Mark your calendars for two upcoming opportunities to spread some trail love and involve friends and family in this great sport.
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Celebrate the coming of riding and racing season with your friends from CATA and IMBA's President and Executive Director, Mike Van Abel, Tuesday, March 10th from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Diamond Bear Brewing Company’s Arkansas Alehouse in North Little Rock. Learn what IMBA is doing for mountain bike trails and riders all over the world, and enjoy Diamond Bear's award-winning craft brews and great food.
Address: Diamond Bear Brewing Co. - Arkansas Alehouse 600 N. Broadway North Little Rock, AR What's a potlatch? Good question. A potlatch is a “feast practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States.” These celebrations were later attended by European "mountain men,” trappers and explorers - learn more Newsletter photo credit: vitalmtb.com CATA’s first Trail Love event of 2015 at Camp Robinson was a huge success - 31 trail warriors built three new sections of trail on a beautiful winter day. Sportsman’s Passes to the 35 miles of groomed mountain bike trails are easy to obtain. For complete instructions, visit our Facebook page and see the January 6th posting featuring Basil, Blake and Waldo.
Ever heard of the Wildcat Mountain MTB Trail near Lake Sylvia in the Ouachita National Forest? If not, you're not alone. Few riders in central Arkansas have even heard of this trail, much less been to it. Just west of Little Rock, and only 19 miles north of Hot Springs, the nine-mile trail traces a series of old, abandoned logging roads dating back to the 1930s, offering a wide variety of conditions and beautiful scenery. The trail has been abandoned; a recent scouting trip revealed no use by mountain bikers or hikers, but huge potential! If you want to be part of an epic effort to restore Wildcat Mountain for mountain biking, CATA will be organizing a Trail Love workday on Saturday, February 21st and Sunday, February 22nd. With enough well-equipped trail warriors, we can put this trail back into active status in a relatively short time! Riders will enjoy the excitement of steep, rocky terrain and sweeping, grassy stretches opening up to panoramic views of the Ouachita Mountains. A short rock scramble to Bobcat Point will reveal a spectacular view of Wildcat Mountain. Sections of the trail wind back and forth across narrow, rocky creeks. Check it out Richard Bell of Bell and Company PA has long been a supporter of mountain biking throughout Arkansas. Members of the Bell and Company Mountain Bike Team have given time, money and labor to assist in creating and maintaining mountain bike trails in The Natural State. Recently, Richard's generosity has made it possible for the Central Arkansas Trail Alliance to become a chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, a standing which will allow us to grow our organization. Join us in thanking Richard Bell for his generous support of mountain biking in Arkansas. Below is a copy of the letter that CATA officers Bruce Alt and Mike Mitchell sent to Richard as a thank you for the donation. February 12, 2014
Mr. Richard Bell Bell and Company PA 4504 Burrow Drive North Little Rock, Arkansas 72116 Dear Mr. Bell, On behalf of the Central Arkansas Trail Alliance Board of Directors, we wish to sincerely thank you for your generous financial support that has enabled CATA to form and establish an IMBA Chapter here in central Arkansas. CATA seeks to provide safe access to wild places through multi-use trails. Our goal is to open up access to remote areas, construct trails and maintain both new and existing trails sustainably throughout the central part of Arkansas. As people seek to live healthier lives and become more in tune with the wild places The Natural State has to offer, multi-use trails make these areas available. Whether hiking, trail running or mountain biking, people need to connect with the outdoors, one-on-one and with their families. We invite you to join with us and to use your own talents to help make this dream come true. We’ll need everyone, especially those willing to actually build trails, raise funds, contribute resources, organize events, sponsor work days and meetings, and nurture sustainable working relationships with landowners and managers. We invite you to visit our web site www.centralartrail.com and join our Facebook Page to learn about upcoming meetings, workdays and fun recreational activities, including mountain bike rides! Thank you for your vision, support and dedication to the mountain biking community. We look forward to receiving your counsel and support as we move forward. See you on the trail, Bruce C. Alt, President Michael W. Mitchell, Vice President Central Arkansas Trail Alliance was recently mentioned in the International Mountain Bicycling Association South Central Newsletter along with other wonderful happenings for mountain bike and multi-use trails in the state.
From IMBA February Newsletter: The Subaru-IMBA Trail Care Crew (TCC) of Jesse and Lori, along with South Central Regional Director Steve Schneider, converged on IMBA Epic trails in Mt View, AR, the weekend of Feb. 1 to bring love and volunteers out to the Syllamo trails (photo above), which were decimated by a recent ice storm, logging and a lack of attention. IMBA RD Schneider helped form the new Friends at Syllamo Trails volunteer organization (soon to be IMBA Chapter), and solicited help from many Mt View businesses, County Judge Stacey Avey, USFS District Ranger Jim McCoy, Syllamo Ranger Jay Swafford and others to pull together more than 80 volunteers to give some love to Syllamo. The three days on site went smoothly; more than 50 people participated in the TCC classroom presentation, while others donated time to cook food, provide support, work on more than 15 miles of trail, and provide bluegrass music and massages for weary volunteers. All of the new, area IMBA chapters were represented: OORC, CATA (Central Arkansas Trail Alliance), MORC (Midwest Off-Road Cyclists), FAST (Friends At Slaughter Pen Trails), as well as Wes Wright, Denny Hess and Andrea Wilson, key members of Friends at Syllamo. Syllamo will have monthly scheduled work weekends to help keep these trails "Epic." Read more at: https://www.imba.com/blog/supporter/february-south-central-region-news Have a look at this article on both the history of Boyle Park in Little Rock and the work performed by Central Arkansas Trail Alliance members. Check it out and the accompanying video then plan your ride through this historic park. Boyle Revival Arkansas Outside featured Central Arkansas Trail Alliance as one of the great new things that improved mountain biking in Arkansas in 2013. The article was also featured in the South Central IMBA Newsletter this week. You can read the article on ArkansasOutside.com. You can also watch this really cool video on cycling in general in Arkansas created by Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Below is the IMBA newsletter we were featured in, it's not a live version.
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