Did you know we oversaw the development of the Centennial Park at Millsap Mountain trail system for the past three years? Today the park has over 14 miles of multi-use soft surface trails, including a 2-mile purpose-built cyclocross course and a 3-mile professional mountain bike course. The park offers a one-of-a-kind venue for hosting World Cup, World Championship, and US Professional races. The park was the venue for the Walmart UCI World Championship Cyclo-cross last month, but if you missed it, later this Spring, the park will host the first stop on the US Pro Mountain Bike Cross Country Tour. For five days in April, the Moosejaw US Pro Cup p/b OZ Trails will provide mountain bike racing for professionals and amateurs from across the country. These races are exciting events to watch for the whole family.  

"To see thousands of fans shuttle in and ride their bikes to the Walmart UCI World Cyclocross Championships was incredible to witness. And to experience the roar of the crowd and see that every single rider was cheered on no matter their place or country made me very proud of my home state and community." - Uriah Nazario, Soft Surface Project Manager.

We want to extend a special thanks to our awesome partners for bringing this venue to life. Our team and Rock Solid Trail Contracting built the trails, Crossland Heavy prepared the venue, Medalist Sports and Ty Caddy (US Cup Event Director) provided feedback and advice on design. This all wouldn't have been possible without the City of Fayetteville and the Walton Family Foundation funding the purchase and construction of the mountain.

Northwest Arkansas now has a one-of-a-kind purpose-built venue for hosting national and international events, and we look forward to this world-class venue being home to more events in the future.

To stay up to date with our projects, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

The City of Bentonville needs to hear from the trails and cycling community about the upcoming extension of NE J Street to a new interchange on I-49. Plans currently show a shared-use paved trail running northward from Tiger Boulevard across I-49, but we are asking the city to move the trail over to the west side as it approaches the new interchange. This will reduce the potential for collisions with trail users as cars enter and exit the Interstate via on and off-ramps. Please take the time to view meeting materials, provide written comments, or ask questions during the “live” virtual presentation on Thursday, Feb. 17th, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Microsoft Teams. To access the online public meeting, click here.

The City of Fayetteville is seeking ideas and feedback for the expansion of the Yvonne Richardson Community Center (YRCC). In February, three public meetings will be held to offer residents and other interested persons or groups to view and provide feedback on preliminary design diagrams for the expansion. We believe the City needs to include, as part of the project, improving bicycle and pedestrian access to the center. The City will host public meetings on the following dates:

In case you weren’t able to make it on Friday, January 28th for Pass the Mic, we had over 125 in-person participants and 32 live stream connections during the event. The panelists were as far-reaching as the attendees, coming from all over the country including Radical Adventure Riders, All Bodies on Bikes, Pedal 2 The People, and Bike.POC. Those who joined the conversation were brought into an honest, deep discussion around tokenism, safe spaces, impact of legislation, trans youth, embracing BIPOC perspectives, body inclusivity and activism, the importance of intersectional advocacy efforts, and the necessity of non-marginalized folks showing and speaking up. 

A huge thank you to all of our partners and sponsors that helped make the event so impactful- Experience Fayetteville, Shimano, RIDE Group, Pedal it Forward, and Chamois Butt'r. 

The recording from the evening is available on our Facebook page and YouTube, where you can also find previous Pass the Mic videos. 

Five Arkansas schools hope to get rolling in 2022 with new bike programming for early elementary kids. These five programs are eligible for matching grant money, from Trailblazers + ETHIC. Your help getting them to the halfway point is needed! Teachers, parents, administrators, or community members looking to bring a bike program to their school can contact Anya Bruhin at Anya@WeAreETHIC.org.

Donate here:

This April will be our first in a series of Community Classes across Northwest Arkansas. Adult First Ride will provide a learning environment where people who have never ridden a bike or have not ridden since they were a child receive the support to learn to pedal comfortably and confidently. These classes will be held at partner community organizations and in public parks to reduce the barriers to participation by underserved community members. 

We are looking for volunteers and businesses to underwrite these clases so that we can provide them free or at low cost. If you are interested please contact Anya@WeAreETHIC.org.