The USYoutuber Seth Alvo talks about the paved bike trails that have been created in Bentonville in a recent video post. Bentonville is currently considered a trail hotspot in the USA and has enormous numbers of users on its routes. This is why the project to pave individual hyper-frequented descents and, in particular, some ascent trails was initiated. The main reason for this was to reduce maintenance costs. Contrary to fears, it has been shown that the smoothed trails are also great to ride - if you put aside the demand for crisp single trails. In his article, Seth Alvo shows the background to how these routes came about and how they ride.
 

What is interesting about the asphalt routes is that they were not exclusively shovelled by specialized trail builders, but the surface comes from a company whose core business is the construction of swimming pools. However, the routes are not just made of asphalt, but also of stone slabs that are laid out like a parquet floor.

Despite the displeasure of die-hard mountain bikers about this new construction method: Many of the flow trails in the Alps are ironed so flat that they might as well be asphalted, which would also eliminate the annoying braking bumps. Incidentally, the pump track faction has already had this discussion. When the company Velosolutions first came up with asphalt pump tracks in 2012, they had to put up with a lot of criticism. Today, slick pump tracks are the standard. It is probably only a matter of time before the first paved bike trails find their way through the forests in Europe.