Fully loaded today! Matt Jones rides haunted bobsled tracks, Brandon’s new heater, and Walmart builds trail utopias?! LET'S SEND IT 👇
1667 words of pure stoke.
Read time: 6 min 02 seconds.
Photo of the Day
Matt Jones skipped the history tour and went straight to sketchy.
Matt Jones decided this derelict bobsled track needed more tire squeal and less haunted silence.
Mission accomplished.
📷 Denis Ruvic behind the lens.
Video of the Day
We are straight-up floored by this one.
Every movement feels intentional and totally untethered at the same time.
We’re watching it again.
For the fourth time.
Maybe fifth.
⏰ Watch time - 08 min 31 sec
Bonus: PULSION is what happens when you replace sponsors with spine.
No budget, no backup. Just one lunatic with a shovel and a dream.
The result?
A trail that looks like it was sculpted by obsession and filmed with respect.
⏰ Watch time - 02 min 17 sec
Bonus on Bonus: Reed’s idea of “training” is flipping cliffs in a heatwave.
Virgin is baking, the dust is angry, and Nic Hilton’s camera is sweating more than your palms will.
It's raw freeride served medium-rare with extra risk.
⏰ Watch time - 03 min 10 sec
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Love Mountain Biking? Support Your Local Walmart.
By Sam Greenberg.
Yes, you read that correctly; in less than six degrees of separation one can see the effects of Walmart’s success on the entire mountain biking industry and community. Most riders are aware of Walmart heirs Tom and Steuart Walton’s interest in biking and the Walton family’s incredible work to create Bentonville, Arkansas’ claim as the new Mountain Biking Capital of the United States. Is that claim true? Maybe, but really, who cares? That’s just clever marketing but there’s no denying Bentonville’s ascent as one of the premier mountain biking destinations in the United States. The better question is how does Walmart affect MTB riders all over the world?
The history of mountain biking in Bentonville started in the early 2000’s with the creation of the Slaughter Pen Trails. Starting with sweat equity from Tom and Steuart Walton, money and resources from the Walton Family Foundation, a host of non-profit and for profit organizations, a tax-supported promotional commission and dedicated volunteers, Bentonville has grown to over 140 miles of world-class trails. Was this altruism from the Waltons? Perhaps, but it also fuels their businesses. After all, visitors to Bentonville will shop for their supplies at Walmart super stores, purchase groceries at Walmart supermarkets and buy their fuel at stand-alone Walmart gas stations. Pretty smart, huh? And don’t forget that those visitors will generate tourists tax dollars attached to lodging and dining which in turn fund Visit Bentonville, the town’s promotional commission that does far more than suggest a place to eat or the best hotel in town.
PC: Single Tracks
Again, this circles back to the question, How does this help me as a mountain biker if I don’t live in Northwest Arkansas? To answer that, we have to go back to the beginning. The Walton heirs handed the reins off to the Walton Family Foundation, who from 2010-2020 handled the bulk of the financial investment and logistics of trail design, building and maintenance. The Walton Family Foundation solicited local, national and international businesses as well as non-profit organizations to take over the bulk of fundraising and growing the burgeoning mountain bike industry in Northwest Arkansas. And while the individual Walton family members, the Walmart Corporation and the Walton Family Foundation no longer have the direct impact on the trails that they once did, it doesn’t mean they don’t contribute to the growth of the mountain biking industry.
The question is, how? Simply put, the Waltons left a lasting legacy in Bentonville with resources for any area, town, municipality, state or even country to travel to Northwest Arkansas and receive a blueprint on how to duplicate or replicate what’s been done to build an entire industry from nothing to what’s regarded as the self-proclaimed mountain biking capital of the United States. Two of the most impactful organizations are Trailblazers and Visit Bentonville.
Trailblazers is a non-profit organization leading the way in the design, building and maintenance of trails in Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas, leading a dedicated team of volunteers. According to Trailblazers CEO Victor Gurel, Trailblazers actively meets with cities and businesses to help guide the infrastructure like what’s been done in Bentonville. Gurel and his dedicated team have advised and lent resources to build mountain biking in other areas of the state including Jonesboro, Mena and throughout the Ouachita Mountains to rival what Trailblazers has helped foster in the Ozarks as well as collaborating to build up Turkey Mountain in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And they’d be happy to meet with representatives from your local area too.
PC: Bentonville
Visit Bentonville is a promotional commission mainly fueled by tax dollars. According to Visit Bentonville CEO Kalene Griffith, a 2% tax on lodging and meeting spaces as well as a 1% tax on dining funds the bulk of Visit Bentonville, with a very small amount derived from corporate and private events with most of the proceeds going directly to event organizers. And while one would expect a promotional commission to point newcomers to the very best that the area has to offer, they provide a very real service to those looking to duplicate or replicate what Bentonville has done to organically grow an industry from nothing to one that brings in over $150 million in revenue on a yearly basis. And that number doesn’t include job creation or the overall health benefits that mountain, gravel and road cycling provide.
According to Griffith, Visit Bentonville sponsors the Bentonville Best Practices Lab, a program designed to show how the city “fosters innovation, collaboration and community growth.” Visit Bentonville hosts up to twelve cities annually, inspiring other municipalities, states or countries to develop trails, integrate art (including rideable art; check out “The Masterpiece” in Bentonville) and revitalize a local economy. According to Griffith, in the past year alone, Visit Bentonville has hosted nine cities from the United States, two groups from Japan and another from Austria. The Bentonville Best Practices Lab virtually delivers a blueprint to create the next Bentonville. And Visit Bentonville and Trailblazers still work with the Walton Family, the Walton Family Foundation and Walmart as corporate partners to ensure Bentonville reaps all the rewards that the city so rightly deserves, from corporate sponsorship to attracting the finest for-profit and non-profit organizations to the very best in dining, hotels and shopping.
PC: Outside Online
How does that help you? If you live near Northwest Arkansas, you can certainly take advantage of everything the area has to offer. Or maybe you’re considering a pilgrimage to Bentonville and looking to check off one new spot from your bucket list. But you can also go to your local municipality or local volunteer group and point them in the direction of Trailblazers and have them get some help designing, building and maintaining your local trails. Or link them up with Visit Bentonville and have them meet in the Best Practices Lab to grow your local spot into a world-class mountain biking destination and also spur economic growth in your area.
So, keep shopping at Walmart. That money eventually works its way to the Waltons who in turn keep funding the Walton Family Foundation. In and of itself, the Foundation does incredible work, using philanthropy to stoke education, entrepreneurship, protect the environment as well as many other social and economic issues. And their work leads to the formation and success of entities like Trailblazers and Visit Bentonville and those are the resources to build, revitalize or remodel your local trail into something truly awe-inspiring.
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Dream Rides ❤️
Fresh outta surgery and itching for war, this Nomad just got a pre-alpine tune tighter than your last pair of riding shorts.
Wheels spinning like tax-free dreams and brakes sharp enough to shave a kiwi.
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Trail of the Day
Zippity Do Dah Mountain Biking Trail - Fruita, Colorado
Welcome to the serotonin slide that is 18 Road's crown jewel.
It rides like a pumptrack had a lovechild with a slot canyon. Just when your quads start writing their resignation letter, the trail dips, swoops, and sends you grinning again.
The ups?
They're there, but they’re polite about it.
Downhill only, because climbing it would be like reverse binge-watching your favorite show.
Ride it loud, ride it fast, and don’t stop to think.
That’s all for today folks. We hope everyone gets some saddle time out there. See you all tomorrow! 🤙
For the ❤️ of two wheels.
We write The Send It Daily Monday - Friday (we’re out riding on the weekends). We do not proofread our material before sending and did not get A’s in English.
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