There’s an outside chance of moving to Dallas. What are the good places to live, for schools, training, and if possible, trees (yes. Trees.)? I’ve liked living outside of St.Louis and in Virginia best; never thought I might be headed to Texas.
I grew up in Dallas. Plano is a suburb north of Dallas. Great schools and close to the biggest bike shop in the state, Richardson Bike Mart. Tons of riders show up every weekend for group rides. The DAM Masters is a great group to swim with. They swim at SMU in a 50m pool.
How this helps.
Definitely north Dallas. Plano, Frisco, Carrolton, etc. Plano has some of the best (and biggest) public schools in the state. That’s where I grew up.
As for tree’s…you wont find those. Lots of nice and fast group rides though. Probably because there arent any hills…
You should move close to where you work if possible. Rather than Plano/Frisco area, Flower Mound, Grapevine , Southlake, and Colleyville are nice. I live in Grapevine. Lots of good running there, easy access to bike routes, and a lake for swimming if you like. Plenty of places to swim in the area. Lots of trees in many neighborhoods. Running clubs in Grapevine and Flower Mound. Trails to run and bike on both north and south shores of Lake Grapevine. Less crowded than Plano area I think.
Jim
x2 on looking for close to your office. There are actually good training areas on most sides of town, so I’d recommend looking at your work location and then place to work. The sprawl of the area makes commuting pretty horrible.
Look more towards the east Dallas, Lakewood and Lake Highlands neighborhoods area if you are working downtown. Lake Highlands is technically in the the Richardson suburb school district, which is really good. They border the White Rock Lake city park, which has lots of ride & run options from your front door, plus its easy to get out to the countryside within about 30 minutes of riding your bike if you’re doing longer rides. Its typically flatter, but the trees are pretty similar to what I see while visiting central MO, closer to Columbia.
Thanks for the advice! Work would be right in the center of downtown, fwiw. Commute times, housing, and access to good riding routes all factor in. And trees.
I work on the north end of downtown, near the Klyde Warren Park and live on the east side of White Rock Lake. I have about 8 miles and roughly a 25 minute commute during rush hour unless traffic gets really bad. There are actually some bike trails that lead into downtown now, too, but I haven’t been able to attempt bike commuting at my current job.
Since I know the Dallas area, here are a few more links to help: There are several tri clubs with workouts in the area. DFW Tri and Fit2Train are probably the largest. Both have pretty fast people, although DFW Tri has more options for beginners, too. For swimming, DFW Tri includes coached swims, there is a big masters program in Dallas via DAM, and the JCC includes a masters swim with its gym membership. Both of those teams, plus the Richardson Bikemart Mirage (roadie) ride take the south loop. it can be extended up to over 100 miles, but here’s the main route.
If you like trees and hills don’t move to dallas.
Flowermound, Argyle, Southlake, Colleyville, or keller are all great north dallas locations for s/b/r. If i had to pick one it would be Flowermound, great public and private schools, exceptional cycling and running, open water swimming at grapevine lake, and lots of training groups. You are also slightly out of the fray in terms of traffic as well.