Business Spotlight: Flyer Miles

With the Ozark stretch of the Chadwick Flyer Trail slated to open this spring, local residents and business owners are anticipating enhancements to transportation and recreation throughout the region. Chad Davis, owner of Totally Rad E-Bikes LLC in Ozark, built his business alongside the trail system, and continues to grow with it. 

“It really ties these communities together,” he said.

Founded in Branson in 2022, Totally Rad initially focused on rental electronic bikes, also called e-bikes, which are built like typical pedal bikes with the addition of a small electric motor that activates when the rider pedals. E-bikes range in three classes of power, with various models for different functions such as street, paved trail or off-road riding.

“It’s taking the love of a regular pedal bike and adding an electric motor to make getting around these hills a lot easier,” said Davis, who also is a real estate litigation attorney at Chad R. Davis LLC.

Totally Rad moved locations to Ozark in 2024 after Davis found most of his customers were coming from farther north where there is, he said, “a bigger biking community, a bigger e-biking community and a better trail system.” He then transitioned the business to exclusively bike sales and repairs.

While all kinds of people gravitate toward e-bikes, most of Totally Rad’s clients are of retirement age and those with mobility concerns that can make riding a pedal bike challenging. Springfield resident Jeff Grayless purchased his Velotric Fold e-bike from Totally Rad for both recreation and transportation. As a lifelong biker, he said the e-bike allows him to continue the sport despite back pain.

“Being able to keep my posture sitting up makes a huge difference,” he said, “and I can go all day now where before I’d go two hours and I’d be sore.”

Down the trail
The Ozarks is a great place to be an e-biker, Grayless and Davis agree, with extensive paved and off-road trail systems. According to Ozark Greenways Inc.’s website, there are approximately 110 miles of trails throughout the region, and that’s expanding – such as with the Chadwick Flyer. City of Ozark Public Works Director Jeremy Parsons said construction is on schedule with only segments of railings and primary walls and a substantial completion walkthrough with the Missouri Department of Transportation remaining. The city is already building two additional branches off the main trail connecting Finley Farms to Finley River Park, and Finley River Park to Garrison Springs Community Forest.

At its March 15 meeting, the Ozark Board of Aldermen unanimously approved two items in the Finley River trail expansion project: approximately $1.1 million to construct phase one of a connector trail from The OC to Highway 65 and another $318,649 to continue a trail along Jackson Street, connecting it to the Chadwick Flyer. All monies allocated are an 80-20 split between federal funding and the city’s match.

When planning its portion of the Chadwick Flyer, Parsons said the city drew inspiration from northwest Arkansas, which Davis calls a Mecca for bikers. 

“We met with several of those municipalities along that trail, and it opened our eyes to, A, regionalism, and, B, creating this trail network that has all these nodes of activity,” Parsons said. “You preserve some of that rural character, but, yes, it opens up opportunities for amenities along that trail and little pockets of development that can feed off of the activities that that trail encourages.”

Ozark’s new segment of the Chadwick Flyer, which includes a multimodal bridge over Highway 65, was also 80-20 funded with 80% of the approximately $4.05 million project provided through federal grants and private donations. Another $450,000 came from the city’s budget.

“Had it not been for these [funding] opportunities, we could have never been so aggressive,” Parsons said. “This has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding projects that the city has taken on.”

Beyond Ozark, the Chadwick Flyer will ultimately be an inter-community artery extending to Lake Springfield, said Ozark Greenways Executive Director Benjamin Tegeler, with connecting trails eventually reaching Bolivar. Right now, one focus is linking the Chadwick Flyer between Christian and Greene counties.

“We have to fill the gaps and deal with landowners,” said Tegeler, “and kind of be that glue that is continuous throughout the entire project because it spans multiple jurisdictions, multiple counties and all sorts of different regulations between.”

On Feb. 23, Springfield City Council appropriated $10.8 million in Spring Forward SGF sales tax funds to continue park, trail and corridor projects, including $4.3 million to projects in the Trails for Springfield initiative, of which Ozark Greenways is a lead partner.

A holistic network
Davis said he has seen an increase in customers purchasing e-bikes as a mode of transportation. With the expansion of trails like the Chadwick Flyer, the option is becoming more appealing. Tegeler – who rides an e-bike to work – said a visit to Europe soon out of high school expanded his perspective and informed the trajectory of his career in urban planning. When developing trail systems today, he considers how these networks can become important methods of transportation for people like e-bikers.

“All of our cities in America are designed around the vehicle,” he said. “We are so sprawled out now, but we can start being intentional and very prioritized that every time we do a development, we ensure that people can get around safely, and that the priority is on the pedestrian and the cyclist and the mom with the stroller or the senior in a wheelchair.”

Parsons said the Chadwick Flyer was designed with transportation in mind, not just recreation, and a portion of funding for the trail came from sources such as the federal Carbon Reduction Program, and other health-based initiatives offered post-COVID.

“One of the key components that we’ve been talking about since day one is multimodal transportation, encouraging people to walk or cycle,” Parsons said. “That means that we can also provide not just an experience, but the health benefits that come with that.”

The trail also opens up new opportunities for businesses like Totally Rad. Davis is even contemplating building a larger shop along the Chadwick Flyer in the next couple years, potentially bringing back rental options. 

“I anticipate that it’s going to be extremely beneficial to my bike shop,” Davis said. “Being on the trail, the Ozark loop, which connects to the Chadwick Flyer, it’s only going to continue to draw awareness to e-biking as a viable option.”