New to Iowa and New to Tri

hey jake, welcome to bt and waterloo ia.  

there is a TON of useful information on this site.  dig on in and that should get you started on how to train for the bike.

cedar falls/waterloo has a great trail system.  i don't know where you are in waterloo, but the trail kinda picks up near the john deere plant and runs through george wythe state park and all over cedar falls.  it is a good place to get started, there are a lot of people that use the trails, so it may get crowded with runners and bikers.

iowa publishes a road map specifically for bikers that show highways and the amount of traffic that is typically on them.  they may have these maps at the bike stores (bike tech, europa, scheel's). i know they have them at iowa welcome centers.   there are many roads around the area that people ride on.

for swimming, it is best to get a membership somewhere.  there is an occasional outdoor swim at george wythe with the cedar valley endurance group, but i don't know of many others.  i believe that the waterloo y and the pool at the university of northern iowa both have masters swimming groups.

there are serveral triathlons around the area (within 2 hours drive), it all depends on what you are comfortable with.  there is a running store out of des moines called fitness sports (www.fitnesssports.com) that has a listing of runs and triathlons all over iowa (bt also has a few listed too ).  my first triathlon was the pigman sprint in cedar rapids and it was very beginner friendly.  there is one in waterloo coming up at the end of september called the peregrine charities triathlon, but it is an olympic distance which is about twice as long as a sprint, but like i said, it is all about what you are comfortable with!

Thanks, all your advise was very helpful.