Cedar Valley Tour 2013

July 13 & July 14, 2013.

The CVNT bridge at McFarlane Park is rebuilt and open!  Trail all the way to Shaulis Road.

21 years!  This is the 21st year for the Cedar Valley Tour. 
 

Meet at 9:00 am at the Hiawatha Trail Head, i380, Boyson Road exit, 3 blocks east. You can leave your car parked in the lot overnight.

Overnight at The Days Inn (formerly the CrossRoads Heartland Inn).  Call 319 235 4461 and ask for the manager "Mr Patel" and tell him you are with the "Cedar Valley Tour" for the discount which is about $20 off the regular rate.

We ride slow!  We stop every chance we get.  But we do try to get to the motel by 5 pm, clean up and head out for dinner in the neighborhood.  Stops usually include Lafayette (no services), Center Point, Urbana, Brandon, La Port City (ice cream!), Gilbertville and a few scenic overlooks along the way.

Distance of the entire CVNT is 52 miles. But we will turn off a few miles before the northern terminus to get to the motel more directly. Follow East Shaulis Road, Cedar Terrace Drive, Texas Street, San Marnin Drive (2 blocks), and La Porte Road (100 ft). This is the back way to the motel that has only 1 block of traffic. Total distance is about 56 miles each day.

This is a Hawkeye Bicycle Association ride. Helmet use is requested.

Cedar Valley Tour 2012

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.

Cedar Valley Tour EAST in 2011

We will be doing the Cedar Valley Tour again in 2011. This makes it the 19th Annual edition.

The tour will be the same Cedar Valley Tour EAST along the mississippi river as the past 3 years. July 16 & 17 2011. Starting at 9:00 am at the historic Fort Armstrong at the southern tip of Rock Island island in the middle of the Mississippi river in The Quad Cities. We will take the MRT, Mississippi River Trail north on the Illinois side to just north of Thompson. This trail is part bicycle trail and part back roads with nearly no traffic. You get a great view of the Mississippi river and Iowa on many sections. Other attractions are the old Dutch Windmill in Fulton, the Cordova Drag Strip, the Cordova nuke plant (same GE model that is melting down in Japan after the earthquake & tsunami), the Sand Prairie park near Thompson, the once and former slammer replacement for guan tanamo bay prisonors. The nature preserve near Albany. The MRT is paved all the way, no crushed rock. As usual we go slow and stop every where we can. Second breakfast in Port Byron, ice cream in Fulton, the bike shop in Thompson. We over night at Buck's Barn, a golf club resort with a motel, pool and restaurant & bar. There is no parking at Fort Armstrong but there is plenty across the river in Davenport or Rock Island.

Where we stayed in 2008 & 2009 & 2010

Lynnwood Lynks (motel at golf course) aka Bucks Barn.
(about 4 miles south of Savanna)
Lots of rooms, all non-stenching. The usual continental breakfast is included.
http://www.bucksbarngolfresort.com/page/52-1389.htm
Reservations - Call Toll Free 1-866-596-6966 ext 3.
I've reserved 7 rooms, call to get yours, tell them you are with the Cedar Valley Tour. Call soon to get a ground floor room.

Mississippi River Trail information
http://www.bikelib.org/maps-and-rides/route-guides/mississippi-river-trail/

The trail guide from QC Online from 2009, still good info.
http://adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com/dispargldr/ss/079509/

This ride is an official Hawkeye Bicycle Assocition ride. No fees but you are on your own for food and accomodations. We haul our own gear as needed. Helmet use is requested for all HBA rides.

notes on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

The 2008 flood destroyed the two large bridges over the Cedar River. Construction is under way to replace the northern most bridge by Evansdale. Expected to be completed by later in 2011. The other bridge between LaPorte City and Brandon is mostly funded and reconstruction is expected to begin in 2011 with a completion date sometime in 2012.

The Linn County Trail Association has been fund rasing with the intent to add more asphalt north from County Home Road. Expect periodic trail closings when that work is under way.