I will be moving to Dayton OH this fall and was hoping some of you could help me. I will be working west of the city so probably will have to live in the western / northwestern suburbs. I was wondering where good pools and bike trails are located in that area so I can focus my apartment search accordingly. And if you know any good tri / running groups, that would be great! Thanks for the help.
I’m from that area originally and my parents still live there while I continue college up in Columbus. I get back as much as Im able to. Off the top of my head I cant think of any groups but I didnt start training for tri’s until up here in Columbus, but Ill ask given that my father doesnt tris and races as well. If you’re looking for any running shoes or apparel I do suggest checking out Runners Plus, awesome store, laid back staff that know what they are talking about. Given that Ill be in the area occasionaly let me know if your ever looking to sell anything or go on a ride or something. Looking for a new bike not too far down the line…in desperate need for one. Anyway, just some info.
I went to school at Univ of Dayton, but don’t know the NW area of the city very well.
There is a pretty well developed trail system (Mad River Trail, Little Miami Trail, Xenia trail–not its official name) that can get you around in the city. Most of them follow the rivers and a couple intersect right near downtown…would be a good way to get out into the countryside for more open roads. Most of the area North of Dayton is flat, but you’ll have to deal with winds. Not too long ago I found a pretty detailed Dayton city trail map since I was looking to ride through there from Cincy on my way north.
BTW, the rails 2 trails path to Xenia takes you to a “bike trail station” of sorts (~15-20 miles from downtown Cincy) where there are branches of R2T paths that go to Dayton, Cincinnati, and a pretty good ways toward Columbus.
Don’t know shops real well, although Wheeliefun in Lebanon is a bit of a drive, it’s not totally unreasonable for awesome service. And there is a tri club based out of Wright Patterson AFB that I don’t know much about but might be worth looking into. GL
You can see a map of the trail system on the Dayton Triathlon clubs website http://www.wrighttriclub.org/info/map72.jpg
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Stacey…
I live in Springboro (SE of Dayton), and work at Wright-Patt. I’m not terribly familiar with the western / northwestern 'burbs, but I have done a fair bit of riding over there. If you want to PM me, I can send more details about riding out there and other triathlon-related stuff in this area.
Spot
West of Dayton I don’t know about from a cyclists standpoint, but I’ve lived north/northwest of Dayton most of my life. You’re talking Englewood, Union and Trotwood. Migrating a little East gets you Vandalia (where I’m from).
There is one little bike trail I know of, but have never been on in Trotwood. The roads of Englewood and north are country roads where it is great to ride. I’ve been riding the roads of Troy, Tipp City, West Milton, Englewood, Union, Covington and Vandalia my whole life and the people are very friendly towards cyclists in this area. It’s too bad I’m moving to Cincinnati in a month!
There is a trail from downtown Dayton that goes north through Taylorsville metropark.
Englewood’s metropark is a great place to run.
As for pools, I don’t swim. Can’t help you there.
http://www.speedy-feet.com/
http://www.daytoncyclingclub.org/
http://www.orrrc.org/
These organizations put on tons of events throughout the entire year. From bike tours to time trials to 5k+ to triathlons.
Oh and FYI - South of Englewood can get a little sketchy. My personal opinion is to stay away from West Dayton, up to and including Drexel. Anyone from Dayton will most likely tend to agree with this.
I’m about 10 minutes from bhellard in Tipp City. Good country roads around here and like he said, most people are bike friendly.
Here is the running club in the area.
http://www.orrrc.org/
This is a good group of triathletes around here.
http://www.dt3crew.com/
As far as swimming, it’s mostly YMCA’s here. They are all pretty new and updated so they should be fine. Dayton Raiders has a Masters club that swims at a local college(Wright State University).
The local tri series is well known.
www.hfpracing.com
And a new pop up by a local triathlete that does a mix of running, cycling and triathlons.
www.speedy-feet.com
And as bhellard said, west Dayton is probably not going to be your top choice. If you want to be NW of Dayton then Huber Heights, Tipp City, Englewood, Clayton, Vandalia, Butler Twp and some of Fairborn are all fine places. I’d look other places than Trotwood, Drexel, Harrison Twp though.
What are you moving for? Give us an idea of where you’ll be spending most of your time and what you’re looking for in a city and we’ll be able to point you to some of the more activity friendly places.
Thanks for all the responses and keep 'em coming! I’ll be out apartment shopping in about 2 weeks and I need all the insider info I can get!
If you want to be NW of Dayton then Huber Heights, Tipp City, Englewood, Clayton, Vandalia, Butler Twp and some of Fairborn are all fine places.
The last I checked, hubriar heights and squareborn were NorthEast of Dayton. 
Don’t you have some packing to do?
I meant general vicinities.
I am pretty sure “thetriathlonman” lives in Dayton. You may want to check with him.
I went to Vandalia-Butler HS…then UD.
The Dayton Sharks Masters Swim Team is great. They show up well to all the Open Water Swims and meets. They host a great meet in early December each year.
They aren’t the “real” Sharks though. I swim for the Columbus Sharks
I was just in Dayton this past weekend for the AF Marathon. I liked the area and also heard the rails2trails system was great, heard it goes from dayton to cincy. At least you know there is a great Marathon in your local area. It was only my second one but it was great course and great layout.