I rode sw arak out and back days totaling about 150 miles. I did it on a road bike, but with wider than normal tires. It was ok. They need to keep it packed better. The towns along the way were all cute and all had city park campgrounds. Beautiful country
For reference, we’re weekend riders, so not too serious. Our longest ride every year is just about 40 miles round trip. We’ve been wanting to check out the Cowboy for a while bc we’ve ridden other Rails to Trails in NE and really enjoyed them. Since we were kayaking, we decided to bring the bikes and ride to the bridge. We started at the Valentine trailhead (in town) and rode about 7 miles out. We stopped before the trail started to follow the highway. The rock is a little loose close to the bridge, not as compact as when you get further out. The trail is well maintained and the scenery is pretty.
We drove out to Valentine on Highway 20 from Omaha so we could see the trail almost the whole way bc it follows the highway. The trail is exposed the entire way and Nebraska is ALWAYS windy, so plan for that if you decide to ride a long distance. There will likely be a crosswind most of the time. We plan to come back and ride from Valentine to Wood Lake (24 miles). Enjoy your ride and stay safe!