Trails for Kids January Trail work day!

It's not a secret any more!

Recent article from Freak Adventures
THE ALTERNATIVE: Trails for Kids Fayetteville, Tennessee
Location: About 2 miles west of downtown Fayetteville, Tennessee
Claim to Fame: The Elk River Trail, one mile of uninterrupted mountain-biking trail along the Elk River.
Maybe you haven’t heard, but it’s a good time to be a mountain biker in Fayetteville, Tennessee these days. Once a community that turned down Rails to Trails in the late 80's the town's motto, "Where tradition meets tomorrow", sounds like a Hank Junior song , now the town has some how become a cyclist dream, 6 miles of mountain bike trail with plans to add 6 more miles by 2012. The Elk River Valley has become a benchmark of urban revival and one of the most outdoor-friendly communities in the Southeast. It’s now become a haven for canoeing, trail running, birding, backpacking, road cycling, and of course, mountain biking, one of the fastest-growing movements in the region.
“Our initiative is to build 20 miles of mountain-bike trail within the Fayetteville city limits by 2012,” says Kevin Freeman, local chapter president of the Trails for Kids Association(TFKA), a nonprofit dedicated to building and maintaining mountain-bike trails for kids. “Traditionally, Fayetteville has been better known for road biking, with light traffic and great country roads. But there’s been an increasing trend toward off-road biking here because of what we’ve been building for people to ride.”
The crown jewel of Fayetteville's trail system is the Elk River Trail 3 miles in length, with a 1 mile trail along the Elk River, an extensive trail system of new single track just west of town at the Don Davidson/ Softball Sport Complex.” It’s the place that has really put us on the map as a mountain-biking destination,” Freeman says. “On any given weekend, you’re likely to see more out-of-state plates here than local ones.” About 6 miles of super sweet single track, with one mile of river front on the Elk River trail, this section, offers mountain bikers twisty pump track like single track, that most riders never get a chance to ride. For more information on this trail, check out the blog http://trailsforkids.blogspot.com/ or contact Trails for Kids at trails4k@yahoo.com

Trails for Kids February 6 work day

We start at 8 and should finish around noon.

Be the change you want to see!

Why don’t we have… how come we don’t, that what most people say their whole life. That what I said until I realized that change starts with me. Not elected officials, Volunteers, citizens who are so passionate about their cause that it’s contagious. Growing up in east Tennessee (Knoxville) I rode my bicycle everywhere, in 1982 I rode my first century in 6 hours and 42 minutes, I was 14. Bicycling was part of the culture back then or at least that was how everyone got around to save money. All through High school and two years of college if I went somewhere it was on my bike. Touring was soon replaced by racing and I traveled all over the country to little towns in Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, North Carolina and California and I started saying the phrase, “Why don’t we have and How come we don’t”. Bicycle lanes, shops, races, and bicycle paths (greenways), why were these things so important in some communities and not in mine. Well Knoxville soon caught up with the rest of the world, bicycle shops in every community, races every weekend, and greenways popping up everywhere. I moved to Fayetteville in December of 1995, married and had 8 month old son (Hunter), east Tennessee couldn’t hold a flame to the beauty that I saw while riding my bike in Lincoln County. Shade covered roads, deer and turkey everywhere, this was a bicyclist utopia. I would ride loops through Coldwater, Taft, Booneshill, and Mimosa and just couldn’t believe there weren’t more people taking in the beauty that Lincoln County had to offer. There was one guy that I heard rode a lot but was warned that people might think I was him and run me over thinking I was that cocky attorney Ray Fraley. 10 years I rode around Lincoln County, met that attorney Ray Fraley, even rode a few long rides with him and even heard him say, “Why don’t we have and how come we don’t”, and nothing seemed to change but a few shopping centers and housing developments. Where were all the bicycle riders, this was an Olympic sport, what was the deal. In 2006 I started working on some mtn bike trails so my family and I would have a place to hike and ride mtn bikes. 10 miles and 12 months later two families had the first and only bicycle trails in the History of Lincoln County. Next thing you know Dirt, Sweat, and Gears. The race was a success, in two years The race has raised $4000.00 for two charities. Locals talked about it and joked about it, but you also heard that phase, “why don’t we have and how come we don’t”, these trails are private so we still didn’t have a place the community that you could hike for 4 hours or ride our bicycles with our kids without the fear of being run over or getting lost. Starting in the fall of 2008 I’m promoting the sport of bicycling by hosting,”Beat the Freak Cyclocross Series” in Fayetteville Tennessee. The word freak was given to me by that attorney I was warned about. It use to bother me when I here my bicycle buddies scream across the square,” Freak”, then I realized I was part of a community that most people don’t understand, they would ask why would you ride a bike when you could drive a car, or I would here I use to ride a bike to school.
So since I was still riding my bike at age 40, I was a freak. Well there are a lot of freaks in this world and a few are going to visit Fayetteville this fall. October 18,19 25,26 & November 22,23 bicyclist from all over the south will converge on Fayetteville to race cyclocross. Cyclocross is a bicycle race on a one mile loop, usually in a park, that last up to one hour. Seven racing divisions from professional (CX 1,2) to CX 4(beginner) and Juniors( kids 10-18) and of course women(CX 1-4), races start at 9:30am and end around 3:00 pm. Three weekends, six races, the bicycle riding population is about to explode in Fayetteville. 100% of the money raised from this event will be donated To what I think is the most important charity of all, “Our Youth” in our community, specifically the Lincoln County High school Band, Lincoln County High school Cross Country Team and Bicycle Advocacy in Lincoln County. Hopefully proceeds from future events can go to projects like, Trails for Kids, or free bicycle repair clinics for our youth in the community. Hopefully this race series and many future events will deafen those words,” Why don’t we have and how come we don’t”. A leader in our community said to me recently, change starts me. It doesn’t take an army.