You can train downtown very well. Swim from Ohio Street Beach during the summer, run along the lake front trail WHICH IS AWESOME, and if you get a cyclocross bike you can do decent mileage on the lakefront trail as well.

Chicago has some lovely suburbs but, honestly, I don't see why you wouldn't want to live downtown unless you had kids and really wanted them to grow up in the 'burbs.

There are great neighborhoods all over downtown, your budget will really drive your neighborhood search though.

I'm not sure why you'd need a cyclocross bike. I had no trouble with a road bike.

Here's a different take. I lived on the Southside, in Woodlawn. It's just south of The University of Chicago. The neighborhood may not have been the best, but I got a great deal on a gut-rehab condo. I had access to: the green line for commutes to downtown or the heavy commuter train (12 minutes to downtown); a park with a rubber 400m track less than a mile away; the pool at The University of Chicago for masters practices (50m pool); The Point, which is a great OWS location with lots of participants in Lake Michigan; and the trail on Lakeshore Drive, which is over 16 miles, south to north. There is also Jackson Park, the site of the 1893 World's Fair for running on dirt. All for much less $ than renting or buying on the north side in trendy neighborhoods with terrible parking.

The lake and trail in particular are great. I was able to ride up to the aboretum and back, more than 80 miles in total, with maybe 2 total miles on surface streets. No cars allowed. I also used to bandit training runs on Saturdays or Sundays, knowing I could grab Gatorade or fluids at many team tables set up for long group runs. My long runs would take me on out-and-backer routes past the aquarium, Soldier Field, the Fountain, and up to Navy Pier, and wide open areas where there was nothing between me and the lake except for open grass fields. It also totally beat the north side because I never had much foot traffic, which on the north side, is made up of those annoying rollerbladers and girls in bell-bottom yoga pants. The south side trail also has many open bathrooms and water fountains. With little foot traffic, your bike commute will be much quicker.

I often ran early on summer mornings to see the sunrise over a glassy lake, and old dudes getting a morning swim done. I used to sometimes do a "Lake Michigan Brick," which was: run the mile to the lake, run the mile north to The Point, hide my shoes and shirt in the rocks, swim 800-900m north then back south, pick up my kit, and rejoin my run.

There is also a very good masters program at UIC, which trains 50 from February to September. nice neighborhood around that, as well, but more expensive than farther south.

Give us a budget and your age first and then we can be more helpful. The farther away you move from the downtown/loop area, the cheaper it'll be.

I live on the far north side, fairly inexpensive compared to other areas, takes me 40 min on the train/bus to get to work and can get on my bike and be on the north suburbs and tons of biking easily. I ride with a fast group that lives near the loop and they all ride the lakefron north and then we meet up and keep going north.

The south side has a bad reputation but as mentioned before, it'll be cheap and coming from Rogers Park, I bet there are pockets that are great, especially around UofC.

Conclusion? You have tons of options, depends on what your tastes are and your budget.

Streeterville. . . .You can walk to Ohio street beach and the lakefront path is right there. Lakefront park 400m track. You can walk to the Loop in 20-40 minutes (depending on starting and ending points) and you have the EL and bus right there. Great food and shopping all within walking distance.

You don't "need" one but it's nice to run some 38mm tires to slow you down (for the same work load, safer on the trail IMO) and take the sting out of some of the rougher sections.

+1. I love Streeterville.

Streeterville is nice but a decent condo is 500-600k. Depends on what you do.


I loved Edgewater. N end of lakeshore trail. Buck went further. Little less crowded. Train to loop was a bit long though.

If he's asking where to live he's not moving here and buying for at least a year. Streeterville is a good place to start and rent is only about 200 bucks a month more than South Loop, West Loop, or Lincoln Park/Lake View/Old Town.

I think we need to know how old he is and family situation though.

If you're not into the nightlife. . . I drive in to the Loop everyday from NW Indiana. Way cheaper, got trails, countryside if you go east enough. It's not for everyone, and most will scoff, but it beats living in the west or south suburbs. Unless you've got the bank to live in the northern burbs, then go for that by all means.

Lived in Chicago for 10 years and just moved to Denver a few months ago. I lived in the gold coast on the lake (condo is still for sale if you are looking :) ) and it was about as ideal as you could get for living and training in an urban environment. I could walk to work or take the bus pretty easily into the loop. Restaurants and nightlife not too far of a walk to River North or Old Town (Wells street) but still quiet where we lived. Training was okay... I mean it is cold, really cold there for months and months. When it is nice out swimming is great in Lake Michigan and running is easy on the lakefront path. Biking is limited though. You can ride the path but only really early in the morning and only for a few hours safely before it is crowded with massive running groups, strollers, etc. If you have a car you can get out into the burbs to ride or up to WI but it is a pain so plan on lots of trainer time in Chicago if your doing serious training. Like others said, depending on my family situation, budget, etc there are lots of nice neighborhoods in the city that will most likely suit your needs. Good luck with the potential move!

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Andy Mullen
Team Zoot

lifelong res. of chicago now in burbs.

based on your criteria with the caveats as others have noted about budget, lifestyle, age, needs, etc impact everything.

Note - traditional road / tri bike training in the City can be challenging with traffic, etc. Many simply drive / ride out of the city to get their long / serious training in, but you can ride in the City knowing these limiters.

Assuming single, younger = North -- River North, Streeterville, Lakeview, Wicker Park, Eukranian Village, Lincoln Park, west loop, or even smack downtown - all generally expensive with housing buys deep into the six and upwards of 7 figure range, rents are generally higher here. South - South Loop, Soldier Field area, or near University of Chicago if you are willing to go farther from DT. All noted have easy access to training, lake, running path, parks, and public transit DT.

Assuming married / family situation - Some of the above mentioned neighborhoods work well - particularly west loop , parts of Lakeview and Lincoln Park, even the hipper wicker park and eukranian village can work for a family pending your child raising preferences / needs. Other good options for families - Beverly / Mt. Greenwood (closer to burbs easy commute), Rogers Park, Portage Park, almost anywheer on the north / NW side, anywhere on the farther north shore near Evanston, even Evanston works (easy commute). Culture, lifestyle and demographics along with costs ranges widely in these areas with the NW and SW side generally more white, middle class (with pockets of high income) and the other areas more diverse and ranges of income status.

As one noted - some south side neighborhoods would be a great less costly option.


Overall, you have tons of options, and some areas can be costly, but lots of very affordable choices as well.

Enjoy.

+2 Streeterville

Thanks for the info. And thanks everybody for your inputs. I'm 38 and my wife is 31. No kids yet but they are in the near future. We would be renting for a year first to just to make sure we like Chicago and figure out where we want to buy a home. Our rental budget i'd say is $2000-$2500 a month max. Outside of training we like the typical things....restaurants, having a few drinks, shopping, etc. I'll be working downtown so i'd like my commute to be no more than an hour long. I plan to take public transportation instead of driving.

Thanks again for your inputs.

Wicker Park, Bucktown areas if you're into checking out the latest and coolest hipster restaurants and the 20somethings.

I'm biased, but I would definitely have you consider the Edgewater and/or Rogers Park (where I live) area. Andersonville in Edgewater is an awesome area with great bars and restaurants and you can live a few blocks away for cheaper rent yet still be within walking/driving distance. It also caters to an older crowd (I'm the same age as you, also no kids).

You're also right on the border with Evanston and riding in the northern sububrbs of Higland Park and Lake Forest. We have a great community of triathletes in the area that swim together at Masters and Open Water in the summer, run together 2-3 times a week and bike on the weekends. Check out Precision Multisport in Evanston and their Computrainer studio. It's pretty awesome.

How big a place you want? 1 bedroom, 1+den, 2? Where exactly are you working "downtown?" In the Loop? Do you have a car? Do you want "city" aka building with doorman or a walk up or a floor in a 3 story?

+1 for Old Town/Gold Coast. They're both easy commutes into the Loop (I lived in Old Town and took the bus, took the El, or rode my bike, depending on mood/weather) and are central enough to explore the rest of the city. As far as training goes, people have already talked about the Lakeshore path and the hazards that popularity bring to bike paths. The only problem if you want to venture to the hinterlands to ride is the lack of parking, but if you're ok with Zipcar, that helps mitigate that problem.

With a 2 - 2.5K budget, your best bet of finding a nice place (relative of course) near the lakefront is either towards UofC (e.g., Hyde Park) or north of Lakeview, such as Edgewater, Uptown, Andersonville, etc. Morning commute from the northern neighborhoods would run between 45 min to an hour, or more, depending on your proximity to the EL or the Lake Shore bus line. For that price, you won't find much more than a studio or one bedroom apt in Gold Coast, Streeterville, or Old Town. Same with Bucktown, Lincoln Park, or West Loop. Those areas are all pricey.

I might suggest looking in West Town, which encompasses several neighborhoods including East Village, Ukranian Village, and Noble Square. It's only 2-3 miles from the lake path, a 15-minute bike ride to the Ohio Street Beach for swimming, and a fairly short commute to the Loop. It has a ton of restaurants and bars and is close to the bars/restaurants in Logan Square, Bucktown, West Loop, and River North.

Timely post, thanks kkevin77 for starting.


So after putting it off for some time, the wife, the dog and I are relocating to Chicago from Brisbane end of March, heading over next week for a recon visit to hopefully fine a place to live. Am looking in the same areas as kkevin so this post has been very useful.


Note people have mentioned a couple of training groups, what are the good tri/swim/cycle clubs to consider in Chicago, do people normally do their own thing or train in groups? Both of us race, well wife races, I participate. Just trying to hook into the scene.


And yes we are preparing for the weather shock - currently 86f as I sit here, wife had to go out yesterday and buy a jacket for our visit next week as she doesn't own any winter coats/jackets at all.

Lots of training groups.

Chicago Tri Club for the community
Chicago Endurance Sports is pretty big and includes coaching with group runs and swims at UIC and training guidance.
On the north side Precision Multisport (who I train with) has a large training studio and organizes a lot of group runs and bike rides. They also have a yearly training camp in April in Indiana.
Open Water On Lee is a fun group of open water swimmers in Evanston.
Vision Quest is mostly cyclists but has a lot of triathletes that train with them.