Ride mountain bikes, play poker and then shoot skeet with shotguns? Count me in.
The friend who invited me to Phat Tire Bike's Double Barrel Poker Ride and I were not surprised to see that we were not the only people drawn to this odd mix of entertainment April 9. As we pulled up to the Benton County Quail Barn six miles west of Bentonville, almost 200 like-minded cyclists were merrily lining their bikes up along the perimeter of an open meadow.
Like many great ideas, the inspiration for this biathlon-like event originated late one night as longtime friends sat around a roaring campfire. Tanner Bedwell, event chairman for the advocacy
organization Benton County Quail, and Chris Brosh, owner of Phat Tire Bike Shop, were brainstorming ways they might build a bridge from Northwest Arkansas' boom in mountain bicycling to the sport of shooting.
Benton County Quail began as a member of the conservation group Quail Unlimited in the late 1980s. When the national organization closed its doors in 2013, area members decided to form their own nonprofit. As Kevin Sullivan, chairman of the group's board, explained it, "They could spend their money locally, on projects that directly benefited quail habitat preservation and youth shooting and safety programs here in Benton County."
THE BICYCLING SEGMENT
First came registration, where everyone received one playing card. Then a brief meeting at the Benton County Quail Barn on Arkansas 72 instructed riders on the specifics of the event and safety issues.
Following instructions, everyone parked their bicycles on one side of the meadow, then walked across to line up on the other side. With a loud "Kaboom!" everyone realized why: It was "a shotgun start."
We raced across the open field, whooping and hollering, and climbed on the bikes -- or looked for our bikes. In keeping with the lighthearted atmosphere of the event, Nate Fields of Phat Tire had "rearranged" some of the bicycles. Everyone enjoyed the joke, as long as it was someone else's bike that had been moved.
Once they had their wheels, participants had a choice of biking either a 13- or a 25-mile course over a mix of creamy smooth and chunky roads (paved and gravel).
Both courses routed cyclists on a leisure tour through the gently rolling farm country of Benton County, with hillsides painted a fresh coat of green by lush spring vegetation. The occasional livestock bolted as the herd of cyclists wheeled past.
At aid stations along the route, riders collected two more cards.
SHOOT
Ride's end found cyclists pedaling up to the shooting range. After dismounting, they picked up shotguns and fired five shots (with shells provided by Winchester Ammunition) at clay pigeons launched across a field.
They were then handed the remaining two cards that completed a poker hand. The best hand won a $250 level membership in Benton County Quail, with the runner-up taking home a collection of bike shop swag.
Great fun was had, especially because it was free. But wait, there was more.
After bicycling, poker and ridding Northwest Arkansas of hundreds of those messy clay pigeons, it was time to feast on spicy boiled crawfish, sausage and corn-on-the-cob prepared by Hannah Cicioni of Red Ridge Outfitters, and/or a big bowl of jambalaya cooked up in a 20-gallon pot by Brosh, Brandi Newton and Tim Robinson of Phat Tire.
You could wash it down with a craft beer from Ozark Beer Co. Note: When you ordered that first beer, the wristband was promptly clipped from your arm, and you were no longer allowed to fire a weapon.
The bike shop capped the day with music by Jumpsuit Jamey and The Can't Wait to Playboys, who cranked up some lively zydeco tunes.
Bob Robinson is the author of Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River Trail, Bicycling Guide to Route 66 and Bicycling Guide to the Lake Michigan Trail (spiritscreek.com).
ActiveStyle on 04/24/2017