June 12, 2025 • 17 mins
Join Bike Bentonville as we share expert local insights on how to make the most of your time mountain biking in Bentonville, Arkansas! Whether you're a first-time visitor or a frequent traveler to the MTB Capital of the World, this episode is packed with insider tips with pro rider and coach, Anneke Beerten, on the Slaughter Pen trails, outdoor adventures, and must-visit spots around town.
From biking downtown and exploring world-class trails to discovering hidden gems and indulging in unforgettable dining experiences, we’ll help you plan an itinerary that showcases the very best of Bentonville. Get ready to experience the town like a local and uncover what makes it a top destination for outdoor enthusiasts, art lovers, and foodies alike!
A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to A New American Town.
I'm your host, nat Ross.
Today we're joined by AnnikaBeerton, a very special guest
here, world champion, retiredprofessional racer and now a
full-time coach living inBentonville, arkansas, who loves
life on two wheels.
We're going to talk about theSlaughterpin Trail System and
(00:31):
how you can experience thesetrails on your visit to
Bentonville.
So, without further ado, annika, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, thank you for having me, nat, excited to be
here today.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Well, I think a lot of people are excited that
you're in town.
There's a lot of special thingsabout Bentonville.
Let's get a little bit of yourhistory, because there's a lot
of things that you add value tothis culture here in Bentonville
, arkansas, but not only that,just in America.
So something special aboutmountain biking is it has talent
(01:03):
from all over the world andyou've got your experience and
your roots from other places.
So where did you start?
And then how did you end up inNorth America and then how did
you end up in Bentonville?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, so I was born and raised in the Netherlands.
That's where I grew up, and Igrew up riding BMX as a little
kid just doing laps around thehouse.
Then I fell in love withmountain biking when I was about
16, 17 years old.
I got hooked on downhill racing, enduro, four cross all kinds
of different disciplines.
I moved to the US in 2013 tolive the dream of becoming a
(01:38):
professional athlete.
I raced all around the worldand I was living in California
at the time and then I moved toBentonville three years ago,
fell in love with Bentonvillewhen I visited in 2018 for the
women's shred clinic that I wascoaching at.
And here we are yeah, so superstoked to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Wow, I love it.
So for a little bit of thebackground, the culture is new
for mountain biking under 50years, basically for the sport,
but where Annika has come from,bmx and that type of discipline
with skills and technique andrehearsal and drills.
It's a lot different than theAmerican culture.
So I'm sure when you moved toCalifornia and you started
(02:20):
seeing the big stage here yougot to experience a lot of
things in California.
But you're putting that to playin Bentonville and you've been
a coach.
What is that like?
Coaching kids, coaching women,coaching anybody that wants to
become a better cyclist?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh, I absolutely love it.
It's so cool that I get to passon the knowledge that I
collected over all these yearsof riding myself and getting
coached as an athlete and alsorace in between the tape right
and then having riders here thatare either kids, professional
racers, beginners, it doesn'tmatter.
It's really awesome that I getto help them out and help them
(03:00):
improve their skills right and,at the end of the day, it
doesn't matter if it's aprofessional athlete that is
going out to races or somebodythat is getting their wheels off
the ground or doing a drop forthe first time.
It's just really fulfilling tosee the stoke level from people,
that they are building theirconfidence and accomplishing
something new and that they'renever too old to learn new
(03:22):
things right.
So, yeah, I love doing it.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
It's great that you know I can share this passion
that I have for bikes and skillsand riding with everybody.
Well, let's talk about yourplayground here.
So it's basically your officeand it's the students'
playground Leaving fromBentonville, from downtown, from
the square on, let's say, aclinic that someone takes with
you or a lesson.
One of the best spots that andmaybe not best spots, but a spot
(03:49):
that I see you at a lot andspots that people tend to get a
lot of progression and greatsuccess is in Slaughterpin.
So describe what Slaughterpinis to those folks listening in
on us who haven't been toBentonville and what they can
find in Slaughterpin with aninstructor like yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah.
So there's a lot of variety inSlaughterpin and the trails that
we have here.
So I like to hang out at aplace called the Skills Park.
That's where we have multipledrops, starting from your
curbside height to a couple offeet high, so you can really
progress.
The same with jumps we go frombeginner jumps to more advanced
jumps and then, when it comes totrails, there's a little bit of
(04:29):
everything.
If you go up to the castle, youcan get your you know your
downhill, downhill rush on, andthen you can also just find
amazing cross country trails andget your climbing in.
So I love it that there's somuch out here.
And also it's very nice whenyou're new to mountain biking.
You can start on a trail calledAmerican Hero that starts from
town.
It's really beginner friendly.
(04:51):
There's nothing crazy on it,but you can, you know, still get
out on the trails and kind ofget familiar with riding
mountain bikes here.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well, let's talk about that entrance for the
person that is newer to mountainbiking or that maybe hasn't
ridden a bike on the dirt orwants to get into it and it's
been a long time since they'vedone something like that.
So for you to take them fromthe greenway in town, which is
the paved version of basically abike path, is that something
(05:23):
that you do quite often?
When people come into town andthey contact you because they
want to just have a goodexperience on the mountain bike,
but they're green riders, theybasically want to get into
cycling, but they just haven'tridden in a while Is that
something that is very easy forfolks to gain success at and get
some confidence and then startoff in that avenue?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, totally.
I think it is really helpfulfor when they're a beginner and
they're, you know, they know howto ride a bike, but they don't
really know how to handle thecontrols or the skill sides of
things.
Right, and I always say, like,just like driving a car,
somebody teaches you how to doit.
It makes everything so mucheasier.
And it's the same for mountainbiking.
Just like starting off with acouple of basics, even if it's
(06:09):
in the grass or riding, you know, around some cones and me
explaining that you need to docertain things, like standing up
and your dropper seat post down, you know, and where do my
pedals need to be?
My feet on the pedals.
So all these little things.
It's just a great way to buildconfidence and also to kind of
give you, you know, some tips onhow to do it.
(06:29):
First, it's like just going outon the trail and blindly going
into something and not knowingthat you should not pull your
first your front brake to stopright.
We are still often see thatgrab a handful of front brake
normally doesn't end well.
So just like knowing how toexecute things is going to make
riding a lot more fun and a lotmore relaxed as well, first it's
(06:49):
also just like following afriend that knows how to
mountain bike and they're justlike you're good, you're good,
but then you don't know how toright.
So it's always nice to get alesson and like learn it in a
safe way.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That sounds great.
And then sometimes a lot offolks.
If you go to a bike park or yougo to a place that has
instruction, you can get it inover your head.
So it seems like you found areally good spot with
Slaughterpin and some successfulvenue type areas for if it's a
drop, if it's a berm, if they'reworking better cyclist during
the clinic, when they're bitingoff more and how exciting is
(07:34):
that when they've had somesuccess out there with you and
you still have time left in theclinic and lesson.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Oh, that's amazing, you know, it's very fulfilling
to see that in a rider, you know, and often they progress fairly
fast.
I see that happening all thetime, where it's just about like
understanding how to do it,then building that confidence,
and then we make really, we makereally progressive steps.
And also when I see that I liketo make the lessons very
personable, because everybodyhas a different skills level,
(08:01):
different habits, and once wereally pick up, I also know the
trails that are, you know, alittle more technical.
So Slotapin has so much tooffer and we can also kind of go
off of the trails that are veryknown to a lot of people and
find some trails that are alittle bit more technical to up
that level.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You're not kidding there.
So describe what these jumpswould be like for a lot of folks
, because you've been all overthe world, you've competed all
over the world, but you've alsotaught and done clinics.
This area has berms and jumpsand a progression that's a
little bit different and it's alot better for folks to
experience than some venues thatmay be at a ski area or just
(08:41):
bike parks that pop up in thesummer, and there's something
special about this one.
So what would that be from abeginner's perspective, to be
able to look at some of thesejumps and be able to get the
confidence Because they're builtand you can describe maybe even
how they're built, because Iknow that you go out and
maintain the trails.
You're a great steward of allof them.
So what's special about thetrails in Slaughterpin and even
(09:05):
the Oz trails in general forprogression, like jumps and
those type of things?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, I think, like you mentioned, progression right
, that's so amazing that we havehere going from like the
beginner's area we have in theskill spark, where we start from
rollers, to little tabletops,to tabletops that are a little
bigger but they're all on theflat, so it's super flat.
You have to like kind of likecreate your speed.
Then you can move over to acouple of other trails with
jumps, where the jumps areslightly bigger but the trail is
(09:33):
actually giving you the speedyou don't really need to pedal
into it.
So that's where you kind ofprogress to when, once you get
that down, you go up to thecastle and you have the bigger
jumps with more speed.
Um, and I think that is amazingto have here, because if you go
to some bike parks and I wasactually just in tennessee in a
bike park and, um, it'simmediately steep, right, it's
immediately you're on the brakes, the speed is there.
(09:55):
Uh, totally kind of like hardto build that confidence from
the beginning, because there'snothing to start off on, you
immediately like go down adouble black diamond trail.
So it's nice that here we havesome time to really build that
confidence and work on theprogression and, if you want to
as well.
You know we there's plenty ofbigger jumps that we have in the
area, so it's always nice tostart slow, build it up and then
(10:17):
find those bigger jumps onceyou're ready.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, we've got some famous jumps here and some
famous features and folks whenthey come to Bentonville they
immediately want you to takethem there.
What would a progression looklike from the jump line in the
basically slaughter pin jumpzone?
So what would those threefeatures look like?
Just describe them to someonewho's hasn't.
Maybe they've seen a picture ofit.
(10:41):
But what does it feel like?
What is the approach?
What is it like to do thosefeatures in slaughter pin?
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, so the great thing is you can start kind of,
like mentioned, in the beginnerarea.
This is a green area where wehave beginner drops and beginner
jumps.
So once you get comfortablewith those and you feel like
you're jumping them pretty goodand you're getting off the drops
, you can move over to theintermediate drops that we have
there.
They're currently building onnew jumps as well in that whole
area.
And then we also have advancedjumps, right, and the skills
(11:12):
sorry drops in that skills part.
So they're pretty intimidatingwhen you roll up to them.
And but the great thing is again, you can start slowly and build
your way up all in one area,you know, and if you're coming
to visit and you're going to behere for a couple of days, you
can give yourself the time towork yourself up to the bigger
drops.
And the same kind of for thejumps.
(11:32):
The jumps are really nice andgreatly built, the way they're
kind of shaped in that area, andthen, like mentioned earlier,
you can go over to, let's say,all-american Hero Jumps.
This is a jump line that I lovetaking people out on, because
there's multiple tabletops in arow and then we have, like we
call it, the bridge.
It's like a wood feature thatyou can still jump, and after
(11:59):
that, if you got that down, itnormally take you up to the
castle.
And then we have catapult, wehave medieval and that's where
we have some bigger jumps andquite a bit more speed on that.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So for the castle, a lot of folks that would kind of
be the graduation when they geta ride with you, like you work
them up towards that step wherethey get to get to um, those are
pretty much blue to blacktrails.
Only, even though um wouldwould you say that some of those
trails could be done by abeginner.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Um, yes, definitely.
Um, the nice thing with thecastle as well there's
progression, um, so you canstart on like, let's sayfire, we
have up there medieval, andthen work your way up on
catapult sorry, in the medievaland we have the dragon scales
like more of a rock trail.
So again, the progression isalways there and that's the nice
(12:45):
thing about Bentonville there'sa ton of opportunities to
really progress in this area andnot immediately get thrown into
the most like technical trailsout there.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Great and then I think let's just describe some
settings that you might do forinstruction from family setting,
where you have like a familygoing along, or perhaps like a
mother and her daughter ridingtogether, or maybe like an
e-bike and one of the parents onan e-bike and then one of their
offspring on a standard bike.
(13:15):
So describe kind of some ofwhat that would look like when
people come to Slaughterpin andhow you can be riding with your
family or different abilitygroups, but in kind of a
separate on a different bike anddiscipline.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, and we see all kinds of bikes here in
Bentonville, you know.
I think that's really cool.
Cool too, and especiallye-bikes.
We love e-bikes and a lot ofpeople ride them, but I think
the cool thing is thateverything is so compact, close
together as well.
So if you're either on ane-bike or you have kids with you
, you know you can hang out inthe Skills Park, you can oversee
what they're riding, but alsoyou can, you know, head out
(13:51):
together and ride the trailseither on an analog bike or an
e-bike.
And it's so family friendlyhere, and we see more and more
people coming to hang out at askills park too.
People bring their lawn chairs,they're sitting out and the
kids are riding.
So it's just great that you cantake everybody out here.
And also, if there's like askills level, there's plenty of
(14:13):
options to different trails thatare still really close to each
other Excellent.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
And then what I noticed is coming into the
podcast today you have yourhelmet, you rode in on your bike
and it's natural, it's likewhat you do and it's how you get
around town.
So do you think thatBentonville has something kind
of special in those terms versusother communities where you
have to tailgate or load yourvehicle to go to the trailhead,
(14:38):
load your bike onto your vehicle?
Is this just a little biteasier or what?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
This is way easier, you know,like if you're kind of staying
in town or even close to town,you can ride everywhere on your
bike, especially to the trails.
And I love doing that becauseyou know, I come from a culture,
from the Netherlands, where weride our bikes a lot if it's to
school or to the grocery store.
So you know, one of the reasonsmoving here was also that
reason, because in California Ihad to drive everywhere and I
(15:04):
was like I was really missingthat part of me just hopping on
a bike and like today cominghere, and then I never dreamed
that my route to downtown isactually mostly on the most fun
trails that we have here.
So you know, I feel like alittle kid going out and riding
to town, and then on the wayhome I like to go through
Crystal Bridges, which isbeautiful, you know.
That's the museum we have hereand it's just a gorgeous ride
(15:27):
going through there and makingmy way back home.
And I think that's so nice withthe community.
Here too, everybody is sobikers friendly, right,
everybody rides their bike ifit's on the trail or just going
to town and it's just a vibe andit's great, that is so special.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
And then, while we send everybody to Slaughterpin,
what's one thing that they coulddo when they're in town, that
you would do after a successfulride with someone who got to, uh
, spend the day with you or tooka lesson or a clinic?
Where would you take them?
What would you do?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
oh my god, that would be a long list that's true, I
just had.
I just had friends in town and,uh, a couple of things that are
always on the top of my listare airship coffee, um, and then
crystal bridges, yes, and go tothe hub to hang out and go eat
pancakes at crepes paulette, Ican't miss out on that when you
come here.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
What an experience.
Yes, Annika, so thrilled tohave you in town contributing to
the community here.
Bentonville is very lucky tohave you and, I think for the
future, where are they going tofind out more information on how
to sign up to take a clinic, aclass, a lesson or ride with you
?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Oh yeah, anytime anybody wants to link up with me
, please visit crankitupmtbcom.
You can send me a message orsee my schedule online, and I
have multiple clinics groupclinics as well throughout the
year.
So, yeah, feel free to hit meup or send me a message on
Instagram.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So that is great.
So Annika is one of the pillarsof the mountain biking
community here, has moved herefrom California via overseas and
really contributing to theeconomy and everything that we
have here.
If you want more information,please visit, visit
Bittenvillecom and, as Anikasaid, you can hit her up on her
channels as well.
(17:08):
So can't wait to see you ridingin Slaughterpin next and come
visit Bentonville.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, thank you.
Come and give me a high five ifyou see me out on the trails.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You'll see her on the trail.
She's out there riding.
She's got one of the best jobsin the world still, so we look
forward to having you again onanother podcast in the future
and visit Bentonville.
We are signing out for the day.
Welcome to A New American Town.
I'm your host, nat Ross.
Today we're joined by AnnikaBeerton, a very special guest
here, world champion, retiredprofessional racer and now a
full-time coach living inBentonville, arkansas, who loves
life on two wheels.
We're going to talk about theSlaughterpin Trail System and
(00:31):
how you can experience thesetrails on your visit to
Bentonville.
So, without further ado, annika, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, thank you for having me, nat, excited to be
here today.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Well, I think a lot of people are excited that
you're in town.
There's a lot of special thingsabout Bentonville.
Let's get a little bit of yourhistory, because there's a lot
of things that you add value tothis culture here in Bentonville
, arkansas, but not only that,just in America.
So something special aboutmountain biking is it has talent
(01:03):
from all over the world andyou've got your experience and
your roots from other places.
So where did you start?
And then how did you end up inNorth America and then how did
you end up in Bentonville?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, so I was born and raised in the Netherlands.
That's where I grew up, and Igrew up riding BMX as a little
kid just doing laps around thehouse.
Then I fell in love withmountain biking when I was about
16, 17 years old.
I got hooked on downhill racing, enduro, four cross all kinds
of different disciplines.
I moved to the US in 2013 tolive the dream of becoming a
(01:38):
professional athlete.
I raced all around the worldand I was living in California
at the time and then I moved toBentonville three years ago,
fell in love with Bentonvillewhen I visited in 2018 for the
women's shred clinic that I wascoaching at.
And here we are yeah, so superstoked to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Wow, I love it.
So for a little bit of thebackground, the culture is new
for mountain biking under 50years, basically for the sport,
but where Annika has come from,bmx and that type of discipline
with skills and technique andrehearsal and drills.
It's a lot different than theAmerican culture.
So I'm sure when you moved toCalifornia and you started
(02:20):
seeing the big stage here yougot to experience a lot of
things in California.
But you're putting that to playin Bentonville and you've been
a coach.
What is that like?
Coaching kids, coaching women,coaching anybody that wants to
become a better cyclist?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh, I absolutely love it.
It's so cool that I get to passon the knowledge that I
collected over all these yearsof riding myself and getting
coached as an athlete and alsorace in between the tape right
and then having riders here thatare either kids, professional
racers, beginners, it doesn'tmatter.
It's really awesome that I getto help them out and help them
(03:00):
improve their skills right and,at the end of the day, it
doesn't matter if it's aprofessional athlete that is
going out to races or somebodythat is getting their wheels off
the ground or doing a drop forthe first time.
It's just really fulfilling tosee the stoke level from people,
that they are building theirconfidence and accomplishing
something new and that they'renever too old to learn new
(03:22):
things right.
So, yeah, I love doing it.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
It's great that you know I can share this passion
that I have for bikes and skillsand riding with everybody.
Well, let's talk about yourplayground here.
So it's basically your officeand it's the students'
playground Leaving fromBentonville, from downtown, from
the square on, let's say, aclinic that someone takes with
you or a lesson.
One of the best spots that andmaybe not best spots, but a spot
(03:49):
that I see you at a lot andspots that people tend to get a
lot of progression and greatsuccess is in Slaughterpin.
So describe what Slaughterpinis to those folks listening in
on us who haven't been toBentonville and what they can
find in Slaughterpin with aninstructor like yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah.
So there's a lot of variety inSlaughterpin and the trails that
we have here.
So I like to hang out at aplace called the Skills Park.
That's where we have multipledrops, starting from your
curbside height to a couple offeet high, so you can really
progress.
The same with jumps we go frombeginner jumps to more advanced
jumps and then, when it comes totrails, there's a little bit of
(04:29):
everything.
If you go up to the castle, youcan get your you know your
downhill, downhill rush on, andthen you can also just find
amazing cross country trails andget your climbing in.
So I love it that there's somuch out here.
And also it's very nice whenyou're new to mountain biking.
You can start on a trail calledAmerican Hero that starts from
town.
It's really beginner friendly.
(04:51):
There's nothing crazy on it,but you can, you know, still get
out on the trails and kind ofget familiar with riding
mountain bikes here.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well, let's talk about that entrance for the
person that is newer to mountainbiking or that maybe hasn't
ridden a bike on the dirt orwants to get into it and it's
been a long time since they'vedone something like that.
So for you to take them fromthe greenway in town, which is
the paved version of basically abike path, is that something
(05:23):
that you do quite often?
When people come into town andthey contact you because they
want to just have a goodexperience on the mountain bike,
but they're green riders, theybasically want to get into
cycling, but they just haven'tridden in a while Is that
something that is very easy forfolks to gain success at and get
some confidence and then startoff in that avenue?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, totally.
I think it is really helpfulfor when they're a beginner and
they're, you know, they know howto ride a bike, but they don't
really know how to handle thecontrols or the skill sides of
things.
Right, and I always say, like,just like driving a car,
somebody teaches you how to doit.
It makes everything so mucheasier.
And it's the same for mountainbiking.
Just like starting off with acouple of basics, even if it's
(06:09):
in the grass or riding, you know, around some cones and me
explaining that you need to docertain things, like standing up
and your dropper seat post down, you know, and where do my
pedals need to be?
My feet on the pedals.
So all these little things.
It's just a great way to buildconfidence and also to kind of
give you, you know, some tips onhow to do it.
(06:29):
First, it's like just going outon the trail and blindly going
into something and not knowingthat you should not pull your
first your front brake to stopright.
We are still often see thatgrab a handful of front brake
normally doesn't end well.
So just like knowing how toexecute things is going to make
riding a lot more fun and a lotmore relaxed as well, first it's
(06:49):
also just like following afriend that knows how to
mountain bike and they're justlike you're good, you're good,
but then you don't know how toright.
So it's always nice to get alesson and like learn it in a
safe way.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That sounds great.
And then sometimes a lot offolks.
If you go to a bike park or yougo to a place that has
instruction, you can get it inover your head.
So it seems like you found areally good spot with
Slaughterpin and some successfulvenue type areas for if it's a
drop, if it's a berm, if they'reworking better cyclist during
the clinic, when they're bitingoff more and how exciting is
(07:34):
that when they've had somesuccess out there with you and
you still have time left in theclinic and lesson.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Oh, that's amazing, you know, it's very fulfilling
to see that in a rider, you know, and often they progress fairly
fast.
I see that happening all thetime, where it's just about like
understanding how to do it,then building that confidence,
and then we make really, we makereally progressive steps.
And also when I see that I liketo make the lessons very
personable, because everybodyhas a different skills level,
(08:01):
different habits, and once wereally pick up, I also know the
trails that are, you know, alittle more technical.
So Slotapin has so much tooffer and we can also kind of go
off of the trails that are veryknown to a lot of people and
find some trails that are alittle bit more technical to up
that level.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You're not kidding there.
So describe what these jumpswould be like for a lot of folks
, because you've been all overthe world, you've competed all
over the world, but you've alsotaught and done clinics.
This area has berms and jumpsand a progression that's a
little bit different and it's alot better for folks to
experience than some venues thatmay be at a ski area or just
(08:41):
bike parks that pop up in thesummer, and there's something
special about this one.
So what would that be from abeginner's perspective, to be
able to look at some of thesejumps and be able to get the
confidence Because they're builtand you can describe maybe even
how they're built, because Iknow that you go out and
maintain the trails.
You're a great steward of allof them.
So what's special about thetrails in Slaughterpin and even
(09:05):
the Oz trails in general forprogression, like jumps and
those type of things?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, I think, like you mentioned, progression right
, that's so amazing that we havehere going from like the
beginner's area we have in theskill spark, where we start from
rollers, to little tabletops,to tabletops that are a little
bigger but they're all on theflat, so it's super flat.
You have to like kind of likecreate your speed.
Then you can move over to acouple of other trails with
jumps, where the jumps areslightly bigger but the trail is
(09:33):
actually giving you the speedyou don't really need to pedal
into it.
So that's where you kind ofprogress to when, once you get
that down, you go up to thecastle and you have the bigger
jumps with more speed.
Um, and I think that is amazingto have here, because if you go
to some bike parks and I wasactually just in tennessee in a
bike park and, um, it'simmediately steep, right, it's
immediately you're on the brakes, the speed is there.
(09:55):
Uh, totally kind of like hardto build that confidence from
the beginning, because there'snothing to start off on, you
immediately like go down adouble black diamond trail.
So it's nice that here we havesome time to really build that
confidence and work on theprogression and, if you want to
as well.
You know we there's plenty ofbigger jumps that we have in the
area, so it's always nice tostart slow, build it up and then
(10:17):
find those bigger jumps onceyou're ready.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, we've got some famous jumps here and some
famous features and folks whenthey come to Bentonville they
immediately want you to takethem there.
What would a progression looklike from the jump line in the
basically slaughter pin jumpzone?
So what would those threefeatures look like?
Just describe them to someonewho's hasn't.
Maybe they've seen a picture ofit.
(10:41):
But what does it feel like?
What is the approach?
What is it like to do thosefeatures in slaughter pin?
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, so the great thing is you can start kind of,
like mentioned, in the beginnerarea.
This is a green area where wehave beginner drops and beginner
jumps.
So once you get comfortablewith those and you feel like
you're jumping them pretty goodand you're getting off the drops
, you can move over to theintermediate drops that we have
there.
They're currently building onnew jumps as well in that whole
area.
And then we also have advancedjumps, right, and the skills
(11:12):
sorry drops in that skills part.
So they're pretty intimidatingwhen you roll up to them.
And but the great thing is again, you can start slowly and build
your way up all in one area,you know, and if you're coming
to visit and you're going to behere for a couple of days, you
can give yourself the time towork yourself up to the bigger
drops.
And the same kind of for thejumps.
(11:32):
The jumps are really nice andgreatly built, the way they're
kind of shaped in that area, andthen, like mentioned earlier,
you can go over to, let's say,all-american Hero Jumps.
This is a jump line that I lovetaking people out on, because
there's multiple tabletops in arow and then we have, like we
call it, the bridge.
It's like a wood feature thatyou can still jump, and after
(11:59):
that, if you got that down, itnormally take you up to the
castle.
And then we have catapult, wehave medieval and that's where
we have some bigger jumps andquite a bit more speed on that.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So for the castle, a lot of folks that would kind of
be the graduation when they geta ride with you, like you work
them up towards that step wherethey get to get to um, those are
pretty much blue to blacktrails.
Only, even though um wouldwould you say that some of those
trails could be done by abeginner.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Um, yes, definitely.
Um, the nice thing with thecastle as well there's
progression, um, so you canstart on like, let's sayfire, we
have up there medieval, andthen work your way up on
catapult sorry, in the medievaland we have the dragon scales
like more of a rock trail.
So again, the progression isalways there and that's the nice
(12:45):
thing about Bentonville there'sa ton of opportunities to
really progress in this area andnot immediately get thrown into
the most like technical trailsout there.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Great and then I think let's just describe some
settings that you might do forinstruction from family setting,
where you have like a familygoing along, or perhaps like a
mother and her daughter ridingtogether, or maybe like an
e-bike and one of the parents onan e-bike and then one of their
offspring on a standard bike.
(13:15):
So describe kind of some ofwhat that would look like when
people come to Slaughterpin andhow you can be riding with your
family or different abilitygroups, but in kind of a
separate on a different bike anddiscipline.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, and we see all kinds of bikes here in
Bentonville, you know.
I think that's really cool.
Cool too, and especiallye-bikes.
We love e-bikes and a lot ofpeople ride them, but I think
the cool thing is thateverything is so compact, close
together as well.
So if you're either on ane-bike or you have kids with you
, you know you can hang out inthe Skills Park, you can oversee
what they're riding, but alsoyou can, you know, head out
(13:51):
together and ride the trailseither on an analog bike or an
e-bike.
And it's so family friendlyhere, and we see more and more
people coming to hang out at askills park too.
People bring their lawn chairs,they're sitting out and the
kids are riding.
So it's just great that you cantake everybody out here.
And also, if there's like askills level, there's plenty of
(14:13):
options to different trails thatare still really close to each
other Excellent.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
And then what I noticed is coming into the
podcast today you have yourhelmet, you rode in on your bike
and it's natural, it's likewhat you do and it's how you get
around town.
So do you think thatBentonville has something kind
of special in those terms versusother communities where you
have to tailgate or load yourvehicle to go to the trailhead,
(14:38):
load your bike onto your vehicle?
Is this just a little biteasier or what?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
This is way easier, you know,like if you're kind of staying
in town or even close to town,you can ride everywhere on your
bike, especially to the trails.
And I love doing that becauseyou know, I come from a culture,
from the Netherlands, where weride our bikes a lot if it's to
school or to the grocery store.
So you know, one of the reasonsmoving here was also that
reason, because in California Ihad to drive everywhere and I
(15:04):
was like I was really missingthat part of me just hopping on
a bike and like today cominghere, and then I never dreamed
that my route to downtown isactually mostly on the most fun
trails that we have here.
So you know, I feel like alittle kid going out and riding
to town, and then on the wayhome I like to go through
Crystal Bridges, which isbeautiful, you know.
That's the museum we have hereand it's just a gorgeous ride
(15:27):
going through there and makingmy way back home.
And I think that's so nice withthe community.
Here too, everybody is sobikers friendly, right,
everybody rides their bike ifit's on the trail or just going
to town and it's just a vibe andit's great, that is so special.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
And then, while we send everybody to Slaughterpin,
what's one thing that they coulddo when they're in town, that
you would do after a successfulride with someone who got to, uh
, spend the day with you or tooka lesson or a clinic?
Where would you take them?
What would you do?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
oh my god, that would be a long list that's true, I
just had.
I just had friends in town and,uh, a couple of things that are
always on the top of my listare airship coffee, um, and then
crystal bridges, yes, and go tothe hub to hang out and go eat
pancakes at crepes paulette, Ican't miss out on that when you
come here.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
What an experience.
Yes, Annika, so thrilled tohave you in town contributing to
the community here.
Bentonville is very lucky tohave you and, I think for the
future, where are they going tofind out more information on how
to sign up to take a clinic, aclass, a lesson or ride with you
?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Oh yeah, anytime anybody wants to link up with me
, please visit crankitupmtbcom.
You can send me a message orsee my schedule online, and I
have multiple clinics groupclinics as well throughout the
year.
So, yeah, feel free to hit meup or send me a message on
Instagram.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So that is great.
So Annika is one of the pillarsof the mountain biking
community here, has moved herefrom California via overseas and
really contributing to theeconomy and everything that we
have here.
If you want more information,please visit, visit
Bittenvillecom and, as Anikasaid, you can hit her up on her
channels as well.
(17:08):
So can't wait to see you ridingin Slaughterpin next and come
visit Bentonville.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, thank you.
Come and give me a high five ifyou see me out on the trails.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You'll see her on the trail.
She's out there riding.
She's got one of the best jobsin the world still, so we look
forward to having you again onanother podcast in the future
and visit Bentonville.
We are signing out for the day.
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