While most students spent their Sunday catching up on sleep and doing homework, 75 people rode their bikes around eastern Story County and ate some food along the way.

The second annual Ames Local Food Cycle took place with eight stops along 26.6 miles.

“We wanted to engage people with people who grow local food,” said Emily Zimmerman, president of the Sustainable Agriculture Student Association and graduate assistant in natural resource ecology and management.

The event, co-sponsored with Prairie Rivers of Iowa, included a variety of stops and foods approximately every five miles along the route.

The goal of the Local Food Cycle was to promote local farmers. After finding participants, a route was chosen with the least amount of gravel while still being less than 30 miles.

Two stops made during the bike ride were hosted by Central Elementary School and Story County Medical Center. Proceeds of the event are going to install community gardens in those two locations.

Food for the event started with granola from Wheatsfield Co-Op. 

Other food during the ride included vegetable kabobs from Flame and Skewer in North Grand Mall, sliders with meat prepared from Story City Locker, popcorn from Gatton Farms, a salad provided by ISU dining and finally a root beer float with ice cream provided by Blue Bunny from Le Mars, Iowa.

Some favorites among those attending, including Zimmerman, were the breakfast burritos, which were served before the ride, and the root beer floats that rounded off the ride.

A couple of other stops along the route included Walkabout Gardens, a nationally acclaimed lily garden, and Trinity Farms, a graze farm with cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens and turkeys.

Other stops strayed from the farm theme, including Hertz Family Woods, a nature reserve, Lee’s Greens greenhouses and Reed-Niland Corner, a historical corner in Story County that houses a cafe, hotel and self-guided walking tour.

“We got to showcase those as well to show ways we were impacting the community,” said Kellie Engelman, local foods coordinator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa.

The last stop was Niland’s Cafe at the Reed-Niland Corner in Colo, Iowa, with live music from local Ames band Britches and Hose.

Participants then had the option of returning back on their bikes or taking a hayride to the starting destination.

The idea for the Local Food Cycle was started last year with a partnership between Story County Conservation and Prairie Rivers of Iowa.

Other local food cycles take place across Iowa including Davenport, Marquette and Bettendorf, Iowa.