After a weekend off, we are gathering our gear and getting ready to head to Camp War Eagle for AR-NICA race 3. We love to see the great efforts of our coaches create rewarding opportunities for our student-athletes. Coaches continue to create the secret sauce that keeps our league thriving.
Over the past weekend, we hosted a coach trainer appreciation event. 15 coaches descending on Mountain View, Arkansas to get trained to teach On The Bike skills 101 & 201. We also enjoyed an exciting high ropes course challenge in town. Although work was done, everyone will remember the fun stories and laughs shared over the campfire and the treetops.
We have a coach call this Wednesday at 8pm. Our coach call provides a great opportunity to share our stories and learn from one another. We would love to share ideas about how we are preparing student-athletes for their next race weekend. Agenda and Zoom call details are here.
Thanks for all you do as an AR-NICA coach.
Ben Tufford and the league staff
Upcoming Coaches Calls
- Wed, Oct 6th – Regular monthly coach call plus race 3 Info
- Wed, Oct 20th – Race 4 Info
Find the agendas here
Zoom Call Log in info:
Time: 8:00 PM Central Time
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/92420766678?pwd=Y
Remaining Race Weekends
Home Team on Race Weekends
Each race weekend has designated home teams. Those teams are provided preferred team pit zone space for great spectator viewing. Home teams get front row seats! We ask that home teams become champions of volunteerism by providing additional volunteers throughout the race weekend. Here is a link to our volunteer signup website.
- Race 3 Camp War Eagle: Rogers, Arkansas Arts Academy, Eureka Springs, Madco, St Vincent, Thaden
- Race 4 Centennial: Fayetteville, Haas Hall, Lincoln Junior High, Pea Ridge, Springdale, Washington
Bike Loaner Program – Returning Bikes
This year’s loaner bike program has provided over 45 bikes to student-athletes that would otherwise not have been able to participate in AR-NICA programming. Among our many successes as a league, providing opportunities to further expand our reach is special.
Coaches and parents involved with those loaner bikes should expect to receive instructions from league staff about returning the bikes at the end of the season. In the meantime, ride’em like you borrowed them!
Halloween Weekend at Centennial
Our race season events often conclude at the end of October. We are especially grateful and excited as our last race this year falls on Halloween weekend. We are racing on Halloween!
The league staff is currently formulating a plan to recognize Halloween and create a little fun at Centennial. Racing bikes on Sunday in an elaborate costume may not be enjoyable or safe. We hope our student-athletes and teams will look forward to dressing up to ride on Saturday. Also by decorating their team’s pit zone space for the entire weekend. Start making your plans now to make our last race weekend especially fun!
Rapha + Arkansas NICA End of Year Party
On Saturday, November 6th, Arkansas NICA will cap off its ‘21 season with an end of year party co-hosted with Rapha, Oz Trails and Rock Solid Trails.
The event is half-ride, half-party and kicks off at the Seed Tick Shuffle trailhead at 2pm (time/ location TBC?) where we’ll start the afternoon by getting a quick lesson on some of the basics of trail stewardship and maintenance from a few of the sport’s foremost authorities in advocacy with Giant Pro Rider Adam Craig, mountain bike Hall of Famer Nat Ross and professional builders from Rock Solid Trails. From there, we’ll work our way up into the Slaughter Pen Trails to put a few of those maintenance tips and tricks to use before heading out for some pedaling around the Pen with the pros.
After a few short laps we’ll make our way back to the Rapha Bentonville Pop-Up on Central Ave downtown where we’ll enjoy a pizza party and drinks. We’ll hear from Arkansas NICA’s own, Terry Coddington, Kyla Templeton and Aimee Ross about the upcoming year and how to get involved in the Teen Trail Corps program.
We’ll also be raffling off a few new pieces of limited edition merch from Rapha’s new range of MTB clothing and have plenty of food and drinks to go around for both kids and adults.
