City with best triathlon scene?

Triathlon Forum
21

There are several pretty good master’s groups in Austin. Longhorn aquatics has one of the best ones.

50m pools. You’d think so, but there are only a few that I know of. Longhorn uses the UT pool, but it’s generally short course only for Master’s. Longhorn also uses the Circle C pool, but it is generally shortcourse for Master’s as well, but is long course more than UT.

There is a city pool that is 50m, but only in the morning and they put the lanes short course in the evening since the lap crowd is bigger. AND it’s only open from either late April or early May through Mid September or early October.

The short answer to your question is that there are several pretty good master’s groups. 50m pool time/space is limited.

22

OK, if we are going outside North America, my vote would be just west of Cannes France on the Cote D’Azur. Ironguide will likely second this choice. You really can’t beat that location.

23

Yup, the Cote sure is a nice place. But Cannes wouldn’t be my first choice. Too big and too busy. My parents have some friends whow retired in a little place called “Eze sur mer” about half way between Nice and Monaco. Their villa is nested into the Alpes maritime with a view on the Mediterrean.

I stayed there both times I did the Nice tri.

That would be my spot :wink:

24

I was thinking outside Cannes, just west along the coast. Is “Eze sur Mer” near the famous Col d’Eze where Sean Kelley would always wrap up his Paris Nice wins ?

25

South of France would be very good. For a fun expat tri scene, Singapore is great. There is tight knit group of triathletes that do training weekends in Sri Lanka, Indoneasia, Phuket, and Malaysia. For an expat triathlete looking at instantly fitting into a local scene, Singapore is great. Obviously, it is year round (humidity takes a lot of getting used to for running). Racing is quite good also, although most of the the races are not quite to the organizational level of a good US or Europe race.

26

I was thinking outside Cannes, just west along the coast. Is “Eze sur Mer” near the famous Col d’Eze where Sean Kelley would always wrap up his Paris Nice wins ?

Actually the Col d’Eze goes up to ‘Eze Village’ on top of the montains. Eze sur mer is down from there on the coast.

27

Thanks, this is what I figured…the “sur Mer” part gives clue as to the relative geographic location of town with respect to the mtn and the sea :-). How far is the “col” from the town ?

28

Hey, all,

I’ve thought about this quite a bit as I have raced in Central Texas and in Middle Tennesse. Now that I’m back in Austin after a 6 month stint in Nashville, I can make a fairly informed comment.

What’s cool about Nashville, TN:

  • It’s a very small Tri community and pretty much everybody knows each other. Bruce Gennari is part of that scene, and he’s a real good guy, and very approachable as far as feedback/advice.

*Because it’s a small community it’s not that competitive compared to central Texas. It was great for my ego to do fairly well in races that if they were in Texas I would get my butt kicked in.

  • The bike rides around Tennesse are really great and beautiful.

*There’s quite a few good swimming areas.

  • Southern hospitality.

What’s cool about Austin, TX:

*Numerous world class athletes, runners, triathletes, cyclists (some notable) call Austin home.

*There are numerous Tri races and every other kind of race you can think of in and around Austin year-round.

*You can workout outside all year round.

*This town is very fitness conscious and the “working out” community is huge and varied. For example, my cycling coach is 65 and can kick my ass pretty regularly on the bike.

  • There are excellent indoor and open water swimming places.

  • Town Lake Hike/bike trail a gravel trail is in the center of town along with Runtex a world class runnign store and 1 bike store(Bicycle Sport Shop) and 2 tri-specific bike stores (Austin Tricyclist and Jack and Adam’s) are all in the same 3 mile radius.

  • Hot chicks on bicycles all the time.

  • Great Mexican food!

Tho’ it’s tough on the ego there something to be said for a fairly competitive scene which Austin has. I figure the 2 other hot spots as far as triathlon goes are So Cal and Fla. I haven’t raced or spent much time in either place.

If you want to get an idea about the variety of races in the area check out www.runnertriathletenews.com as a resource.

I enjoyed my stint in Nashville, TN; however, I’m glad I’m back in the land of sun-n-fun! For example, it’s been in the 80’s and clear for the last 4 days! You gotta love it!

Best,

Robert

29

I have really come to appreciate my home city of Adelaide in South Australia.

Here is why;

1 Never gets below freezing in winter

2 very little rainfall

3 about 80 IMOZ competitors every year

4 All major roads have bike lanes

5 A very nice salt water lake that doesnt have sharks.

6 On the coast so has excellent beaches.

7 The hills are only 20 min ride from the city with 20-30 minute climbs ranging from 4% up to 9% grades.

8 We have the Tour Down Under. Which the TDF teams come down to OZ to compete in the Euro off season

9 The roads arein great condition

10 Drivers who like cyclists

11 heaps of running trails

The only thing it lacks is a larger number of triathletes that compete in races. There are usually only 300 maximum in the races. But there is generally a race nearly every week.

30

The weather and multisport communities in Central Florida (from St Pete on over to Cocoa) are hard to beat with the exception of a couple brutally hot/humid summer months. The urban sprawl, lousy drivers, and exponentially growing populations leave a bit to be desired.

31

Glad to see nobody from California is responding. It is too damn crowded, expensive and the weather sucks for a month or two a year (at least up north). Also unless you are at least a third generation native, you will not be welcome. :slight_smile:

Actually I think those down under guys got it right. Oz and NZ sound very nice to me. Any of you Kiwi’s into fly fishing down there?

32

That would be New York City. Specifically, it would be Brooklyn, the new endurance sports mecca of the east coast.

1)Brooklyn has not one but two of the top multisport shops in the US. One of them (my competitor) arguably has the best selection of bikes on the east coast, especially tri bikes.

2)We have two fantastic indoor cycling training facilities: Jon Cane’s multirider studio and Kirk Whitman’s spinning studio. Kirk is a world champion track cyclist and will kick your ass in a 45 minute workout. Can’t get home from work in time for a ride in the park? Get some studio time and some buddies and ride a lap of the Lake Placid Ironman course from the (dis)comfort of your own computrainer.

3)We’ve got Prospect Park – car free most of the day during the week and all weekend, and nowhere near as crowded as Central Park

4)We’ve got the Brooklyn Tri Club, newly formed but already 80 members strong, with athletes at all levels. Special shout-out to Larry Lewis, the mayor of Prospect Park, who has been doing triathlons and ultramarathons since the 70s, and has raced every IM Lake Placid since the first one in 1999.

5)Don’t like your gym? We’ve got a dozen different gyms in a 10 block radius.

6)We’ve got CIBBOWS, the Coney Island-Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers, who organize 1-3 hour open water swims every weekend from April to November, and don’t laugh at you (too hard) if you wear a wetsuit. How often do you get to train with people who are going to swim the English Channel or around Manhattan?

7)We’ve got the Brooklyn Half Marathon, which is the best race in the city except for

8)The New York City Marathon! which spends a lot of time running up 4th Ave & out through Williamsburg. Anyone who has done it will tell you that the crowds in Brooklyn are the best.

9)We have some of the best restaurants in all of Manhattan, but you can actually get a table.

10)We have some of the best “supporting” merchants of any city in the world: Bierkraft has an amazing selection of beers from everywhere; The Food Coop has all organic everything at low prices; The Chocolate Room, whose truffles are ranked #3 in the world; and La Bagel Delight has got the best bagels in New York City, and that’s saying something.

Of course, we also have easy access to the rest of New York City and everything it offers, most importantly:

11)New York Road Runners Club races about 25 weekends a year. How often does your town stage a 5000 person race? We have them twice a month. How many half marathons does your town have? We have at least 7, and more if you’re female.

12)CCRA hosts cycling races in Central Park and Prospect Park. Wanna be a roadie? We’ve got Cat 1,2 riders who will give almost anyone a run for their money, and plenty of 3,4,5 riders to make the races interesting for newcomers.

13)We have the Kissena Velodrome, newly refurbished so it doesn’t have weeds growing on it anymore. Yes, it’s in Queens, but how many cities have an actual velodrome that’s open to the public?

14)We have the Armory, which has one of the fastest tracks in the US. Care to do your speedwork at 4:00/mile pace? Come by for a little jog on Thursday nights. If you’re running slower than 6:00, you get the slow lane.

15)Manhattan supports a wide variety of endurance sport shops, including the newly incarnated SBR Shop, as well as EMS, Paragon Sports, Princeton Ski Shop, dozens of Scuba places, etc.

16)Chelsea Piers.

17)The Asphalt Green Tri Club and Tri Institute. A fantastic resource for new and very experienced triathletes.

18)We’ve got a bazillion triathlons and duathlons, several of which are within city limits: the New York City Tri (real athletes aren’t scared of the Hudson River!), the Bronx Bi, the central park tri, the FDNY Coney Island tri. Within 50 miles of Times Sq there are at least 50 triathlons each season, from sprint to half-iron distance.

19)We have more running clubs with coached workouts and runners at every level than any other city in the world. From very serious, highly elite groups like the Harriers to the more casual, social groups like the Flyers (ha!!) we’ve got clubs for every level.

20)On a sunny saturday morning, you can’t ride 5 minutes on 9W between the GWB and Nyack without seeing a cyclist, let alone massive packs of beginner cyclists and slick pacelines of experienced cyclists tearing up the road on their way up to Harriman.

Lee Silverman
Brooklyn NY – Triathlon Capital of the East

33

Wait till the Vancouverites jump in on this. Having lived there Vancouver is a very compelling place to live. I lived there quite happily for 10 years. However, it says something to me when almost every person that I know who migrated out to Vancouver in the early 90’s is now back in Southern, Ontario.

Fleck

Fleck,

I would have responded sooner but I was outside for the past 2 weeks enjoying the sunny 17 celcius days while running in Kitsilano.

Adrian

34

Ahh, yes. Those wonderful runs from Kitsilano beach along the beach trail, a loop through Pacific Spirt Park and then back down the beach to Kits Pool. Can it get any better? Some of the most memorable runs of my life took place along that stretch. I will remember them with great fondness.

Fleck

35

Clermont, Florida - all year training - you can do a triathlon 48 out of 52 weekends each year. Z

36

The Col goes from Nice up to Eze Village. AFAIK there’s only a hiking path from Eze sur mer to Eze Village.

37

FTG

I am glad to see you chimed in so quickly. I agree with everything (particularly #6), but you forgot a few things:

  1. We’re consistently recognized as “One of America’s Fattest cities” by Mens Health. So we have ample reminders as to what will happen to us if we stop training.

  2. Suffering through year after year of disappointment as die-hard Browns/Indians fans gives us the stoicism and mental toughness needed to make it to the finish line of any race.

  3. We don’t have to put up with tourists like our friends in California or Florida.

“Cleveland: The bad rap is true, so go away and leave us alone!”

38

I think you could say that about the entire lake erie coast region from Cleveland all the way 'round to Windsor. Although the farther west you go you’ll be getting into the territory of long suffering Tigers and Lions fans (and now the Wings, too…‘snif’). Other than that, it all applies.

39

Sorry, but I can’t keep quiet any longer. How could you possibly think anything other than Northern California? I live in Walnut Creek, CA - 20 miles East of the City of San Francisco. The weather in the SF bay area never really sucks. Sure we get some rain, but that’s what makes for such pretty wildflowers in spring. The poppys are blooming all over Mt. Diablo right now, you should come ride it!

Lake Tahoe has the largest XC ski resort in North America (Royal Gorge) only 2.5 hours away for off season training.

Over 100 (that’s right 100) events annually. Including VineMan, Alcatraz, Folsom Intl, CaliforniaMan, San Jose Intl, Napa Valley, Donner Lake, Santa Cruz Sentiel, Pacific Grove, Alameda, Treasure Island

Tri-Clubs are top notch (SF Tri, Kain Performance, Silicon Valley Tri, Mt. Diablo Tri, Forward Motion Race Club and the list goes on)

Bike clubs and rides for every day of the week. Century rides galore.

Quality open water swimming year round

Strong local masters programs

Running trails that can’t be beat (Mt Tamalpias,home of the dipsea trail, Coastal Santa Cruz County)

Adventure racing in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range

Wine Country - Admit it you are getting jeolous!

Just a little ways south (2.5 hours) and you’ve got Wildflower and a whole nother wine region on the Central Coast.

You can find quality organic foods here

Our taquerias blow away anything back east, and they are everywhere

Three major airports to serve us when traveling to races afar

Sports Basement, Forward Motion, transition sports and other stores to feed our habit (Lots of great gear)

So we don’t have $250,000 houses anymore, but I’m already here!

Cheers, Karma

40

Lake Tahoe only 2.5 hours away<<

By airplane? Or the middle of the night with no traffic maybe.

Tri-Clubs are top notch<<

And you forgot, the #1 club, voted Best in the Bay for the last many years, Golden Gate Tri Club. :wink:

Like TriMike said, Nor Cal is a terrible place. Don’t come!

clm, who wouldn’t mind splitting the year between SF, Europe and NZ