Join host Nat Ross, Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, as he welcomes 9x World Champion Kenny Belaey, founder of the Bentonville Bike Fest, for an inside look at one of the most exciting cycling events in North America. 🎉🚴♂️
Now in its fifth year, Bike Fest has grown from a grassroots event into a global celebration of all things biking, featuring:
✅ Action-packed stunt shows and jaw-dropping trial competitions
✅ World-class brands and interactive expo experiences
✅ Races for all ages and skill levels – from toddlers to e-bike pros
✅ Live music, food, swag, and nonstop entertainment
✅ Athletes from over 15 countries and over 6,500 attendees
Whether you're a die-hard cyclist, a weekend rider, or just curious about Bentonville’s biking culture, this episode will show you why Bentonville Bike Fest is the must-attend event of the year.
🎧 Tune in, get inspired, and get ready for the ride of your life this May!
🔗 Learn more & get your tickets: BentonvilleBikeFest.com
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.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nat Ross (00:10):
Welcome to a new American town presented by Visit
Bentonville.
I'm your host, Nat Ross.
We're talking cycling here, andI'm joined by Kenny Belay.
He's the founder of BentonvilleBike Fest, an all-inclusive
cycling event that celebrateseverything you can find out in
the mountain bike capital of theworld.
Our conversation is about theBentonville Bike Fest and why
you need to come check it outfor yourself.
(00:32):
We'll see you there.
We are here with a very specialguest of Bentonville.
We're going on a big eventcoming up.
So welcome, Kenny Belaey.
I know you're currently inBelgium.
You're joining us in spirit,but you will be here soon enough
because this is the fifth yearof Bentonville Bike Fest.
Can you fill us in on what youroriginal inspiration was for
(00:53):
the Bike Fest and how it came tobe, because this is a massive
thing for our community.
Kenny Belaey (00:59):
Yeah.
So first of all, thanks forhaving me on the podcast.
Nice to see you, nat.
Always a pleasure.
Seeing you now Virtually iscool too.
So yeah, bike Fest I mean it'sfive years in the making, six
years that I've been planning ittechnically.
But it all started with Women'sShred, which was a small event
(01:19):
linked to the film festival.
That's kind of sparked the ideaof doing my first event
overseas, in the US, and thatworked pretty well.
I think it was also one of thefirst international events in
Bentonville, sure was.
Yeah, we immediately had alittle bit of a network and
(01:42):
sponsors were picking it up andthe community were picking it up
.
I thought it was time to growfrom a women's event.
Right after I did it, I thoughtI had to grow to something that
was more my DNA.
Right after I did it, I thoughtI had to go to something that
was more my DNA.
So more like the trials and theBMX and all the action, but
(02:06):
also the expo and the demo bike.
So technically, the vision wasto go big and see where we ended
up.
I was also one of the firstones, so I was just trying out
what works, what doesn't, and alot of things seemed to work and
I kept them on the program andnow the program is pretty yeah,
massive we're going to visitkind of your palmares and kind
(02:27):
of how you came into cycling andwhat you've done for the sport,
because you're a massivecontributor globally for the
sport of cycling, but thefestival in general.
Nat Ross (02:36):
Can you fill us in on the exact spirit of the festival
?
So if someone is just gettinginto cycling or getting in a
mountain biker wants to watch,what would that entail for them
when they roll into Bentonvilleand we'll pop the dates up we're
going to send everybody to yourwebsite.
They can register for all theevents.
We're going to fill them upwith tons of information.
(02:56):
But for those folks that wantto check out Bike Fest, that are
curious about what it is, in anutshell, what is happening at
Bentonville Bike Fest- yeah.
Kenny Belaey (03:07):
So you know, doing a bike event in Bentonville and
hoping for bikers at your event, that's kind of easy to do
because there's so many bikersbiking and bike events.
So we definitely have all theraces for the bikers, from
two-year-old racing on a striderkit, strider balance bike all
the way to, uh people's inner60s entering the e-enduro and
(03:32):
the e-gravelicious gravel ride.
So we, we cater to all theseage groups and disciplines.
But what makes bike festspecial?
If, let's say, you like to seecool stuff, then you go to bike
fest because you'll see, forexample, trials, which is what I
, you know, this is my dna, my,my, my spirit, my soul.
(03:54):
And and then you can see guysjumping uh three, four feet
without any ramp up to bouldersand you're like just some people
who have never seen it.
They're like mind blown.
So you're like, wow, how thehell do these guys do that?
And then it's always acompetition.
So it's always exciting.
It's always going to be awinner or loser, somebody
falling off his bike I meanwithout injuries, hopefully, but
(04:17):
it's.
It's always exciting.
And then you turn around andthere you go, there you go,
there's like people throwingaway swag in the crowd.
And then you turn around againand there's a band playing and
there's a dj, and then there's afood court, and then you, you
go on the other side of thefield and all of a sudden
there's a guy jumping over a 45foot, uh, like a gap, doing a
(04:40):
backflip or a double backflip ora front flip or a 360, or, and
that's also something that youdon't see every day, I assume.
So people just like to go forthe action and the atmosphere
and and just to have a good time, because, um, I always try to
also mimic like the festivalvibe, really like at a musical
music festival.
So we, we invest heavily inlike a great sound system, so
(05:02):
the whole feel is covered.
So, if you know, the weather isnice, it just feels like you're
, you know, somewhere, exoticalmost, and there's all people
on bikes, everybody's having agood time, smiling bikers,
non-bikers, everybody enjoys it.
Nat Ross (05:17):
Yeah, and one neat thing, like if someone were to
go walk through the aisles andyou have expo, just expo, land
that continuously goes on.
You have the bike brands, youhave product brands, you have
folks that are just displayinglocal products, the cutting edge
product launches that theprofessionals are riding in the
area.
You've got top manufacturersthat are bringing basically
(05:40):
their best staff and showing,like inside the curtains In
general for the expo, like whatwould you say folks can expect
walking through the aisles toget to experience and see what
would make Kenny happy to saythis is a very successful bike
fest year five, like the resthave been before.
Kenny Belaey (05:59):
Yeah, so a lot of big brands like Park Tool and YT
and Specialized already signedup, and Giant and even WD-40
Muck Off.
So all these big brands thatcome to bike fest to Bentonville
to showcase the latest products, the new range of bikes, and
you can actually test them andhave a good time on the trails
(06:20):
with them.
So it's all part of theexperience of how do you connect
the industry with the bikers,but also the future bikers and
the kids, and how do you putyour brand out there and how do
you connect with them, how doyou create a synergy, how do you
gain followers and people, howdo you make them fall in love
with your brand?
And this is all things thatthat are happening and happening
(06:42):
in this expo.
So we try to cater and giveeverybody good time.
The brands come.
They really spend a lot of timeand energy and effort.
Some people drive from all theway, from California, sit two,
three days in the van just tocome to this event and I'm we're
really grateful for it.
And, uh, I think that peoplejust feel it that they can see
(07:04):
things that usually they don't,they can only see on the
internet.
If you want to have, uh, youwant to see a cool bike?
Well, you don't have to go to.
Uh, you know, find it, find itonline.
Just come to bike fest.
I'm guaranteeing you it's there.
Nat Ross (07:18):
Yeah, and I think one thing since you're a
professional athlete came fromthe action sports industry, you
provide nonstop entertainment.
So no matter what section ofthe venue someone's at at Bike
Fest, there's something going on.
Kenny Belaey (07:31):
Yeah, so I've been .
It's funny, actually, becausefor Red Bull I've been asked to
do I don't know, I can't evenput a number to it hundreds, if
not a few thousand shows allover the world, yeah, in schools
, universities, even in bars,people sitting in a restaurant,
(07:57):
car shows, boring trade showsthat have no entertainment.
And this is actually the visionof Bike Fest.
It's like, how do you engagewith the non-bikers, how do you
get them excited about biking?
And this is what we do with theentertainment piece.
Nat Ross (08:13):
Well, give us some numbers of folks that
participate even in events, tospectating and kind of, what the
footprint looks like.
When it's a pack on Saturday,what does that look like?
Kenny Belaey (08:25):
Yeah, so we got around eight races and that
attracts around 1600 athletesfrom all over the world.
So we have athletes from 15countries, athletes from all
over the world.
So we have athletes from 15countries.
And then visitors-wise we havearound.
It varies, but at a max lastyear we had like 6,500 people on
Saturday visiting the event.
(08:47):
So that was new and that wasawesome to see, to get that data
.
And I'm thinking that when Idid women's shred 2019, we only
maybe, maybe had 100 people andthey were all bikers.
So now it's like even thenon-bikers visiting.
Nat Ross (09:04):
So it was pretty cool to see, yeah, and then top
athletes from all across theworld too.
So it's like your discipline,but about 12 other disciplines
worth of the best athletes inthe world all combining here in
Bentonville at the end of May.
Kenny Belaey (09:17):
Yeah, and it's always tricky to.
In the beginning I was hopingfor those athletes to come
because you know you're a youngfestival, they have many options
around the world to go to, andsome decided to give it a go and
came to Bike Fest I think alsothanks to COVID, because they
had time to actually travel andthere weren't many events.
(09:40):
So they came to Bike Fest andthey all stayed and they keep
coming back every year and weare adding new athletes to the
roster every year.
Nat Ross (09:49):
It's amazing.
So we got a couple minutes lefthere.
If we want to send folks to thewebsite, where do they go?
If we want to send them onInstagram, if they're keen on
social media and checking outsharing with the family and
sharing the vibe, where do theygo?
What do they do?
Kenny Belaey (10:03):
Yeah, so go to BentonvilleBikeFestcom and in
the top corner on the right yougot Eventbrite link which is for
a general festival pass, thatgeneral admission festival pass,
and then you go to Bike Garageand the other button, you click
on it, then you can register andthe website has all the
information, all the events, theschedule, the footprint, the
layout, the brands that arecoming.
(10:23):
It's all there.
So, yeah, I hope everybody'sgoing to come to Bike Fest and
have a good time, so can't waitto see you all.
Nat Ross (10:31):
Yeah well, Kenny, the community is really excited to
have you back and then bring thesport that you brought kind of
to Bentonville, put it on themap with the festival format.
So we're going to celebrate theentire weekend Bentonville Bike
Fest, year five.
Kenny Belay, You're a nine-timeworld champion yourself, so
it's great to be having yourpresence, come from overseas
(10:52):
with your experience andplopping it down into
Bentonville and sharing thatwith the community.
Kenny Belaey (10:58):
I couldn't think of a better place to do it.
Honestly, it's to organize.
It's just a paradise.
Everybody talks and breedsbikes.
I couldn't think of a betterplace.
Nat Ross (11:09):
Wow.
Well, you're exciting.
Can't wait to have you in town.
Bentonville Bike Fest, here wecome, kenny Belay, thanks for
your time.
Thank you, man.
Thanks Nat.
All right, we'll see you atBentonville Bike Fest, that is
in May.
This was a new American town.
I'm your bike host, nat Ross,mountain bike hall of famer.
To learn more about VisitBentonville and the activities
(11:30):
we have, go tovisitbentonvillecom.
We'll see you at Bike Fest ifyou're into mountain bikes.
Welcome to a new American town presented by Visit
Bentonville.
I'm your host, Nat Ross.
We're talking cycling here, andI'm joined by Kenny Belay.
He's the founder of BentonvilleBike Fest, an all-inclusive
cycling event that celebrateseverything you can find out in
the mountain bike capital of theworld.
Our conversation is about theBentonville Bike Fest and why
you need to come check it outfor yourself.
(00:32):
We'll see you there.
We are here with a very specialguest of Bentonville.
We're going on a big eventcoming up.
So welcome, Kenny Belaey.
I know you're currently inBelgium.
You're joining us in spirit,but you will be here soon enough
because this is the fifth yearof Bentonville Bike Fest.
Can you fill us in on what youroriginal inspiration was for
(00:53):
the Bike Fest and how it came tobe, because this is a massive
thing for our community.
Kenny Belaey (00:59):
Yeah.
So first of all, thanks forhaving me on the podcast.
Nice to see you, nat.
Always a pleasure.
Seeing you now Virtually iscool too.
So yeah, bike Fest I mean it'sfive years in the making, six
years that I've been planning ittechnically.
But it all started with Women'sShred, which was a small event
(01:19):
linked to the film festival.
That's kind of sparked the ideaof doing my first event
overseas, in the US, and thatworked pretty well.
I think it was also one of thefirst international events in
Bentonville, sure was.
Yeah, we immediately had alittle bit of a network and
(01:42):
sponsors were picking it up andthe community were picking it up
.
I thought it was time to growfrom a women's event.
Right after I did it, I thoughtI had to grow to something that
was more my DNA.
Right after I did it, I thoughtI had to go to something that
was more my DNA.
So more like the trials and theBMX and all the action, but
(02:06):
also the expo and the demo bike.
So technically, the vision wasto go big and see where we ended
up.
I was also one of the firstones, so I was just trying out
what works, what doesn't, and alot of things seemed to work and
I kept them on the program andnow the program is pretty yeah,
massive we're going to visitkind of your palmares and kind
(02:27):
of how you came into cycling andwhat you've done for the sport,
because you're a massivecontributor globally for the
sport of cycling, but thefestival in general.
Nat Ross (02:36):
Can you fill us in on the exact spirit of the festival
?
So if someone is just gettinginto cycling or getting in a
mountain biker wants to watch,what would that entail for them
when they roll into Bentonvilleand we'll pop the dates up we're
going to send everybody to yourwebsite.
They can register for all theevents.
We're going to fill them upwith tons of information.
(02:56):
But for those folks that wantto check out Bike Fest, that are
curious about what it is, in anutshell, what is happening at
Bentonville Bike Fest- yeah.
Kenny Belaey (03:07):
So you know, doing a bike event in Bentonville and
hoping for bikers at your event, that's kind of easy to do
because there's so many bikersbiking and bike events.
So we definitely have all theraces for the bikers, from
two-year-old racing on a striderkit, strider balance bike all
the way to, uh people's inner60s entering the e-enduro and
(03:32):
the e-gravelicious gravel ride.
So we, we cater to all theseage groups and disciplines.
But what makes bike festspecial?
If, let's say, you like to seecool stuff, then you go to bike
fest because you'll see, forexample, trials, which is what I
, you know, this is my dna, my,my, my spirit, my soul.
(03:54):
And and then you can see guysjumping uh three, four feet
without any ramp up to bouldersand you're like just some people
who have never seen it.
They're like mind blown.
So you're like, wow, how thehell do these guys do that?
And then it's always acompetition.
So it's always exciting.
It's always going to be awinner or loser, somebody
falling off his bike I meanwithout injuries, hopefully, but
(04:17):
it's.
It's always exciting.
And then you turn around andthere you go, there you go,
there's like people throwingaway swag in the crowd.
And then you turn around againand there's a band playing and
there's a dj, and then there's afood court, and then you, you
go on the other side of thefield and all of a sudden
there's a guy jumping over a 45foot, uh, like a gap, doing a
(04:40):
backflip or a double backflip ora front flip or a 360, or, and
that's also something that youdon't see every day, I assume.
So people just like to go forthe action and the atmosphere
and and just to have a good time, because, um, I always try to
also mimic like the festivalvibe, really like at a musical
music festival.
So we, we invest heavily inlike a great sound system, so
(05:02):
the whole feel is covered.
So, if you know, the weather isnice, it just feels like you're
, you know, somewhere, exoticalmost, and there's all people
on bikes, everybody's having agood time, smiling bikers,
non-bikers, everybody enjoys it.
Nat Ross (05:17):
Yeah, and one neat thing, like if someone were to
go walk through the aisles andyou have expo, just expo, land
that continuously goes on.
You have the bike brands, youhave product brands, you have
folks that are just displayinglocal products, the cutting edge
product launches that theprofessionals are riding in the
area.
You've got top manufacturersthat are bringing basically
(05:40):
their best staff and showing,like inside the curtains In
general for the expo, like whatwould you say folks can expect
walking through the aisles toget to experience and see what
would make Kenny happy to saythis is a very successful bike
fest year five, like the resthave been before.
Kenny Belaey (05:59):
Yeah, so a lot of big brands like Park Tool and YT
and Specialized already signedup, and Giant and even WD-40
Muck Off.
So all these big brands thatcome to bike fest to Bentonville
to showcase the latest products, the new range of bikes, and
you can actually test them andhave a good time on the trails
(06:20):
with them.
So it's all part of theexperience of how do you connect
the industry with the bikers,but also the future bikers and
the kids, and how do you putyour brand out there and how do
you connect with them, how doyou create a synergy, how do you
gain followers and people, howdo you make them fall in love
with your brand?
And this is all things thatthat are happening and happening
(06:42):
in this expo.
So we try to cater and giveeverybody good time.
The brands come.
They really spend a lot of timeand energy and effort.
Some people drive from all theway, from California, sit two,
three days in the van just tocome to this event and I'm we're
really grateful for it.
And, uh, I think that peoplejust feel it that they can see
(07:04):
things that usually they don't,they can only see on the
internet.
If you want to have, uh, youwant to see a cool bike?
Well, you don't have to go to.
Uh, you know, find it, find itonline.
Just come to bike fest.
I'm guaranteeing you it's there.
Nat Ross (07:18):
Yeah, and I think one thing since you're a
professional athlete came fromthe action sports industry, you
provide nonstop entertainment.
So no matter what section ofthe venue someone's at at Bike
Fest, there's something going on.
Kenny Belaey (07:31):
Yeah, so I've been .
It's funny, actually, becausefor Red Bull I've been asked to
do I don't know, I can't evenput a number to it hundreds, if
not a few thousand shows allover the world, yeah, in schools
, universities, even in bars,people sitting in a restaurant,
(07:57):
car shows, boring trade showsthat have no entertainment.
And this is actually the visionof Bike Fest.
It's like, how do you engagewith the non-bikers, how do you
get them excited about biking?
And this is what we do with theentertainment piece.
Nat Ross (08:13):
Well, give us some numbers of folks that
participate even in events, tospectating and kind of, what the
footprint looks like.
When it's a pack on Saturday,what does that look like?
Kenny Belaey (08:25):
Yeah, so we got around eight races and that
attracts around 1600 athletesfrom all over the world.
So we have athletes from 15countries, athletes from all
over the world.
So we have athletes from 15countries.
And then visitors-wise we havearound.
It varies, but at a max lastyear we had like 6,500 people on
Saturday visiting the event.
(08:47):
So that was new and that wasawesome to see, to get that data
.
And I'm thinking that when Idid women's shred 2019, we only
maybe, maybe had 100 people andthey were all bikers.
So now it's like even thenon-bikers visiting.
Nat Ross (09:04):
So it was pretty cool to see, yeah, and then top
athletes from all across theworld too.
So it's like your discipline,but about 12 other disciplines
worth of the best athletes inthe world all combining here in
Bentonville at the end of May.
Kenny Belaey (09:17):
Yeah, and it's always tricky to.
In the beginning I was hopingfor those athletes to come
because you know you're a youngfestival, they have many options
around the world to go to, andsome decided to give it a go and
came to Bike Fest I think alsothanks to COVID, because they
had time to actually travel andthere weren't many events.
(09:40):
So they came to Bike Fest andthey all stayed and they keep
coming back every year and weare adding new athletes to the
roster every year.
Nat Ross (09:49):
It's amazing.
So we got a couple minutes lefthere.
If we want to send folks to thewebsite, where do they go?
If we want to send them onInstagram, if they're keen on
social media and checking outsharing with the family and
sharing the vibe, where do theygo?
What do they do?
Kenny Belaey (10:03):
Yeah, so go to BentonvilleBikeFestcom and in
the top corner on the right yougot Eventbrite link which is for
a general festival pass, thatgeneral admission festival pass,
and then you go to Bike Garageand the other button, you click
on it, then you can register andthe website has all the
information, all the events, theschedule, the footprint, the
layout, the brands that arecoming.
(10:23):
It's all there.
So, yeah, I hope everybody'sgoing to come to Bike Fest and
have a good time, so can't waitto see you all.
Nat Ross (10:31):
Yeah well, Kenny, the community is really excited to
have you back and then bring thesport that you brought kind of
to Bentonville, put it on themap with the festival format.
So we're going to celebrate theentire weekend Bentonville Bike
Fest, year five.
Kenny Belay, You're a nine-timeworld champion yourself, so
it's great to be having yourpresence, come from overseas
(10:52):
with your experience andplopping it down into
Bentonville and sharing thatwith the community.
Kenny Belaey (10:58):
I couldn't think of a better place to do it.
Honestly, it's to organize.
It's just a paradise.
Everybody talks and breedsbikes.
I couldn't think of a betterplace.
Nat Ross (11:09):
Wow.
Well, you're exciting.
Can't wait to have you in town.
Bentonville Bike Fest, here wecome, kenny Belay, thanks for
your time.
Thank you, man.
Thanks Nat.
All right, we'll see you atBentonville Bike Fest, that is
in May.
This was a new American town.
I'm your bike host, nat Ross,mountain bike hall of famer.
To learn more about VisitBentonville and the activities
(11:30):
we have, go tovisitbentonvillecom.
We'll see you at Bike Fest ifyou're into mountain bikes.
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