hey,
i’ll be moving to illinois in august to start grad school at the univ. of illinois. i just wanted to know if there were slowtwitchers from there, what the local triathlon scene is like, if there are respectable bike shops, good areas to ride, what the local drivers are like, pools available, etc.
thanks.
I spent several years there and then moved to the Denver area last summer.
Very few riders of any kind.
Respectable bike shops? After Wild Thang closed, I don’t think are any. I did all my wrenching myself so I didn’t keep track of the shop scene.
Loose dogs abound. Lots of wind and rain. Cold winters. Hot, humid summers. Extremely flat.
Lots of low-traffic country roads. Drivers are courteous compared to Chicago. No thorns and very little glass. You could go an entire season w/o a flat.
I lived in SE Urbana so it only took a few minutes to get out of town. I would go south on Race, east on 1100N, crossing US 130. Once out in that area, favor roads that don’t have farm houses (dogs) on them. Some houses don’t have loose dogs. I found a route that was dog-free.
Everything looks the same so I would just ride the same route everyday.
Hey man. Yeah, I’m here, finishing up my 5th year of grad school.
The tri/cycling/running scene isn’t too bad. I’m actually the sponsorhsip coordinator for the university tri club. Pretty good group of people, lots of group workouts and the like.
There is one good swimming/running store. There are a couple of local bike shops, but they really don’t know a thing about tri or about fitting. Our club got a sponsorship through missionbaymultisport (missionbaymultisport.com) in chicago, which is a great shop. Some of us go up a couple of times a year for stuff. I get most of my other stuff online.
The weather is absolute shit. Windy, very very hot and humid in the summer, very very cold in the winter. I think that any place where it is too cold to go outside in the winter and too hot in the summer is no good. Literally, there are no hills in champaign county other than freeway overpasses (and those don’t count in my book). No kidding, I’m getting ready to ride to Flatville, IL. That’s an actual town. The roads are a perfect grid, go one mile in any direction and find another cross street, so it’s basically impossible to get lost. The drivers are pretty good, but you have to watch out for enormous farm machinery on the roads from spring until fall. I ride and run mostly the same course most of the time, because, as was said above, it’s all the same. The wind really gets to me sometimes, it’s very disheartening to ride at max effort and only go 10-12 mph.
The university community is pretty nice, but you get to hick-ville pretty quickly. I’m really looking forward to (hopefully) getting out of here in Spring 2006. There is also a pretty large cycling team on campus that does a lot of road and mtb events, as well as a local USCF team.
Fall is the nicest time of year. Spring can be good (it is today), or it can be windy and cold until May, and then the 90 degree temps with 95% humidity can start right away. You never know.
What department are you coming to? I’m in Math. The tri and cycling clubs are made up of a pretty good mix of grad students and undergrads. One nice thing about this place is that it’s close to Madison, WI. A few of us are going up to do the IM in september. There are also several other fairly large races around, including Muncie Endurathon, Half-Max, Spirit of Racine, Whirlpool Steelhead, Chicago International Distance (although this one is a bitch to get into), etc. I’m doing several of those this summer. And our club is hosting a tri in the fall, and purdue hosts one as well. Those will be after school starts, so maybe you can come out for them.
I’m sorry I can’t paint a better picutre of the place for you. Truthfully, the university and university community is top-notch, but I hate the general area. I’m from Seattle, so the lack of topography (and water) doesn’t sit well with me. Where are you coming from?
If you have other questions, feel free to email me at
ccfergus@math.uiuc.edu
-Colin
I got to school there right now. The bike scene on campus is pretty good. Although there are lots of guys who race the mountain bike season there are very few that actually race the road season, about 10 of us. The local USCF team is good group. Both clubs inter-mixing well.
It is true that it isnt the greatest place for training…actually close to terrible if you would like to practice clilmbing a hill. As Colin said there is a town called Flatville. The biggest hill to there is the bridge to cross over I-74 heading north of town.But there are some neat advantages that make the riding good. First the roads as said earlier as square grid and it only takes you ten minutes or less from campus to be in the middle of nowhere. And what we lack in hills we try to make up in wind. Steady 30mph head winds are not uncommon, making for a wonderful burning sensation in your legs working against it.
I dont know much about the tri-club. Although, i know there are some pretty good athletes on it. I also dont care much for the bike shops. I have heard Wild Thang was good but, its gone. Still if you join the school club you will be able to order things trough sponsors and such.
Racing the collegiate season is good work to. especially getting you into good bike shape for those tri’s later on in the summer since the races are March-April.
Send me a PM i will get you my phone number and let you know more about when group rides are at that time of year.
There’s a hill to the west between Whiteheath and Monticello that takes several seconds to climb. I remember it’s bigger than an overpass. Alternatively, you can go to Kickapoo and some MTBing.
I used to have dreams about finding a nice climb out there. Then I would wake up and be depressed once I realized it was just a dream and I was still stuck in IL.
wow, the flatness will be tough. i’m coming from utah, right at the base of the wasatch front. there are mountains here that i still haven’t gotten up the guts to climb. sounds like i should do it before i leave, as i won’t be getting much climbing in in illinois.
drivers here in utah are the worst i’ve ridden with (i’ve ridden in minneapolis, cincinnati, and utah (provo). it’ll be nice to have a change.
i’ll be in the visual art department, painting and doing experimetal video.
thanks for your responses. i’ll probably see some of you this fall.
I am digging up a very old thread here.
Can anyone help me out on where is the best place (or a good place) to swim in Champaign-Urbana. I have opened a second office there and I am there twice a week and I would like to find a decent place to swim. My only condition is it has to be open to the public (I am not a student). If anybody has any suggestions I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
the best place is the Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center, which is right next to Urbana H.S. and Urbana M.S. it’s kind of busy and they have a couple of teams that practice there, but in the mornings you can usually get lane space. and it’s not very expensive for a year pass.
I went to grad school there in the mid-90s and used to ride my mountain bike out on the country roads (this was before I knew what a tri was). It’s so flat that when the corn is high you see nothing but corn on all sides. After harvest though it can be quite windy which adds a bit of challenge to riding there. While I enjoyed school, I must warn you that it is truly a charmless town with little to offer for people who like the outdoors. Pretty much an awful place to spend 3 years in my opinion, especially for a grad student…
Thank you for the reply. I will look into that tomorrow. Busy is OK, maybe they will have somebody that can get this rock to at least swim like a turtle 
I know it’s been several years since this post originated, but I’m moving to Urbana for Grad school on July 1st. Any change in the triathlon scene since 2007? No chance the city built a hill for cyclists is there?
I’m also going to be starting grad school at Champaign-Urbana this coming fall. The whole area is flat as hell, so should be good to ride in just about any direction. Wondering if I’ll even be able to get a bike cheaply… The stuff listed there on craigslist are way more expensive than here in the Bay Area
Maybe not a whole lot going on immediately in Urbana-Champaign, but Tri-Shark still seems to be going strong less than an hour away in Bloomington.
I graduated from UIUC in Fall 2008, but the tri club was just starting to pick up then. PM me and I might be able to put you in touch with some of the still active members (grad students now).
If it still exists, an hour south of campus on I-57 are the Mattoon Multisport races. They have up to the Great Illini half/full distances in September usually.
There’s one hill I found that is east of Urbana, somewhere near Homer. My advice is just to explore the roads and as long as you remember what turns you made you should be able to get back. As everyone said, it’s a grid. Also watch out what roads they’ve recently chipsealed…if it’s hot and the road has recently been tarred there’s a chance it has not solidified and you may wind up with chunks of tar and gravel stuck to your frame/tires…
I don’t go there now, but graduated from U of I. I am learning quite a few things in this thread about the cycling/tri scene; very interesting. One thing is for sure…I should build a business case to open up a multi-sport shop in the campus area since there apparently is a need for one!
I started this thread back in '07 and have now moved on. But the best thing I did in Champaign-Urbana tri-related was get involved with the local cycling scene. The university has a bunch of really active cyclists and among the locals there are some fast riders too. They do regular group rides and some of them are a great workout and the group is pretty supportive. (although I might not show up the first time on a TT bike). I’ve been gone for a few years now, but when I left the best bike shop in town was still Champaign Cycle. They’re mostly a Trek dealer, but have good mechanics who are real cyclists. Their other major competitor (Durst Cycle) had the most outrageous prices that I vowed to never return. The few times I did return (just needed a tube or some cable housing) I left angry that they were ripping people off so much.
The area doesn’t have hills, but the wind is brutal.
ARC (on campus) has a 50 M pool open 11 AM-8/9 PM. Rarely crowded. Probably expensive. A masters team in the AM (7-ish?)
Andrew Moss
I live in Urban a. The U of I triathlon club does Wild Card Cycling’s tt series and I know many of the members. A team mate is also the professor that ovrsees the club. There are some triathletes that do ride with us.
PM me your contact information and I’ll get you in touch.
I’m bringing this thread back to life since I will be in Champaign, IL next week on business and looking for places to swim and run. Is the University ARC pool still a good place to get a swim session in? Are there any masters programs?
I swim at the Urbana Aquatic Center. Only a few $ for a 1 day pass I think. I’m not sure that the ARC has masters programs anymore. Their website hasn’t been updated in a long time so I just never looked into it.
I tend to run at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana at the southeast corner of Race and Windsor. It has 2 water fountains along the ~1.5 mile loop. However, you could just run anywhere in town.