July 14 & July 15, 2012.
All the motels on the river are sold out for a fishing tournament so we are going to ride the Cedar Valley Nature Trail for as much as we can. There will be detours on local highways around the closed sections.
Meet at 9:00 am at the Hiawatha Trail Head, i380, Boyson Road exit, 3 blocks east.
Overnight at The Days Inn (formerly the CrossRoads Heartland Inn). Call 319 235 4461 and ask for the manager "Patel" and tell him you are with the "bicycle group" for the discount. There is a large church convention at the UNI Dome so rooms in the CF/Waterloo area are getting sold out.
The CVNT bridge over the Cedar River between Brandon and LaPorte City is still out so we will have to detour around that. About 8 miles on roads. Low traffic gravel roads are an option for part of the detour but not all.
There is a paving project between County Home Road and Center Point so there may be detours there too. Well find out when we get there.
20 years! This is the 20th year for the Cedar Valley Tour. Lets hope the trail will be open all the way by next summer and we can have a big turnout for the grand re-opening of the trail.
Post ride report:
ReplyDeleteCurrent construction on the trail from County Home Road, north about 6 miles to McNeil Road. The work is nearly done (due date was July 15). Should be done in a couple of weeks.
The bridge over the Cedar River between Brandon & La Porte City is still closed. Due date for rebuilding is in 2012. Don't hold your breath.
A good detour exists.
Heading north directions: Take the trail from Brandon, past the quarry, take the first lane to the right. There was a small sign saying bridge out, detour>>. You have about 100 yards of grass & rock, then you get to the end of Bader Road. Take Bader Road (gravel) about 3/4 mile, turn left on Harmon Road (gravel), 1.4 miles later it becomes chip seal. Harmon becomes Barnes Ferry Road. Turn left at the stop sign at Brandon Road. 2 miles to LaPorte City on Brandon Road. Adds about 2 miles over the trail distance but has little to no traffic. The 2.2 miles on gravel are quite good. Hard packed and recently scraped off.
Heading south: Take 8th Street, that becomes Brandon Road, cross the 2 new bridges, up a slight hill, turn right at the cemetery on to Barnes Ferry Road. That becomes Harmon Road, turns to gravel. Turn right at the T intersection on to Bader Road. 100 yards past the end of Bader is the trail, turn left.
~2 miles on Brandon Road.
~2 miles on BarnesFerry/Harmon.
~2 miles of good gravel on Harmon/Bader.
The rest of the trail is in good to excellent condition.
The 2 miles on either side of Brandon are a bit overgrown and there is grass on the trail for a quieter ride.
There are no barricades north of Brandon to the Bader lane turnoff. The trail is open there and is being maintained and is in great shape.
Because of all the closings, there is very little bicycle traffic so it's a peaceful ride.