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My husband recently turned the big 3-0. For his birthday, I wanted to plan a new experience together. I want to always make new memories and share new experiences together so we will have a lot of stories and memories to reminisce about when we are old, hanging out on our Arkansas front porch drinking sweet tea and telling our grandkids of our Arkansas adventure days.
We Hit the Trails
For my husband’s birthday, I planned a day of mountain biking. We both love adventure, sports, and outdoors so this was a perfect way to celebrate his first 30 years. We had never been mountain biking before, even though we thought we had. Just a quick piece of information- riding your bike around your country home is not the same as mountain biking. My husband and I both grew up in rural Arkansas riding our bikes around a farm with homemade ramps, so we thought we would be pretty experienced. It’s a bit more intense than that.
There is a fine line between scary and exhilarating. It’s a bit dangerous yet delightfully fun and adventurous.
Not knowing where to start, we called Jason Morgan of The Bike Lane in Searcy who helped us with planning and getting bikes to ride for our big adventure. We hit the trails at Lercher15Trails in McRae. It’s a privately owned working cattle ranch, where the bike-loving owners fell in love with mountain biking and put in the sweat equity to make their own system of detailed mountain biking trails which is now open to the public at a low fee.
There are a few things I learned while mountain biking:
1. A good bike is worth the investment
2. You will be shifting gears a lot, which makes it fun. It’s almost like you are driving a race car.
3. Wear tight pants so your sweats don’t get caught in the gears and you have to use your pony tail holder to fix it. Bikers wear padded shorts for a reason. That’s all you need to know about that one.
The Family that Plays Together Stays Together
Mountain Biking is something you will see my family invest in so that we can continue to enjoy quick getaways and time together in our own Arkansas backyard. As our kids get older and lose the training wheels, you will be able to find us on a trail somewhere mountain biking or hiking.
I can’t wait to get a bike of my own and hit the trails again! Thanks to Lercher15Trails, an amazing Arkansas family for helping us celebrate an important birthday for our family. Important to note when visiting Lercher15Trails – The trails are located on the private family-owned BJ Ranch, a working cattle ranch, so all livestock has the right of way.
Here are some Arkansas Mountain Biking Trails for you to enjoy.
Lercher15Trails McRae
Bull Shoals/White River Oakridge Mountain Bike Trail
Slaughter Pen Trails Bentonville
Cane Creek Lake Trail East Arkansas
Bear Creek Trail Kirby
Devil’s Den Fossil Flats and Cross Country Trail
Mount Magazine Huckleberry Mountain Trail
Mount Nebo Bench Trail
Pinnacle Mountain Jackfork and Rabbit Ridge Trail
Village Creek Village Creek Trail
White Oak Lake Fern Hollow Trail
My husband’s thoughts on his 30th birthday celebration:
We were told to keep the pedals parallel and don’t run over the person in front of you. And most of all, DON’T PANIC! Just ride it out. And, that’s exactly what I did, I rode it out. As I age, I’m just riding it out while enjoying the scenery. So not only is mountain biking fun and adventurous, it’s another opportunity for wisdom to manifest itself in my life. So grab a bike, have some fun, keep the wheels straight, pedal uphill, coast in the valleys, and on cold days, wear gloves. It was a great way to spend my birthday!
Which trails would you add to this list that you love?
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