New Date, New Venue, and New Competitions are just the beginning for the 2023 Bentonville Bike Fest presented by Mobil 1
Bentonville, Arkansas – December 7— Bentonville Bike Fest presented by Mobil1 returns for its third year with several exciting changes, the first being an earlier date, May 25 through 28, 2023. The earlier date is one of several updates for the Bike Fest including a new venue, more competitions, and additional activities. These features will add to festival staples that include free admission, free demo bikes, hundreds of vendors, non-stop entertainment, and access to legendary Northwest Arkansas riding.
New Venue:
Located adjacent to the popular Coler MTB preserve, the Bentonville Bike Fest presented by Mobil1 central venue will be hosted at “Old Applegate,” the former home of the historical Applegate Arts & Crafts fair. These historic fairgrounds are ideal for the Bike Fest offering easy access to some of the best riding in the region, yet only minutes by bike from downtown. A new venue and expo floor plan mean new opportunities for brands to exhibit, sponsor, and demo.
New Competitions:
New among our diverse collection of events celebrating the bike culture of Bentonville, will be the North American debut of the 2023 Mountain Bike Eliminator Pan American series, powered by City Mountainbike. Mountain Bike Eliminator, or XCE, is a relatively new XC mountain bike race format in which four riders compete against each other over a very short course. In each heat, the two fastest riders get to the next round, while the two slower riders are eliminated from the race.
Other festival favorites continue in 2023, including;
- UCI Trials C1 competition
- Enduro and Kids enduro
- Kids events
- Gravel event
- Workshops by pros like Kyle Strait, Rachel Strait, Anneke Beerten, and Carson Storch
“I’m super excited to bring the Bike Fest to Bentonville for the 3rd time in a row. Moving the date to Memorial Weekend will not only guarantee cooler weather but also give the opportunity to our festival goers to travel from all over the country and spend a long weekend in Bentonville, ride bikes, and enjoy this amazing town. We are also super excited to get the most out of our new venue which is adjacent to the amazing Coler MTB preserve so you can literally freewheel to the trails. We are here to celebrate bikes and give everyone an unforgettable time!” commented festival Founder Kenny Belaey.
New Date:
Cooler temperatures and new opportunities roll in with the Bentonville Bike Fest moving to the Memorial Day weekend. With regional average high temps in the upper seventies with cool comfortable nights, the riding in Northwest Arkansas is at its best. With more than 14 hours of daylight, you’ll get plenty of miles in. And as always, entrance for attendees is free and bike demos are complimentary.
About the Bentonville Bike Fest:
Founded by nine-time UCI World Trials Champion Kenny Belaey, the Bentonville Bike Fest is now in its 3rd year. Born from the fledgling female-focused Women Shred event in 2019, the Bike Fest came into its own after a year’s delay due to the Covid pandemic.
6 Responses
the bicyclist need to share the road single file not ride 2×2 or more please make this known especially on northwest 3 rd street in Bentonville, Arkansas we have a hard time with it when they don’t follow rules and yell at us vehicles not our fault follow the laws since we live near this
I do not know what you are on about, follow the “Laws”. Bikes have every right that a vehicle has, and if they want to ride down the middle of the lane they are completely within their rights to do that. How dare your day be inconvenienced for even a minute eh, gotta show those cyclists who the boss is.
sir I am in total support of the other comments. I love bikes and I see that it is a great opportunity for families to get out and enjoy the outdoors and get fresh air and not on video games.. I drive in a area where alot of bikes ride and if you think they should be able to ride right up the of the road then cross at any given time with no signal well I can go on and on but point is bikers are going to die and moterst are going to have to live with it..
While this is an odd article for a discussion on laws and etiquette for road cyclists, I guess we are going there. First, bicyclists are not breaking any laws when they ride two abreast. This is often the safest way for cyclists to ride, forcing passing cars to pass utilizing the other lane keeps them from trying to squeeze by in the same lane as the cyclist. (BTW, drivers are often breaking state law when they do this as it is illegal to pass a bicyclist with less than 3 feet of clearance). Those are the laws.
As for etiquette, bicyclists should make a legal safe pass available to other road users whenever possible. It’s one of those, I don’t know how to explain to full-grown adults to be nice to other people, situations. As a reminder, both drivers and bicyclists should be supporting protected bicycle infrastructure throughout their communities which helps all road users.
Totally agree with this.
Thank you Joe Jacobs.