If you are a cyclist, Little Rock and its environs make a pretty good place to pedal.
From short trips around the city to longer road rides, six mountain bike trail systems and adventurous gravel routes, the area offers more than 1,200 miles worth of diverse terrain to explore.
And now the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau has created a handy-dandy online resource — littlerock.com/cycling — a new subsection of the bureau's website that has maps of many Central Arkansas routes, tips for newbies, information on cycling laws, area clubs, shops and more.
The new section is intended to draw attention to the area's cycling bounty and attract people who want to get outside.
"The tourism industry was hit especially hard during the pandemic," says Gina Gemberling, vice president of sales and services with the bureau. "We were doing some brainstorming and it seemed that the fastest segment that was recovering were people looking for outdoor activities."
With new cycling options like the recently completed Pinnacle Mountain State Park Monument Trails for mountain bikers, it was a good time to highlight the area's bicycle-related activities.
The visitors bureau reached out to local riders for input for the site.
"Our team members did a lot of research, but we also gathered a group of cyclists and held a kind of informal focus group to pick their brains a bit about where they travel for cycling and what makes them choose their destination, so we could make better decisions in looking into this market," Gemberling says.
The website offers detailed maps of dozens of rides — from gravel routes in Perry County, road rides east of the city and mountain bike trails at Camp Robinson, which are some of the oldest in the state. Maps include distance, location, number of feet to climb and gradients. They can also be shared to other devices.
Annual cycling events such as CARTI's Tour de Rock, the Big Dam Bridge 100 and the Little Rock Gran Fondo are also highlighted along with links to clubs such as the Central Arkansas Trail Alliance, Arkansas Bicycle Club, Major Taylor Cycling Club of Little Rock/AKA Rock City Riders and others.
And there are blog posts that give riders an in-depth look at the new Monument Trails, a rundown of six fun rides in Little Rock and the city's best trails for beginners, which include the Civil Rights Trail and the Downtown Art Trail.
"Last spring, we created these self-guided tours that could be used virtually or driven. Now they can be seen from bikes," says Libby Doss Lloyd, communications manager with the bureau.
"One of the things that really sets Little Rock apart from other destinations is that so many of our trails are downtown and close to entertainment, dining and other things to do," Gemberling says. "That's really going to be a big draw for us."