Great Lakes - Nice areas to live/bike in Indianapolis

Hi all

I may be moving to Indianapolis. I have an interview with Eli Lilly. Where are some nice areas to live and bike?

I'm interested in a more rural less urban setting, affordability, good road cycling and the ability to commute by bicycle into downtown. As a result, I'd prefer to be say 10-15 miles max from downtown indy.

Some preliminary research indicates that the Greenwood/Southport area might be good.

Hi all

I may be moving to Indianapolis. I have an interview with Eli Lilly. Where are some nice areas to live and bike?

I'm interested in a more rural less urban setting, affordability, good road cycling and the ability to commute by bicycle into downtown. As a result, I'd prefer to be say 10-15 miles max from downtown indy.

Some preliminary research indicates that the Greenwood/Southport area might be good.

I hope someone else responds and proves me wrong, but I've never thought of Indy as being very bike-friendly. If you're looking for easy routes to rural riding around the city Greenwood/Southport are probably good choices, but commuting by bike downtown? I wouldn't chance it...you'll see when you get here. It's hard to describe without resorting to what will sound like I'm an elitist snobby pig from "liberal" Bloomington making fun of the...ummm, good ol' folks in south Indy...

Not to offend anyone, but Indianapolis is a giant sprawling mess.*
In the Mass. Ave. area (the "arty" part of downtown) they have bike lanes on the sidewalks. I'll repeat that, bike lanes are on the sidewalks! If I were looking for a place to live that's somewhat close to the Lilly complex downtown, I'd look in the areas around Butler University or Broad Ripple. There are nice areas to live in Indy, but to commute to downtown from them you will most likely have to go through some seedy areas...unless you're coming from the north and straight down on Meridian...actually, you'd still have to go through some sketchy parts. Indy is very car/pick-up truck (hint, hint) orientated, meaning that most of the places you'll need to go are not practical to reach by bike...

Good Luck with the job. Lilly is a great company to work for.

Cheers,
Mike


* Yes, I speak from experience...I lived there for three years before moving to Bloomington.

MLB is right on. Indy has it's strange mixes. The North side seems to be generating more of a cycling awareness.

South side will give you easier access to some good riding down South....that's just about it.

Then again I say this only having been born there and only really living there as a young man. My parents have lived there about 25 years of their lives and have lived there most recently since 96-ish in Carmel and have just moved to a new place in Westfield....so many from Indy would say I have a skewed perception.

IMHO stay the F away from Fishers. If they shoe-horn 1 more family into that village I think it may pop.

Well that's a bit discouraging :(. looking from google earth I thought I saw some secondary streets with usable shoulders heading North from the Greenwood area [Sherman Dr., McFarland Rd]. Guess i will drive around a bit when I get down there today.

Sorry. :(
If you do get the job at Lilly and don't mind commuting for an hour (and can afford the gas) Bloomington is an excellent cycling-friendly town.

Mike

North side! Live in Broad Ripple. Good neighborhood, a "bohemian" mix of people with good restaurants and bars. it's the beginning of the canal path, and also is right next to the Monon trail - both great bike paths (canal path is gravel, but is smooth enough for road bikes). Hop on the Monon, and bike downtown, or up to the north 'burbs for some shopping. I used to valet for St. Elmo during college, when I was living in Butler's on-campus housing. I'd hop the canal path to broad ripple, then jumped on the Monon from there to downtown. After that, it was a few short blocks to the restaurant. If I could live in the city again, I'd give anything to live around the B-Rip again.

BTw, Mass ave has some nice restaurants and such, but if you want "arty" try the ripple. mass ave is for the young professionals that still wish they could party like they did in college, but forgot how...I hate it down there.

i guess i should reply since i live in southport. i bike downtown all the time. i don't see an issue. plus i do the group rides from greenwood at the bgi on county line road. tons of rural streets. southport actually is really down to earth and not all snooty like way up north. i would agree that living in broadripple would probably be a better commute to downtown because of the monon, but only during daylight time. broadripple has crime... ask the guy riding his bike on the monon a couple of weeks ago who got jumped by two guys that stole his raod bike. that doesn't sound safe to me. but yeah... commuting to downtown isn't tough at all. the people that are saying not to do it haven't probably tried it. the roads are little rough, but it's not that bad. the cost of living is lower down here, but i'm guessing since you will be working at lilly, that you probably won't worry about that much (especially coming from chi town... it probably all sounds cheap). pm me if you have any questions. i wouldn't live out east or downtown though for sure. that's just my 2 cents.

OH please. wait just a min here. I live in Greenwood by the mall. There are lots of good areas to bicycle. I commute to the IUPUI campus daily. Shelby street from County line to Virginia is a safe and comfortable ride. A lot of guys ride Bluff road and I ride Madison a lot when I am in a hurry. I am a few minutes from the country. You can ride East or West too pretty eaisly. Greenwood and Center Grove area's are good values and low crime. MOve to Greenwood, dont listen to those north siders. Geeze.

OH please. wait just a min here. I live in Greenwood by the mall. There are lots of good areas to bicycle. I commute to the IUPUI campus daily. Shelby street from County line to Virginia is a safe and comfortable ride. A lot of guys ride Bluff road and I ride Madison a lot when I am in a hurry. I am a few minutes from the country. You can ride East or West too pretty eaisly. Greenwood and Center Grove area's are good values and low crime. MOve to Greenwood, dont listen to those north siders. Geeze.

2nd That: Move to Greenwood - Southport

Thanks for proving me wrong guys! :)
When I come up to Indy I usually go straight up on 31, so I never get to see good cycling routes I guess. When I lived up there the Monon trail was still a RR track...I'd like to see it next time I get up there though. I guess I'm just so used to riding around here that some of the areas look a little sketchy (we have them down here too)...I'm glad to hear there are good routes to cycle on.

Cheers!

I'd vote for Broad Ripple and parts north. I've found more tolerance for cycling in that area of the city and the roads tend to be much better designed for commuting or recreational riding. Whenever I've ridden on the south side I feel like I'm intruding on all the manic motorists. I've lived on both the north and south sides as well as several years just off Mass Ave downtown. I'm in Carmel now and immensely enjoy riding out and around Zionsville, Whitestown, Traders Point, Westfield and Noblesville. Tons of lightly traveled roads with a smattering of short and sharp hills just north of Eagle Creek Park. I'd agree with the warnings to stay away from Fishers. It's scary-dense over there and way to easy to find yourself in traffic trouble. In a car or on a bike.

have fun,
aaron

Franklin resident here. I spent most of my first 20 years in the southport area. I don't really think that the "riding" is much better anywhere around indianapolis as it is on the south side. There is good riding everywhere from what i can see. I live in franklin and have been riding around here and to the north since i was about 14 so maybe i am biased. I've done group rides on the south side that are fun. I've done weekday group rides on the near north side that made me say NEVER AGAIN!!! Umm commuting there are a few lets call them secondary roads that you can directly ride to lillys OR I think i would zig zag and avoid traffic and that is seriously possible also. But honestly any side of town you find that you likeyou will find yourself riding through a less than ideal neighborhoods. I don't think it can be avoided. But if i worked downtown and either daylight permitted or there were bike path's/lanes from here to say southport i would have no problem riding 24/7 from "downtown" southport to downtown indy. I bet that there are similar routes for other sides of town also. I work on in avon and will probably end up there with the price of gas and such. Isn't it amusing that its a mainly north/south thing where is the east or west side of town in all of this?

I just got back from Indianapolis. I would agree that the bicycling facilities are not what I was used to in Chicago. Most of the streets I saw were either wide 4/6 lane or very narrow 2 lane and the lines I saw from google earth were merely edge of the roadway stripes not really a shoulder.

I saw some cyclists out and about but a lot of them where riding on the sidewalk.

I looked around the Greenwood/Southport and drove from there to downtown. I didn't see any questionable neighborhoods like say Englewood area of Chicago between there and downtown. The only marginal neighborhoods I saw where at the west and northwest side of the city.

Bluff Rd is another good option for biking to downtown. It's used by several to commute downtown. That's west of Meridian/SR 135.

Biking aside, you'll find that your money goes further on housing in Southport/Greenwood than Broad Ripple and north.

well, it depends on whether or not you want to buy or rent. I rented an apt. that was literally 3 blocks from the Monon and about 1/2 mile south of BR, and it was $525/month.

Any update on the job? I work at Lilly too and there are a number of ppl in the cycling club who can help you find routes. You must be in a specialty field because we are NOT hiring anybody these days...rough time in the industry.

I live in the Irvington area (east side) and have a pretty good route to the tech center. I think getting to the corporate center might be even easier. I did try a different way home the other day and people were a lot ruder, so I think picking your route is key.

I wouldn't call Indy particularly bike friendly but there are a number of people who ride anyway!

My prospective supervisor said they would contact me in about a week or so and that was two weeks ago. I am hoping they are just busy doing the paperwork or background checks but I have a bad feeling that it fell through and they don't have the courage to tell me.

Oh I am kind of in a specialty group. I am a Molecular biologist and protein biochemist. They did mention the protein group was one of the only sections hiring. I am wondering if the economy put that on hold too.

did the fortville and beyond ciba ride today that was put on by the lilly cycling club. seems like alot of people that work there cycle.

Finally heard. Rejected. So no Indianapolis for me.

Finally heard. Rejected. So no Indianapolis for me.

Sorry to hear that. Hang in there, probably a better job just waiting for you.:(