Melanie Norris and her husband, Paul, have put together a statewide and southern Missouri mountain biking event to help celebrate the season.
The free event is called Umpteen Rides and features volunteer guided, self-supported mountain bike and gravel grinder rides on various trails including the Ozark and Ouachita mountains. The rides start Dec. 21 and finish Jan. 1.
The duo hosted a similar event last year and said it was well received, so they decided to add more rides and prizes to the mix this go around.
“Since our ride leaders are volunteers, we are asking them to showcase their favorite trail system,” said Melanie Norris, when asked how the trails featured are chosen. As to details on each specific ride, they will be posted to the Umpteen Rides Facebook page.
“Riding in Arkansas offers so much variety,” Norris said. “I’ve ridden all over North America and have found that the terrain and year-round riding opportunities in Arkansas are among some of the best. My husband, Paul, and I used to spend time in Tucson, Arizona in the winter when we lived in Washington. There was a group of folks that hosted informal rides in and around Tucson through the holidays.
“We decided to add our own twist to that idea and brought it to Arkansas last year. We started out with 10 rides and ended up with 22. This year I believe we will have closer to 40,” she said.
Ride leaders are encouraged to make their ride festive and fun, so, in addition to the poker run prizes, there will be ugly sweater rides, Christmas light rides, cocoa, cookies and possibly a hot toddy or two.