I accepted a job in Troy, MI for this summer and am going to look for a place to sublet this week. I want to live nearby to limit my commute (I’d like to keep it under 20 minutes). I would also like to live in a walkable community, so I can walk from my apartment to the coffee shop, bar, grocery store, etc. Right now, I’m thinking Royal Oak. Birmingham is another possibility.
But I’m completely uninformed about the quality of biking routes in that area. Can anyone recommend some good routes? Should I reconsider where to live?
I live in Royal Oak and the road cycling around here is pretty poor, bad quality roads and drivers that are not used to cyclists.
You would be best commuting on a mountain bike. I think Birmingham has the safest routes to Troy and back and there are a few group rides from there as well. Look up the Wolverines Cycling Club, they would know best.
Royal Oak is probably cheaper on rent and a little more fun in the evenings. Plus you could join in with my Wednesday track group and many runs I do in the area
Biking is about the same in both areas, some ok routes between the two towns.
Personally I do most of my cycling based out of state or metro parks. Island Lake, Stoney Creek(3 miles from where I work), Kensington. Hines drive out near Dearborn is a good road to ride also, lots more options out that way.
Ann Arbor is rated pretty high as a cycling town, but that would be a nasty commute.
I like Royal Oak as its got easy freeway access, plenty of good places to eat, a fairly lively downtown and a good local track and masters swim group.
Riding right in Birmingham or Royal Oak isn’t that great, but there is great riding close by.
There is a great group ride on Tuesday nights from Derby Middle School in B’ham, it heads north out Beach Rd. to Oakland U. and the Chrysler Tech Center.
The Wolverines have rides Tues. and Thurs. nights from the school on Beverly Rd. just west of Southfield. It heads West and North though Cranbrook and I think Wabeek.
There is usually a good group of triathletes that ride from RO, B’ham that heads west along Lone Pine and groups up at the Crosswinds Mall at Orchard Lake and Lone Pine. From there the ride heads out towards Fenton and/or Milford. Check the Slowtwiki for a complete route description.
Long rides in AA are great. It heads out Huron River Dr. through Dexter to Chelsea and then around through Munith and Waterloo. There are a number of options from 36, 56, 70, and 105 miles. AA is not all that far from B’ham/RO, maybe an hour.
Welcome to town. I live in the same area too and do my tri training from my home. Depending on your level of competition there’s a bike route that take you from R.O./B’ham out to Kensington Park - 100 miles round trip. Decent roads, primarily safe (on early weekend mornings) and some good hills along the way.
a couple hour commute I know but take the weekends and head to Traverse City…not only is it beautiful but there are alot of places to ride and you can do open swims in the bay. I was raised there and miss it terribly.
Downtown Royal Oak is a great place and you should be able to find a decent rental although subletting just for the summer will be tough. Royal Oak is 15 to 20 minutes to anyplace in Troy. Birmingham is even better, and closer to Troy but it will be even harder to find an affordable rental, much less one you can sublet for the summer.
Ignore the folks about who say the riding here is bad. For a big city (and Royal Oak is almost the exact center of the Metro Detroit area, population 4 million plus) the riding is very good, actually. You won’t be riding in farm country unless you’ve been on the bike for a couple of hours or driven somewhere but I live about 2 miles from downtown Royal Oak and I can ride as far as I want to right out my door. All you have to do is learn a few key routes to avoid heavey traffic areas. There is at least one club ride every day of the week in or around Royal Oak/Birmingham and that’s the best way to learn your way around.
Post again when you get settled and we’ll get you hooked up.
I would say either Royal Oak or Rochester. You have pluses and minuses with both.
Royal Oak has a bigger bar scene and is located close to highways to getting places. The problem with that is the highways are always under construction so maybe not such a bonus! If you like group rides then as already mentioned, a lot of them leave from the Royal Oak area.
Rochester is closer to a nice Metro Park that is safe to ride in (Stony Creek). If you also have a mountain bike you can also do that at Stony Creek, Bloomer Park, or Bald Mountain - all very close to Rochester. Also, accessible from downtown Rochester is an extensive Rails to Trails system. You can ride many many miles on limestone trails if that is your thing. Bloomer Park, besides having challenging singletrack, has a Velodrome if you want to try your hand at that! Rochester has the downtown area with bars and eateries also, just not as many as Royal Oak. Both have Starbucks. Neither place is that great for walking to the groceriy stores as Detroit is the land of major chains, not indie markets on the corner. But grocery stores are within a mile. Both communities do have Farmers Markets in the their respective downtowns on the weekends that you can walk to and get your fresh stuff for the week.
Both Stoney Creek and Kensington have a tri training series that started last summer. They map out a swim couse and a run couse for training. Your times get tracked and such like at an event and posted on the event manager’s website. It is a great addition to add some fun into your weekly training.
I prefer Rochester just becasue with limited time after work to ride, I prefer getting to it verses spending a lot of time in the car getting somewhere to ride. I am not a huge group ride person so I do most of my riding at the Parks and on Rails to Trails. Kensington Park and Island Lake which are connected via a bike trail are good for weekend rides and for hill training. You can exit the park and ride around the GM Proving Grounds for a longer ride and get in a nice hill right outside the park also. Hines Drive is also good for weekend rides as they close it down to traffic and it is flat except fot 5 mile hill! Both the Hines Drive and Kensington training takes a car drive no matter where you live.
Soooo, from my viewpoint I guess it comes down to bigger nightlife within walking distance or convienent training after work! Also, what you can find in either area that does not break the bank…
I will have to admit when I say riding is bad, I was spoiled by living in San Diego for 5 years prior. Its not realy that bad, but it could be a lot better.
Aside from not having any real mountains, I think the riding in SE Michigan is great. There are lots of great group rides, some excellent mountain bike trails (Pontiac Lake, Poto), and a velodrome!
Getting west to Fenton/Milford/Kensington etc. is pretty easy. From downtown B’ham, take Old Woodward to Oak, Oak west to Cranbrook, Cranbrook north across Quarton. You can either go straight to Lone Pine and then west on Lone Pine, or do some hill work in the neighborhood between Quarton and Lone Pine. You can take Lone Pine all the way to Orchard Lake Rd. or you can cut over to Long Lake on Sodon Lake, McEwen, Pine Tree, just east of Franklin Rd. Cut back east a little to Kirkway (just east of Kirk in the Hills church) and take Kirkway around the lake for some more hills. Again, you can take Long Lake straight to Orchard Lake, or you can take Waterwheel into Wabeek for some more hills. Eventually you will end up on Orchard Lake Rd. There are rides that meet at Crosswinds Mall. From there take Pontiac Trail to Old Orchard Trail. Willow will take you to Union Lake where you can pick up Wise which will take you straight to Milford, or you can work north to eventually cross M-59 on Teggerdine (right near Pontac Lake Rec. Area). The traffic gets lighter at that point, and there are fewer lights and stop signs also.
Well, I found a place just south of 11 Mile about four blocks west of Main St in Royal Oak. Not too bad of a location, and a nice reduction in rent compared to what I currently pay in Chicago.
Thanks for all the biking recommendations. Now, can anyone recommend a place to swim?
I used to swim the the South Oakland Seals Masters team at Royal Oak Dondero High School. I think they only did it during the winter.
I currently swim at the Sports Club of Novi and West Bloomfield. My membership is good at both locations, and both have a 8 lane, 25 meter pool, that is ‘bubbled’ in the winter, and outside during the summer. Both are kind of far for you.
I assume the Lifetime Fitness in Troy has a pool, but the pools at the Sports Club looked better than the ones they have at the Commerce Lifetime.
Edit: Oakland University has a very nice pool, and a great Masters program.
I will have to admit when I say riding is bad, I was spoiled by living in San Diego for 5 years prior. Its not realy that bad, but it could be a lot better.
Oh no… you are right. It is bad.
Suburban sprawl. Lots of traffic. Few hills. Inattentive (unattentive?) drivers.
Stoney Creek Metro Park (someone else mentioned) is a good spot to bike. It is a about a 6 mile loop with rolling hills.
The rails to trails network seems like it would be good to ride if it is paved.
I swim at Lifetime Fitness in Troy. I haven’t been really serious about swimming for a couple of years, but Lifetime offers a “masters” class that I have signed up for a few times. Coaching has been hit or miss, some really good swimmers who didn’t make good coaches, but a couple of really good coaches. The biggest thing I got out of it was by spending the money and signing up, it forced me to swim twice a week on a regular basis. There was one coach, Naomi Hill, that was great. She’s a pretty competitive open water swimmer (I couldn’t talk her into triathlon), and helped me out quite a bit. I’ve seen her there working out once or twice lately, but I don’t know if she’s still coaching the masters class. For a while she was also unofficially organizing a group of swimmers (mostly triathletes), but I think Lifetime frowned on it because they weren’t making any money on it. She also teaches swim lessons at the Rochester Lifetime. She did a great job teaching my youngest daughter to swim.
Mark your calender for Friday night races at the Bloomer Park Velodrome in Rochester. It is likely the largest concentration of bike racing fans collected in Michigan. You can watch the racing on the hill. It would make a good ride up from Troy, I think the Clinton River trail would take you withing a couple miles.
I just left MI having lived in Monroe, Kalamazoo, Livonia, and Ann Arbor. Enjoy the visit.
You are only a couple of blocks from the Royal Oak (aka South Oakland) YMCA which is on 11 mile just east of Woodward. They have a 25 yard pool and a pretty decent schedule of lap swims. There is a low key masters group there too but I think they only train in the winter.
