My wife and I are considering moving from Alaska to Dayton, Ohio or Rapid City, South Dakota. Anyone have experience living in either area? A few specific questions:
How’s the overall quality of life and community?
How’s the triathlon and running community?
Where to live so we can safely road bike from home?
Thanks
Hi Bill. I’ve never lived in Rapid City so I can’t comment on the community. But I visited the Black Hills last summer and thought that Rapid City would be a tremendous area for biking. The city seems very spread out with long hills and wide streets. The Black Hills look like ideal off-road terrain for a guy like me in my 40’s.
Hope that helps!
Don’t know about Dayton but the whole state of ND is blue sky and cold in the winter, and blue sky and hot in the summer. We have a kid from Rapid City that rides with us and he says cycling is great there, but pretty windy.
I guess from Alaska cold might not be that bad for you, But I know from living as a kid in Montana, that Eastern Montana and ND get really really cold in the winter. G
I lived in Dayton for a number of years, and now live in Cincinnati. I enjoyed living in Dayton, though at the time I wasn’t active in triathlons.
For information on the triathlon community, I’ll refer you to the local tri club, www.wrighttriclub.org. I believe they are pretty active.
If you can give me a better idea as to the types of things you’re looking for in “quality of life” and “community” issues I might be able to help there. Schools? Bars? Restaurants? Local non-tri sporting events?
As to where to live, again, the local tri club people might be able to help. I know that a number of the people who are in that club train on or near the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I lived in Kettering, and could always find lots of places to bike in the Kettering/Bellbrook/Beavercreek areas. There is also a very nice bike path that runs along the Great Miami River.
I can say that the “nicer” places to live in Dayton are Oakwood, Centerville, and Kettering.
Let me know if I can be of more help.
John
Thanks for the inputs.
John, thanks for the Wright Tri site and good question on quality of life–to my wife and I it means being able to take a walk, run, or ride safely, with no fear of being robbed, assaulted, or worse. Having good public services–emergency, police, library, etc. We’re also partial to having our space–currently 2.5 wooded acres and can barely see our neighbors. Along with plenty of space, a lack of traffic jams and stop lights is nice. We’re not into the bar scene, but like entertainment options–museums, concerts, sports. We have these things in Fairbanks, but after 10 years winter is becoming too much. We lived 20 miles north of Dayton (farm country around Greenville) 25 years ago, but know much has changed. We also would like to be closer to most of our family in Dayton, but they wouldn’t answer these questions honestly as they want us to move back… Thanks, Bill.
Bill: As I said previously, I enjoyed living in Dayton. For a city that’s not too big, I always found plenty to do. I’ll give you a list of the types of things I liked to do (which seem similar to the types of things you and your wife like to do):
Concerts: Dayton usually gets pretty good concerts, primarily at the Nutter Center (which is at Wright State University). It’s been my understanding that Dayton has a good reputation for selling out concerts and having rabid fans, especially for rock and country. Accordingly, Dayton attracts bigger acts than its size might otherwise warrant. I prefer rock, and have seen dozens of groups, including Neil Young, ZZ Top, Gordon Lightfoot, George Thorogood, The Black Crowes, and Aerosmith. You also have the option of going to Columbus or Cincinnati, about an hour, to see even more groups.
Sports: A GREAT place to watch baseball is at Fifth Third Field, home of the Dayton Dragons, a minor league team of the Reds. It’s a brand new, fantastic facility. You also have, of course, the teams in Cincinnati and Columbus. In baseball, Dayton is a Reds’ town, but in football, it’s split between the Bengals and Browns.
Books: Dayton is home to great bookstores, especially Books & Company. Also, there are lots of libraries.
Museums: Dayton has the Dayton Art Institute, which is pretty nice. Just this fall my wife and I went there for a three-part show: Ansel Adams photography, Tiffany glass, and Monet paintings. (This one I went for my wife, but enjoyed more than I expected.) You also have pretty good museums in Cincinnati.
For a city its size, Dayton has nice specialty shops (e.g., Arrow Wine), and one of the more unique grocery stores in the country (Dorothy Lane Market).
So … if you’re looking for things to do, I don’t think Dayton will disappoint. I can’t help too much on where to live if you’re looking for space, but I’m sure the outer suburbs would accomodate you just fine.
John
Hi Bill. You would love South Dakota. I live in Sioux Falls SD. The eastern side of the state. The weather is wonderful and plenty to do. The same goes for the Black Hills. Very beautiful with lots of great outdoor activities. I am the president of a newly formed tri club for SD. You can look at our web site at www.dakotamultisportclub.org. Minimal crime, very few people and great highways to bike and run on. Did I fail to mention the snowmobiling, skiing, snow shoeing, fly fishing, walleye fishing, elk, deer, mountain goat, Dall Sheep, Turkey and pheasant hunting. Good luck with your decision. Sioux Falls is also a great place to live. Formerly, a top 10 place to live a few years ago. Great schools, plently of job opportunities, and plenty to do. Were do you live in Alaska. I spent some time in Dillingham.
Cannondale Kid
How interesting, since I have lived in both and currently live in the Dayton Area. There is NO tri scene in Rapid City however a very stong running club and a couple of bike clubs. There is one very small local tri but otherwise you will travel to race.
Dayton has a strong club, about 10 triathlons per summer within a 1 hour drive.
Rapid City is a very save place to live, very low crime rate, when I bought my house there the previous owners didn’t even know where the keys were to the doors, they had never locked their house. Here is not quite that safe, but there are a lot of nice quiet suberbs decent schools, and lots of training abilities. We also have one of the largest running clubs in the US, I think we are 16th largest.
Feel free to contact me directly if you have other questions.
Mike
Dude, Been there done that. Alaska is far better than you realize. Plus I’m sure it will be almost impossible to find as good of friends as I’m sure you have right now. The commute time will probably suck too. As for training and other activities, how can you beat the great expanse of Alaska(as long as you don’t live in Anchorage). Endless miles of pavement (a little rough in areas) and very little traffic. The main thing though with those areas you are interested in can be summed up in one word “SNAKES”. I’ll leave it at that. I’m sure that whatever you decide will be the right choice. P.S. You could always consider North Pole. I was there for 19 years.
I lived in Dayton for 3 years. If you are not single, I would say it is ok. There is a lot of different groups to train with unless you are an immigrant and can’t get on the airforce base, they have a good support. I felt safe, especially in kettering/centerville, I was just bored with the town. There are a lot of races in the area which is nice. Dayton airport is cheap to fly out of. Besides that…
If you believe in omens then you should move to Dayton - just as I read your message’s subject I was listening to the band Guided by Voices (!) - song was “Dayton Ohio 19 Something and 5”.
Great tune, BTW; but not quite as good as “Postal Blowfish I”.
Bill,
Ohio in general has a great triathlon scene. I went to college about 30 min. from Dayton. Some areas are nice, some not so nice. You might want to check out www.hfpracing.com to check out some of the many racing opportunities in Ohio. Lots of races within a couple hours drive of Dayton.