Riding in Salt Lake City

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi Everyone,

Just relocated to SLC, UT and looking for relatively safe road riding areas.

Any ideas?

My level of expertise is 3 IRONMAN 70.3 finishes…for fun. Not a super competitor, but have a good base.

Thanks for any help.

2

Any of the canyons. Choose the closest one and have at it. Others can chime in, but this is my list from easiest to difficult.
Emigration
City Creek
Mill Creek
Big Cottonwood, 16 miles in the canyon
Little Cottonwood, steep
Parley’s, because of traffic.

outside of SLC, Park City, Heber, Midway. American Fork Canyon and Provo Canyon

3

Look up the Mountain View corridor and the Jordan River Parkway. I have trained for many halfs and two IM’s on those roads. Mountain View Corridor has wide bike lanes and bike paths and a mix of flat, rolling and steep. Jordan RIver Parkway is good but hard to go fast all the time since you share a lot of it with runners and bikers. Not a ton of traffic on either of these roads.

4

Where are you located? I spend a lot of time on Mtn View Corridor, but I also ride out by the airport and head west on the I-80 frontage road out to the Great Salt Lake Marina. I was out there last Saturday and did 3 loops between the marina and 5600 West and was passed by a total of 3 cars…plus no jogging stroller to dodge like Mtn View Corridor (if you are on the bike path sections).

5

Welcome to Salt Lake City! Riding on the East side of the valley is going to be the safest, most scenic and offer you a variety of rides. With safety in mind I’ll say that you should stick to riding along Wasatch Blvd which runs North/South across the East bench of the mountains. From there, like others have said you can access more than a half dozen canyons. For safety sake I’d avoid City Creek canyon (too much foot traffic up/down) and Millcreek (narrow and road is in horrible shape). Parley’s canyon is fine but as someone noted its basically riding I-80…wide shoulder, but not the best. Stick to Emigration, Big/Little Cottonwood and Suncrest (south valley) and you’ll have all the climbing you want. There are bike lanes around the University of Utah on most roads and some bike lanes in Sugarhouse. Take your TT bike out to Salt Air (Great Salt Lake) on Thursday nights in the summer for the 10k TT. And then either ride (epic) or drive your bike up to Park City or Kamas and ride up the Mirror Lake highway (into the Uintas) or up Wolf Creek Pass. And that there is about half of what you can do on any given Saturday/Sunday! Have fun and be safe!

6

Thanks all! Utah sure is diff from the flats of FL but I am excited to try them all out.

7

Not to hijack the thread, but we are relocating to SLC sooner rather than later. Where do people recommend living? In particular, I’d like someplace where my wife can get out with the running stroller pretty easily and safely. I’ll be working near the University.

8

Where do people recommend living?

My personal preference would be the Avenues neighborhood. I lived there for 9 years- the last seven on 10th Ave which was perfect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avenues,_Salt_Lake_City

9

Where do people recommend living?

My personal preference would be the Avenues neighborhood. I lived there for 9 years- the last seven on 10th Ave which was perfect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...nues,_Salt_Lake_City

I’d second that, I lived on N street near 4th Ave and it was a good spot, at the time I was attending the U of U and it was a quick commute. I also lived south of the U in Sugarhouse and really liked it over there. Also a quick commute.

During those times though I was a college student, or later in Sugarhouse newly married with no kids. Those neighborhoods tend to be older, smaller houses and while some are nice or remodeled, it depends a bit on what you’re looking for. The Avenues and the eastern side of town near the U are, in my opinion at least, the more liberal and urbanized parts of town, and I think are more appealing if you are coming from out of state. Being out in the southern and western suburbs and you’re more in a very conservative environment with a cultural bent that’s …a little more unique to Utah. People are nice enough but a lot of people coming in there from another place can find it hard to fit in.

I moved away a few years ago and there are a lot of things I miss about being there, and if your move is for some limited period of time be sure to take advantage of all the great outdoor stuff around, and being able to wake up and see the mountains every day.

10

thanks all for the feedback, all very helpful
.