Biking and Transformation in Northwest Arkansas

Speaker 1 0:12

so , danielle , have you gone down to kohler trail and rode any of the trails there ?

Speaker 2 0:16

yes , I love it . We've gone as a family . I've gone by myself , got a stop at airship . I've actually even done pictures down there for my niece . It's pretty great , I know .

Speaker 1 0:27

It's the only way I get my kids down there is like they have cookies at Airship , so once that's like the prize at the end of the road . But I'm teaching my six year old how to ride without training wheels right now , because she's the last missing piece . Like we all ride bikes , she's the last one and we're all like , come on . She's like no , she gets all stubborn and we're like please , we all just want to go together and she can't just be on a scooter . Everyone needs to be on a bike .

Speaker 1 0:52

Because she just can't keep up with us on a scooter .

Speaker 2 0:55

So is Ella at all interested in , like mountain biking ?

Speaker 1 0:59

Oh yeah , she has a nicer bike than I do . Yeah , Liam has a nicer bike than me too she really does . My husband took her down , got her a trail bike or mountain bike . I think she can do both and she loves it yeah .

Speaker 2 1:11

Liam does it too . There's a lot of great little mountain bike trails along the paved path . That .

Speaker 1 1:18

I stick to . Our guest knows more about that . She does .

Speaker 2 1:21

Jessie Hurd is here with us today and I've known Jessie for many years now . I actually met her . She used to work for Bentonville Film Festival and so that's how I first kind of met her , through a friend of mine named Pam , and we did like swim parties at Pam's house all the time and I think you know I'm excited to have Jessi here because I've watched a transformation unfold in her life and I'm excited to talk about it and talk about bike riding and the Bentonville Bike Fest and I mean she's going to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro . What Exactly ?

Speaker 2 1:58

I know she is a rock star , and so we're going to get into this right now . Climber two Welcome Jessi . Welcome right now , Climber 2 . Welcome Jessie .

Speaker 4 2:05

Welcome . Thank you . Thanks for having me . This is exciting . Yeah , where do you want me to start ? I don't know . I think we're going to start .

Speaker 2 2:11

Well , let's talk first about . I mean , we really like to ask our guests how they got to Northwest Arkansas . Some people grew up here , some people are transplants , Some people came for work or love or whatever it was . But how did you end up here in Northwest Arkansas ?

Speaker 4 2:26

Yeah , I know . So I do claim to be a local and an OG original . I didn't get here , though , until I was nine , but I don't really remember much about life before .

Speaker 4 2:38

I moved here . My life really did begin in fourth grade when I came to Arkansas from Iowa . So I've been here since then . I've watched all of it become what it is now drastically different from what it was then . My family just moved us down here to have a better life .

Speaker 4 2:54

Honestly , at the time my grandmother my dad's mom had a house on Lake Avalon in Bella Vista and so we would come down and summer with her , and then where we lived in Iowa just wasn't that spectacular and my dad kind of could already even that far back then see this vision for this paradise that is Northwest Arkansas today . So , yeah , I've been here since then and I left a little bit when I was in the military , but we'll touch on that later . Yeah , I love it . I'm proud to be a local and I think that that's when I was in the military , but we'll touch on that later . Yeah , I love it . I'm proud to be a local and I think that that's one of the things that I love about Bike Fest and my role with Bike Fest is that I get to see all these people from everywhere else come here and enjoy Bentonville now and I get to claim it as mine .

Speaker 2 3:39

That's really great . Well , I mean , I want to jump into how you kind of got to where you're at today , because it's a pretty remarkable story and , just to give some context , I just really loved watching you share about not only your faith but also your transformation , of becoming sober , and let's talk about it . So when did this journey begin for you and what kind of launched it for you ?

Speaker 4 4:05

It's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly when it all began , but I would say that I started to have some like a decline in my health when my daughter was around two . Her dad and I went through a divorce and that was really rough because I had been a stay at home mom , you know , happened to figure out what life was going to look like again , you know . It really broke me down a little bit and I started to , you know , cope in unhealthy ways , self-medicating by way of alcohol , and I wouldn't say that I experienced , you know , a lot of people . I think there's a stigma around alcoholism . Right , the word is even hard for me to say Sure , but it's just . Alcohol is such a normal thing in everyone's day to day life and it unfortunately became too normal for me . I was in a toxic relationship then a little while after my divorce was final , about a year later , and that person also was a heavy drinker , and so it just kind of became a thing . I ended up , you know , gained a lot of weight . I also had found my way into a work role that required a lot of time , and what's interesting about that is , you know , I've mentioned the word alcoholism , I think , so often you associate that with people who are living in a basement and losing their car , getting repoed and losing relationships and losing custody and you see all these things

Overcoming Addiction and Finding Fitness

Speaker 4 5:35

.

Speaker 4 5:35

And my story was almost the opposite . I actually excelled in business , I actually was a breadwinner of my household and worked really , really hard . I worked around the clock , but I also self-medicated every night and that was kind of where that habit just got further and further , I guess more extreme or just more frequent . It was just a daily thing , a nightly thing . So I think that was part of the challenge , right ? Is that I didn't really have this like rock bottom per se to trigger , like hey , this is a problem , this is an issue . It was just my way of life . But it continued . My health just declined . I started to have like heart palpitations because I was also I've been diagnosed ADHD , and so the Adderall that I was prescribed didn't really mix well with the alcohol and the caffeine intake and I was just in pretty bad shape , went from one toxic relationship to another toxic relationship .

Speaker 4 6:31

But the beauty was that that second toxic relationship ended in a dramatic heartbreak moment . That was completely unexpected for me and it shocked my system into this and I had kind of already in that relationship , decided that I wanted to be healthy again . I had changed jobs . I had gone from marketing for suppliers in this world of retail attainment to the Bentonville Film Festival , but again all high stress jobs and again I was still kind of stuck in that pattern of self-medicating . And then all of a sudden I had this heartbreak moment . And I had already been working out .

Speaker 4 7:13

I had gotten into Beachbody through a friend of mine and during COVID I had actually started riding my bike . I call myself a COVID rider of all things . I know you might not believe it today that you see me race enduro and she just started in 2020 , but that's basically when I started . You know , I got a bike and I started riding mountain bikes , but I would say then in 2021 , I just actually Wednesday was my three-year sobriety anniversary . Oh , my gosh , congrats , yeah .

Speaker 4 7:40

So it was , you know , almost kind of a rock bottom , but in a different way it was a relationship heartbreak . But I think in that moment I knew that if I were to continue , especially through that heartbreak , if I were going to continue to medicate myself , you know , to cope in the way that I had been coping , that I was going to be . It was just going to be bad , like really bad , and so I made a decision right then and there in my tears and prayer , and that was it . That was the last drink I'd ever had , and so I threw myself into this fitness lifestyle . And now it's CrossFit . It was Beachbody , or it was Beachbody , and then it went to burn bootcamp , and then now CrossFit along with biking and running , and that's become my coping mechanism now , but it's been the best possible blessing .

Speaker 4 8:31

You know that that failed relationship was probably one of the greatest blessings in my entire life , next to my daughter . So it's just , it's a crazy thing to realize that you can take something so negative and go from such a dark place to and I think that you know talking about Kilimanjaro and just everything that I seem to get myself into these days . It's , I think , really because you know I just feel like I have this lease on life , that you know , a second chance , if you will , that God has given me my health back , god has given me all these opportunities . So I don't want to ever feel like I'm taking any of it for granted and that's awesome . That's where I'm at Just really too busy for my own good .

Speaker 2 9:12

Yeah , I think that you make a really good point in the whole thing of like not taking anything for granted , and I think that that's awesome and it seems like each step of the process a different door opens up for you . I mean , how cool is it that you're about to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro , like that's I I'm so excited to hear about that experience .

Speaker 2 10:06

Let's take a little step back . So I want to talk about the biking and how you got into biking and and now do you can I don't know if I know if you compete in mountain biking and what that looks like and then how you ended up doing the Bentonville Bike Fest .

Speaker 4 10:21

Yeah , no , that's good . It honestly all happened like so fast and basically right at the same time , if I were to describe it , but I'll back up to 2019 . So that was the year that I was on Bentonville Film Festival . I think I was there .

Speaker 4 10:34

I was there two years , I think I was there two years so this was one of the years that my boss , the founder of Bentonville Bike Fest , current boss had come to Bentonville to participate in the Bentonville Film Festival , where I women and diversity in film and media . Kenny thought why not champion women on bikes ? And at the time he was married to another female cyclist and they put on this really cool event . I helped them kind of organize it and then when I showed up that day , you know on site , I all of a sudden saw all these women on bikes and at first I was just kind of blown away , thinking like , first of all , where did all these women on bikes ? And at first I was just kind of blown away , thinking like , first of all , where did all these women come from and why are they all on these bikes ? I've never seen this many , you know it was just .

Speaker 4 11:26

That was kind of a catalyst for me . At that time I didn't even realize that we had the trail systems that we had . I was in a different . You know my work and my life was in a different realm . You know it wasn't , it wasn't quite yet . This was the first touch for me into this bike space . That's awesome .

Speaker 2 11:41

It kind of goes back to the Gina Davis saying for Bentonville Film Festival right , If you can see it , you can be it . Yeah , see it be it , and you saw it and you're like I want to be that .

Speaker 4 11:51

I was curious for sure , because they're all there , they're all gathered at the square Lawrence Plaza area and I'm like where do they even go ? And then they shot off All-American . That trail was there . I didn't know that trail was there and then it was like , oh yeah , I want to know where they're going . I want to know more about this . And it wasn't really that until the bottom fell out of the event world during the peak of COVID . So again , that was 2019 that I met Kenny Women's Shred Activation on the Square . Fast forward then to the spring of 2020 , event world stops right . The film festival we went virtual . So that was interesting .

Speaker 4 12:32

But I had a lot more time on my hands . I wasn't going to meetings , I wasn't calling on brands at their offices , everything was kind of at a standstill and we were just trying to figure out how a film festival was even going to go on . But a lot of that was figuring out the virtual side and that wasn't really on me . So I had time and I ended up with a bike that was donated to me from Pedal it Forward . God bless them . I work with them all the time now , but at the time I didn't really know who they were . I'm like , oh , thank you , okay , have a bike and I just started trying . I just started to try to ride the trails . I wouldn't recommend some of the things that I did . I do recommend riding with people , but at the same time I was intimidated , you know , and I thought , well , I'll go do some work on my on my own and try to get good before I , you know , have to be with people that are better than me riding bikes . But it all worked out . I really fell in love with it . I started to see an immediate I had already been in the beach body stuff , but I just saw this immediate improvement in my health . You know , I saw immediate , you know weight loss even in you , weight loss even in addition to what I was already doing , and it made me want to continue to eat better . I was still not quite yet sober , but I was on my way . And so then to your question about do I compete ? Once I really got into it , I was all in .

Speaker 4 13:53

The Bike Fest opportunity fell in my lap that very fall of 2020 . So I had just started riding this free bike that I got , just started learning some trails and learning from friends on the fly , how to ride this bike and how to do the mountain bike trails . And then in the fall I had reconnected with Kenny in the fall of 2020 . And he at the time was looking for some help in town , like hey , who do you know that could help me with live streaming , and do you know any photographers , videographers ? And I was on the phone with him just kind of talking through his ideas , and all of a sudden it occurred to me like okay , this isn't women's shred anymore , we're talking about something much bigger and something pretty exciting . And I sort of just write that in there , said I want in on this , I'll partner with you .

Speaker 4 14:39

I was still working for Trevor on the film festival but talked to Trevor and said , hey , what do you think if I help Kenny too and we kind of do a joint business venture per se ? So they kind of agreed to let me work on both . And I at first was looking for a really small budget that Kenny had set . Like , hey , go and find these sponsors and help me find some dollars to come in and fund this thing . And at first , when he gave me the number I'm not going to say what it was , but I was just like , oh my gosh , I think I can find like triple that you know like there's going to be so many brands excited Like . I was just super passionate right out of the gate about like how big and how awesome this , this idea , could be , and so I mean we were talking about lawrence plaza area still for the first festival and it blew up so fast , so fast , so fast .

Speaker 4 15:29

We , um , you know , in that first year was kind of an anomaly because , as I started calling on bike brands and components brands that fall , they didn't have bikes or components , they were all . The supply chain was so out of whack because of COVID , because everybody was off work , everybody started riding bikes . All of a sudden , you know , retailers can't even keep up with demand .

Speaker 1 15:49

That's a big need , but there's no one there to make it .

Speaker 4 15:51

Well , and they couldn't get their inventory from overseas right , and so there were all these challenges . So I'm on the phone . And then , on top of that , I had brands that were , you know , they might have had a fleet to bring , but they were under corporate travel restrictions . So there are all these hurdles , but we were just still so excited about it . And , as you guys know , arkansas was a little bit different . We didn't really have that big shutdown to the level that the rest of the world saw , and so we were confident shut down to the level that the rest of the world saw and so we were confident that by the summer of 2021 , things were going to be better . And we were right . And we had around 70 brands , 70 booths set up that first year and we had around 5,000 people come , which is really pretty crazy for a first year festival . That's out of nowhere .

Speaker 2 16:34

Yeah , that's a lot of people during COVID yeah .

Speaker 4 16:36

Especially an independent , independently owned festival . Right , we were not part of , you know , the lifetime events , the bike events . We weren't , you know , quite really under the Walton events . You know we were kind of a standalone . Of course , the Walton Family Foundation supports us , Oz Trails , Ozark Foundation supports us , they're partners , but you know it was still really surprising . And us , they're partners , but you know it was still really surprising and I think it was exciting for me because it was kind of like , okay , these ideas , I've been telling people like we're going to do this and we're going to do this and it's going to be this .

Speaker 4 17:05

Now we got to say , see , we did it this is what it was , and that's really what it's a full on celebration of all styles of cycling , and it's completely different than any other bike event in the country . So , all styles of cycling .

Speaker 1 17:18

OK , like tell me which ones you're talking about .

Speaker 4 17:20

Yeah , so we do have an enduro race . We promote mountain biking , of course . We have demo bikes and we'll send people out on the trails . We have a bunch of clinics that will teach mountain biking . We have a gravel race .

Speaker 1 17:31

That's what I need . I need to be taught how to mountain bike . Yeah , I bike . Yeah , I'm a city biker . Yeah , I , my bike is literally like a sink . It's a single speed city bike . I , yeah , it's it's a .

Speaker 4 17:45

It's like a um hipster bike for the city . You'll make a really good peddler you'll if you've been on a single speed , you'll be great .

Speaker 1 17:50

Hills are terrible for me um no , but I , I still go , we still take them on the trails . I need to get one , I'm intimidated , I'm one of those people that's super intimidating by the trails .

Speaker 1 18:00

I've had friends tell me I'll take you out . I already have a bad hip , so I'm nervous . I'm nervous about breaking something , but I feel like if I went the right or if someone taught me , or maybe I need to do a clinic , because I do love riding my bike and I also ride a stationary bike that goes nowhere . That's a second style of my biking . I was hoping you were going to throw that one out there . Stationary , yeah , the bike that goes nowhere . No , but I am someone that's interested in , but also intimidated , because I will say I , whenever I go out to the trails , I also see those people , those women , and I think I want to like do that , but I don't really know how to it is . It's kind of intimidating from an outsider , like I know the world we live in . I'm like you pre getting into bikes where you just your world is not , yeah , but I want to get into it . My oldest daughter loves mountain biking and she's more advanced than I am in it , so I'm like I need to get with it .

Speaker 2 18:54

Yeah and learn . I think . I think what . I think I know what she's going to say . But I want to say something . I think that we always have those like preconceived notions of something that we see , yeah , and we're too scared to get part of it because we don't know what we're getting ourselves into and we don't know if people are going to accept us , because we're newbies or we don't know what we're doing .

Speaker 1 19:13

Yeah , it feels like there's no entry , but it sounds like Bike Fest helps with .

Speaker 2 19:17

That Could be an entryway 100% .

Speaker 4 19:19

I'll even add to this and this is kind of a sidebar , and we'll get into how many volunteer things I'm involved in , because there's a lot , but

Overcoming Challenges Through Fitness and Community

Speaker 4 19:26

one of the things I've been is I work with Trailblazers . I'm a volunteer for a program that Gabriella from Trailblazers she's got this incredible thing called Adult First Ride , and I know that it sounds . I actually think that you're well beyond this , though , because you're I'm like a toddler . I want to call this out because it's important to recognize how many different opportunities there are in this area , specifically for every single level , and so I've actually been able to .

Speaker 4 19:54

I've volunteered now two Saturdays and I'll do it again this Saturday but we have adults and one woman who is coming because her daughter rides and her daughter's really good . Her daughter took some classes , went to buddy pegs and really got into it , and she's like I want to be able to ride with my kid , and so she's , but she hasn't ridden since she was a kid smaller than her daughter , and so she's coming to this and it's just so incredible to watch people conquer a fear and conquer that intimidation factor , and but they go like I wasn't prepared for this level of beginner , like they have bikes where we took the pedals off of these bikes and they're kind of like step through my six year old does , so we took the pedals off of these bikes and they're kind of like , step through .

Speaker 4 20:34

That's what my six-year-old does . So we took the pedals off of these bikes . We were basically adults on striders and that's how we started and I got out there and did it with them . I'm like , okay , this is awesome because it really does allow people who , literally someone could get on this bike for the first time in their entire life at the age of 60 and we would be able to coach them into it .

Speaker 1 20:50

My sister has never learned to ride a bike . Yeah , she's 23 . I don't know why I'm like Mom , why you didn't teach her to ride a bike , right ? She's never wanted to this is such a great like . She would be , she would have to do that she would do that and she could .

Speaker 2 21:08

I love that . We're talking about Bike Fest , mount Kilimanjaro , and this is such a big part of what you do too . You know what baby steps . You've got to start somewhere you do .

Speaker 1 21:17

And you're new and look where you're already at . So you never know . You're intimidated doing strider bikes as an adult . Maybe a year later you're competing .

Speaker 4 21:25

And , honestly , it was the same thing with my fitness . I started doing beach body . I did it at home because I was intimidated . I remember , you know , I was probably around 210 pounds and I hadn't worked out in years . I had spent 10 years , you know , going to bed every night after multiple drinks and drinking Dr Pepper all day , every day .

Speaker 4 21:45

For a time I smoked like I was the epitome of bad health , you guys like really bad . I forgot you smoked , right , yes and so and I don't like to say that , but it's true , I mean I had really bad habits and you know I wanted I just wanted so desperately to change . And so , you know , beachbody was an option for me because it was affordable , I could do it in the privacy of my own home and I could do it at any hour , and so once I really got into that , you know that was also like a huge game changer , because you have to recognize that you're not going to be able to do it the way that you watch people do it , right , right . And there is this like see it , be it mentality , though Like I remember my first week of Beachbody doing the easiest program that this subscription service offered . It was called Clean Week and it was the basic entry level . And then they had this woman on here who was a modifier , so she did modified movements for people like me who couldn't really do the full workout . I was modifying the modifications , okay , like , and that is kind of , you know , that's that's .

Speaker 4 22:51

It's hard to recognize , it's hard to have that feeling and it's I was by myself , no one's watching me . But even even then I felt so insecure . I'm like I can't believe I can't even do a pushup , I can't even . And I had prior service military experience . Right , I used to be fit , I used to be active , I played sports . I had just so to have to face that . It is challenging , it's hurtful .

Speaker 4 23:11

Yeah , you know , but the fact that you stick with it . It is about the consistency it's just making the decision that , like I don't want to be this person anymore , I want to be this person , and I know I'm going to have to work at it , but it is , it's a lifestyle change .

Speaker 1 23:26

It's not overnight .

Speaker 4 23:27

And I think that's what people get hung up on .

Speaker 1 23:32

They what people get hung up on . They do , they think , or you hit a plateau and you think I haven't gotten what I want in two months , three months , I'm done . I'm just why even bother trying . I've had that mentality before and I'm having to break through it as well because I go to CrossFit style classes . They're technically not licensed to do that , but they do it a little different . It's not competitive , but it is crossfit style workout , functional fitness . It's functional fitness .

Speaker 1 23:56

But I luckily have a really good friend who does crossfit and she helps me with like safety . My husband does too . He does crossfit . We have a rogue gym at home and it like I did some of the lifts before I would because I'm self-conscious , I feel like , but it just takes someone like you or someone that has the ability to come up to someone and just encourage them , like at any skill level , and those people you really have the impact that you can make in someone's life , like my friend lana , when I'm lifting she never makes me feel like a newbie or like right weak , even though I have those things , those messages in my head to myself .

Speaker 1 24:33

You know she encourages me and then , like you know , I did deadlift 125 pounds , 55 reps . You know like you have those days you're like , oh my god , I can't believe I did that . But an athlete I think it was one of the peloton instructors was like it never gets easier , you just get stronger . Right , because it never . You feel like you see people and you think it must be easier for them .

Speaker 4 24:53

There's , they're still going through the same mental challenges , they're just stronger yeah , they're just going faster , they've just done it longer , they've just been more consistent and that's , that's really all that it is . It's just a matter of consistency and and just that grit , that mental grit , to say I'm , I'm not going to let this defeat me . I know today wasn't my best day . I know this wasn't my fastest run . I know that this wasn't my best day pedaling on a bike . I'm winded and I'm tired , but I did it Exactly and it's just continued to show up is really all it is .

Speaker 1 25:24

It does change your mental , Like whenever I fall off or I waffle or yo-yo and then I start those bad habits back . I feel like if I just force myself to just to start it , even though I don't want to do it , it really does . It's life changing when you make that commitment to your health , because I just feel like more energy and I feel just happier . You know what I mean After you work out , no matter how terrible it was .

Speaker 4 25:47

Yeah that's the and that's honestly , I think , probably where I essentially I feel like I replaced a really bad addiction with a really good addiction and full transparency . And I think a lot of it is just exactly that Like this , and I even joke about it now . I joke about the fact that you know , yeah , so I've I got down to like my goal weight . I'm kind of back up a little bit . You know I'll get back down there right before my wedding probably . But you know I'm still okay because I recognize now that it's not just about my body image , it's not how I look . I mean , it is a little bit . There's always that , but it's not the main thing . The main thing now has become my mental and my emotional health that I work out . That's why I go and show up for the things , that's why Because , again , I have this newfound like thank you , god for giving me this life and this ability to breathe and to move my body , and that's what I'm going to do .

Speaker 1 26:41

And the community of people .

Speaker 4 26:43

And I would say to that too I was going to touch on I did get into mountain bike racing . I started to race downhill enduro . Whoa , yeah , I know .

Speaker 2 26:51

I told you she was a BA . You are , I told you .

Speaker 4 26:54

But the funny thing about that is so it is scary and it is intimidating . Yeah , it's terrifying .

Speaker 2 27:00

I will not be doing that .

Speaker 4 27:01

It's not . You would be so surprised . I'm going to . So this is now you giving me a new goal . I'm getting you guys both at an enuro race , oh my gosh , there is one called Enduro Light .

Speaker 2 27:13

And all we have to do is just I will take the light version .

Speaker 1 27:15

You don't have to even go hard , get my GoPro and scream the whole time . Yeah .

Speaker 2 27:19

I'll just film you screaming Okay , I'm just standing on the side of the mountain , I'm going to lead you guys through it , I'm going to lead you through it .

Speaker 4 27:33

We're going to do an Enduro Light and we'll show up and we'll make it part of the podcast so that so that we can show others that this is doable people can anybody ?

Speaker 1 27:37

can do this . So I agree okay with bike fest is . Is bike fest good for someone like me who wants to get into this ? Should I go ? What can I expect ?

Speaker 2 27:45

yeah , can I go , just completely new and figure out how to rent a bike or buy a bike , or there's cool stuff to watch because I want to get into it this year , so tell me what I can expect

Speaker 4 27:56

yeah . So I would absolutely say the bike fest website has all of our clinics . Quite a few might already be sold out

Bike Fest Clinic and Demos

Speaker 4 28:03

. However , women of oz does a really cool thing specifically with bike fest . They do a clinic on Saturday morning called First Touch to MTB , and so it really is like mountain bike 101 . And it's very similar to what they do on the first Saturday of every month I think it's usually the first Saturday they have their fundamentals kind of a clinic and then a ride . So if you're not familiar with that , women of Oz is highly suggested to get plugged in there . But they partner with us at Bike Fest and we'll have a clinic on Saturday morning . So get signed up for that , okay , and then and if you don't have a bike , definitely we'll have we have a list of rental bikes . There's actually a website called bikewhipcom . I just learned about it .

Speaker 4 28:45

Bike whip . Bike whip and they will . It's like a one-stop shop . He has all of the local bike rental companies , like on that website , so that you can search .

Speaker 1 28:56

I'm going to it right now so I can bookmark it , because I wasn't sure do I rent or do I find something affordable , like I don't want to get something that's not going to last ? I'm going to add to that .

Speaker 4 29:06

So we actually also are the only festival that has free bike demos . So I have about 16 , 17 , maybe more than that . Now it's been a minute since I've looked , but all of our bike demo booth spaces are sold out . So I have brands like Specialized , Fizzari , Pivot , Mondraker .

Speaker 1 29:23

I'm just going to wait and I'm just going to go to Bike .

Speaker 4 29:25

Fest . That's exactly what I would say is come to Bike Fest , but go ahead and get signed up for one of those Women of Oz that clinic on Saturday morning . It'll just completely blow your mind to see all of the women there that are in the same position you are , and then all the other women who are super encouraging . Honestly , I think we just want people to experience the same joy that we've experienced on these bikes . I was at that first ride on Saturday . Are you going gonna go with me ?

Speaker 2 29:53

yeah , heck yes , I am . Yeah , okay , good , you've got to go to . We go to the bentonville bike fest because oh , my kids are really into it and stuff so yeah it's a it's a fun time there's so much entertainment too .

Speaker 4 30:05

I mean it's just there's so much . It's a full schedule . It's friday , saturday , sunday , and it's non-stop entertainment . We have a cross-country race on Friday . We have BMX shows .

Speaker 2 30:14

We have trials . It was really cool . We saw something , even because it was over by the 8th Street Market . Is it going to be in that area again ? Nope , we've moved .

Speaker 4 30:23

Oh , you've moved . Yeah , so this past year we are in a new location . We're at Old Applegate , Okay .

Speaker 2 30:28

Gate .

Speaker 4 30:28

So if you're familiar with back in the day , the Apple Gate Arts and Crafts Festival . Arts and Crafts Fair that's where our venue is now , so we actually . It drops right into Kohler , so you can come from Kohler . If you keep heading south on the Kohler Greenway , it turns into the Apple Gate Greenway and it comes right past our venue .

Speaker 2 30:51

What are some things for our male listeners to expect from bike fest , and what high octane it's really easy to talk about all the girl things and all the women of oz and and so , but we definitely have some male listeners who I know are really into .

Speaker 4 31:09

Oh yeah , no , we have that's the cool thing about our clinics , too , is not only do we partner with local individuals and local organizations to put on workshops , but we also have these really famous celebrity athletes come into town that you actually can sign up to learn from pros .

Speaker 4 31:27

So , we've got guys like . There's a guy named Kyle Strait . His wife , rachel Strait , actually is is a pro cyclist too . They're like the power couple in the mountain bike world , if you ask me . But they come to Bike Fest . Rachel and Kyle will do this clinic called Drop Shop . It's like a workshop about drops , like dropping off of you know ledges and things Ledges .

Speaker 2 31:46

My brain was like cliffs .

Speaker 4 31:48

No , not cliffs , danielle , kind of cliffs , all cliffs , no , not cliffs , danielle kind of cliffs .

Speaker 2 31:55

Yeah , yeah , I've done a cliff drop here and there to go on a bike ride .

Speaker 4 31:58

No , no , not yet not yet but , um , yeah , kyle straight .

Speaker 4 32:02

We've got a guy named carson storage . We've got a guy named jeff lanoski who does , you know , like trail boss is his name of his clinic that he puts on and it's very technical . It's just . There's so many cool things . And then for the guys to like , there's a lot of excitement usually about the Enduro race . We do have one of those and that's super fun .

Speaker 4 32:20

Everybody gets really into that because it's not part of a series . Like there's these series of races right where you're really competitive because you want to do some things , but because Bike Fest has a standalone enduro , it's not like tied to any like big competition series , it's just one enduro race part of our festival . I think people have a lot more fun with it just because it's a little bit more relaxed and you just it's like a party pace , like everybody just goes out there to hang out with their friends . It's just a lot of fun . Anyway , yeah , a lot of stuff for the guys and girls . I think the guys get most excited about the demo bikes and the beer . To be honest , oh for sure , demo bikes and beer , yeah , yeah , a lot of the bike brands will actually like you bring your demo bike back , you get a beer , you get some swag and it's just a full on party . It's really just a full on party about bikes .

Speaker 2 33:10

That's really awesome . When is the Bike Fest this year ?

Speaker 4 33:14

So it's May 23rd through the 26th . The 23rd we'll have , like , our opening ceremony , which is a VIP event , and then there's a Thunderdome throwdown happening . So we kind of make 23rd as like our first day . But the festival opens on Friday , the 24th . So 24th , 25th , 26th of May it's also Memorial Day weekend , but that actually has paid off for us . We've had a lot of out-of-towners come in . We had 15,000 people come last year . It was super exciting because we got to confirm that , because we made people register to come in the gate .

Speaker 4 33:48

So you actually had to scan it .

Speaker 2 33:49

That was year three right , this was year three this was year three , yeah oh my word , that's so amazing .

Speaker 4 33:54

Congratulations yeah , I feel pretty good about going from 5 000 that first year to 15 000 and you know three festivals . It's pretty pretty good job . You should triple in three years .

Speaker 2 34:04

Yeah , I think that's great . Where can our listeners find out about the bentonville bike fest ?

Speaker 4 34:09

yeah , I think that the instagram and facebook pages are really the best place to find the most current info . I'm constantly sharing about different sponsors and schedule updates . Our website is great , but it has a lot of information . So BentonvilleBikeFestcom is our website and it's kind of overwhelming if you look at it all at once because there's so much and that , honestly , is just how the weekend is . There's just . It's kind of overwhelming if you look at it all at once because there's so much and that , honestly , is just how the weekend is . There's just so much stuff . But if you go to our Instagram and follow us , then you kind of get an idea , because we're able to post videos and share pictures from last year and talk about the athletes coming and it's definitely the best place to keep in the loop on all the bike fest fun .

Speaker 2 34:51

That's really awesome , and just because we don't want to completely wrap up without hearing this story , if you can just tell us just a quick version of how on earth did Mount Kilimanjaro become part of your life ?

Speaker 4 35:06

Yeah , that's a good question , A little bit of a surprise one . But so I volunteer with Sheepdog Impact Assistance . I have for about three years now . I'm prior service Army National Guard , and so I've always really had this desire and passion for helping veterans . I didn't deploy or do anything , you know , have to have to go through any of that , and so I feel like I'm very driven to give back to those who did and try to help people , especially veterans . But Sheepdog Impact Assistance works with Sam's Furniture and they have a Mount Kilimanjaro veterans climb once a year . Every year . It's a big deal . They send around 10 climbers up , all veterans .

Speaker 4 35:48

I just got really lucky this year . They needed another female to go . There was one female signed up and we always kind of had the buddy system , you know . So they wanted another female and my fiance , who I also met through Sheepdog Impact Assistance , was at work one afternoon and just sent me a text saying , hey , would you want to go on the Kili Climb this year ? And I said , yeah , of course , absolutely , sign me up . I can't wait to follow this journey of you doing that climb .

Speaker 2 36:15

So when is the climb ?

Speaker 4 36:16

The end of July , like first week of August , and so yeah , which is ? It works out pretty great , I think . I mean I'm able to do some training right now , but once Bike Fest is over , I'll have an opportunity to train a lot more focused through the months of June and July leading up to it . So yeah , 19,000 feet , here I come .

Speaker 2 36:37

And I think she's getting married at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro .

Speaker 4 36:42

I wish my fiance was joining me on this one . I think Chris will probably get to go next year or the year after , Hopefully I hope he gets to experience it . But yeah , we get married September 7th , so after I climb a mountain then I come back and finish wedding planning Well .

Speaker 1 36:58

thank you for coming on the show and taking time . We really appreciate having you and wish you luck on all your adventures .

Speaker 4 37:05

I appreciate you guys having me . Thanks for thinking my story is cool enough to tell it is .

Speaker 2 37:11

It's great and I think our listeners are going to enjoy it a lot . Yeah , awesome , all right , thanks , ladies .

Speaker 1 37:15

Hey , thanks so much for listening today . If you liked what you heard , please consider subscribing to the podcast so you never miss an episode . You can also follow us on Instagram at people of NWA . Thanks so much .

Speaker 3 37:25

People of Northwest Arkansas , two Daniels produced by me . Brock Short of Civil Republic Productions . Please rate , review and like us on any podcast platform where you listen . For more information about today's guests and the show , please check the show notes . Thanks for listening .