http://www.cdtriclub.org/

Is the area tri club. I am a member, but not very active with the club, based on different racing goals and ability level compared to other members. Nice people and my experience is that there is a lot of focus on IMLP among club members. I am in my 20s and most people in the club I have met are a bit older than me. The only group training takes place in Crystal lake (Averill Park) which is kind of a haul for me.

The club has done a race (Olympic) the last few years, and these have grown every year. There is a Sprint in Pine Bush, that has gotten bigger every year, and Clifton Park has a sprint with a pool swim and has added an indoor race for this winter. There is also an X-Terra points race, actually two (Garnet Hill and Grafton Lakes). Overall race scene has grown in the last 5 years (All these races are new within the last 5 years), but is still very local and attracts a lot of recreational participants.

I live in Saratoga and it is great for training. I run in Spa Park a lot, nice cross country loop. There are two bike shops that put on group rides (at least two faster rides per week). There is great riding in any direction. Pool in Saratoga is not great, so I go to Clifton Park (close to work) to swim most of the time. Home prices in Saratoga have gone through the roof though. I am looking right now and it is slim pickings less than 200K.

I work south of the twin bridges, but my bottleneck is the Rexford bridge. As long as you start work befreo 7:30 I don't see traffic being a problem.

I think some club members train in Thatcher Park area (although I don't know where it is). They almost switched the group training to that location this year.

You can't live in Clifton Park. I always ask people who live there, where is the park? A cyclist was also hit and killed this year riding in the Clifton Park area.

---

*********************
"When I first had the opportunity to compete in triathlon, it was the chicks and their skimpy race clothing that drew me in. Everyone was so welcoming and the lifestyle so obviously narcissistic. I fed off of that vain energy. To me it is what the sport is all about."

I love in galway, about 45 min north west of albany and 15 min west of saratoga. I dont know about specifically tris, but the road riding scene is pretty big. The mohawk hudon cycling does a large # of groups rides a week for all tempos. The start all over the area, south of albany, saratoga, burnt hill. I find i can ride to most of the starts for the group rides which allows me to add about 40 miles to each trip so its not hard to do long distance rides with a litle group ride in the middle. There are plenty of long climbs in saratoga. Lake desolation and west mountain road come to mind. Running is very nice as there are spa park and nice back roads. If you could, look in the western saratoga county region or the nicer parts or schentady county.

They are about 45 min from the airport. If you want to add alittle more to the commute, eastern saratoga county and washington county have some of the nicest riding in the area in tems of scenery adn Big hills. My top pics for the area are galway, charlton, schylerville would be my tops pics.

Stay away from the city of saratoga as its very overpriced adn snooty in my opinion. Clifton park region as isnt a place i would like to live. Think suburban sprawl to the max with soccer moms all over.

You will have roadies to ride with no matter where you live in the area and good running areas are easily found.. PM me if you have any more questions

Nate

You will love the 8 months of snow we have. The freezing rain last night was great.Nothing like a 15 mile long run at 33f with rain. When things thaw out it's great fun. lots of races and great folks. I love the weather so I moved further north to be closer to Develish Paul:-)

Dirt

---

Slowtwitch bitchist place on planet earth

join me and Longspur at the Musselman in Geneva next July!

---

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I live outside of Albany and have never seen the appeal of living in Clifton Park or the surrounding areas, especially if you are traveling into Albany for work. We live across the river in Rensselaer County. We are currently in North Greenbush/Troy, but are currently looking to build a house in the Averill Park/Sand Lake area. I do all of my riding in this area and it is AWESOME. The roads are rural, the car traffic on most roads is low (although I do have to ride about 10 minutes on a busy road to get out where its rural). I do my swim training at any of the 3 YMCAs - Guilderland, Downtown Albany or East Greenbush. There is a Masters group that swims T/Th mornings at East Greenbush, and one that swims T/Th evenings at Downtown Albany.

We love the area across the river from Albany. It is largely untouched. I would definitely check out the Poestenkill/Averill Park/West Sand Lake/Schodack region. I would estimate the commute time from Averill Park to the airport to be about 25 minutes. My current commute from Troy/North Greenbush to the State Office Campus is 15 minutes.

Not to hijack the thread or anything, but did you do it last year? It was an amazing race, incredibly run for a first-year race and I'm looking to have it on my calendar this year.

Thanks for all the great replies!

I saw the CDTri club site but couldn't glean a lot of info from that.

Definitely seems like the tri scene is thriving in the area.

As fot he snow, believe it or not, that's one of the things I miss the most! I used to XC ski race (freestyle), and you couldn't beat it for fitness gains and keeping the training interesting.

Keep the info coming - I'll keep you updated on the job situation.

Thanks

Ron

What are the school districts like in that county?

I never really considered that area but will have to look in to it - seems like Averill park has some SBR workouts throught he CDTC during the summer.

Thanks

Ron

Musselman was great, hope to be there this summer.

---

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I do not have children myself, but the Averill Park school district has an excellent reputation. As does the East Greenbush school district. The Troy school system is lousy.

There is tri training every Tuesday night during the summer in Averill Park. Its a great lake and a very tough 18 mile bike course. LOTS of hills in the area. Some of the climbs (Blue Factory Road, for one) are similar to what you would find out in the Thatcher area.

Another nice area of Albany is the Slingerlands/Voorheesville area. Fairly wealthy area and good schools.

As a former capital region triathlete (or at least triathlete wannabe), my 2 cents are to live in Slingerlands/New Scotland as it offers the best combination of school district/rideable roads/nice houses/accessibility. Only negative is getting from that area to the airport. Saratoga is by far the nicest area in the whole region though.

Best school districts are supposed to be Bethleham (Delmar/Slingerlands)and North Colonie (Loudonville).

Thatcher Park and the sorrounding area rocks for riding as there are some nice hills and little traffic. I also enjoyed long rides on Western Ave./Route 20 heading West away from Guilderland - good shoulder and the traffic really lightens up.

As for pools, they are building a new YMCA like facility in Colonie just off Wolf Road in the Crossings Park, so it would be a good swim option for you if you work near the airport. Otherwise, the Guilderland YMCA is nice. Siena College also has some pool access so if you live in the Loudonville area that is an option.

I graduated from Siena in '96, and still have a lot of friends in the area. If you don't want to head towards Saratoga (a cool town, IMHO), Loudonville itself is pretty nice. But definitely look across the river in renn. county. nice up and coming areas and rural roads.

But watch out for the Siena pool. There is enough chlorine in there to melt your skin off. seriously. I needed to moisturize (applied by my then girlfriend, which was niiice :^) ) like twice a day and I still stung like hell!

Phil

---

Dr. Philip Skiba
Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes now available on Amazon!

Ron,
I live in Clifton Park and commute to downtown Albany. The 26 mile drive takes 25 minutes with no traffic, about 40 minutes with typical delays starting about 3 miles above the Twin Bridges (e.g. 7-9 a.m.). Definitely some congestion, but Clifton Park would be about a 30 minute commute to the airport most days.

However, as you noted, there isn't a whole lot of tri/cycling in the immediate area. The lack of a lot of hills hasn't changed. Although across the Northway in Halfmoon it can get rural pretty quick, some hills here and there.

The Mohawk-Hudson Cycling Club (http://webmhcc.org) has a fair number of group rides, regardless of where you end up moving.

There are several Y's with pools, here's a map:
http://www.capitaldistrictymca.com/maps/main_map.htm

The Clifton Park Y has a Sunday mornings masters swim.

Shenendehowa HS is getting a 40m pool in a year or two, supposedly with some public access. A new pool is going in in Colonie as well.

Saw that the average sale price for a home in Saratoga County was $236k recently.

Did the Saratoga olympic-distance tri in Sept., was a great time. Will be held on 9/10 next year.

As for other areas in Upstate NY, the other advice that has been posted seems right on.

Good luck with the move.

Thanks for all the good info! Lots to think about in the next few weeks.

Hmm, wonder how long it will take me to get ready for LP :)

Thanks

Ron