The Ann Arbor Triathlon is a fine tri club that is very active. I believe they have a website, but do not know the URL.

For a shop in Ann Arbor I recommend Two Wheel Tango. Your contact there is F.I.S.T. certified fitter Ken O'Day. He has many years experience in the sport and is a very, very fine mechanic and a great guy.

Ann Arbor is a fine community with a vigorous cycling fraternity. I think you will find it is a great place to live.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

There is a very good triathlon, running, swimming, and cycling community in Ann Arbor. It is a real gem in the Southeast Michigan area. As far as living goes, it varies greatly depending on what you are doing there. It has a realitively high cost of living for Michigan, so it is important to know what type of living you are looking for. It really has it all.

Like Tom said there is the Ann Arbor Tri club which you can find from an internet search, as well as the Monroe Street Multi-sport Club (several very fast local guys). There is also the Ann Arbor Velo club which is a top notch cycling club from what I hear, and I think there is also a more easy paced cycling club as well, but the name escapes me. There is also the U of M cycling club which competes (MTB in the fall, road in the spring) which has group rides that they post on their website.

I go to school there and lived there for 7 years. I now commute which is a bit of a bummer, but I did ride my bike there for over 95 miles round trip today. Huron River drive is great and full of cyclists if you ride west of the city.

What brings you to ann arbor, and where are you coming from?

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"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."

Another triathlon asset in Ann Arbor are Lew Kidder and Karen McKeachie. They are ambassadors of the sport and continue to assist in the development of athletes and events.

Karen has track workouts and Lew does some limited coaching.

Lew Kidder is also an excellent resource for historical information on the sport as he founded "Triathlon Today!" magazine which has become "Inside Triathlon".

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Here are some sites for Ann Arbor:

http://www.aabts.org/ Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society. Sponsor group rides every day of the week in different locations around the area.

http://www.aatriclub.org/ Ann Arbor Triathlon Club

I live about 20 minutes north of town and do most of my cycling at Island Lake State Recreation Area and Kensington Metropark. They are about 5 minutes from my house and provide many miles of park roads and paved and dirt bike trails. The roads at Island Lake are particularly nice and newly paved.

Also check out the masters swim program sponsored by the Ann Arbor parks and recreation department. Don Swalwell is the coach and a great guy.

If you're there in the summer be sure to check out the 50 meter outdoor Fuller Pool.

Hi Max,

I've worked and lived in Ann Arbor for 18 years. I agree with everything Tom and jackattack say about A2. To fill in their posts, www.aatriclub.org is the URL for the Ann Arbor Triathlon Club website. We are the defending USAT Mideast Region Club champions.The easy-paced bike club mentioned by jackattack is probably the Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society (www.aabts.org). They have daily rides almost year round. Their big ride with distances up to a century is One Helluva Ride (July 10)-- so named because the route goes through Hell, Michigan. Feel free to contact me outside of this forum with specific questions about Ann Arbor or surrounding areas.

Herm Ulloa (ulloa@provide.net)

Thanks folks!

I checked out the AA Velo Club website; seems pretty nice and well-organized. If I don't wallow too much this summer and winter, I'd get on fine on their B ride, though East/Midwest categories can get a bit skewed...

But the new job just might take up too much time for me to even scratch myself, and I'll go hit up AABTS :-)

Also got a few leads on houses and apartments for now, but will probably have to spend a few days in the area in June/July to finalize a lease.

From what I hear it's quite a nice area to live. I spent a few years at Berkeley, and AA sounds like a reasonable approximation thereof. :P

Except for the horrible weather, no ocean, no mountains, terrible roads (compared to Berkeley), and almost complete intollerance for cyclists on the roads! Otherwise... very similar! :)

I was trying to stay optimistic here, but there you go, burstin' my bubble before it even gets big.

I'm gettin' me some Computrainer action for wintertime and a pair o' cross-country skis for cross-training.

And when come April, I realize they'd just been sitting in the closet for 5 months, I'm gettin' me some EPO from my friends at the medical center, so as I could burn yer slow ass in the next race.

;-)

I am supremely jealous of you. My wife and I had to move away to Berkley (MI) a few years ago for professional and financial reasons. Not a day goes by where we don't pine about returning to AA.

Now i'm all depressed again. =(

Ann Arbor is a wonderful place to live and home to one of the finest academic institutions in the world, and I would say this even if my wife and I did not have four U of M degrees between us. It's actually a lot nicer during the summer if you are not a student because you can get into bars and restaurants easily, and the drinks are a lot cheaper then. The Arb and Gallup Park is one of my favorite places in the world to run, and I would thoroughly enjoy making the 35 minute drive there to run you around it whenever you get to Ann Arbor.

Sorry man... I'll be back in San Diego by then. :)

Did you make your move to AA yet?

-SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Dave,

Thanks for asking. Yes, I did move, rode my heart out the first few weeks, then got busy with work, started growing a nice layer of insulation, and am now entirely too soft to venture outside on two weels.

But, you could say, "have rollers, will travel..."

Is there any kind of group winter training going on in town?

Yes, we are riding regularly on Tues/Wed/Thurs nights. You'll need lights. Also Saturday and Sunday rides from Wheeler Park on Main/Depot/4th street are going at 10 am.

An indoor schedule is being drawn up now for riding on the trainer and watching tour VHS and DVDs in January.

-sd

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era