Northwest Arkansas now has a national reputation as a mountain biking destination. Eureka Springs schools are starting the second year of a National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) Adventure student-athlete mountain bike program that has grown from 20 participants in 2021 to 30 this year.
“This is a big endeavor,” Shawna Miller said. She is a Eureka Springs High School physics and chemistry teacher, and head coach for the school’s mountain bike team. “It isn’t throwing a few people on bikes and seeing how they do. It is a comprehensive program, a mission to build strong minds, body and character through mountain biking. There are forty NICA mountain bike teams now in Arkansas.”
While teams compete against each other, the intention of the program goes far beyond winning races. Miller said the program is designed to help students build self-esteem, adopt healthy exercise habits, experience fun and camaraderie, and become strong community members.
“The impact we have already seen on kids and their families has been awesome,” Miller said. “The kids are getting bikes, and others in the family are getting bikes. They are riding all over the place. It is fantastic for all the kids because the focus is not on winning, but on setting personal goals. Some kids this past year had never ridden a bike.”
For safety reasons, NICA requires one coach for each six kids, and coaches go through quite a bit of training.
Mountain biking and other exercise have also proven to be helpful for school performance. Miller said a large study has shown that physical activity in the middle of the day, especially bike riding, can help improve grades, focus and health. It can help students who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or other attention problems.
The school has received a grant to purchase 20 bikes for a new program at the middle school this year, and students will be able to bike during PE classes.
Public service is also involved. The mountain biking team has helped build a four-foot wide, half-mile long bike path around the schools.
“We got another grant for that,” Miller said. “It is a great beginning trail for a bicyclist. It has a little grade, which is good, but it is not steep. It is also somewhere where people can walk without getting into ticks. It is wide enough that kids can walk side-by-side. Teachers can bring classes out or use it themselves.”
The older students are also mentoring younger kids by teaching them to ride strider bikes.
The team mainly rides at Passion Play, which has miles of scenic, offroad trails.
“Passion Play was generous enough to let us put up a shed to house the bikes,” Miller said. “And, as part of our public service, we help them take care of their trails.”
There are nine girls on the team that went 25 miles the other day when it was really hot. Miller said the bonding that happens with these girls doing that is great to see.
“They help each other out and build each other up,” she said. “I see the confidence and camaraderie they are getting out of it. It really is a lot of fun.”
Obesity is a major concern in the U.S. When children start exercising at an earlier age, they are more likely to make exercise a lifelong habit to helps them control weight.
The team also goes camping.
“Their favorite things were eating s’mores around a campfire,” Miller said. “We are not just teaching them how to ride a bike, but it is also an outdoor adventure. It is a how-to-have-fun campaign. Camping has been a huge part of my life, so being able to take them to do that is great.”
Miller said long term they are helping build a biking culture in the community.
“One awesome side effect has been the huge increase in people of all ages biking around town,” she said. “I now see people on bikes all of the time and it makes me so happy. However, a few motorists have been yelling at my students, telling them to get off the road and what not. People need to understand that Arkansas laws require them to share the road with people on bicycles.
“While bikes are not considered vehicles, they have all the rights of a vehicle. Some car drivers don’t understand that bikers have the right to take up the entire right lane if they want to. If a car wants to pass them, they have to give the biker three feet of space. If a driver can’t pass and leave them three feet of space, they have to wait to pass. Most bikers won’t make a motorist wait long. They will try to move off to the side when it is safe. Bicycling is good for our community in so many ways. It makes a huge difference if motorists can be a little patient and respectful to the other users of our highway. Plus, it is the law.”
There have been some repeat offenders yelling at the kids bicycling. Miller has encouraged the students to get the license plate numbers to report the incidents to police.
As she sees it, courtesy to bike riders is also important to the area’s tourism economy. Eureka Springs is part of a 1,700-mile High Country Route for riding on dirt trails. Bike packers, people on bikes who are camping out, are now riding through town.
“We can treat them well and get more tourism, or not,” Miller said. “It would be easy for them to go through and stop somewhere else. It takes five days to ride throughout Northwest Arkansas. We are also seeing more bikers since ECHO Village opened. People who live there are biking to town. High gas prices are also encouraging people to bike. More people are riding bikes because you can get an electric bike and drive all over town. The Eureka hills are pretty intimidating unless you have an e-bike.”