since triathlete minds think alike I am enlisting y’all’s help. I am considering a move to the city of Atlanta, coming from the weather and road riding mecca that central coast California is. I am certianly looking forward to the more reasonable housing prices but I am fairly ignorant as to what Atlanta has to offer in both the outdoor lifestyle we all enjoy so much, family life and overall stuff to do. I am wondering: Being that Atlanta has one of the worst traffics in the nation are there good places to ride? What is the triathlete scene like (group rides, swim, runs, etc)? Where would be a good place for a triathlete to live in with fairly convenient access to swim, bike run facilities? What cool stuff is there to do for the family with small children?
Any other tips or good advice you can contribute would be great. Thanks.
All I know about Atlanta and riding is what I read in Bicycling magazine ranking it as one of the 3 WORSE cities for riding.
My GUESS is you’re likely to head out into the “country” to go riding.
From what I remember of my few visits to Atlanta…the lifestyle is COMPLETELY different than CA. The mentality to go out and be active just wasn’t there. Even friends of mine that live there now…are NOT active.
These are the reasons I crossed Atlanta off my list of places to move but kept some of the places in North Carolina (not that NC will be as good as San Diego…but then again…not too many places are - but it WILL be more affordable.
Good luck with your move regardless of where you decide to live!
I haven’t spent enough time there personally to speak to the training, but I’m coaching a woman lives there and that gives me a peek into the scene.
There’s a guy there named Pat Frank tricoachpat@yahoo.com who is an EXCELLENT swim coach/instructor and runs a masters program and tri club out of a few pools - he’d be a good source.
I moved to Austin from Atlanta. Atlanta is a city that likes to sit in their cars, drive everywhere, and spend Saturdays on the couch watching football. It’s not very cycle friendly at all. There are a decent amount of people that run, but nothing like Austin. Traffic is bad, too. I wouldn’t consider Atlanta a good place to move if you are seeking an active lifestyle. There are some very active people there, but when you go out, you don’t feel like you are around a bunch of people that can go out and do a 10k with no problems if they had running shoes with them.
I’m not in Atlanta; I’m 3 hours south of there in southern Georgia. I can’t really speak of the cycling or swimming since I don’t live there. However, from what I understand, you’re not going to get much riding done inside the city. The place is a madhouse. You’re going to have to travel 45-60 minutes from there to ride. The old mainstay up there is the Silver Comet trail. I can’t remember how long it is, but I want to say it’s around 40 miles. My guess is that pools are plentiful, and running is good. Atlanta is hilly, and there are several parks in which to run.
The multisport scene is pretty good up there. Lots of races of varying distances are held in and around Atlanta. You’ve got two half IM’s within two hours, and all the sprint tris, 5K’s, and 10K’s you could ever hope to do. There are also several good bike shops there, including All3Sports, which Inside Tri named one of the best tri stores in the country. It’s up in Marietta.
It can get very cold in the winter; it snows several days a year. And it gets very hot in the summer. Oppressively hot and sticky humid.
All in all, though, I don’t think it’s a bad place for a multisporter to be. You’ll have to deal with the same challenges other urban athletes do. But once you get outside of the city proper, there is some of the best cycling in the nation. Remember, you’re in Tour de Georgia country.
This weekend, while I was in Atlanta for the TdG, I did the Lake Lanier Duathlon in Buford. Great race, challenging course.
“It can get very cold in the winter; it snows several days a year.”
Rob,
Not trying to steal the thread but northerners will have to laugh at this comment, especially since we’re guaranteed snow for several months, not days.
.
It’s all relative, depending on where you live. I’m sure that does sound comical to those of you who deal with months of snow. But it doesn’t snow at all where I live, so a couple of days of snow is a big deal to me.
Firstly I believe the proper plural for y’all is all y’all. But then I am from Canada so I might not be a reliable source. I have been in Atlanta for 4 years, and as most of the others have mentioned it is not very biker friendly. If you live in the northern suburbs, you can easily ride out into rural areas, but the traffic can still be pretty bad, especially from 6am-10am, 2pm-7pm, so it leaves you 4 good hours during the day to ride :).
The running scene is very good with plenty of parks and trails (dependent on where you live) and the swimming is swimming, not much to say about it.
I now live in Athens (1 hour east) and it is an excellent tri/cycling town. There are other small towns on the outside of Atlanta that have very good cycling scenes, especially as you get up north into the Appalachians.
I don’t live in Atlanta and never have. I’m 2 hours away. I have a number of cycling/trithlete friends who live there now. Others to this point have summed things up pretty well. It’s one of the worst traffic nightmares around. I hear that some off the cycling clubs do their entire rides inside some of the older neighborhoods close into town. That’s hard for me to imagine … never getting out of developed areas and riding from stop sign to stop sign to stop sign.
You didn’t say where you’ll be working or if there are geographic considerations. If you can live a ways outside of Atlanta, you can get yourself close to the Silver Comet Trail. It’s 40 miles paved rail trail and I hear it’s awesome.
About an hour or so east of Atlanta is Athens, GA. It’s one of the most cycling-crazed places on the planet. They have the Jittery Joes cycling team based out of there. They have a thing called the Winter Bike League that attracts top regional cyclist to the area for epic rides and training races through the winter. And they’ve got the Athens Twilight which is one of the legendary criterium races in all the country.
NE of Atlanta … in the area of Dahlonega and Helen, GA you’ve got some amazing mountain riding and there are lots of good, organized events like the 3-Gap and 6-Gap centuries.
There’s a group called Tri The Parks (tritheparks.com … that’s a guess) that puts on a triathlon series in a number of state parks around GA.
There are also a number of good triathlons just across the border into SC. In fact, why don’t you consider the Upstate area of South Carolina instead. It’s quite cycling friendly and has awesome climate and roads for riding. Clemson, Anderson, Greenville, Spartanburg … they’re all wonderful places to live and ride and there’s a very active tri scene.
Finally some love for Athens, it seems to get no consideration when people talk about cycling towns, but this afternoon I saw no less than 30 other cyclists out on my loop, and it was raining. If you can find a job in Athens its a great place to live.
Funny how everybody says they don’t live in Atlanta, but it is a crappy place for triathletes. I live in Atlanta, I am from Atlanta, and Atlanta is a great place for triathletes. We have had numerous IM age group winners from here, the National triathlon male and female champions in the same year, and many triathletes from Atlanta who are well known around the country.
Atlanta is a city, and so cycling can be a bit difficult at times. We do have Columns Drive for bike interval training during the week, the Stone Mountain loop, many intown group rides weeknight evenings, other rides outside the perimeter, weekend rides all over the place on a year round basis, and we have all the Gaps up near Dahlonega which are some of the best riding in the southeast. Athens is 90 minutes away and has an insane cycling scene. During the winter they run a very organized series of training rides while here in Atlanta we have the Airport ride during the winter months. The cycling scene is large and available should you seek it out.
For running Atlanta is fantastic. The Chattahoochee River had parks all throughout Atlanta with numerous trails for running. Kennesaw Mountain has wonderful trails for running. There is Stone Mountain, The Path through town, Columns and running areas all over the place. It is very comfortable to run year round.
For swimming Atlanta has numerous pools available. That Frank guy somebody mentioned is okay of you want to swim numerous TI drills. I would recommend Dynamo, Swim Atlanta, Cobb Aquatic or one of the numerous Master’s groups that swim under the Georgia Master’s umbrella. All are easy to find under google. There are also numerous YMCAs and healthclubs with pools.
I have been racing four 14 years and have lived in Atlanta the entire time. I love the place. I live near one of the most popular training areas in Atlanta and can train whenever I want. I do almost all my swimming now in Lake Lanier or Lake Allatoona, which also have great running trails. I cycle in the mountains frequently. I do group rides with buddies weekly. I run streets and trails. Plus Atlanta is a city with much to offer. I love Hockey and we have a great young team. The life here is great. I love it. Don’t listen to the haters.
pretty much everything has been covered here so i’ll make it brief.
•great running (both on road and off)
•cycling isn’t great but there are plenty of good group rides that feel safer than riding alone. also, the n. ga mts are phenomenal riding (about 90’ away)
•plenty of pools to choose from and lakes not far away
•obviously plenty of great races in ga and in the se (powerman al, gulf coast, im fla, etc)
as for family, the usual stuff for a mid size/big city.
zoo
parks (piedmont park is the central park of the south
the new aquarium which is supposed to be amazing
musuems
great hiking at one of a dozen of the chattahooche park entrances
traffic is bad, true but if you can be at all flexible in when you come and go, it’s ok. i leave for work at 8:45 and don’t hit any traffic.
as for living, if you have kids of school age, then you don’t have many options. some of the best public schools are in cobb county (where i live) about 15 miles from downtown atl. the high schools you want are walton, pope and lassiter. housing isn’t cheap per se but probably compared to cali. expect to pay $275+ in the neighobrhhods i was referring to above.
hope that helps. feel free to pm me if you want more.
It’s all relative, man. I live in Atlanta, in Grant Park, which is precisely 2.75 mi from my office which is in the center of downtown. I avoid the suburbs like the plague, and rarely travel more than 7 mi from my house in any direction.
It’s all relative because if you want to train, you can. Roads are for cyclists too. If you’re looking for rural riding with no cars, this isn’t the place. But, if you’re willing to take your rightful place on the road, the sky’s the limit. I’ll be the first to admit that I would be a bike messenger if money were no object, so that might tell you what you need to know about my mentality. The bottom line is that there are plenty of cycling opportunities if you want it badly enough. I’ll also be the first to admit that this applies to me and not my kids. It will be some time before they are allowed to ride in traffic on roads, but eventually they’ll get there.
Running and swimming are no problem. In fact, swimming might be better here than in many place b/c there aren’t very many people taking up lanes. I can’t remember the last time I had to share a lane.
If you’re able to narrow it down for us, tell us if you envision living in the city (we call it “inside the perimeter”) or outside. If outside, how far outside. Recognizing that my sole piece of advice would be to live as close to work as possible. Traffic here sucks beyond compare and I’d move if I had to participate in it.
Feel free to ask any more questions. I love it here, grew up in Florida, lived in New Orleans, D.C., Buffalo, Dallas, South Bend and London, and have traveled all over. I came back here b/c it feels like home. Subjective for sure, but info. nonetheless.
I’m a triathlete that lives in Atlanta, actually in the city with my wife. Reading all these peoples opinions of Atlanta is pretty funny since none of them live here.
The swimming is pretty easy regardless of where you live. There are numerous masters swimming programs all over the city as well as lots of YMCA pools and health clubs with lap specific pools. Riding here is what I would imagine it would be like riding in any city with over 4million people. There is a lot of traffic but there is litterally a group ride every night of the week with the exception of the weekend nights. You pretty much just decide how fast you want to go and show up for the appropriate ride. You go through a lot of neighborhoods but there is no real starting and stopping like someone else mentioned they “thought” it would be like. There are always long rides on the weekends which are generally out in suburbs, South Atlanta riding Silk Sheets, North Atlanta riding the Alpharetta Loop etc., One of the funnest things to do during the winter is the Winter Bike League which is out of Athens. If you are living in San Diego and training with all the pro’s there this is a ride for you as it is long and fast and regularly attended by some domestic pro’s. Running in Atlanta is easy as the Atlanta Track Club is a fairly large running group and there are numerous other running groups. There is some trail running around and overall a strong running contingent here. Atlanta is not San Diego or Boulder or one of those cities that world class atheletes are going to flock to due to it’s great training but it is a city that one can usually afford to live in and can get in all the working out they can handle. Home Depot, Bellsouth, UPS, Delta, CNN, TBS and Coke (the most popular drink of the TDF) all have their headquarters here in Atlanta because of the cost of living and quality of life.
The depth of talent in Atlanta in all 3 of the sports is pretty ridiculous simply because the city is so big and there are so many people moving here from all over the country. Very rare to find someone who is actually from the city.
I appreciate all opinions. I understand the people that don’t live in Atlanta because is probably the same opinion I would have of Los Angeles since I don’t live there and wouldn’t want to yet it has hundreds of triathletes.
I don’t live in San Diego I am in the central coast just north of Santa Barbara, definitely more rural and also Tour of Cali country.
However I can’t find some of the nighborhoods you all refer to in the map. If you are able to see the map link I posted above where I would be working, where would you reccomend good places to live in the $200-300 range?
I used to work within a mile and my girlfriend at the time (now wife) lived within walking distance as well.
Working there you are pretty close to columns drive and the chattahoochee river park. I’d suggest living in Dunwoody (house prices can be high - you probably won’t find much for $2-300K), south Roswell, or in east Cobb (great schools). All are within 10-15 minutes when there is no traffic.
PM if you want more details - I grew up here so know the area very well.
KingK, the company I work for has their corporate HQ in Atlanta (very near the location on your Google Link actually) and I recently spent two weeks there in February. As you are already aware, the traffic is atrocious at all hours. Some of my friends that work near your Google Link live in Cumming which is just north off of 400. Their commute is one hour plus in both directions at any reasonable commuting hour. (6am-9am; 4pm-7pm)
I personally made the decision when I was there that I could never live there simply based on the traffic situation.
Well, I am glad some folks from Atlanta jumped in here and commented. It seems we were getting bashed from people who don’t live here and don’t really understand the city. When I moved here from FL, I didn’t know what to expect from the Tri Community, it was good to see the community is quite large. In addition the abilities of the competitors will vary from beginners to pros. There is a great tri series and it’s located at www.tribluesky.com. There are numerous pools and masters organizations to choose, there a number of rides and runs throughout the city. There is always something going on no matter what side of the city your located.
Regarding riding, let’s face it the traffic isn’t the best, but Atlanta isn’t ranked the worst. Also, no matter what city you live in, the traffic is going to be somewhat of an issue. Like someone mentioned, there are places like Columns Dr, Riverside Dr and Stone Mountain. All of these are short loop course where it’s safe to ride. I would also invest in a good trainer because you will use it a lot.
I think you also mentioned living north of the city, this would be Dunwoody, Sandy Springs or Roswell. If you looking to buy a house at that price $200k/$300K, it’s not going to happen. You might be able to find a smaller condo, but a house it OUT of the question. Honestly, your not going to find house anywhere is Fulton or Dekalb county for that price. The further north you travel the more reasonable the prices are set, keep in mind your commute lengthens as well.
You won’t be disappointed with the move, it’s a great city.
- but it WILL be more affordable.