Outside TV recently ran a series of videos featuring professional mountain biker Brian Lopes as he took a bunch of his friends (with the help of local rider, Gary Vernon) on a tour of the Oz Trails in Northwest Arkansas. This roster of friends included professional downhill mountain biker, Steve Peat, Mike “Hucker” Clark, professional BMX rider, Hans Rey, professional mountain biker, Jeremy McGrath, professional supercross racer, and several local riders. Each of the 4 episodes is about 5 minutes long and covers different aspects of the trail life in Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas in general. Take 20 minutes and enjoy the information in these well-produced videos.
Brian Lopes Episode 1 – A nice introduction to the crew with some beautiful shots from Coler Mountain, Fitzgerald Mountain, and Lake Leatherwood.
Brian Lopes Episode 2 – This one gets into the mountain bike community focusing on National Interscholastic Cycling Association, Bikes in Schools programs, and women’s cycling programs.
Brian Lopes Episode 3 – In episode 3, Brian and friends explore the quality of life that the trails bring to Bentonville, Arkansas. They also discuss how the trails are growing out of NWA with the Monument Trails program and Trail Labs.
Brian Lopes Episode 4 – Specifics on how the trails got built and continue to get built in Northwest Arkansas are presented in episode 4.
My favorite message from the videos is how all cities can do something similar and that there is help to make that happen.
