Sunny summer weather means one thing to many Iowa State students — time to hit the bike trails.

The Ames area is loaded with notable trails for challenging off-road riding or easy recreational rides, both in and outside town. Both the City of Ames and Story County maintain miles of bike trails, any of which are easily accessible from the ISU campus.

The Story County Conservation Board operates two different types of trails. A number of challenging trail areas for mountain-bike riders are located on county land in several different areas.

Steve Lekwa, Story County Conservation director, said trails throughout the county are open and in good condition despite recent heavy rainfall.

“Some interior trails at McFarland Park are closed to bicyclists,” Lekwa said, but the perimeter trails at the park are open.

Also open to mountain bikers is the extensive trail network at nearby Peterson Pits, a recreation area built around a network of abandoned gravel quarries. Lekwa said flooding from recent rains has left some areas of the park wet and muddy, but that most trails are now open for riding.

“We do ask that mountain bike riders be ‘trail kind’; that is, that they stay out of hilly areas where riding may cause erosion or trail damage when conditions are very wet,” Lekwa said.

He said a few trails are too fragile to allow bikers on because of weather or other conditions. Closed trails are marked with “No Bicycles” signs. Lekwa said trail closings are effective only when necessary, and he advises riders to respect the “No Bikes” signs.

Recreational, as well as off-road riders, can check out the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail, which runs across the south side of Story County from Slater to Rhodes, with both developed and undeveloped sections totaling more than 30 miles.

The part of the trail easiest to reach from Ames is the trailhead at Slater, 11 miles south of town. The trail, built on an abandoned railroad right-of-way, runs east through Huxley to Cambridge, with a compacted-limestone surface suitable for riders.

According to a trail map published by Story County Conservation, picnic areas are located in Slater, Huxley and Cambridge. All three towns also have convenience stores where riders can purchase snacks and cold drinks.

The undeveloped section of the Heart of Iowa Trail begins outside Cambridge and continues through Maxwell to Collins. This part of the trail is cleared and mowed by the county, but the trail’s surface has not yet been finished. It is suitable for mountain bikes and, according to Lekwa, is “challenging.”

Another developed section of the Heart of Iowa Trail begins just outside Collins and continues for several miles to the community of Rhodes. This portion of the trail runs over the Hoy Bridge, a unique arched concrete structure whose design inspired the trail’s logo. Stairs at the east end of the bridge lead to a platform where visitors can get a better look at the bridge.

The City of Ames also maintains an extensive network of bike trails and is currently in the process of constructing several new ones. Most of the city’s trails are built to serve as transportation corridors, providing ways cyclists can get around town on bikes even where traffic congestion is dense.

Scott Logan, city traffic engineer, said the newest bike trail project in town just opened last week. The half-mile asphalt trail along Airport Road provides access from the Ames Industrial Park south of campus to businesses in the busy South Duff area. This trail is part of a multi-section project which, when completed, will connect the South Duff area to the Industrial Park and the ISU campus.

“What we intend to do is to continue the bike path along the [Airport Road] right-of-way,” Logan said.

Logan also said several other new bike trails will be constructed in Ames this summer. The long-awaited East 13th Street bike trail will be built along the north side of 13th Street from Meadow Lane to the Skunk River bridge.

Logan said next year the trail will be continued east to Dayton Road, providing a direct bikeway out of town and connecting with roads leading to the McFarland Park area and county roads north.

Another long-awaited trail project, the Elwood Drive bikeway, will begin construction this fall, with completion scheduled for next summer. This trail, which will be built with funds received from an Iowa DOT grant, will run from Lincoln Way to South 16th Street and continue along Mortensen Road, passing under Highway 30 to the Green Hills road. Logan said construction of this project will be completed in two phases.

Other bikeway projects in the vicinity of the ISU campus include a new trail along Stange Road from Veenker Golf Course to 24th Street, then continuing along 24th Street to the Northridge development. Additional trail construction is expected to be done along George Washington Carver Avenue and Osborne Drive north to 24th Street and out to Bloomington Road.

Logan said construction on these projects is expected to take place throughout the summer and fall.

For more information, a city trail map is available from the Public Works Department, 5th St. and Clark Ave., in downtown Ames. The office telephone number is 239-5160.

Information about Story County bike trails is available from the Story County Conservation office at McFarland Park, located at 56461 180th St. northeast of Ames. Trail maps are available in the park office, and information about current conditions or driving directions to a particular trail are available by calling 232-2516.