On this episode sponsored by OZ Trails, we chat with Ciara Logan, a deaf cyclist living, working, and riding in Bentonville, Arkansas. Ciara works at Trailblazers, a group knocking down barriers to make cycling accessible for everyone. Through the power of sign language, Ciara shares her experiences and talks about the pioneering work Trailblazers are doing around adaptive cycling — a realm of sport that’s not just about physical activity, but also about joy, independence, and freedom.
Ciara also talks about the Trail Adoption Program, which is comprised of hundreds of volunteers working to keep the trails in tip-top shape.
Before we go, Ciara shares the excitement of the various events and promotions rolling out for those who can clock 150 miles in celebration of the City of Bentonville’s 150th anniversary.
On this episode sponsored by OZ Trails, we chat with Ciara Logan, a deaf cyclist living, working, and riding in Bentonville, Arkansas. Ciara works at Trailblazers, a group knocking down barriers to make cycling accessible for everyone. Through the power of sign language, Ciara shares her experiences and talks about the pioneering work Trailblazers are doing around adaptive cycling — a realm of sport that’s not just about physical activity, but also about joy, independence, and freedom.
Ciara also talks about the Trail Adoption Program, which is comprised of hundreds of volunteers working to keep the trails in tip-top shape.
Before we go, Ciara shares the excitement of the various events and promotions rolling out for those who can clock 150 miles in celebration of the City of Bentonville’s 150th anniversary.
Hello, hello, our loyal listeners, and welcome to Visit Bentonville's A New American Town podcast. I'm your host, Stevie, and this episode is sponsored by OZ Trails. Did you know that a new trail at the Oz Castle in Bentonville, Arkansas, called Firnas took a whole year to design? You'll learn more about that in a few minutes. Our guest today is Ciara Logan, a deaf cyclist living, working and, of course, riding in Northwest Arkansas. Sign language interpreter Alicia Adkins also joins us. Hi, Ciara, the Bentonville cycling community knows you well, but can you introduce yourself to our listeners?
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Ciara Logan. I work for the Trailblazers. I do a lot of work with the trail adoption program and the adaptive mountain bikers with trails, programming and the documentary about them, and how long have you lived here in Northwest Arkansas? Seven, eight years A lot I've been a minute I'm having too much fun, having too much fun.
Speaker 1:I love it. And when did you start riding a bike?
Speaker 2:I have been riding a bike since I was eight, but serious like active riding. It's been about four years now.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Can we talk about your work? You said you work at Trailblazers. Who are they and what exactly is your job there?
Speaker 2:So the Trailblazers do a little bit of everything. So we design and build all the soft surface trails, the greenways. We also have bike programs in schools and then community programs out in the community for adults, for example, like adult first ride and then my job is I run the trail adoption program. I am also helping to produce a documentary which is based off what the Trailblazers are doing for adaptive cyclists, for NAHS is a very good example, the very first one in the country.
Speaker 1:And we'll talk a little bit more about adaptive cycling here in a minute. But you touched on something called the adoption program. That's with the volunteers. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yes, we have over 500 volunteers, so our Trailblazers crew roughly like less than 15. And we have over 300 miles of mountain bike trails so that is too much for them to do. So we rely very heavily on volunteers that go out. They do trail maintenance, they weed eat, they rake, they help bring in more people to fall in love with our area.
Speaker 1:And they have done such an amazing job, as have you and Trailblazers. I want to move on to a little bit more personal of a question what does it mean to you to be a deaf cyclist?
Speaker 2:I mean, my identity is a deaf person. I got an implant in 2020 because of COVID and everyone wearing a mask and I thought that would be the band-aid that kind of fixed everything. But helmets cycling is not made for implants or hearing aids or just in general on your head. So when I wear a helmet I am deaf. I have to take my implant off or turn it all the way down. I can't hear. But here it's good because everyone knows me, so they know who I am. They don't let anyone mess with me. But it still can be very scary because I can't hear if there's a car behind me. I can't hear if there's a person behind me, and there have been instances in the past, but those are far and few in between.
Speaker 1:And we touched on adaptive cycling a couple times already. We've said that word, so can you explain what that really means and how is Trailblazers working to accommodate those adaptive riders?
Speaker 2:So adaptive riders. You'll see them around. If you know Jeremy McGhee or Brian Carlson, they are trikes or three-wheel bikes, either two wheels in the front, one wheel in the back, or one wheel in the front, two in the back. There are a few that are four-wheels, but it's mostly the three-wheel bikes. It's usually something happened in life. They had a horrible accident and now they're in a wheelchair. Instead of sitting at home on the couch, they're on a bike, they're hanging out with their friends, they're camping and hiking and riding bikes. It's more than just a physical activity. It's a mental therapy thing for them. It gives them that sense of independence and freedom. So that's why we at the Trailblazers are so passionate about it, because our motto is movement for all and this is movement for all. So it's a lot of just like pinch points. It's moving a board on a bridge from the inside to the outside of the bridge and then all of a sudden you have a whole trail that's accessible to a three-wheel bike. I mean, honestly, a lot of the trails that they do.
Speaker 2:I will never do, because it's way above my skill level so it's still very challenging and it requires a lot of skill. I mean, I don't know if you can cuss, but they're freaking badasses.
Speaker 1:I think that's definitely a misconception is when people hear that a trail is being modified to accommodate those adaptive riders, that automatically means that it's easier. And I mean you and I know that that's not what it means, but for some people who just aren't aware, that's their automatic assumption and they couldn't be further from the truth.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And I also remember oh God, it was like two summers ago we were working on a blowing springs and we were making adaptive friendly and everyone freaked out they're like no, you're going to make it easy. You're going to make a Tweety Bird (which your Tweety Bird. I've seen people get hurt on Tweety Bird too) but blowing springs it was literally just removing a tree and then the entire blowing springs loop was adaptive, friendly.
Speaker 1:And that's maybe because a certain size of bike, or three wheeled bike maybe couldn't fit through a tree gate,
Speaker 2:Yes. So they need a little bit wider, and it's not just like they need a wider trail because they can do single track. If you're going to have a narrow trail, then you have to think like, what is the closure? What happens? Are they like, how off camber is the trail? Because there are some instances where they can roll down. So I'm trying to think of a trail that would be a really good example. So Apple Dumpling. Apple Dumpling is a great trail.
Speaker 2:I took an adaptive rider on there and ended up having to help them, because there is one section that just makes it not adaptive friendly. During bike fest we were pre-riding everything and they did all the same trails, except for the last two that everyone else did in the Enduro. But the day before we were pre-riding, we're at the Hard Way to the Cafe, totally fine. We made it down. And then we had some riders that stopped right after the bridge on the burn. But because they stopped, they didn't have the speed to carry them through. One of the riders ended up rolling down the hill because it's off camber, it's not flat. So in instances like that, that is something that we have to take into consideration. What are the risk factors? And then that brings in the rating, because it's not just like oh, this trail is adaptive, friendly, they can all ride it. They have beginner intermediate events, just like we do.
Speaker 1:That's a great segue into our next topic, which is a trail called Firnas. What all went into that design and what's the status of that trail as we speak?
Speaker 2:This has been a long project in the making. So about a year ago, we started analyzing the adaptive riders on trail, so we were taking slow-mo video of them and watching what their bike does. So they do have a longer wheelbase, so they need a longer run-in and they need a longer landing. So, while other places have are making trails that are adaptive friendly, that we are the first ones that are making an actual jump line for Adaptive bikes, and it's not just gonna be for adaptive bikes. This is also gonna be a perfect trail for people who are learning how to jump to jump. It's gonna be a teal, which is a mix between green and blue. So and then it will be opening at the end of October Yay at the adaptive summit that OZASA is putting on and we'll have a grand opening.
Speaker 2:We're gonna do a ribbon cutting.
Speaker 1:So I was also gonna ask you about that adaptive summit event. Can you speak a little bit to that?
Speaker 2:Yep, so they. We have 18 ladies coming, which, as a female, I'm really excited about. But this is gonna be one of the largest adaptive summits in the world Gonna be from the 26 to the 28th. We're still looking for support riders, so Send me an email if you want to be a support rider and I'll get you hooked up. But no, we're just, we're gonna be riding our bikes. We're gonna have fun there. We're also gonna do a support rider clinic and then just hanging out and just getting more people on bikes and getting More people on the trails and like showing people why Bentonville and OZ Trails is so amazing, because here you can literally right out your front door and you're on a trail.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. So you mentioned Support riders needed in a clinic. So does that mean that if someone Learns about this need and they say, hey, I'll be here that weekend, let me see if I can help, does that mean you will teach them how to be a support rider and how to best support these folks coming into town? Yep, 100%, amazing Training, training for the job.
Speaker 2:Yeah perfect, making people feel confident to be out there amazing.
Speaker 1:I can't wait to hear how that goes, and I think it sounds like you're gonna have a great turnout.
Speaker 2:I'm really excited. We've been working on this for a while and you know us Trailblazers, we're just really excited to support them Over here for.
Speaker 1:Do you have any messages of encouragement for others who are deaf and might be interested in learning how to mountain bike?
Speaker 2:Come to Bentonville. No, honestly, one of the things that I really love the most is our community is really supportive. We don't really care like if someone has a disability or if someone has a hearing loss. We have some amazing coaches that are willing to work with the deaf community and with people who are hard of hearing. And I think that's my favorite part about this area, because you know like I remember being in Tucson and wanting to take a clinic and you know the coaches there to like. You have to pay a ticket for yourself, you have to pay a ticket for the interpreter, you have to pay for the interpreter, and that gets really expensive, which is not feasible for most of the people in the deaf community. But here, like everyone, just they help each other and they're willing to work together. So
Speaker 1:That's right. We love when people visit here. You said one thing which was we don't care if you have a disability and I'm, I might Go out on a limb and say we do care and we see you and we want to celebrate you. I think trailblazers in particular, it's very clear and evident that they want to support the community of. You know all types of riders and people, and so I think that's Something that's really stellar about your organization is that you do care and you want to celebrate them.
Speaker 2:So it's not that like we don't care, like we do care, but like we don't see a difference, like sure, no, I do have a disability. So like I've had people that are like, oh, I need to help you, like let me do this, like here, I'm just like everybody else and I think that's why I like it so much. So like people care, I care, you care, like we all care, but like we're not, you're not out. Like you're not an outsider, yeah, it doesn't matter. Like you're just, you're on a bike or you're on a scooter or any sort of like physical activity. Like you were out in the world living your best life.
Speaker 1:And I hope I explained that right, yeah, just like the art. At the moment, terry says you belong here.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:What, Ciara, is your favorite trail to ride in Bentonville?
Speaker 2:Even though it just hurt me recently. Loam Wolf is my favorite. What about it? It's different Every time you ride it. It's just it's different. It's fast. It kind of feels like you're in Star Wars, with everything just like flying by. I'm a huge Star Wars nerd, so yeah.
Speaker 1:And Loam Wolf is up at the castle. For those who may not know, and it's rated a black.
Speaker 2:Is that right Black?
Speaker 1:And it's more on the technical side.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes and no. So like Loam Wolf is a rake-and- ride, so like it's a raking ride, it's literally one of the trail builders. They took a rake and they're just like riding and you ride it, but it's a fall line, pretty much, so it changes. Every time it rains, it changes.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else that you would like to talk about today? Do we miss anything? No, I think we got everything Perfect. Where can our listeners find Trailblazers online? Your website, social media, things like that?
Speaker 2:So our website is wearetrailblazersorg. On Instagram is @ we. are. trailblazers and if you would like to become a trail adopter it's @trailblazerstap. We need more adopters.
Speaker 1:They make the world go around, at least on the trails.
Speaker 2:And we have a lot of cool stuff. We give away journeys and gift cards and hats, and hats and bandanas and bottles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have all the swag we do and they, for those listening and or reading, also do lots of giveaways on social as well, so be sure to follow them.
Speaker 2:And if you ride 150 miles in the city of Bentonville to celebrate Bentonville's 150th birthday anniversary, you get a free pair of socks.
Speaker 1:Who doesn't love free socks? Am I right? I love free socks. I've never met a person who rides a bike who doesn't love free socks.
Speaker 2:I'm actually like I have too many socks now that's like our bottle cabinet at home.
Speaker 1:Too many water bottles.
Speaker 2:I am right there with you, because every event has pre bottles.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Ciara and Alicia, for joining us on today's episode of visit Bentonville's, a new American town podcast, and thanks to you, our listeners, for tuning in. Be sure to follow visit Bentonville, oz trails and trailblazers on social media and we'll see you out on the trails.