It looking more and more like I’ll be spending a lot of time this fall in Houston, near MD Anderson. Just looking for information on that area.
Pools, masters workouts. Is the area bike commute friendly. Good places to look for a place to live temporarily (3-6 months). I can figure out running on my own, and won’t be worried about riding until after the new year if I’m still there.
Thanks in advance.
Pools - Rice University across from the Med Center - see http://www.riceaquatics.com/ApplyForms.jsp?team=gura
Open water swims about 15 miles south of the Med Center in Manvel - http://twinlakesscubapark.com/
Running - several mile loop around Rice or Memorial Park for their loop (about 5-6 miles from Rice)
Cycling - commute friendly? I’d say no, though there are a couple of in-town rides. In a pinch, there’s always the picnic loop at Memorial Park. I know a few doctors (and one who does tris and is in the masters swimming at Rice, and his 60+ year old wife is a national caliber masters swimmer) in the Med Center, and they always come down to Pearland (10 miles south) to ride, sometimes on weekdays as well. Open roads start here.
It looking more and more like I’ll be spending a lot of time this fall in Houston, near MD Anderson. Just looking for information on that area.
Pools, masters workouts. Is the area bike commute friendly. Good places to look for a place to live temporarily (3-6 months). I can figure out running on my own, and won’t be worried about riding until after the new year if I’m still there.
Thanks in advance.
288 Lake is a better OWS venue than Twin Lakes and also a bit closer.
Houston is not a bike friendly city at all. Don’t even bother. Great riding out of town past the burbs to the south (Pearland), southeast (Clear Lake), north (The Woodlands), northwest (Cypress/Waller) and west (Katy).
Stick to some well known running routes. I wouldn’t venture out on your own. The med center area is nice but because of wacky zoning around Houston, a shitty neighborhood is always a couple of miles away. Some of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Houston are adjacent to some of the shittiest parts of the city. Imagine Los Angeles if Beverly Hills and Compton were actually right next to each other and that’s how some of Houston is laid out.
its possible to bike commute in that area, but it isn’t friendly. few if any bike lanes.
there are good rides you can do out west in katy, or brookshire, and south in pearland though.
Masters - Rice Aquatics is great (just swam my first workout there tonight) and have a ton of practice times and an amazing pool. There are also masters workouts at the Weekley YMCA and University of Houston (fantastic coach - I also swim there). Their website is http://www.coogaquatics.org/masters/index.htm.
Bike commute - I live in West U, which is about 2 miles from MD Anderson. There are lots of doctors/researchers in our neighborhood that ride to work and it is a short ride on neighborhood streets for the most part. I’ve also ridden my bike to work downtown, which is a fairly nice ride. There are a lot of apartments in the area and a lot of them are geared towards short term rentals for people who are being treated at MD Anderson. I can help you navigate the area if you are interested, just PM me. You might also see if there is some sort of a network of rentals published by Rice University, which is also right there. I think MD Anderson (if that is where you are coming for work) may also maintain some sort of a rental database or have relationships with some apartment complexes.
Welcome and hopefully we’ll be out of the triple digits by the time you arrive.
Michele