for hikers and bikers. So no dirt bikes or 4-wheelers have destroyed it. It's also a great mix of everything with fast, flat cedars to rockin' downhills (remember the only thing about awesome downhills is there's usually an awesome uphill to match!) to gnarly rock gardens. He's even named a few of the features: The Death Plunge, The Abyss, Rock Garden 1, Rock Garden 2, Yet Another Rock Garden, etc. No camping here as it's on private land.
So what's everyone elses stories?
My name is Erica, and I'm from northwest Arkansas, USA. I raced cross-country and a few downhills in the AR, MO, OK, LA areas back in 2003-2006. I love to take my bikes with me when I travel so I'm always talking to the locals to find out the best trails in the area. I still ride a 2004 Cannondale Scapel 1000. It's a few years old now but I'm not racing right now and it usually gets the job done as far as trail riding goes. Some don't like the Lefty Scapel series as they think they're too squirrelly, so maybe I'm just squirrelly enough to match. Every once in a while I have a hankering to hit the jump-park or flow track on it but I know that'll just beat it (and me) to death. Try to borrow a rig for those rides. Before that I had an old school Specialized V-Frame. It was unbreakable! Much heavier, more robust, and more travel than my Scapel so not as good for trail races here but there are times I want to go out and totally bomb some heavy drops or rugged downhills. My Scapel is just not built for that. Often wish I still had Ol' Blu.
I also do road cycling in the summer but really only as cross-training.
My fav trail here is the Syllamo trail system over in Mountain View, AR. 60+ miles of sweet, incredibly hilly, single-track loop-systems filled with rock gardens. Right on the White River too, known nationwide for amazing trout fishing. Great camping and cabins.
Also the notable Womble down just south of Little Rock, AR. It's 100+ miles of fast, rolling, single-track in a point-to-point system that's good for leap-frog riding and camping.
Another good one worth mentioning is Earthquake Ridge down in Mena, AR. It lies in the beautiful, hilly state park of Queen Wilhelmina. It's a good mix of everthing with plenty of steep hills thrown in. Here again, mostly just camp grounds with maybe a few cabins. Oh, there's also a sweet lodge up on top of the mountain but it's pricier. Haven't stayed there yet but I here it's nice.
One more fav is Dennis Moore's mountain that's practically in my back yard, Farmington, AR. All hand-made, hand-kept trails on private land marked ONLY for hikers and bikers. So no dirt bikes or 4-wheelers have destroyed it. It's also a great mix of everything with fast, flat cedars to rockin' downhills (remember the only thing about awesome downhills is there's usually an awesome uphill to match!) to gnarly rock gardens. He's even named a few of the features: The Death Plunge, The Abyss, Rock Garden 1, Rock Garden 2, Yet Another Rock Garden, etc. No camping here as it's on private land.
So what's everyone elses stories?
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