Ride. Ride. Ride. Ride. Ride.

I've been in Bentonville for 10 days. I've ridden 7 of those days. And each day has been better than the last. This place is MTB Nirvana.

I mentioned in my last post that these trails weren't really anything special. Turns out the first ride I did wasn't anything special. Everything since then has been the effing bomb.

I've ridden twice now with the Women of OZ group. Both rides were everything I've ever wanted out of a group ride. Just enough challenge, just enough chill, lots of laughter, and so much cheering each other on.

Women of OZ Tuesday Crew at Slaughter Pen.

Most of the women had to go back to work after the ride, but us retired peeps rehydrated at Pedaler's Pub.

Y'all know I'm no shrinking violet, and I looooooove to make new friends, so I made a point to talk with almost all of my fellow riders during the ride. Were they native Arkansasans? (not a one). Where did they move from? (TX, LA, CO, WA, IL). Did they come here for the riding or for jobs/family? (50/50 split). One pair of women were from SCOTLAND - here from Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (yes, that's a real thing) and they were gathering intel about how Bentonville built this amazing bike culture! I never thought of Scotland as a must-ride desitination, but now? Hell yeah!! Check out @fee49 and @Dmbins on the Insta.

At the end of the first ride, there was much trading of phone numbers and Insta handles. We immediately scheduled a ride for Friday, and I invited friend Nanna, who I met in the Sedona Mountain Bike Academy clinic at Sedona Mountain Bike Festival.

Before the group ride, Michelle, visiting from Minnesota, allowed me to test out my developing coaching skills on her. She was a lifelong triathlete, but was new to mountain biking. We met on the Women's Ride, and she had just finished a private coaching session/lesson earlier that week. I offered a free lesson in exchange for her being brutally honest about what worked and what didn't. It was SO MUCH FUN!!

It was SO COOL to see the lightbulb go off when she found her balance sweet spot!

Finding the sweet spot for braking.

Walking Michelle through tight cornering by focusing on the apex.

The Load 'n' Scoop demo. She nailed it!

After the "lesson", we hit the trails and sessioned all the things. Michelle did AWESOME!

Did I mention that this Friday ride perfectly coincided with the season opening of the beloved Gear Garden, where there was live music and icy cold beers served up from Bentonville Brewing in the park at the trailhead. If you know me at all, you know this was the ultimate trifecta: singletrack, live music, and beer. Oh, and it was dog friendly, too!

Singletrack, new friends, live music - it doesn’t get better!

At the Gear Garden after the ride with fellow-nomad Nanna, who I met in Sedona!

One of the most fun rides was yesterday with Nanna. We checked out Coler MTB Preserve, which is where all the good techy stuff is. My body had a rest day on Saturday, so I was ready to shred it. Nanna and I fed off each other - i.e., "its a double-black....do you think we're ready for a double-black?" "hell yeah girlfriend, there's no shame in walking if we need to". And so we did. It's a totally different kind of technical here, and its super fun. (Until my endo, but we won't talk about that).

Trailside art ... and photo hams.

Unfortunately, I had to take today off from riding as the aforementioned but not discussed endo left me bruised and sore. Tomorrow is another Tuesday Women's ride and I wanted to be in top shredding shape!

Have I started looking at real estate yet? Mayyyyyyyybe??? But, no, really, that's why I have a camper. As amazing as it is here, I need more diversity in riding and outdoor activities than this. But if I were still a working girl, you betcha skippy I'd be looking for jobs here. Nicely done, NWA.