anyone have any info as to what training is like in charlotte? thanks.
that good, eh?
Check with Inside Out Sports. They can probably help you.
I work in Downtown or “Uptown” as they call it and live north of town near Lake Norman. There is a pretty active triathlon group. Set Up Inc puts on a ton of races in the state with about 6 of them mostly sprints being within 90 minutes of town. Iniside Out sports opened a shop here about 6 months ago. There are about three other additional pretty good bike shops and thier is also two other tri shops one north and one south of town.
The local triathlon club is http://www.charlottetrackandtriclub.org/ the web site is ok, but the club issues a newsletter via email which is very informative. The author of the email posts on set up occasionally as well.
Their are plenty of YMCA’s and the Mecklenburg Aquatic center (MAC) has two indoor pools that swim long course. I know thier are at least 4 Masters Swim Groups in the area. In the warmer months you will have planty of open water swim oppurtunities with the three lakes (Wylie, Mountain Island & Norman) that are man made from the damming of the Catawba River. Biking is the biggest weakness. The area has grown faster then the infastructure has been able to keep up, and the roads & drives especially near down town are not biker freindly. When you get about 20 miles out of town in any direction you generally are able to bike into farm land pretty quickly. For running the area is as good as any with some greenways and parks. Charlotte has a growing marathon that is in early December each year.
Another nice feature is the National White Water Rafting Center, which opened up about a year ago. There are some good trails and a made rapids system that is used by the olympic white water team.
If you hvae any additional Q’s just send me a pm.
Peace,
RF
thanks for the info.
I live just south of Charlotte. Swimming, running, not much of a problem. The problem is Biking. Before I moved here, I was spoiled by being able to ride from my driveway up into the mountains. Now, I have to load my bike into my car, and drive to quieter roads. Almost no spur of the moment rides anymore. I miss that part. Stealing an extra hour at lunch time for a bike ride is gone now. 
I will chime in and say that I do ride from my driveway. I live about 10 minutes outside of the 485 loop in Union county. I have hours of country roads just outside of my neigborhood. It not that bad if you look for a place away from the Metro area. I would say a house 10 minutes outside of the 485 loop would be doable for most the southern part of charlotte and definately the eastern part.
I just moved here about 3 months ago from NYC. I’ve found the riding to be pretty good. If you live anywhere near “uptown,” you can ride the booty loop - a 3 mile loop in a nice neighborhood that is usually full of riders. I regularly ride 20-30miles in the morning here. I do long rides from my doorstep on the weekends no problem (I live very close to uptown).
The problem I have is with the amount of races nearby. When I moved here I checked out the race schedule on http://www.setupevents.com/?fuseaction=events. As you can see, all Charlotte area races are already full, including the one in August. There are waitlists that open up, but good luck. Get ready to travel…
Charlotte is great.
Swim: many pools (50M), and regular open water swims as there are several lakes in the area. Note: look for more this summer!
Run: Depends where you live. Downtown area (including Dilworth & Myers Park) has many running opportunities and many runners and races. North (Huntersville where I live) is a little trickier, so I usually run through many of the large neighborhoods. Not too bad.
Bike: Booty Loop has been mentioned, but the best riding is north or south of the city. I don’t know much about the south, but have been on some decent rides. North out of the Davidson area is where I ride and I like. Just 45 minutes north from there and you can be in the Brushy Mtns and have roads and climbs all to your self. Blue Ridge Parkway area is 1.5-2 hours away and will give you all the hills you need. We head up there often (like this past weekend!)
I think Charlotte offers everything you need and plenty of people to do it with. Plus good weather.
PM me if you need more details. We have a great training group.