Hopefully this isn’t really off-topic since it’s sort of bike related…
I’m going to be leaving Calif in the next few weeks to take a job out in Colorado Springs. So I wanted to poll anyone in the ST community who knows the Colorado Springs area as to where might be the ideal location for me to find an apt/ someone’s house with an extra room so that I could easily go out my door and go for some bike rides and runs. Maybe also easily accessible to a tri/cycling club meeting spot for weekend bike rides? The cold weather is going to be a shock to me so I need the least amt of barriers to my continuing biking/running!
I also want to live within ~20 mile commute to my job so I don’t want to be living up in Denver. And in case it affects your opinion at all as to where I should/shouldn’t go, I’m in my late 20’s… Thanks for any advice here / in PM that you can offer!
You may want to try www.pprrun.org for running. I have done some of their races and they have a fairly large group. As for cycling, I more familiar with the north side of town. Around the Air Force Academy, Palmer Lake, Monument, Black Forest. All good riding North and North East of town. Garden of the Gods is a nice place to run and you can always run the Pikes Peak Ascent and some of the lower trails (Barr Trail/Manitou Springs).
Don’t worry about the weather. Its usually sunny and you can get out and ride most weekends throughout the winter. Very little snow along the front range. You can get some good winds in the winter/spring but when its windy its warmer!
I live in the Springs area, in Manitou (20min ride to downtown all down hill). Life is great here and there are plenty of trails and roads, although we have begun to get snow already this year (6" on Tues night) As for recommendations for living quarters, anywhere west of I-25 is nice or near downtown around Colorado College are nice neighborhoods. Cycling club rides leave from downtown on saturday and sunday. There are other cycling group rides google colorado springs cycling and you can come up with stuff. Also Pikes Peak Tri Club is the local one can’t remember the website off the top of my head but something like p2tc.com or the like.
The further out you get to the east the quicker access to low traffic roads for cycling but the fewer trails for running. It also is just tinsletown out there (every house looks the exact same but it would be cheaper). PM me for more info.
Branden
It’s really not that cold there year-round (I grew up in Denver). In the winter you get a couple of cold days per week typically after a cold front goes through and then it warms up for 3-4 days. It can be 10 degrees one day, 45-50 the next, and 60-70 the day after that. Sunshine in Colorado is always 300+ days/yr. It’s not like you’re moving to Buffalo.
Almost anywhere you live in the Colorado Springs area will be within a 20 mile commute. Living near the downtown area would give you access to many of the running trails and some decent biking options. The Pikes Peak Greenway/Santa Fe Trail/Fountain Creek Trail is the main trail going from Palmer Lake north of the city, to Fountain south of the city - about 50 miles long. Numerous trails branch off from there.
The main clubs are: Running - Pike Peak Road Runners - http://www.pprrun.org/, Colorado Springs Cycling Club - http://www.bikesprings.org/, Pikes Peak Triathlon Club - http://www.p2triclub.org/
The cycling club holds regular weekly rides, the running club has regular weekly runs, the tri club is a bit less formal and activities are worked around people’s racing schedules, i.e. a group will do a long ride with people training for an IM.
I live in the Security area just south of the city so I’m more familiar with that end. The main trail is about a 2.5 mile run from my house. I run there frequently, but also on the roads near where I live. I also ride a mtn bike on the main trail and access some of the other trails such as Bear Creek Park. It’s easy for me to access the relatively traffic free roads east of the city and there is a regular 40 mile loop I ride in the Fountain area. I swim mostly at the Widefield Community Center about a mile from my house, but I’ve also done swimming at Cheyenne Mtn High School in a masters program. If you have military access there is a great pool at the Air Force Academy, and also great biking roads and running trails.
I’m a member of both the tri club and running club. The tri club has more social activities, but the running club has lots of running events and races. The tri club membership has beginners to pros and occasionally an Olympian. The running club has runners of all ages and abilities.
The weather is actually milder than you may think. Without question there is some cold weather during the winter and some snow, but it generally doesn’t last long.
The major inconvenience at the present time is I-25 is undergoing renovation/expansion in several areas. It may be beneficial if your commute can avoid that.
I just moved to Woodland Park: 15 miles west of Colorado Springs and at 8500 ft. It will be colder than the Springs, but you can always drive down the hill and ride in the springs. Most people commute to the springs from up here. I have truly enjoyed living in a small town (pop 6000) but still having the convenience of having a nice sized town a short drive away. There is a new club up here in the hills: Teller County Mulitsport. We don’t even have a website just yet, but that may be coming soon. Nice group of people. We do rides (road and mountain) and runs together. There is no pool up here, but there are plans to build one in the near future.
Cheers.
I first wanted to thank everyone for your input! I really appreciate it.
My only experience driving in snow is having to put chains on on the way to Tahoe- or the highways just being closed completely! So if you think not having 4 wheel drive means I should stay out of Manitou Springs and other higher elevation areas, please let me know.
Branden- it seems too bad that living in the east for emptier biking roads means that you’re farther from nice running. I"ll make sure to take a look at those different areas so that I can still at least be near some safe roads for running if not the beautiful trails. I’ll definitely need to start out with group rides to hear about the good routes from the locals. Thankfully I’ll have free indoor pool access, but I will miss the awesome masters swimming program I’ve had in Cali.
Maybe I’ll be seeing some of you at those fun-looking winter duathlons 
Wendy