Looking at a possible job opportunity in Birmingham, AL- any ST’ers down there in the south? Any opinions on riding and running around there? Are the motorists friendly? safe? wild packs of southern dogs roaming free and chasing cyclists?
Thanks for the inside scoop!!!
Not Birmingham, but 55 miles away. It’s hot as balls right now, if you like heat and humidity you’ll be fine.
I think they have a pretty big group that rides from one of the bike shops on Tuesday and Saturday. There’s a nice state park (Oak Mountain) with a big mountain bike trail system but I think I’ve read somewhere about car drivers getting real, real upset about roadies around there. Birmingham is pretty damn hilly, you won’t find any 1000 ft climbs, just 100-300 ft constant up and down.
I think there’s a few Birmingham people that post here and they could probaly help you out a little better.
Any opinions on riding and running around there? Are the motorists friendly? safe? wild packs of southern dogs roaming free and chasing cyclists?
Riding and running are fair. Great hills and scenery, and while I live right near one of the biggest suburban interchanges (I459 and US280), my weekend rides take me out to the country, where you can be chased by dogs. Been years since I was in Raleigh (NCSU 85), but I’d guess riding in country here is not much different that North Carolina. Yeah, some dogs, but no big deal. Unfortunately, we don’t have any bike paths, so you really need to know where to ride. Some areas are better suited for getting out on a ride (unless you drive somewhere to start off). Some areas are a suburban hell with no shoulder and suv driving folks talking on cell phone while drinking coffee. But there are many, many places where you can ride right from home/apt. You do need to know where to ride. Because there are no shoulders, you need to know which roads are safe.
I’ve done awesome 100+ mile rides training for IM that took me out into beautiful sparcely traveled roads starting from my house.
If want more info, PM me and reply with phone number as it would be easier to talk. If you visit, I’d be glad to recommend a ride or ride with you.
Harri
I just relocated to Chattanooga, TN, but lived in B’ham for 45 years. Your ride/run options depend where you live. I lived in the Vestavia area so could easily access what I think is the best running in the Homewood/Mountain Brook area. There is a group that runs on Wed pm from the Trak Shak in Homewood and Sunday mornings a large group of varying paces leaves from Brownell Travel on Lakeshore Pkwy.
Oak Mountain State Park is good for mid week riding. An 18 mile loop with varying terrain and a bike path. In town riding during the week can be sketchy. On weekends we would generally meet @ the Brownell location and head away from town. If you are hardcore, check out GC Cycling. If more into the tri genre check out VulcanTri.com.
You will find all degrees of tolerance/intolerance to cyclists in B’ham. For the most part I always felt safe with the occasional ***hole coming by and buzzing me.
Good luck. For me, I miss it. There is no place like home!!
Nope, no one. At least that will admit to it.
(Damn, that sounds like a Paulo response. Sorry.)
"(Damn, that sounds like a Paulo response. Sorry.) "
LOL!! 
I lived about an hour outside of B’ham for a few years, I worked in B’ham during that time. As mentioned, Oak Mountain is nice for mountain biking and there are (or were) some good secondary highways outside the city for good, long, fairly low traffic rides. One thing I will say in all seriousness, there is a community in the Eastwood Mall area known as Gate City and another closer to the downtown area known as the Brickyards… stay out. I’m not spreading gossip or hate either, both of these are areas known to be dangerous for residents of the communities and very dangerous for strangers. I’ve been in Gate City, gave a guy a ride home from work one day, and when I dropped him off he told me to keep my windows up, my head down and don’t stop until I was out no matter who was in the road trying to stop me. Nothing happened and nothing looked all that bad to me but I figured if a resident of the area gave me that advice I was gonna listen. They won’t look like tempting places to ride anyway but just a heads up.
I live in Huntsville, AL…which is about an hour and a half from Birmingham. I am about to move to State College, PA. To your question:…No, Birmingham is a disgusting city. It is wrecked with poverty, dirty streets, crime…and its…I would equate it to Little Rock, AR or some parts of Memphis. Don’t get me wrong…there are very nice areas of B’ham, but they have there own suburbs. It’s kinda like Atlanta…you have to move away from the inner city. B’ham is the same way. The inner city is filthy. I wouldn’t move to Birmingham unless I was getting a major raise. Let’s put it this way. I work in a juvenile prison. We get about 80% of our criminals from B’ham. B’ham is a big place. For example, they are known for their high school sports programs. This is because there are so many schools in the metro area. UAB is in the B’ham inner city. UAB is a good school…although they try to make out to be one of the top schools in the south. They are still ranked in the 3rd tier among colleges.
Good ridance. Hope you find less hills and easier riding in Pa.
.
Actually, I will ride more hills and it will be harder riding…which will yes = STRONGER LEGS!!!
Rob,
I just moved here. My fiancee and I bought a home in Alabaster, which is one of the suburbs to the South. There is decent riding and very good running around here, but I have to drive to Oak Mtn to swim, which is a 20 min drive. Not too bad, but where I moved from training was second tom none. Super safe, friendly college town.
Things here are different. There are some areas you should not ride, especially alone. Motorists are not super friendly, but when they cannot pass safely they (generally) wait until then can.
Swimming at Oak Mtn. is quite nice, especially early in the day. it’s like having your own 180m. pool lane. Not sure how it will be in the winter, but I am sure a neoprene suit and cap will do the job - or so I hope.
Aside from that, there are tons of cyclists. a few teams, mtn. bikers, races all around the area, and a strong tri club and tri scene. People are extremely nice as well. It could be my hot foreign looks, or their characteristic southern hospitality. I choose to believe the former.
The roads inside Oak Mtn. are 21 miles long, so plenty of safe riding there. There is also plenty of Y’s if you don’t like lake swimming. I am allergic to chlorine, so i enjoy not sneezing all day.
If you have any more questions, feel free to write me directly at felipe@felipe-bastos.com
Ciao,
Felipe, I didn’t know you were alergic to chlorine. Oak Mountain is about the best and only nearby openwater swiming. However, I remembered being told about a quarry in your area. Did a search and here’s what I found: http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/AlabamaBlueWater.html
A bit expensive, but maybe they’d cut you a good deal if you were a regular. Also I’d bet you know or heard of Kevin Grogan. When he lived here he swam in a pond somewhere, but to be honest, I’ve heard some describe it as a stormwater detention basin. Anyway, you could PM him and see if he has any advice.
.
Swimming at Oak Mtn. is quite nice, especially early in the day. it’s like having your own 180m. pool lane. Not sure how it will be in the winter, but I am sure a neoprene suit and cap will do the job - or so I hope.
I whitewater kayak and we did that throughout the winter when I was living there. I usually wore just neoprene shorts and a drytop for the cold mountain rivers and creeks and was ok even if I wound up having to swim. There are usually a few days every winter where it’s too cold for water sports even for the most dedicated but not many and they don’t stick around long.
HH,
Coming back for your race…the Great Floridian? I will do the Half. My Iron days are long over. Washed up/Has been here. Hope all is well with you and maybe see you soon.
Felipe,
Email me when it gets really chilly there in like January. It wasnt a coincidence that I moved back to Florida in February '04.
Wow, funny how many different opinions of Bham there are. I’m sure that would happen if you posted an inquiry about any city in NA or around the world. Some are going to look for the best, and others are going to always find the worst.
As a frequent visitor of Bham from Atlanta, I enjoy my trips there. The folks at the Trak Shak who put on the Mercedes Marathon are awesome, so are the ladies of Team Magic who put on major tri events in Bham and all over the state. I come over every April to do Powerman Alambama and stay with a buddy in Vestiva Hills. It was mentioned earlier and it is a beautiful area. My family also thinks the Bham Zoo is great as well as the Science Museum downtown. While Bham might not have the big city things to do, it is surrounded by great outdoors and it isn’t a long haul to the great NW Fla beaches either.
Go to your job interview in Bham with the glass half full and you will find it to be a great city full of others interested in S/B/R.
Not to hijack the thread - but does anyone know what the weather typically is like in late Jan or Feb? Friends of mine just moved down there and we’re thinking of visiting then to get away from Cold Canada for a week or two.
Wow! Didn’t realize so many.
Born and raised Birmingham with a couple of years in the midwest/west.
TONS of running no matter what anyone says. Check out www.trakshak.com The local running store that has running groups every Wednesday night at any pace, and a keg on tap if your interested. Directly across the street one of a handful of great local bike shops, Homewood Cycle. Other stores are Cahaba Cycles (Same as Homewood, different locations) and Bob’s Bikes (around the corner a bit from the Trak Shak.
5k season and road race season are about to get started: Race for the Cure 5k, Vulcan 10k, Montclair 10k (Thanksgiving day), Red Nose Run (10miler), Mercedes Marathon and 1/2 Marathon, Bell Center 5k (BEK5k)… good spring races too.
Riding groups every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday as well as weekends leaving from various bike stores.
Couple good masters groups for swimming, Birmingham Swim League (great year round program for kidos as well as adults) bslswim.org, and Magic City Masters - magiccitymasters.org
Oak Mountain is great training ground for bricks and is close by (5-10 minutes from my house in Hoover).
The triathlon management group Team-Magic is based here. Here is their web page… www.team-magic.com
Check out also: Vulcantri.com our triathlon club, and birminghamtrackclub.com local track club.
We’d love to have ya! Birmingham is a fun place… it is fairly quiet, but there is lots to do. I’ve lived in Dallas, Little Rock, and just outside Aspen, so I’ve had BIG CITY, Little city, and town… Birmingham is a good moderate sized town. GREAT FOOD.
Feel free to send me a PM with any more questions…I’ve lived here all of my life with the exception of 4 years. My husband who said that he never wanted to live in Birmingham loves it too!
You are equating downtown Birmingham with the metro area… Places like Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia, Hoover, etc (Over the Mountain) areas are MUCH better than you purport it to be.
Don’t bash something you don’t know.
Also, Little Rock is beautiful…you don’t want to go too far south of Baseline, but it is a great place. Don’t bash what you don’t know. ALL TOWNS/CITIES have their less than desireable areas. I KNOW FOR A FACT that Huntsville does as well.
Usually “cold” and damp, but there are a bunch of beautiful days with crisp blue skies… but cold is 55 degrees… We get COLD COLD occasionally (Huntsville Marathon this year was 18 degrees at the start), and I’ve been known to sport shorts in January too. It varies.
Wow, funny how many different opinions of Bham there are. I’m sure that would happen if you posted an inquiry about any city in NA or around the world. Some are going to look for the best, and others are going to always find the worst.
I like Bham a lot. My stint in Bama was to pick up my wife and bring her back to Florida after meeting her in PCB. Once I convinced her to move to the Sunshine State…it was time to go back to warmer weather. I just don’t do too well in chilly weather. I have nothing but good things to say about Birmingham…and my Xterra idol Casey Fannin lives there. If I were to do it over again, I would live on the trails of Oak Mountain on my MTB riding on Casey’s wheel as much as possible…