Bikers are taking on uphill climbs across the Cedar Valley, and ascending right along with them are bike sales.

Local dealers and bike repair shops say despite a wet season that has flooded trails and left obstacles of fallen trees, busy dry days are keeping business up.

Brent Johnson, owner of Bike Tech in Cedar Falls, said his business is handling as many as 60-70 bike repairs per week.

“We’ve got some of the best trails, I think, in the country, and those are a huge selling point for our recreational users,” Johnson said.

The coming RAGBRAI is providing additional fuel for business.

Johnson predicts his shop will be at its craziest next week, as RAGBRAI riders bring their last-minute tune-up needs through the door.

Kim Manning, executive director of the Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitors Bureau, said she considers the local trails to be a tourist attraction -- and a growing one, at that.

Lately Manning, a longtime cyclist herself, has been sending out maps in response to trail inquiries from Kansas, Wisconsin and Cedar Rapids.

Visitors from near and far may be drawn to the loop configuration of the Cedar Valley's trails, which, Manning says, makes them more interesting to cyclists.

But one new trail amenity may put a damper on local bike repair business.

Bike maintenance stations, with propping posts, tools and tire pumps, are being added to trails in two Cedar Falls parks -- Pfieffer and Gateway -- after proving very popular on the University of Northern Iowa campus.

As a biker who once got a flat tire near one, Johnson was a huge fan.

As a bike repair shop owner, though, he provides a cautionary note to users: Bikes take some skill to fix, so only do what you're comfortable with.

One thing all trail-related businesses will be watching for this fall is the latest trail use count by the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments. INRCOG conducts the study every five years.

This year's was conducted during the week of June 15. Study leaders took turns in four-hour shifts on a trail, counting the people who passed, logging how they were using the trail and noting whether they were wearing helmets.

Preliminary numbers from Pfeiffer Park were slightly lower this year, but organizers say this likely was due to rainy days and more trail options.

"It just means that we’ve got a lot more places for people to go," said Kevin Blanshan, executive director of INRCOG.

One analysis the study produces is the percentage of out-of-county trail users, which was about 19 percent in 2009.

This is the number that holds the most weight for Manning and the tourism office.

“We want that resource to be used, and that’s good for the community when we bring visitors in,” Manning said.

Cedar Falls, the first Iowa community to be named "bicycle friendly" by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), is now joined by three other Iowa communities on that list. The LAB ranked the state as a whole 25th in the nation for most bicycle-friendly.