Mike Kelsey
By Jeannette Balleza, Fri Dec 9th

With hair slightly unkempt, earnest eyes and a potentiallyroguish grin, Mike Kelsey has an air of unmistakable grit abouthim. An avid cyclist for close to 18 years and a lifetimeoutdoor enthusiast, he is no stranger to the danger of mountainbike racing, the thrill of competing and the triumph of winning.Although now a self-proclaimed "weekend warrior," he still rideswith his BOB trailer of tools in tow, and his unflaggingdevotion to trail building, repair and maintenance in theOuachita Mountains is widely apparent.

"I love to build hiking and mountain biking trails," confessedthe 2003 Arkansas Trail Volunteer of the Year. "It is a good wayto spend some hours in the woods, get some fresh air andexercise while creating something to be enjoyed by all." Kelsey,who spends between 100 and 200 volunteer hours each year ontrails statewide, has worked on the following routes: WombleTrail in Oden, Camp Pioneer Trails in Hatfield, Earthquake RidgeTrail in Mena, Little Missouri Trail, Wolf Pen Gap ATV Trails,Charlton Trail and Attila the Hun Trail.

"You just go out and identify problem areas, whether it's aproblem of erosion or just an area that needs maintenance," heremarked. "Whether it be hiking or biking, continued use of atrail sometimes translates into some degradation. It's easy toconstruct a trail from point A to point B, but you have to dealwith creeks, ridges, mountains and gullies as well as all thethings concerned with protecting the trail from erosion. Awell-designed trail, however, can take a lot of traffic withoutdegradation."

In addition to his trail work, Kelsey maintains several websites

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relating to tours, mountain bike and road racesand trail opportunities. The Bike Arkansas Directory(www.bikearkansas.com) serves mainly as a collection ofresources, including bike shops, teams, clubs or events in TheNatural State. He also updates the web site for the ArkansasMountain Bike Championship Series (www.ambcs.com), keeping anactive calendar, presenting race results, tracking seriesresults and posting team challenge results. Other related websites include the following:

? Ouachita Mountain Bike Adventures (www.ouachitaadventures.com)? Arkansas (www.cyclingarkansas.com) ? Ozark Off-RoadCyclists (www.ozarkoffroadcyclists.com) ? International MountainBicycling Association (www.imba.com)

Furthermore, Kelsey is a supporter of the Arkansas Pay DirtProgram, which links mountain bike racing to trail advocacy. Toparticipate in Pay Dirt, racers commit themselves to a certainnumber of hours of trail maintenance. In turn, racers receivepoints to apply to this year's racing totals. For example, if aracer puts in 8 hours on an official Pay Dirt work trip, then heor she is granted the equivalent of a first-place win.

With approximately 600 miles of trails, the Ouachitas have thelargest ratio of trails to local users than in probably anystate. "There are very few people to work, so it takes some verydedicated individuals," Kelsey declared. "It's important toencourage members of the racing community to become stewards ofthe trail."

About the author:Copywriter/editor Jeannette Balleza owns Scribe Marketing, Inc.(http://www.scribemarketing.com), which offers contentdevelopment and refinement. You may contact her for creativeconcept development, copywriting, editing and research atjeannette@scribemarketing.com.