‘Sweet’ new gravel-bike race coming to Arkansas

Gravel bikes have wider tires than regular road bikes as well as other features designed to improve safety on gravel roads. (Democrat-Gazette file photo/JOHN SYKES Jr.)
Gravel bikes have wider tires than regular road bikes as well as other features designed to improve safety on gravel roads. (Democrat-Gazette file photo/JOHN SYKES Jr.)

Some sweet news for Arkansas cyclists who like gravel grinding.

The first Big Sugar — NWA Gravel, a solo, self-supported race with options for 100- or 50-mile routes on gravel roads in Northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri, will roll out of Bentonville on Oct. 24, 2020.

Registration opens Friday and is limited to 750 participants.

Riders will provide their own support crew. Organizers say this will not be an entry-level event, and riders should be well conditioned and able to navigate using a map, cue sheets and a GPS device. They recommend that less experienced endurance cyclists select the 50-mile route; but both courses will be tough, with the longer one featuring about 9,000 feet of climbing.

The website describes loops on "picturesque, rarely maintained, canopy-covered" gravel roads. Curvy descents will include loose, rocky gravel that can chatter a rider sideways.

"In the bottoms of a lot of these valleys and hollows you'll find water crossings and bridges. On the switch-back style climbs, the rock proves technical and slow. Expect this to be one of the most challenging gravel courses in the country, but also one of the most beautiful and rewarding," according to the website.

The race is presented by Life Time Inc., which owns the Kansas-based Dirty Kanza gravel race and the Leadville 100 mountain bike race in Colorado. The company is working with Bentonville cyclists and race directors Gabbi Adams and Nat Ross. Adams is also the course designer.

Writer Dan Cavallari, who rode the route in October, said in a story at velonews.com that Adams "has created a relentless course with few places to rest and no places to let down your guard. If you finish the Big Sugar, you will have tested your limits to do so."

The price is $140 for the 100-miler and $85 for the 50-mile Little Sugar version. Visit bigsugargravel.com for more information.

Style on 11/11/2019

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