A local Arkansan who grew up in Bentonville, Hilary Lex left home after high school, swearing never to return. Fate brought her back and she rewrote the narrative of her relationship with The Natural State because of one unexpected thing: The Inaugural Arkansas Graveler. The Arkansas Graveler is a mixed-surface, 6-day ride across the state of Arkansas that takes cyclists from the rolling hills and hollers of the Ozarks down into the Arkansas Delta river bottoms. Read on below for Hilary’s personal recap…
Bent over my handlebars with tears streaming down my face, I’m completely overcome with emotions—I’ve just completed 365 miles of gravel riding with 27,000 feet of climbing across my home state of Arkansas. But that’s where the story ends.
Theoretically, this story began in 2005 when I left Bentonville, Arkansas after high school, swearing never to return. My relationship with my hometown was strained, sprinkled with broken friendships, a few painful memories, and a sense of not quite belonging. So when my husband’s career brought us back to Bentonville in 2018, I was reluctant and maybe even a bit resentful. I didn’t want to be back in a place I had tried so hard to leave behind. But life has a funny way of bringing you back to the places you thought you’d never return.
When I first signed up for the Arkansas Graveler, I wasn’t even sure I could do it. The elevation profiles and daily mileage looked daunting—well beyond what I thought I was capable of. I knew it would push me to my limits, both physically and emotionally.
Day One kicked off from Razorback Football Stadium, and the 97-degree dense, humid heat was already weighing heavy on us. By the time we hit a sleepy gravel road beyond Fayetteville, I realized this ride would be unlike any other—a chance to explore my home state on two wheels into a world both familiar and unknown…