Cave Springs' Tour de Cave Highlights Watershed

STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER @NWASAMANTHA Cyclists head off on bicycle tours Saturday on South Main Street in Cave Springs during the first Tour de Cave tour.
STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER @NWASAMANTHA Cyclists head off on bicycle tours Saturday on South Main Street in Cave Springs during the first Tour de Cave tour.

CAVE SPRINGS -- While Le Tour de France unfolds in Europe, the Illinois River Watershed Partnership held its first Tour de Cave on Saturday.

Instead of a race, the event included two bike tours, one 12 miles and another 4 miles. About 60 people participated.

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To learn more about the Illinois River Watershed Partnership and its upcoming events, visit www.irwp.org.

The rides were to give cyclists exposure to Cave Springs and the Watershed Sanctuary in it, said Delia Haak, executive director of the partnership.

The partnership is working to create five trailheads in Northwest Arkansas along the Razorback Regional Greenway that would include "green infrastructure, low impact development features" such as rain gardens, Haak said.

The one in Rogers was recently completed. The next one will be in Johnson, and the others are planned for Bentonville, Springdale and Fayetteville, she said.

"People will be on the greenway, and we hope that they learn about green infrastructure and how that improves our watershed," Haak said.

There are plans to connect Cave Springs to the greenway and have it be a place where cyclists can make stops, she said.

Partnership staff want people to know about Cave Springs and how it fits into the watershed, Haak added.

Participants on Saturday rode on paved rural roads since there isn't a trail connecting the sanctuary to the greenway yet.

Riders on the 4-mile family tour rode through a neighborhood that had a trail in it.

"It was wonderful," Greg Lewis of Fayetteville said about the ride. "It was really cool."

His son Andrew, 7, said his favorite part was on the way back when the ride was mostly downhill. A section of it where it went downhill then back up again reminded him of a roller coaster, he said.

Lewis said he's not an avid cyclist, but thought Tour de Cave sounded like a fun family weekend activity. It also gave him more exposure to Cave Springs, he said.

"I know of Cave Springs as going to the airport," he said as he and Andrew ate ice cream near the lake.

Joetta Mackey of Cave Springs said she's new to cycling and tries to ride a bit everyday.

"It's always a lot more enjoyable when you have a group," she said of the event.

The Watershed Sanctuary is already being used as a place for people to relax outside. It would be nice to have a trail that connects it to the greenway, she said. More people would be likely to use it as a hub because it would be convenient to get to.

In addition to the bike tours, there was also a geo-quest challenge guiding participants around the sanctuary as they looked for different trees, plants and historical landmarks.

Organizers are hoping to make Tour de Cave an annual event that grows, said Lauren Ray, education outreach coordinator.

The goal is to have it grow where the ride takes scenic roads to several lakes in the Illinois River Watershed, she said.

It's a way "to just build awareness of the waterways in our area," Ray said.

The first event went well, and riders seemed to have a good time, she said.

"I think we'll be able to translate a lot of what we learned this year for the future," she said.

NW News on 07/20/2014

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