Trail: Cedar Prairie Trail, Cedar Valley Lakes Trail, Big Lake Loop Trail, South Riverside Trail and the Sergeant Road Trail in the Cedar Falls and Waterloo Iowa area. It should be noted that most of these trails were NOT rails to trails but bike paths with plenty of twists and turns and small hills.
Start: Cedar Prairie Trail near Super 8 Motel.
Route: Ride several bike trails in the Cedar Falls and Waterloo Iowa area. This was just a short half day ride while on my way to South Dakota.
Distance 44 miles round trip.
Weather: Mostly Sunny. Temp: 50-70 degrees.
Low Elev 850, Hi Elev 970. Feet Ascended: 960
Trail Material: All Smooth Asphalt.
Rating: Thumbs Up.
Wow. One can get all around Cedar Falls - Waterloo area safely on multiple car free bike trails. I timed this trip to avoid RAGBRAI which went through this area a couple days earlier. RABGRAI is an organized week long event of 10-20 thousand bicyclers riding across Iowa. I can see the 40 year old event has influenced Iowa's perception of the value of bicycle tourism by the availability of all the bike trails in these two inter connecting towns.
Highlights of this trip: Lots of wildflowers and a wide variety of scenery. Cedar River, Black Hawk Creek, and Big Woods Lake. Vibrant downtown Cedar Falls to quiet rural farmland. Dense canopy creek side trails to treeless top of levee views. I didn't want this ride to end.