We decided to do things a little differently on “RAGBRAI week”. There are lots of trails, bike shops and breweries in Iowa that we have never been to, so we took this week to do a little BIKEIOWA Road Trip.

We also wanted to hit some less-known trails and destinations around Iowa.

We packed up the RV, loaded up the touring bikes and Fat bike and headed out for the week. We had identified some points of interest and had a general direction where we were going, but nothing was set in stone.

As it stands, we stopped at 14 bike shops, 16 trails and 9 new breweries/bars. We met a lot of new people and saw lots of new sites.

Did we miss RAGBRAI? You bet we did, but this trip was something different and a different kind of fun. It shows there is PLENTY to do in Iowa on your bicycle close to home.

Ride Safe!

2014 BIKEIOWA Road Trip Stops

Bike Trails

1. Raccoon River Valley Trail
2. Sauk Rail Trail - Breda, Carnarvon, Carroll, Lake View, Maple River
   
3. The Three Rivers Trail - Rolfe, Bradgate, Rutland, Humboldt, Dakota City, Thor and Eagle Grove
4. Big Woods Lake Trail – Cedar Falls
5. Cedar Valley Nature Trail – Cedar Falls
6. George Wyth State Park – Cedar Falls
7. Cedar Valley Lakes Trail – Cedar Falls
8. Lone Tree Road Trail – Cedar Falls
9. South Riverside Trail – Cedar Falls
10. Cedar Prairie Trail – Cedar Falls
11. Greenhill Trail – Cedar Falls
12. Kewash Nature Trail - Washington,West Chester,Keota
13. Fairfield Loop Trail – Fairfield
14. The Ottumwa Levee Trail - Ottumwa
15. Cinder Path Trail – Chariton
16. Volksweg Trail – Lake Red Rock - Pella

Bike Shops

Shops with (*) have BIKEIOWA swag – stop in and get some!

1. Bike Tech – Cedar Falls (*)
2. Europa Cycle –Cedar Falls (*)
3. Northtowne Cycling – Cedar Rapids (*)
4. Hall Bicycle Company – Cedar Rapids (*)
5. Broken Spoke - Iowa City (*)
6. World of Bikes - Iowa City (*)
7. Geoff’s Bike & Ski - Iowa City (*)
8. 30th Century Bicycle - Iowa City (*)
9. AJs Bicycle Shop - Fairfield (*)
10. Riverside Cyclery - Ottumwa
11. Connecticut Yankee Pedaler – Chariton (*)
12. Iowa Bike & Fitness – Pella (*)
13. MoJo Cycling - Newton (*)
14. Rasmussen Bike Shop – Altoona (*)

Breweries / Bars

1. Single Speed Brewing Company – Cedar Falls
2. Mulligan’s Brick Oven Grill – Cedar Falls
3. Volks Haus – Waterloo
4. La Calle Latin American Bistro - Cedar Falls
5. Albia Brewing Company – Albia
6. Brick Street Pub & Eatery – Albia
7. Peace Tree Brewing Company – Knoxville
8. Brewhouse No. 25 - Altoona
9. Founder’s Irish Pub – Bondurant

Photos

Fri & Sat - July 18 & 19th RAGBRAI spirit

OK, so we skipped RAGBRAI, but I still got a little "RAGBRAI spirit' in as I took off from Ankeny about 9pm on Friday, rode to Jefferson along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, slept for a few hours, then rode to Carroll, got on the Sauk Rail Trail and met up with some Emus and fellow Barflys in Lake View and rode to Marathon for a little BARmuda Triangle Action. We spent the night there, then the next morning I headed back to Rolfe to get a ride from Julie back to Ankeny so we could begin our road trip. Total mileage fulled loaded was 167 miles.

Tue - July 22^nd - Day 1

Cedar Falls

From Ankeny, we decided our first stop would be Cedar Falls.

Cedar Falls is a progressive bicycle-friendly city with 120+ miles of trails, great maps, information kiosks and bicycle friendly-amenities, and renowned Main Street, it is no wonder it was one of Iowa’s first Bicycle-friendly cities. They were awarded Bronze Status in May 2009 through the League of American Bicyclist’s Bicycle Friendly Community Program.

The last time I was in town and rode the trails was for the Cedar Falls Trails Festival that is held in late June each year. This time was just to get out of Central Iowa and ride some new trails, stop at the local bike shops and breweries.

Maps – On our way into town we stopped at the Cedar Falls Visitor Center. Kim Manning, our CF tourism contact, works there. She was on RAGBRAI, so we got some maps, guides. There was plenty of paved trail information there, but not so much on the dirt trails. We chatted with the lady on duty and left Kim some BIKEIOWA swag and a T-shirt.

I also downloaded the Cedar Valley MApp App (they have one for Android, iPhone and Windows). Bike Tech was one of the driving forces behind the app. One of the best features is being able to turn on layers for paved & dirt trails, water, bike shops, camping, Dining, Lodging, Parks and Schools.

Lodging - We decided to take and RV for the trip and found that George Wyth State Park fit our needs as it was close to downtown Cedar Falls and the Cedar Valley Nature Trail was within sight of our camping spot. If we were not camping, we would have stayed in the historic Black Hawk Motel in downtown Cedar Falls.

Did you know? – George Wyth State park is the northernmost point of the American Discovery Trail in the country.

It was a Tuesday and the park was about 1/3 full, so we got a nice spot with no one beside us. It was $16 per night with electric service. $11 without. It was 90+ degrees out and of course we opted for the electric service to fire up the air conditioning.

We parked, dropped the awning, and got the bikes ready to go. I took plenty of BIKEIOWA stickers and coozies for the bike shops.

Ridin’

Our first stop was to see Guitar Ted aka Mark at Europa Cycle. Mark is responsible for Trans-Iowa, Gravel Grinder News and Twenty Nine Inches. I had not gotten a chance to shake his hand since I did the Trans-Iowa Master Program. It was less than 4 miles by bicycle from our campsite to the shop. We talked gravel for a bit then one of the employee said he was riding from Cedar Falls to Des Moines in mid-August so we started to talk about the best riding routes. He is going to send me his planned route before he takes off. He has a bet with his buddy that he can ride it in a pre-determined time.

Eatin’ & Drinkin’

From there we headed to Single Speed Brewing Company on Main Street (only 3.5 miles from Europa). We saw the gutted building before it was a brewery so this was the first time we stopped in since they’ve been open. We’ve always liked their social media presence, their logo and bicycle-friendliness.

When we walked in, it was 3:30pm on a Tuesday, so there were only a couple of people in the bar. It had a cool vibe and I was drawn to the bicycle artwork that dawned the walls. I estimate 12 really cool pieces of art throughout the place. I wanted to ask who did the artwork, but never did. Argh. Does anyone know the story?

Beers - I had a Saison Five (a farmhouse ale) and Julie had the Hop Squeezed Juice (some grapefruit and a few other mixin’s with their IPA Blanco). We ordered the tasty Jalapeno Jack Dip as an appetizer (Jalapeno and spinach cheese dip server with salty blue-corn tortilla chips). The beer hit the spot as did the chips-n-dip. We could have stayed for a few more, but decided to get back on the trails.

Before we left, we dropped off some more BIKEIOWA swag at Bike Tech who “lives” two doors down from Single Speed Brewery (how do they get any work done?!?). We knew Brent would be on RAGBRAI as they are an official repair shop. We met the crew and they said they were enjoying a little lull time this week after the mad-Brai rush the weeks before. Bike Tech has been a BIKEIOWA sponsor for a couple of years now and post at least three weekly rides and other events on the BIKEIOWA calendar.

From Bike Tech, we rode the scenic Big Woods Trail for a loop around (go figure) Big Woods Lake which was about 4 miles total. There were information kiosks throughout, restrooms, camping, parking and boat ramps. After that, we rode another loop that encompassed the Cedar Valley Lakes Trail, Lone Tree Road Trail and part of the Big Woods Trail. If we would have known there was a turn off on the North part of the Big Woods Trail, we would have taken it the first time.

We rode back to the campsite, had a few beers then grilled up some steak and potatoes for supper. What a fine beginning to vacation!

Wed July 23rd - Day 2

Read Review

Thu July 24^th- Day 3

Read Review

Fri July 25th- Day 4

Sat –July 26th – Day 5

Read Review

Road Trip Complete

Well – There you have it. The 2014 BIKEIOWA Road Trip is in the books! 14 bike trails, 16 Bike Shops and 9 breweries/ bars in 5 days. Was it long enough? Heck No! We made a good dent, but there are still plenty of places on our list that we did not get to, but will on the next road trip!

Where do YOU BIKE IOWA?