You will likely be even more spoiled by Madison. Really truly an amazing town. From Madison and spent some time in Austin over the years. The riding is 5x better. You won't have barton springs, and it is colder for sure but the summers should be more pleasant.

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Great riding in the summer and the occasional 65F day in February/March. Roads are in pretty good shape and it is easy to find routes with little to no traffic once you are out of the city of Madison.

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Owner of a few Speed Concepts since 2011.

Madison is great, but there is (potentially) a lot of winter. Get some xc skis, snowshoes, fat bike, etc. if you move here. I've found, at least for me, the key to winter is not holding up inside, but getting outside. During the spring/summer/fall there are quite a few local triathlons and running events. The riding is great, but steer clear of the Ironman course or thereabouts when summer begins. Drivers' attitudes begin to change when a lot of people are on the course.

I agree with the other posts. Truly a cool area and they seem to be much more outside-active in the cold months than the rest of the Midwest.

You also have access to some great cyclocross in Madison, Milwaukee, World Cup Race at Trek, the wondeful Chicago series, and now a Rockford series in the Spring. If you like to do unpaved riding, heading south and west from Madison has some amazing features. Very few people outside of the IL/WI/IA/MN corridor know what the 'Driftless Area' is.

I think you'll love it once yo adapt to the cold. I agree that the riding is so many times better. The tri scene is very big, but VERY cliquish. That said, there are a LOT of good group rides that welcome all abilities; some ending at a brewery with music. Decent swim opportunities but lakes are a bit murky generally. Devil's Lake and Lake Geneva are great swim areas in a short drive, or ride. You can pretty much find hills, flat, trails, roads, tracks, pools, lakes within a short distance. And although the belt line can get busy, the traffic is a dream compared to Austin. If you take a trip up here I'd be happy to show you a few things......

It pains me to say this, because I live in the Champaign, IL, area, home to the University of Illinois, rival to Madison's University of Wisconsin. But Madison is one of the best places in the Midwest to live in. Maybe THE best. Like Austin, it comes with all the perks of being home to the state's flagship university and being the state capitol. Unemployment is low, wages are relatively high, and there's a lot of outdoorsy stuff to do both in in town and nearby. Compared to Austin, however, it's about a quarter of the size. To me that's a plus. I think it's just the right size.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

I really love the riding out into Hill Country west of Austin. Is there riding like that in Madison? I used to live in Ann Arbor so I'm no stranger to the cold, but I don't know if I can go back to my trainer for winters!

Madison is an incredibly active community with great biking and running. The winters suck, there is no way around that, but you learn to bundle up and embrace it. I was running in -10 degree wind chills a few times this winter and passing by other runners. On the same days, I see people commuting by bike like clockwork. There is not much weather-wise that will keep this town inside.

onceatriathlet3 wrote:

I really love the riding out into Hill Country west of Austin. Is there riding like that in Madison? I used to live in Ann Arbor so I'm no stranger to the cold, but I don't know if I can go back to my trainer for winters!

Most everything south and east of Madison was flattened by glaciers in the last ice age. But the "quadrant" that's northwest of Madison is "Coulee Country," a series of small but steep valleys that are part of the watershed of the Wisconsin River and, to the far west, the Mississippi River. If you like a little elevation challenge on your ride, there are a lot of great roads that go up and down the ridges between valleys.

Take a look at the google earth pic of Madison and the surrounding area. You can easily see the difference between the glacier flattened lands east and south and Coulee Country to the northwest.

https://www.google.com/...02933m/data=!3m1!1e3

Also, there are some great rails-to-trails bike paths in Central Wisconsin. The 400 trail, Elroy-Sparta Trail, Lacrosse River Trail, and Great River Trail all connect. You can ride essentially a continuous trail from Reedsburg Wi (about an hour drive northwest of Madison) to Winona, MN, a little over a 100 miles. You won't find a lot of challenging climbing, but there are some pretty cool tunnels....some so long you have to walk your bike through. I think one of the tunnels on the Elroy/Sparta trail is 3/4 mile long.

http://www.bike4trails.com/Bike4Trailsmap.pdf

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

My main concerns are finding a solid masters group and a good cycling club or two, but it seems like yours and others have answered those questions. I just don't know if I can go back to the cold! Haha. I may take you up on that. I'm potentially going there for a PhD program at UW and I'm trying to arrange a visit right now.

Long time Madison resident here. I agree with all that's been said.

One thing that has always stuck out for me. Long ago I worked with a guy that ended up becoming a domestic pro cyclist (did the big U.S. races but never in Europe). He mentioned to me that he always liked coming back to Madison because it has some of the best road cycling in the country.

I'd be happy to help if you need anything. The great thing here is any day despite the weather there are many people out and active. Congrats on the PhD program! It's a great school and a great town with tons of opportunity. There are some really good cycling groups, a number of indoor cycling studio this time of year, a good selection of masters too. And really good beer!

Would suggest pulling up strava and do a search for Ironman Wisconsin. Review the sections out by Mt Horeb. That whole area to the west gets more and more savage. No huge extended climbs but rollers for days.

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there are not any huge extended climbs in Austin either.

Blue Mounds area has lots of climbing :)

I prefer Madison for less threatening driver behavior(but no where near zero) and Austin for more seasonal riding in the winter.

True, good point. I guess I was getting into my old Tucson training grounds again.

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I'm in Madison for Sunday-Thursday, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a pool? I will be staying at the Best Western by the capitol if there is anything good in that area.

This is the only one that I know of that has daily rates: https://sites.google.com/....k12.wi.us/pool2-28/

It's in the suburb of Middleton about a 20 minute drive from downtown.

There's also an outdoor pool next door, but of course that's seasonal.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

I was in Madison last weekend and swam at the YMCA in Monona, there is also a place that is open 24 hours called the Harbor Athletic Club in Middleton.

The Y was free because I'm a member where I live so that might be an option for you and I believe the Harbor Athletic Club is $20 for a day pass.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/4391866

I swim at Harbor. The lap pool is a salt water pool too, which is nice. The down side is that it's only 4 lanes, so sometimes a bit crowded. The High School has an online calendar and is a very nice pool which is a competitive one with more lanes. If I can help at all, let me know.

Wetsuit + Lake! On the plus side, the snakes aren't very active this time of year.

In all seriousness, off the top of my head, I'm not coming up with anything real close to downtown. Ones I know of personally:
- UW Natatorium (must be a guest of student/faculty)
- MATC (far east side, near airport), $7/day guest pass
- Verona High School Nat (SW suburb, prob not convenient unless you are at Epic), $4/day guest pass. Older, but it's got water and lanes, and you can say you swam at the home pool of Neil Walker.

You'll have to check lap swim hours for all of these. Otherwise, you'll probably find something closer / better hours through a YMCA or fitness center.

One great option is to download an app called "swim radar" I have it and it finds pools for you wherever you are with contact info and phone numbers and often links to websites. I just looked and found a number of pools in the area. It has a map view so you can find proximity to you. You can also use it to check places that you will be going, etc. It's a GREAT app, and I think pretty valuable for many of us that travel.

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Gary Geiger
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I swim at the Middleton pool. Masters workouts are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The largest session starts at 6:00 am with a smaller session at 7:00 am. I believe the walk up rate is $10.

During the day there are several open swim times. There are usually lanes available. I can't remember the entry fee for those right now.

The best source for times is the Calendar at the website Timtek provided.

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-- Scott

For the Middleton HS pool, Non resident fee is $6, final hour swims are only $2. Here's the actual pool schedule, which its really open a lot for lap swims.... https://sites.google.com/...--community-open-lap

21 posts before a mention of the snakes in Lake Momo?!?! Slowtwitch is losing its touch!

Seriously.... watch out for the snakes. They're probably starting to get hungry in anticipation of September.