FRENCH LICK, Ind. —
You can gamble here, dine or shop inside a dazzling domed hotel from a century ago, be pampered at a spa or hunt for souvenirs of Larry Bird, the "hick from French Lick" basketball sensation who grew up here. And now you can go mountain biking in this back-country tourist mecca 90 miles northeast of Evansville.
A five-mile single track loop — just the beginning of a trail system being developed on the French Lick Resort's 3,000 acres — will open early Saturday afternoon. Designer Alex Stewart, known for his work on mountain bike trails in Brown County, Ind., is quoted in a press release as saying he was trying to create one of the state's best downhills, what he calls "a Zen-like feeling of flying downhill immersed in a forest."
According to Stewart, the new Buffalo Trace trail has a mix of dips, rollers and turns that take full advantage of the terrain's rock outcroppings, quarries and caves. Stewart said he hopes to bring a mountain bike race here and put French Lick "on the map" in the biking sport. Although the trail is opening this weekend, the grand opening won't be until Oct. 25. — Rich Davis
Southern Indiana MTB - Join Us !
You can gamble here, dine or shop inside a dazzling domed hotel from a century ago, be pampered at a spa or hunt for souvenirs of Larry Bird, the "hick from French Lick" basketball sensation who grew up here. And now you can go mountain biking in this back-country tourist mecca 90 miles northeast of Evansville.
A five-mile single track loop — just the beginning of a trail system being developed on the French Lick Resort's 3,000 acres — will open early Saturday afternoon. Designer Alex Stewart, known for his work on mountain bike trails in Brown County, Ind., is quoted in a press release as saying he was trying to create one of the state's best downhills, what he calls "a Zen-like feeling of flying downhill immersed in a forest."
According to Stewart, the new Buffalo Trace trail has a mix of dips, rollers and turns that take full advantage of the terrain's rock outcroppings, quarries and caves. Stewart said he hopes to bring a mountain bike race here and put French Lick "on the map" in the biking sport. Although the trail is opening this weekend, the grand opening won't be until Oct. 25. — Rich Davis
Southern Indiana MTB - Join Us !
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