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Pools in NW Fort Collins?
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Hey all. I'm moving to Laporte CO, which is NW of Fort Collins. There appear to be a few pools in the middle of the city (~15 miles away), but does anyone know of any a little closer to NW Ft Collins? Much appreciated.

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Re: Pools in NW Fort Collins? [domingjm] [ In reply to ]
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It's worth the drive to swim at FAST Masters. Beautiful facility, great people and awesome coaching. When I lived in Denver, I would drive up there a few times per month to swim with them.

https://www.teamunify.com/team/csfcast/page/masters1

"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5
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Re: Pools in NW Fort Collins? [boobooaboo] [ In reply to ]
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The Mulberry pool is your closest bet. If you are affiliated with the University, there are some other options on campus, but I think you are likely to end up doing most of your swimming at EPIC. That is really the only pool that is dedicated mostly to lap swimming and you can sometimes catch it when it is set up as 50m.

Sadly the area has grown quite a bit in the last 10 years, but pool capacity hasn’t grown to match.
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Re: Pools in NW Fort Collins? [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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Off topic but what is Fort Collins like in general. I ask because there's a good chance that my son (senior now) ends up at CSU for school. They've offered him a very healthy scholarship. We've been to Boulder and Golden already but not to Fort Collins - taking a quick trip up there next month though to check it out.
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Re: Pools in NW Fort Collins? [logella] [ In reply to ]
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logella wrote:
Off topic but what is Fort Collins like in general. I ask because there's a good chance that my son (senior now) ends up at CSU for school. They've offered him a very healthy scholarship. We've been to Boulder and Golden already but not to Fort Collins - taking a quick trip up there next month though to check it out.

I think the best way to describe Fort Collins is a low-key Boulder with a lot less money but a lot more space. I think that makes it a freindlier place, at least from a cycling perspective. When doing the typical Fort Collins rides, it is really unusual for someone to not wave. If you are on a Fort Collins group ride and you go south, and see one of the Boulder rides coming the opposite way, it is somewhat surprising how uptight those people are. Stone faced and unfriendly. We make fun of their fancy bikes and nice haircuts.

That being said, Boulder is pretty much an international mecca for tri and cycling. The depth in Boulder is unmatched, but so much of that depth is imported from around the country and internationally.

I don't know where your kids are age-wise, but Fort Collins has some great programs. The FAST program for swimming is pretty top-notch. My daughter swam for them and pretty much everyone in her cohort went on to swim in college. They developed some top talent and had kids going to Stanford, Texas, Notre Dame, Yale, Harvard,... It was pretty impressive, given that they were just pulling from a relatively small local group of kids. For cycling, they have a local junior development that has some decent road, CX and MtB talent and a really big high shcool MtB league.

In terms of riding and running, I would say Boulder has some better road climbing routes right out of town, with Flagstaff and Left Hand canyon and the Brainard Lake area, but in Laporte (Laporkansas as I like to joke) you have Rist Caynon and Poudre Canyon right out your back door. There is also a huge trail system for running and MtB so close you will barely be warmed up by the time you hit the single track. Gravel riding is where Fort Collins just kiils Boulder. Development along the front range of the Rockies runs form Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. North and east of Fort Collins is very sparsely populated, so you can go forever and then some. Fort Collins has an active cycling community and it is all coordinated through YourGroupRide.com and their FaceBook group. That list rides, local races, routes and misc silliness.

The Colorado universities are a reflection of the communites. CSU is more down-to-earth and there is less money and flash compared to Boulder. Both are decent universities where kids can get a good education, or they can party it up and still get by. If your kids are interested in engineering and are motivated, Mines in Golden just can't be beat for a pure science undergrad program.
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Re: Pools in NW Fort Collins? [logella] [ In reply to ]
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CSU 1990-1995, loved it!!!

Team Zoot-Texas, and Pickle Juice
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Re: Pools in NW Fort Collins? [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for all the great info. He likes being outdoors so he's pretty excited about it. He's not much into riding at the moment but he's a former swimmer turned cross country runner. He is thinking about doing club swim once he gets to school to stay active.

His major is going to be computer science and although Boulder is considered the better program CSU ain't too shabby plus there's the pile of money they threw at him. He liked Mines quite a bit and got money from them but wants a more normal college experience with a good balance between work and play.
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Re: Pools in NW Fort Collins? [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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Grumpier Mike knows his stuff! I moved to Foco from Boulder because I fell in love with the community friendliness. FAST masters is a pretty good swim group with a great coach, so I highly recommend the drive to EPIC in the mornings. Riding routes, while not as great as Boulder, have much less traffic and plenty of flats or elevation depending on what you want to do that day. Would recommend checking out Fort Collins if that is on a list of colleges to attend.
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