Tour de Pumpkin Russellville Arkansas

[uforgot]

I found this tour while surfing one night and thought why not? Russellville had a festival and it was a lot of fun. Started and ended at Poppa Wheelies bike shop. I actually won the award for traveling the farthest for the "Tour de Pumpkin". I received a gift certificate for gas. How nice!

If you have the chance to travel there in the fall, oh my!, Arkansas is a beautiful state! Russellville was a very friendly town and I highly recommend a trip to the top of Mt. Nebo. It's a flat top mountain with a state park at the top. Get your brakes checked before you make the climb!

1. During the ride I had to stop and take a pic of my Surly.
2. Russellville fall festival. I didn't stay for the contest, but I did purchase a marshmallow shooter for my 21 year old son, and a handmade turquoise necklace. There were bands and a chili cook off also. The festival was a lot bigger than my pic indicates.
3. The view from the top of Mt. Nebo. A camera just can't capture this breathtaking view!
4. Rest stop on the trip home. This was the scenery for almost 70 miles.

[TrekTheKaty]

Looks like fun! I'll watch for that next year:)

[Tri Girl]

What pretty scenery! Sounds like it was a great day and a great ride!!!

[fastdogs]

how are you liking that surly?
looks like you had great weather, and such neat scenery!! I'm glad you got the furthest traveled award, and what a thoughtful prize for it! What distance was it, was it hilly?
vickie

[uforgot]

I love my Surly! I have more pics of her than I do of myself traveling. The course was hilly, but I'm getting to where they don't even bother me. Used my granny ring only a couple of times. I also recommend the Big Dam Bridge (http://www.bigdambridge.com/) in Little Rock. I went there this summer when I had a conference. Little Rock had to be one of the friendliest towns I've ever visited and the Big Dam Bridge was a great ride. Well, except for the flat, and my brakes out of whack...There is a river trail on both sides of the bridge/river. The Clinton library is really close as well. I had to take pictures of it for my nephew as he is an architecture major and the library is one they study because it was made to look like a bridge, (or so he tells me).

Now I think I'll explore Oklahoma and Texas this winter and Iowa next summer.

[Tuckervill]

Dang, I didn't even know about that ride!

I do ride the Bench Trail on Mt. Nebo whenever I can. It's a flat mountain bike ride around the top of the mountain, just down from the summit. The bench is natural, and back when Mt. Nebo was a resort town (early 20th century), people had cabins and places to swim dug into the side of the mountain.

I would NOT want to ride my bike up Mt. Nebo, though. I was there for the Tri-Peaks challenge one year, and saw lots of roadies going side-to-side just to get up it.

Post it next time it comes around!

Karen

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

uforgot,
I am so totally impressed that you climbed Nebo and talk about it like it was a usual hill. WOW WOW WOW.
I've heard stories as well about TriPeaks and my gf told me she saw some PROS walking on Nebo. (maybe they came from Texas?) hee hee Some of our local racers were caught doing the side-to-side thing as well. Its a pretty gnarly climb. (yes, I'm a child from the 80s) :P

Please put Tulsa Tough (a 2 day riding event with a cycling festival and racing too!) and DAM J.A.M. (Pryor, OK) on your Oklahoma calendar for 2009. I guarantee, those will be the very best. They're both very scenic and challenging.

Actually - any of you who make the annual trip to Wichita Falls for HHH, I would challenge you to come to Tulsa. Do both days of Tulsa Tough and experience the support of both the ride volunteers and our City. Its fast becoming a favorite of racers and the riders who come to ride the 'tour'.

[uforgot]

Oh, I think I gave the wrong impression. I drove to Mt. Nebo after the Tour de Pumpkin was over. A nice couple who had moved to Russellville from Sedalia recommended it. I had to do the tourist thing for an hour or so, but it wasn't by bike. Beautiful! I meant check the brakes on your CAR! lol The Tour de Pumpkin was hilly but nothing like Mt. Nebo!

If I had been in the area longer, had more time, I certainly would have rented a mountain bike and ridden the trails on top though. Beautiful!

I will look into the Tulsa Tough though. Thanks for letting us know. Maybe something to work for!

[Tuckervill]

OOOH! I was so frikkin impressed that you rode up it, too! Yes, I had to put my Beetle in low gear to drive up Mt. Nebo. It's a beautiful place.

The other two mountains in Tri-Peaks are Mt. Magazine and Petite Jean Mountain. Both also beautiful and both full of history. Mt. Magazine is the highest peak, I think. I spent many a day and night on Petite Jean when I was in high school.

I tried to check out the Tri-Peaks Challenge website and it's no longer there, so I wonder if it is still on the schedule. Anyway.

Karen

[PscyclePath]

I went up and did the Pumpkin ride for the first time Saturday... nice scenery, and the rolling terrain was just about right... not that hilly, but not real flat, either. I got something stuck through the back tire about halfway across that first bridge, stopped and put in a new tube, then took off again, way off the back of the pack. I started catching folks a couple of miles down the road, and was back somewhere in the middle once we got to the first rest stop. Patched my tube there, and just as I started to leave out, the back tire was flat... again. Put in my other spare tube, and since I was just about DFL again, decided to suck it up and take the short option. I got about three miles down the road, and POP!... flat again. The hole in the tire tread was apparently small enough to fool me, but big enough to let the tube pop after a couple miles on the road. So I booted the tire, slapped in my patched tube, and time-trialed it on back into town. I did catch up and pass three or four more riders so I didn't come in exactly DFL on the short course. All the chasing paid off a bit, since I had a 17 mph average for the time I was actually on the wheels and not fixing flats ;-) Time for a new tire before Saturday's last century ride of the season...

Nice community up there, pretty good company and a good turnout from the Arkansas Bicycle Club crowd... Rather cool (45) at the start line, and the guy who won the costume award did the route in a Richard Simmons get-up -- light cotton tank t-shirt, and high & tight red running shorts, and riding an Xtracycle, at that...

A cool ride, and one to definitely put back on the schedule next year. I'll bring the Surly with the bullet-proof tires next time, though...

Tom

[Andrea]

OOOH! I was so frikkin impressed that you rode up it, too! Yes, I had to put my Beetle in low gear to drive up Mt. Nebo. It's a beautiful place.

The other two mountains in Tri-Peaks are Mt. Magazine and Petite Jean Mountain. Both also beautiful and both full of history. Mt. Magazine is the highest peak, I think. I spent many a day and night on Petite Jean when I was in high school.

I tried to check out the Tri-Peaks Challenge website and it's no longer there, so I wonder if it is still on the schedule. Anyway.

Karen

Tri peaks turned in to Tour of Arkansas last year. The men's race stayed essentially the same, and a lot of pro men stayed around for it after the Joe Martin stage race (like they had for tri-peaks), but the women's race got demoted to a 2-day omnium (with pretty lousy prize money), so my team (Kenda Tire) and Metro Volkswagen were the only ones that stuck around for it. It was nice, but I heard it was canceled for 2009.

[Tuckervill]

Oh, thanks for the info. It is vaguely familiar, about the Tour of Arkansas.

My club put on the Arkansas State Road Race this year (near Fayetteville). It was a lot of fun. Maybe you can work that into your schedule next year, Andrea (first part of August).

Karen

[Tuckervill]

Tom, where are you riding on Saturday? (I'm busy, though.)

Karen

[PscyclePath]

Tom, where are you riding on Saturday? (I'm busy, though.)

Planning to go over to Helena, for the Tour da Delta. The metric century sounds pretty good right now, but we'll see how I feel when I get to the turnoff for the hundred...