For me, it’s been a wonderful experience helping to create these trails – first by heading up volunteer groups, and now as part of the Walton Family Foundation. The lesson that I learned first-hand is that it’s not enough to just throw money at a community and expect that suddenly a vibrant trail culture will emerge. It has to be a grassroots movement built in collaboration with the city representatives, and a whole range of other supporting parties.

For instance, one of our volunteer groups facilitates Thursday night group rides for kids, and we regularly have 50+ riders at those. We have kids that start riding some of our trails who have no idea how difficult they are. But they just ride the most challenging trails – and get really good at it. We’re going to have some world championship riders in all sorts of styles of racing coming out of Northwest Arkansas in the future.

My son and daughter both mountain bike now, too. They’ve decided it’s cool, so I’m glad that we have something in common that we get to do together. It helps get kids away from their video games and phones, teaches them healthy habits, and connects them with nature. Now, when my son does watch videos, he is studying where to ride, and exploring ‘how to’ videos about becoming a better mountain biker.

That alone tells me how much Northwest Arkansas’ investment in trails has paid off – it’s not just an investment in mountain biking but one in a healthier, more active future for everyone who enjoys the trails.

You’ve known the saying: ‘Location, location, location.’ Well, the really cool thing about Northwest Arkansas is that we are centrally located in the U.S. and have really rugged hill country in the Ozark Mountains, but we’re far enough south to enjoy year-round riding. If you’re a mountain biker and you live in the mountains of Colorado, you have to hang your bike up for the winter. But instead of having your wheels collect dust after the snow falls, why not come to Northwest Arkansas and ride in the winter months? Some of our best riding is in October, November and December.

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