Do-it-yourself Arkansas across-state bicycle tour

What do you do if you want to take a week-long across-state-bicycle tour of your home state but nothing is offered?

You create your own tour. A handful of members of the Arkansas Bicycle Club earlier this month routed their own 350-mile bicycle tour, without sag support, evening meetings, insurance forms or continuous “on-your-left” warnings.

The self-supported bicycle tour left North Little Rock with four bicyclists on April 13, and after picking up and dropping off riders throughout the rainy week, returned to Little Rock with two cyclists on April 19. Six bicyclists rode all or part of the route.

You may not think this is a big deal, but the 10,000-strong RAGBRAI got its start with relatively humble beginnings.

The first ride in 1973 had two official riders (both members of the Des Moines Register newspaper). They were joined by 114 cyclists who completed the entire route, after the newspaper employees invited the general public.

The Arkansas ride — named Bike Ride Around Arkansas (BRAA) or Bicycle Arkansas (BARK) — got a write-up in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Five of the cyclists were aged 59 to 65; the sixth was 49. They created their own route after determining that the Ozark-Ouachitas Bike Tour published by the state tourism department went along some highly traveled roads.

After the ride, cyclist Jess Askew wrote in the club forum:

“There is no reason to load up and go to California, Colorado or North Carolina for one of these trips when we have such wonderful places in Arkansas to ride and camp.”

You got to give this bunch credit for tackling the bike tour and surviving through the hills and the inclement weather. Maybe a bigger across-state-ride for Arkansas will catch on next year.

Their approximate route is published at the Arkansas Democrat.