BENTONVILLE — Craig Bierly is on his way to his 45th high school reunion in Ohio in a fashion it’s doubtful any of his classmates will replicate.
He spends his nights camped in a converted Dodge Sprinter van and his days criss-crossing mountain bike trails on a Turner Five-Spot bike as he slowly heads toward his destination.
Bierly brought his nomadic lifestyle to Arkansas last week for the second time since he decided to “distill” his life into what would fit into the van and ride the mountain bike trails in all 48 contiguous states. He spent at least two nights in his bright green van decorated with bike-themed bumper stickers in the parking lot behind City Hall.
At A Glance
Local Mountain Bike Trails
• Slaughter Pen Trails: Bentonville
• Blowing Springs: Bella Vista
• Lake Fayetteville: Fayetteville
• Hidden Diversity Multi-Use Trails: Hobbs State Park
• Fossil Flats: Devil’s Den State Park
Source: Staff Report
He let his legs hang out the open side door of his van as he flicked off ticks from his knee-high wool socks that found him enticing as he rode the nine-mile Little Clifty Creek Trail at Hobbs State Park on Friday. His bushy beard and long hair spilled over a bright blue bicycle jersey wet with exertion from the hilly ride.
“I like Arkansas,” he said. “I came in with the heat and humidity and thought, ‘This isn’t going to work.’ But a couple of nights ago, the heat broke.
“That’s the great thing about traveling. You can be where you want to be when you want to be there.”
What seems like a solitary existence turns out to be just the opposite for Bierly. In towns with active biking communities such as Bentonville he finds a warm welcome and plenty of partners for the trails.
A member of Friends of Slaughter Pen Trails, a local mountain bike group, spotted Bierly’s van and its “Mountain Biking the States” logo in the Walmart parking lot in Bentonville. The group quickly organized a ride at Blowing Springs and hooked Bierly up with a warm bed and hot shower for the night.
“I hang with the mountain bikers,” Bierly said. “But not every town has got a lot of mountain bikers.”
His hosts told him the bug bites he was suffering from were chigger bites and said an old wife’s tale advocates using fingernail polish to kill off the burrowing bugs. Bierly went to Walmart and bought clear polish with pink glitter, covering his arms with iridescent polka dots.
Bierly keeps and up-to-date blog about his adventures at runutsadventures.com. On his blog he talks about his dilemma in finding a shower in Rogers this week. In the end a mountain biker who had read about Bierly in a magazine offered him a shower before he took off on a ride.
“A stranger offers me access to his house in his absence,” Bierly wrote. “I am clean and thankful for his trust.”
He said loading up the bike and driving out of town isn’t always easy, especially when he finds a fast group of friends.
“The longer I stay in one place, the better I know people,” he said. “When I move on, it’s difficulty to leave. It’s like I have a Christmas tree with people as decorations. I’ve had the chance to meet all these great people.”
But Bierly has been moving on since he strapped his bike to the back of his van in summer 2008 and set out with file full of magazine clippings of trails he wanted to ride. He had just retired and could feel his body telling him he didn’t have forever to live out his dream.
“I was just working, putting money in the bank,” he said. “I wanted to do this while I still could. I knew if I put it off, I might never get to do it.”
He hit his goal of riding trails in 48 states in 11 months instead of the two years he initially planned. He rode the forested Pisgah trails in New Hampshire, the red rock trails in Moab, Utah, and sandy trails in California.
He learned the way different rocks grip the knobby mountain bike tires and how the humidity affects performance. He said the trails in Northwest Arkansas’ karst landscape have a “different kind of rock” that takes some getting used to.
“They’re all just trails,” Bierly said. “What’s to say one is better than the other? It’s about the ride.”
Since pulling into Northwest Arkansas, he has ridden most of the numerous trails available in the area. Northwest Arkansas is home to several well-designed trails for all skill levels, according to Alan Ley, director of Bike Bentonville.
“We have everything from gateway trails to very technical trails,” Ley said. “We also have a variety of terrain — rocks, dirt, gravel and those undulating spots where you can go really fast.”
And there always seems to be a ride of some sort in the area. The Slaughter Pen Trails in Bentonville draw good weekend crowds and groups of road bikers are seen across the area most every night.
Walmart will kick off its BikeShare program Monday during national Bike to Work Week.
The Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks will host the 2012 Bicycle Commuter Challenge on May 13-19. Any businesses or commuters in Washington and Benton counties can register to compete from prizes from Old Soul Organics, Eureka Pizza, Phat Tire Bike Shop and other local businesses.
Prizes will be awarded for the companies with the highest percentages of bike commuters and for individual commuters who have the longest ride, according to the group’s website. Registration is available at www.bconwa.com.
Groups like Friends of Slaughter Pen Trails and Ozark Off-Road Cycling help build and maintain local trails to keep them in good shape. Bierly participated in a trail clean-up event Wednesday evening with Friends of Slaughter Pen Trails.
Forty-six months into his adventure, Bierly said he hasn’t found a place that makes him want to settle. He can’t yet imagine riding the same trails every day. He talked about eventually heading back home to Spokane, Wash., where his journey started.
“My body will tell me when it’s done, when I need to stop,” Bierly said.
Until then, he’s headed toward Ohio and his erstwhile classmates.