While I am not there now, I lived in Fort Collins (and went to school there) for 10 years and loved it! You will really enjoy it. I was a coach for our CSU club tri team then later took over as president of the Northern Colorado Tri Club. The town is great, the people are great and there is spectacular training there! You can go any direction and find any type of terrain from flat as a pancake to serious climbing to trail running.

Check out the NCTC (tri club) at www.nctriclub.org. There are also tri clubs in Greeley (www.greeleytriathlonclub.com) about 20 miles to the east and in Boulder (www.teambtc.org) about 35 miles to the south. All three clubs are excellent and there are many Ironman athletes in training around that area.

Also check out Runners Roost (running shop) as they have a run group separate from the tri club.

Congrats on a great move coming up!

Bob

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Bob Seebohar, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS
2008 Olympic Triathlon Team Sport Dietitian
Elite Triathlon Coach
http://www.fuel4mance.com
http://www.elitemultisportcoaching.com

Dave -

Great Place! Grandparents are from Fort Collins. Lots of biking. Great short drives to winter sports. Not a lot of "other" stuff that a city (like Cincy) has (i.e. opera, plays, pro sports, museums, etc.), but much more for the outdoor enthusiast.

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

welcome to the front range ... i moved to fort collins from las vegas last june. for my wife and i, it was a great move. fort collins is a fantastic place to live ... not too small, not too big ... just right.

its a very active community ... tons of cyclist, mtn bikers, runners, climbers, hikers etc. im a member of the northern colorado tri club (but i only just joined ... so i dont yet have much experience with the club).

coming from the midwest, allow yourself some time to adapt to the altitude. ft collins sits at about 5000 ft. when i loved here from vegas (2000 elevation), i could feel it. a few days after our arrival, i did a duathlon in laramie wyoming (about 8k elevation), and it just about killed me. so, ease into it slowly. it took me a month or so to acclimate.

the cycling here is unbelievably good, and diverse. everything from flats to rolling hills to mtns are within riding distance. running is great also ... especially if you like trail running. the city is also circled by a paved MUT, and most streets have dedicated bike lanes. there are several running clubs in town, ranging from very serious and competitive to socially oriented.

i swim at the Fort Collins Club, which is on the east side of town (Prospect and Lemay area). It's a great club with an emphasis on fitness and less so on 'weight lifting' and socializing. one of the lead trainers is also the age group national tri champ and just turned pro. there are a few other similar clubs in town, depending on what side of the city you live on.

coming from cincy, i think you will love it here. the lack of 'culture' really isnt an issue. ft collns is a college town so the uni. adds a lot, and its a fairly progressive community (if thats your thing). denver and boulder are also close (less than an hour for both). crime is fairly low (i'm a ft collins police officer) and traffic will be divine for you, coming from a large city. when i moved here from vegas, traffic was a revelation: people complained about traffic ... but heavy traffic in ft collins is nothing compared to average traffic in vegas.

where will you be living? if you want, run neighborhoods and such by me and i can give you the police lowdown (which your realtor might not provide). i work district 7 (basically west of college ave to the mtns and north of mulberry).

sorry for rambling. if you didn't figure it out, i really like living in ft collins.

take care and good luck. let me know if you need anything. feel free to pm me and ill get you my email address.

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*****
"In case of flood climb to safety"

jcurtis,

We can't wait to finally make the move. I'm not sure I'm that concerned about missing the 'culture' of Cincinnati... ;) Its a great place for those that are from here, but for us transplants, well anyway..... I guess we'll miss HFP, Shannon and his folks do a fine job putting on the races 'round here. We really are spoiled with the amount of races to choose from in the Summer. Heck, I planned my move around Triple T, looking forward to that one this year.

We're not sure where we'd like to live yet, I'll be working from home for the first year, so I can live wherever I want.

Ok, so I don't know how to spell it, but I'm looking forward to riding up to Mishawakka's (sp??, who the freakin' hell knows how to spell that)... I might have to dust off the old Bliss Stick (kayak) and try the Poudre too.

I am a little concerned about the altitude, but I figure in time it will help. Last time I was there, we did a short run and I thought I was gonna die. We'll have about 3 months until IMC.

I'll PM you when we get into town.

David

I'm not there now but I lived in Greeley (the next town) in the late 80's. I have friends --'surrogate parents' whom I've adopted-- in Loveland.

Lots of roads, some leading to no where. The area is kinda half prairie half hilly, and near the mountains. Close to many places, cities (Boulder, Denver, even Cheyenne WY), topography, etc. Estes Park is not too far away.

FC is more cosmopolitan than its nearest city cousins, and the downtown/historical area is quite cute. Any place which puts enough heart and time into their town will have many activities.

You'll find people speak a little slowly in CO, but after leaving the KY/Cinci area, you may not be able to tell ;)

best to your move,
lauren

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Lauren Muney
certified physical fitness trainer
certified health coach
wellcoach
http://www.physicalmind.com

There is no escape from your life... solve the problems and get on with it.

"Just tell her you love her and you think she kicks ass" ~AndrewinNH

"I'm moving [Lauren] to guru status" ~Last Tri in 83