Marcus_Ti

Work is calling me on and off to Sioux City IA for a bit. And I think I can fit riding in while I'm up there.From a quick perusal SC has a trails network...but I was wondering if anyone knows how good it is to use IRL...Odds are with the time I'd have to ride I'd contain myself to the city and immediate environs.

Also-which bike to bring? Speedie (road) or ATB (gravel)? Can't tell easily how much of their trails network is paved or not.


Thanks y'all.

shoota 

Just in case you haven't perused Strava's Heatmap yet: https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#13/-...9400/blue/bike

mstateglfr 

Ive ridden up around there a couple times. The town itself has very little in terms of dedicated paved trails/MUPs.
There is one along the river for a handful of miles and another that starts/ends at Briar Cliff U.

I personally would bring a gravel bike and ride some roads outside of town. You dont need to go far to hit gravel up there- its part of the immediate vicinity(at least what i'd consider immediate. Once you go a couple miles east of town, its basically all gravel in a 1mile segment grid pattern. Roads north and south of town are not grid style because they follow the river and topography.

You could quickly access a 5, 10, or 20mi gravel ride from town and start it in the same time it would take to get to one or both of the paved trails I know of. That town just isnt huge.

Here is a map thats a few years old but still valuable- https://www.iowagravelroads.com/

Cervelo

I live in Sioux City. The bike trail system is all paved but fairly limited. Certainly nothing like Omaha has for instance. On the other hand there are some nice mountain bike trail systems in town. One is located in Stone State Park on north side of town, another at Bacon Creek park on the east edge of town. The final one I would mention is located across a street from me. It a old landfill that has not been closed for forty years so nothing can be built on it. It has miles and miles of trails but is not formally maintained. This is on the west edge of town.


For road bike I would stay away from the paved trail system if you have any desire to ride far or fast. It is limited as I said and can be crowded for any serious riding. The best bet for riding road is to go to the edge of town to the north, west, or east there are lots of lightly traveled mostly well paved roads.


I do not know what area of town you are staying matter where you are you should be able to get out of town pretty quickly to do some nice road riding. I mostly cross over into South Dakota from west side of Sioux City. Little traffic and can quickly get out of town.


Hope that helps.