My Town, My Ride

Joshua Gordon enjoys riding in Little Rock.

By Joshua Gordon | Photography by Kai Caddy

I moved to Little Rock in 2008 with my family from Mississippi. A big reason behind that move was the Arkansas River Trail and the Big Dam Bridge.

I stayed with a friend the weekend I came up to interview, and he took me on a mountain bike ride leaving right from his driveway. We spent the morning exploring Burns Park and the River Trail, which then was bounded on the eastern side by the Junction Bridge and on the western side by the Big Dam Bridge.

Boulevard Bread Company had a location in the Little Rock River Market, and we enjoyed a coffee and a pastry before making the turn back upriver. We rode 50 miles that day between road and pavement, explored all there was to explore at that time, and, crossing the Big Dam Bridge on the way back, I knew I was hooked — Little Rock was where I wanted to be.

It is almost 18 years to the day that I have been in Little Rock, and the River Trail, and destinations along it, have only improved.
These days, we cross the river in the east at the Clinton Library Bridge, and extend past the Big Dam Bridge in the west through Two Rivers Park to explore Pulaski County roads out to Pinnacle Mountain and beyond.

“It is almost 18 years to the day that I have been in Little Rock, and the River Trail, and destinations along it, have only improved.”

While there are still opportunities to improve, like “closing the loop” between Arch Street and Riverfront Drive, riding in Little Rock has only improved. New riding destinations include stops like Flyway Brewing, just off the River Trail in North Little Rock, Fidel & Co. coffee shops (with locations in Riverdale and East Village) and Moody Brews in Pettaway, serviced by bike lanes on Main Street through SOMA. I could go on and on.

A weekly highlight for many of these destinations and others is Pedal Party LR, a community ride started by three brave souls who simply wanted a way to enjoy their town with their friends. They meet each Monday from April to October at a different starting location and meander around downtown Little Rock, exposing those who join them to parts of the city I am grateful to know exist. I was a late convert to their shenanigans, joining almost three years into their growing tenure.

However, I have found fast friends (and more!) in their community. Young, old and every age in between, Pedal Party gathers everyone to meander the streets of Little Rock, Critical Mass-style, pulling in anyone who encounters their friendly, infectious orbit.

Central Arkansas also rewards gravel riding. One of my favorite rides launches from Lake Sylvia and follows Trail 86 through the Ouachita National Forest and Flatside Wilderness to the Hollis Country Store. In business for nearly 100 years, it once served CCC/WPA laborers and others in its rural community; now it caters to car and motorcycle enthusiasts enjoying the twists, hills and turns of rural Arkansas Highway 7.

Donnie and Gena, the owners, always delight, in welcoming those of us who wander in dusty, hot, hungry and thirsty. They serve the best fried bologna sandwiches, old-fashioned soft drinks and homemade pie. While it may be all you can do to roll out of there with full bellies, rest assured you are fully fueled for the ride back through the mountains.

Little Rock’s position as a crossroads to the Arkansas Delta, the Arkansas River Valley and the Ouachita Mountains makes it an ideal riding destination.

Want flat and fast? Ride east. Crave hills and forests? Ride west. All other directions are wonderful rolling vistas. All of it anchored by a river and a big dam bridge.