Hey Guys, am coming over the pond on business trip for a few days landing in Chicago on the 23/09, staying downtown (?) Intercontinental Hotel before flying to NYC on the red eye 25/09, staying Thompson Hotel Lower East Side. Flying home on the 27/09. Need to run & swim as am competing in Lanza 70.3 for an AG slot, any good runs & pools local to these with early morning/later evening accessibility?
Also, I want to look at what goods I can bring home that are typically cheaper in the US - New Tri Bike shoes particularly, any suggestions for good online or local stores that I can visit?
If you’re staying downtown in Chicago, I recommend taking a run along the lake, through Grant Park, the Museum Campus, I think it goes trough all the way to Soldiers’ Field. You can also go north, but I’d make sure to go south first.
Mission Bay used to be the place for triathletes when I lived in Chicago, but it’s a pretty decent schlep out there, and I have to imagine that by now there’s somewhere better in the city.
The food and music and museums are my favorite things about Chicago. Take some time to at least take in the Art Institute if you can. Have a great steak, if Everest is still around, or the Park Avenue Cafe, or Charlie Trotter’s then treat yourself if you can.
Because they are snobbish, talk down to you and their service and follow up service is terrible. No first hand on follow up service but very good reliable second hand stories told to me. Just got done with a run in central park always wanted to stop by there so I did. I was ignored for 30 minutes while holding a 300.00 cycling jacket i was going to buy. Had to use a bathroom while waiting patiently. I was told they did not have a bathroom in a nasty tone. Come to find out they did have a bathroom , changingroom and endless pool. The jacket could have been had elsewhere for almost 40% less. I think i ended up picking one up on bonktown for 70% off in the end. But other horror stories to with people that bought 7,000.00 bikes off of them. You can alway run along the river in NYC or run in Central park. Probikekit would be a good place to spend you GBP
In Chi you can run along the lakefront. If you take Michigan Ave. beach access and head north on an out an back you can get in >13mi.
At the navy pier beach you will see triathletes swimming every morning. There are red markers every 1/2mi set up on the lake.
Have fun,
The Intercontinental has a reasonable pool. It’s at the end of the Magnificent Mile, so it’s a short run down to Lakeshore (run across the bridge and down Mich. to the Bean, from there you can cut over to the lake).
In NYC, run in Central Park. All the good NYC tri stores seem to have a bit of attitude (I think it comes from getting so many high net worth customers…you don’t want to buy a $10K bike with Di2 and some Zipps and they kinda ignore you). For selection, I’d recommend R&A in Brooklyn. The US stuff will be cheaper (Oakleys, Giro), but the Euro stuff is actually cheaper via Wiggle or PBK (I’m in California and order my stuff from the UK). Fashion stuff is a LOT cheaper here, so stock up on Abercrombe&Fitch, Prada, Louis Vitton, or even Levis, Gap, and Lacoste while you are here.
Thanks all for the responses & the heads up on SBR. What are the best US centric online stores. Am aware of the UK based ones for the Euro & Jap kit but am interested in spending my GBP in the US and getting some us deals…
Since I live in Boulder I have a bias for Superfly/Colorado Multisport. Other than that R&A is one of the better mail-order places. That and maybe InsideOut?
For NYC there is a pool at the Chinatown YMCA (Houston and Bowery) very close to your hotel. You should be able to pay a guest fee to swim there and it is a decent facility although I always find that the water is hot for my liking. From Thomson LES you can run about a mile to the east river or Hudson then run along the waterfront paths.
Tri_oxon, I live in Chicago and there’s ample amount of running and swimming you can do here. You’re staying at the Intercontinental Chicago right off of Michigan Ave. For swimming, head half a block south to Illinois and then walk east towards Navy Pier. Once you pass under Lake Shore Drive, head north and there is a beach called Ohio Street Beach. This is where most of the Chicago triathletes do their OWS. If you swim north to the jetty and back, it’s a mile. There are also lockers so you’re stuff is secure, just bring your own lock.
From Ohio Street Beach, you have the choice to run north or south on the Lake Front Path. I’d run north and turn at Fullerton, Diversey, Belmont, or Irving Park. At that point, you’ll be heading south back to downtown and you’ll have one of the best views of the city. If you want, you can run south from Ohio Street Beach along the Lake Front Path and head towards Museum Campus, Soldier Field, and McCormick Place. Once you pass those landmarks…there really isn’t much to see but the view when you turn around is amazing. There are mile markers along the Lake Front Path so you can figure out what mileage you need to put in.
Since the Chicago Marathon is only a few weeks away, you’ll be out there with a lot of company and scenary Hope that helps.
Hope that helps.