Connie Cottingham had never really had the urge to try mountain biking, but found herself in a Women of Oz beginner mountain bike class anyway. She was in the middle of writing “100 Things to Do in Bentonville/Rogers Before You Die,” and felt that she couldn’t be a credible narrator until she’d tried this rite of passage for those who live in the area.

So she rented a mountain bike, had it delivered, went to the class and reports, “I was probably their worst student ever!” The organization had her and half a dozen other women circling on a sloped, grassy area and she was getting tired from the effort. Turns out she was in the wrong gear. “For about five seconds, I hated every mountain biker and mountain bike, but I was able to stand on the bike and coast.”

Cottingham didn’t make it to a mountain bike trail, but managed to ride on the asphalt. She learned something new and as a result felt better capable of writing a guide to her home region.

“100 Things to Do in Bentonville/Rogers Before You Die,” published by Reedy Press is a handy, quick guide to finding fun and fresh ideas for what to do in the two towns, and a bit in Bella Vista. The descriptions are brief, just 130 words per item.

“My job is to get you to the address or website,” Cottingham said by Zoom. The writing style is conversational. “Like the way you’d be at a party and say ‘You’ve got to try this place.’”

It’s divided, almost equally, into five categories: food and drink, music and entertainment, sports and recreation, culture and history and shopping and fashion. Culture and history was a slightly bigger section, Cottingham said, because our area is rich with it. At the end of the volume are itineraries and activities organized by season.

While it can be useful to tourists, and Cottingham would love to see the book on the counters of local Airbnb properties, she intended the book to be a way for residents to discover something new about the area where they live.

“I had a friend who lived in Savannah; she and her girlfriends got tired of book club and they decided they would be a tourist in their own town,” Cottingham said. Each time they went out, they would “try a different tourist destination and plan the full tour and experience and discover something new.”

Susie Q Malt Shop, Sweet Freedom Cheese and The Peel Mansion were among the very first entries Connie wanted to make. Susie Q was iconic to the city of Rogers, Sweet Freedom a unique place and Cottingham was married at Peel. She used them as examples when landing the deal. Then the tornadoes of May 26 devastated the malt shop and the cheese shop closed, which changed her entries a little bit.

Despite that disappointment, the first 80 entries came easy, Cottingham said, and the last few were a little more difficult. But since no businesses paid to be in the book, she could make selections and write whatever she wanted. The first six months were pure research: trying mountain biking, visiting the area’s 17 museums, taking herself out for lunch. “It’s not a bad gig,” she admitted.

While she hasn’t tried every restaurant in the Northwest Arkansas region, she has tried many of them. The delight has been reimagining some of the places she’s familiar with, usually when something didn’t go according to plan.

The day after Christmas, when she and a group had planned to go to the Venetian Inn in Tontitown, not realizing it was closed that day, they searched for a “plan B.”

“We started roaming downtown Rogers and it was proving impossible to get a table for five,” Cottingham recalled. The crew wandered into Iron Horse Coffee Company, where the staff told them they made sandwiches from scratch and had a huge table for them to sit at. “Everyone ordered a different sandwich, and everyone loved theirs. We had a great conversation and it was easy to hear what everyone was saying.”

Before that experience, Cottingham had considered them a coffee shop, not a lunch destination, but the discovery process of her book changed that for many locations.

During a visit from her brother, they tried out the Black Crown Social Cigar Bar, which Connie would never have gone to by herself. They, and their group of seven others, wound up staying for hours even though only a couple of them smoked cigars and a couple of them had whiskey. The rest ordered wine, mixed drinks and enjoyed the company.

When picking up this book, Cottingham warns “it’s not the 100 best things or the 100 only things” the area has to offer. “No two people would choose the same 100 things for the same 100 reasons,” she said. “Looking back I’d probably switch a few out.”

That’s why she’s got her fingers crossed for a second edition, so she can add to the destinations, including the Walmart museum.

“100 Things to Do in Bentonville/Rogers Before You Die” is a resource for locals, Cottingham said, that could be mailed to someone to convince them to visit the area (and you), or a handy guide for your guest room nightstand — at the ready to spark an interest in what you can do together.

She personally likes to use it with her niece and nephew. Connie will choose three potential outings, and they’ll select from that, or vice versa.

Cottingham said she designed this book to be very readable and hopes it will inspire others to do all 100 or learn a little bit more about something they’re already familiar with.