Looking on recommendations for places to live around/outside Denver for a triathlete with a job in downtown Denver . The parameters:
good/great riding opportunities right outside your door so you could ride before and/or after work during the week
close enough to denver that a daily commute into the heart of downtown Denver would not take up all your training time
bonus points: good pool (and master’s team?) + running trails + tri/bike shop
You have a lot to choose from! Get a city cycling map, you can pick one up in any bike store, and look for neighborhoods close to the major trails / bike paths. Their are many great neighborhoods along what I call the Park to Park loop; Platte river trail, to E470 trail, to Cherry creek trail. About 60 miles or so and goes through two state parks and a few smaller neighborhood parks.
Why arent you looking downtown? It sure is nice living down here when you are working downtown! There are several great neighborhoods right off the downtown area, just a walk to downtown. There is much to choose from, price range from 250k to over 1M. You get the best of both worlds living downtown and the bonus is that you dont fight any of Denvers notoriusly nasty traffic jams!
Good luck!
what is an acceptable commute time. Some people don’t want to commute more than 10 minutes but some are fine with 35 or 40 minute commute. You really can meet your parameters in many neighborhoods, it will also depend on your budget for your house and the style you are looking for. The suggestion to get a map is a great one. Have you been to Denver before? Are you making any trips out before you move?
A couple of thoughts are homes near Cherry Creek or Chatfield Reservoir, neither are what I would call beautiful but miles of road with little traffic. Another would be homes near or along the highline canal system or the Cherry Creek path which runs from Downtown to Cherry Creek Res.
what about evergreen or golden? a bit of a commute, but better riding.
I live near Chatfield Res. and its pretty convenient to biking and running areas, bike trails, some decent long rides and to open water swimming at Chatfield. There is no good commute from anywhere in Denver to anywhere else these days but there is light rail in this area and that’s a 20 min trip to downtown.
Thanks to all for the suggestions so far. I was hoping to find somewhere with a 20:00 or less commute (car rail or bus) to downtown Denver and good riding roads where I could do 25-30 miles on the bike before work.
My big fear is that I’ll move out there to enjoy a great outdoors/training lifestyle and then not have time to do it because of what I hear can be a terrible commute if you work in downtown Denver (where the job opportunity is)
I have been to Denver a couple times but the last time was about 4 years ago and both times it was only for a day or so - no time to scope out places to live. I’m going out in a couple of weeks to take a look around so any additional suggestions/ideas will be much appreciated.
Wash Park is where I live. A pretty good area for swim, bike, and run. I am only a half mile from the aformentioned Cherry Creek Bike path. I am also only a mile from the Wash Park Rec Center which has a decent 8 lane, 25 m pool. Or if you want the Denver University nadatorium is only a little further south and it is the best pool in the city. The best part of it all, I am only 2 miles from downtown. Which translates into a 12 minute drive or a 14 minute bikeride to work.
I’m finalizing my move to Denver this weekend. We rented a place in Cherry Creek near Cheeseman Park, about 3-4 miles from my office in LoDo. Good access to the Cherry Creek Trail (which goes all the way downtown, so you COULD commute by bike if you wanted to, although it’s not very far) and connects to the other trail systems, and offers lots and lots of access to nice areas.
Spent last week staying with my aunt in Littleton near the High Line Canal, which also has a trail connecting to the South Platte River Trail (which goes to downtown and connects to the Cherry Creek Trail there.). I was minutes from Chatfield Reservoir and the starting point for the Tour of the Foothills ride on colorado.bicyclerides.com (BTW, I did the ride, and those foothills seemed like mountain passes to this flatlander. Took me 4 hours to do 60 miles. Beeeeeeyootiful ride, though), but about 45 minutes from downtown during rush hour (30 minutes if you take the light rail from the last station in Littleton/Highlands Ranch).
If you want a fast commute, then Boulder’s too far… actually, most of anything north of Denver would be a headache. I’d look in Wash Park, Platte Park, Cherry Creek, Park Hill and other areas just southeast of downtown.
I would stick to the SW corridor (Littleton Englewood). Easy access to Chatfield resevior via Platte River Bike trail. Good commuting on the train to downtown (30 min max). Very good for bike commuting to downtown on the Platte Rive trail. I ride in on the Platte trail - 20 miles + one way and only one stop sign before getting off in downtown! Good flat running on the Highline Canal - unlimted miles. Not too far from the foothills with good mountain biking and trail running. I’m not a big fan of riding bike trails but they are okay and in very good shape to get to open roads or for commuting to work). The road riding in the SW corridor is limited to a few nice areas (Chatfield, Deer Creek Canyon to the mountain towns, longer rides to Sedalia, Plamer Lake, Black Forest 100 miles +,.
I moved to Denver two weeks ago. I did some research and rented a place in Littleton. I do my easy rides at Chatfield Reservoir where it’s relatively flat. It’s 3 mi away. Another 0.7 mi takes me to the start of Deer Creek Canyon road which is quite popular with cyclists, especially on weekends. Though it’s still in the foothills, it’s a 13.5 mi climb from ~5000 to ~8000 feet which is the equivalent of some mountain rides I’ve done in the past.
So far, it beats riding among the Midwest’s cornfields.
I would stick to the SW corridor (Littleton Englewood). Easy access to Chatfield resevior via Platte River Bike trail. Good commuting on the train to downtown (30 min max). Very good for bike commuting to downtown on the Platte Rive trail.
I’d second this recommendation. OW swimming in Chatfield in the summer months, bike trails to get to road rides, easy train or bike commute to downtown.