'91 Journalism

G'ville was a great college town back then--not too small and not too large. Today, it's a city in its own right without the school. I remember a lot of wide open roads, particularly 441 on the way south towards Micanopy. There were a number of nice LBSs at the time. I can't imagine much has changed since then. The TriGators remain active in North Central Florida (they've sponsored aid stations at both Great Floridians that I've done), and are certainly worth contacting for info. Likewise, Ed Sommer's Central Florida Triathletes (primarily in the greater Orlando area) are another great resource.



Scott

I am a student at the University of Florida and I must say that cycling in the area is great. I usually go south into Marion County and have never encountered problems with cars. The roads are well taken care of in Marion, however, I can not say the same for Alachua (the county Gainesville is in). It is not a problem as it is only a 20-30 minute bike ride into Marion County and all of the great county roads that go throughout the horse farms. It is the best riding area in Florida. There are even hills. I am dying to get back up there this Sunday for the start of next semester.

As a side note, I'm planning to take a ride out to Cedar Key (110 total miles) when I get back. Has anyone ever tried this? How are the roads out that way?

Best city to ride in the world. Hands down.

Lacks hills, but there are bike lanes all over town, and the roads around here go on for freagin' forever. You can do out and back centuries.

Great weather as well.

Hope this helps.

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Yes, I can ditto all the comments above. I've done two randonneur rides from Gainesville and the Horse Farm 100, which is a very nice ride.

The area between Gainesville and Orlando, which includes Ocala, is full of large horse farms and retirement communtiies, so you will sometimes not see a car for miles. Orlando is an entirely different story....

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

Todd,

Gainesville is a great place. I echo the comments above about cycling. Beyond Gainesville, though, Florida in general is a great place for cycling and triathlon. Rarely is the weather so bad that you cannot train (pardon the ocassional hurricane!). There are huge cycling and triathlon communities throughout the state, and especially in Orlando/Clermont, which is 1.5 hours away (check out www.triflorida.com and www.windermereroadies.com). There are a couple of century rides in/near Gainesville, a cycling fest in nearby Mount Dora, and I think a Brevet in G-ville. There is also the Race Across Florida that is worth doing.

As for your other question, Gaineville is a thriving community for young, educated, cultured teachers and professionals. It is a college town first, to be sure, but someone teaches these kids. There are some decent museums, theatres and restaurants. It's not a metroplis by any standard, but the quality of life is very high. Housing is also very, very affordable. My guess is that Orlando (where I live), housing is literally twice as much. If this helps, years back the state's largest liquor store, ABC, decided to change its image and focus more on fine wines and spirits. They have probably 100 stores across the state, and decided to expand some key stores into superstores with refrigerated wine rooms, wine storage facilities, walk-in humidors, etc. Their test pilot was in Gainesville. The owners live in Orlando, and I asked one of them why Gainesville, and his reply was "best market in the state". Tons of doctors, residents, professors, etc., that thrive on a more cultured lifestyle. Makes sense to me.

There is one serious downside, though: The young women are so incredibly hot, that you'll feel like an old perv! ;)

Robert

PS. Drop me a PM if you have other questions. I lived in G-ville for 5 years and still get there annually.

PPS. Prepare to experience the Swamp.

Trained during the winter in G'ville when I raced bikes, spent Jan-Feb-Mar there from 88 to 92. The riding was fantastic, and I think I rode just about everywhere down there, including Cedar Key. That isn't a bad ride, but it was one of the more boring ones to do. Most of the riding went down across the wildlife refuge then through Micanopy. Like a post said, Marion Co. has alot of great stuff, but so does Alachua Co. The biggest ride I ever did was the epic to Steinhatchee. We made it a 2 day adventure, and I think we rode 12 hours a day.

The rides seemed to all start from the Holiday Inn on 13th (?). We had groups of 50-60 most days in the winter. A local told me once that there were two seasons in G'ville for the local rider, the early season, where they shared the riding with a ton of pros and amateurs from out of town, and then the late season, where they had it to themselves. I lived in a house on SW 4th, stayed there every year. Ate lunch with the Hare' Krishnas (sp), and spent my evenings going to the Fla. Institue of Massage to get a free massage. The students needed to accumulate hours of field work to get certified, so that was good for me. I imagine a few things have changed since then, but a swimmer I coached who goes there now tells me stories that lead me to believe it hasn't changed that much. I am envious of you, have fun, and enjoy the scenery.

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"Maybe you should just run faster..." TM

darn, so there is one cool place where I haven't applied for a faculty position yet?? ;-)

Florida's tax code is also pretty skewed to favor people who live here more or less full time- no state income tax, no sales tax on food and such, property tax reductions and caps on youe homesteaded primary residences.

Weather is great save for August, but then August can be plenty miserable in Minnesota too and our winters are much better than theirs are. You can also get occasional stretches of seeming 7 straight days of thunderstorms, so you do use the trainer once in a while. If you want to, you can do a tri in Florida somewhere pretty much every weekend between March and mid-November and then you're got a ton of marathon and other run event options during the tri off season.

there. fixed. they did have a position in my field. applied at UCF and UFL.

Frank-OYS,

if you get the position, please let me know immediately. The one thing I am in need of here in Gainesville is a year round steady training partner. It would be quite nice to train with you, and I am sure we could really really help each other training.



And I know everything in town, so if you get it, I will make sure your move here goes smoothly. You're gonna love this place!

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If I get it, the first thing I'll do it to tell you how to say my name right :-)

make it fran-swah ;-)

sure will anyway.

Frank-OYS,

I know how to say it right, I had a friend with the same name.



But after you said the telemarketers called your house asking for Frnak-OYS MOW-Dave, I couldn't resist.

I did it because the telemarketers who call me make the same mistakes and I can't help but laugh after they are done " atempting" to pronounce it right.

Later, Frank.

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for you, they have no excuse! it's not like the hispanic community in the US is small. I thought most people in the US could say hispanic names right and at least, speak a little...
apparently not.

Nah, telemarketers have this "natural gift". They can mess up any name. Even American ones.

It must be some sorta requirement taking the test how many weird complicated ways they can pronounce simple names. My middle name is FUlgencio, so you have no idea what kinda buthcering they have done pronouncing it!

By the way, doesn't the "c" in your name have a tail underneath it?

When do you get an answer from U of F?

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Fulgencio, like Fulgence...old french name...I remember that because of Fulgence Bienvenue who was the engineer who designed the metro in Paris.

The c doesn't have a tail because I didn't put it there. been used to doing that here in the US...bad bad bad...it normally has one

How long have you been here in the USA?

You a resident yet?

Intend on becoming a citizen if/when given the opportunity?

Where do u live now?

Use the tail to keep people guessing!!!!!!!!

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august 2001

H1 visa. so not permanent resident

I can't apply for perm. res. when changing jobs. so I first need to know where I go. then apply for it and after that, yes I will become citizen...it they want me ;-)

now, El Paso, west TX.

I am currently applying for a P1. Great Immigration lawyer here in Gainesville. Should you get the position, I will send you his way to make residency application go smoothly.

The town has a great amount of things to do, is very clean, and great restaurants. Museums, libraries, and good plays always available.

I truly mean it when I say the only thing this town doesn't have is hills. But if it did, it would be so damn near perfect it would scare me.

The weather is great: perfect for Hwaii acclimatization. When in the summer you have to ride in 98 degree weather and 98 % humidity, suddenly Hawaii isn't that hot.

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On a different note, Florida higher ed is in pretty good shape right now compared to a lot of other states. The fiscal year after 9/11 was kind of rough because tax money generated by the tourists was way down. Lots of schools had to freeze or cut parts of their budget. It's much, much better right now. The bean counters in Tallahassee are now saying that overall tax revenues over the next two fiscal years could be as high as $3 billion more than what they were originally planning for. So higher ed funding should be very stable over the next couple years even though it has to fight with K-12 and their expensive class size ammendment requirements for education funding in general at the state level.

The down side is that the funding increases we get aren't keeping up with population and student growth terribly well, IMO. So far, they've managed to keep the worst of the growth problems at the university level at bay by opening Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers and by gently nudging a lot of people into the community college system to take care of their gen ed classes. (and in some cases, by letting the CCs develop limited BA programs in high demand fields like nursing and teaching)

toadpalmer being in California, I can tell you that the education budget will likely be better no matter what states he goes to!

Cal Universities have been hit really hard 2 years ago. way above the national average of 12% cut.

true that, francois--it really doesn't get much worse than the CA state budget these days. but ahnold can save us! ;) francois, how's the job search coming along? bites?

thanks everyone for input on gainesville! during my interviews, i was essentially shuttled from office to office for 3 days straight, so didn't get much of a sense of the town...it sounds great!

thanks again--toad

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http://www.kenyawilds.com/faculty.html

really good feedback from about 15 schools. But all schools will start looking at applications 'officially' early january and interview after.
got one offer but not interesting.

as you interviewed already, would you mind telling me what UFL generally expects for tenure (if you got the job with tenure, well done), short track tenure if you've already done quite a bit? external funding etc?

feel free to email me

Hey, fellow alum. Happy New Year to you and your fam! BTW, those "young" women are almost 20 years younger than us, you perv! :)