ooga-booga

at least we can pump our own gasoline.

Cypress

Granted, but our gas is >$1/gal cheaper and not having to do it myself means ...



(I hate not pumping my own)

Hermes

Gun and political discussions are not allowed on BF except in a couple of forums. Please stop.

Cypress

Both posts were related to the topic at hand. OP asked for a comparison of two different places with regards to cycling and general living. If the discussion at hand bothers you, feel free to report it.

BillyD

Once some people see mention of guns they consider it license to chime in, and next hostilities erupt. This is why we don’t allow gun talk at all. Thanks!

Cypress

I guess that would be another huge difference between Eugene and Irvine...

ooga-booga

probably. the cold in socal (despite my protestations) isn't that bad. upper 50's/low 60's in winter from 10am-3pm is acceptable even tho i'll complain
until it's in the low 70's. traffic is what you make it. some of us don't mind riding in it, some abhor it and then there's every variation in between. my
experience is some traffic, some quiet stretches.

i saw the gas pumping as more socioeconomic/environmental vs political but i suppose it's all one big ball of wax theze daze...i could make the traffic chit chat political
(as many other things inevitably are) or the sudden, rising costs of shimano cranksets but i won't. i suppose the (nvmd global warming) weather is still fair game.

how's the housing affordability and cost of living in eugene? irvine's pretty ridiculous.

Cypress

Housing is a crapshoot. It all depends on the part of town you're looking at. You don't get much for what you're paying, but that seems to be the overall trend in the Willamette Valley. My in-laws just sold their 2400 sqft house (no real yard) in Corvallis for $543k, if that helps. Cost of living is fine. State tax and property taxes are a little high, but there's no sales tax, so take that for what it's worth.

ooga-booga

that comparable square footage in irvine sounds like $925k+

CliffordK

I drove down to California a few weeks ago... Whew... Gas prices JUMPED.

Then I drove to the Midwest... and gas prices plummeted.


I can't say much about Irvine. But, for Eugene (or Portland).

We have a "Rainy Season" and a "Dry Season". Not a lot of snow here, but it does hit occasionally.

It is pretty dry from about mid-June to late-September. Then frequent rain from early October to May.

Of course, there are good days, and bad days.

Eugene has a population of about 170,000
Springfield has a population of about 62,000 (Eugene's twin city).
Lane County has a population of about 375,000.

Eugene/Springfield has a wonderful river front bike path system, and a few other bike paths. But, depending on where you're riding, the river front bike paths can be handy commuter routes. Unfortunately the paths are aging somewhat, but the city has also invested heavily in bike bridges across the Willamette river.

I'm finding a number of residential streets that are also good for riding, not necessarily well marked, but some are. And, generally traffic isn't bad on many of the residential streets.

One issue that many cities have is that some of the main arterials out of town get hammered with traffic, and Eugene is no different.

99 North, 99 South, 126 West, and 126 East all are busy.

Nonetheless, there are often alternatives to the main roads that can get one away from traffic.

There is an active local recreational cycling group:

Eugene Gears.
https://eugenegears.org/

If you're into TT riding, the local TT course is just north of Eugene in Brownsville.
Revenge of the Disc.

Hmmm, it doesn't appear to have as much info online this year as last year... Hopefully the race isn't dying out.

The Bicycle Racing group is: ORBA: Oregon Bicycle Racing Association.

The local Velodrome Track is up in Portland, Alpenrose. It is a tiny oudoor concrete track with steeply banked corners. I think they regularly have races on Fridays, and maybe weekends.

A few century rides, and the "Cycle Oregon" annual bike tour.

Flatballer

Alpenrose isn't really "tiny." It's longer than a normal Olympic velodrome (268.43 meters versus normal 250 meters). It does have weird dimensions though, so the turns are slightly steeper than you'd expect for that track length (43 degrees instead of a common 40-45 degree for 250m tracks).

The weird length is because it was originally 1/6 mile, but modern measuring shows it wasn't quite. It's about 8 inches longer than it should be, for what it's worth.

Doge

Because Irvine is less expensive than many of the areas around it.

spectastic

I did a bike tour down the west coast around summer time once. figured I just bring a bivy and a sleeping pad, and camp out on the hiker/biker sites. no blanket, because I wanted to save weight. that was stupid... one day, it fell into the 40s, and it was drizzling. the entire night, I'm guessing no more than 10 minutes passed when I had to assume a new position because a part of my body was freezing up. Eventually, I just laid flat on my stomach, with my hands between my pad and legs, feet were beyond saving, but my ass provided some insulation at least. don't think i slept at all.. first hint of sunlight, I was like f**k this, got up, walked to the showers, and stood in the steam for 2 hours.

spectastic

I found a place for $500 (including parking, utilities, internet), right next to the university, where i'll be working. the quad efficiency units where you have your own locked room and share the kitchen/bathroom with 3 others seem to be a popular design. never really looked at rent prices in irvine, but i'd say ~50% more expensive than eugene, as well as ~4% higher state tax, and sales tax.

but money is kind of secondary. i'm not crazy about surrounding myself with hipsters and crazy college kids, which is why I wanted the california position. based on what i've read from other parts of internet, eugene doesn't seem to have much racing or fast riding. I'm not really into racing that much these days, but it'll still be fun to be challenged. doing z4+ by myself is no fun.

ooga-booga

compared to rsm or laguna niguel, corona del mar or laguna beach, yah. sjc, dana point, san clemente, mission viejo not cheap chickens either,
some (relative) value in parts of tustin, santa ana, orange, villa park or la habra hills but still not "affordable."

Doge

Most would not want to live in the more affordable areas. My wife works in Newport Beach (drive through Irvine) and one of the major challenges is the recruiting and getting back east folks to realize that a reduction in 50% of the sq footage of a house is an upgrade. Most the execs do not live in Newport Beach.
Thing is the way SoCal folks live is different than many areas. There is likely not going to be friends over in a basement pool room. You go out. Ride - which is the topic, but also hang at outside places. If you choose to live in a "more affordable" place you spend more time in the car. I personally would take a smaller place near where I want to be, rather than a bigger place that I have to drive to and from.

Irvine is one of the nicer, more affordable places. But if you don't have the dog, and the kids, a small apartment in Newport Beach overlooking the harbor might be a nice alternative.

furiousferret

All you need is 1 person faster than you

cmh

I think you'll find a fast group or team ride or two in Eugene and some racing if you aren't looking to race every weekend within an hour drive. There is a Tuesday night crit that goes for a couple more weeks, then turns into Tuesday night CX races. I'd go race there and ask around about group rides and also ask on the chat board on obra.org.

I'm in Eugene for the weekend once in a while. I don't know when I'll be there next (probably some time in October), but I'll try to remember to PM you to head out for a ride.
Welcome to Oregon!

spectastic

how does winter training typically work?

cmh

That depends on your preferences, of course. I still do most of my training in the winter outside with just a little on an indoor trainer, but some friends are doing more inside now on smart trainers. During the week I try to do my weekday winter training on a lunch ride so that it is light outside and warmer than it is in early morning or evening. If I can't ride at lunch, I do evening rides mostly on a multi-use path or on roads in a local park. For the most part I don't mind riding in the rain, and I don't mind riding at night (with lights), but I avoid riding in the rain at night. Visibility is just that much worse when roads and windshields are wet. On the weekend my team has rides through the winter or I'll go on a longer ride by myself.

Most team rides and group rides continue through the winter with the help of rain jackets and fenders. There are couple 2-5 day periods during a normal winter when we get snow/ice or extreme cold and it just doesn't work to ride outside, but other than that it is not as bad as it sounds. Mostly in the 40's or 50's and drizzly rain.

Doge

Living in SoCal this is always a bit of a challenge if planning serious racing. You can get very fit in the winter, and be over it by summer. Depends a bit if you are trying to time anything. Junior often got it wrong, but he didn't care. He'd get super excited in the cooler weather and be his fittest Dec-Feb, then kinda get sick or go down later. IMO winter downtime is a good thing, but there is no need for that (other than needing rest) in SoCal. Racing starts in Jan.

Search "Rogers Cup" (2nd weeks in Dec) and some are very fit. They are very fit going into the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix. But really peaking a bit early IMO for the big races.

CliffordK

I was down in LA a couple of weeks ago. It was HOT!!!

Snowbirds?

Head south in the winter, north in the summer?

spectastic

well i'm in eugene now. so far I like it a lot. temperature is much more mild compared to central texas (omfg). but the rain starts in october. gonna enjoy whatever daylight I can get for now.

CliffordK

Rain doesn't mean the bikes have to be hidden for all of eternity. Just prepare to get drenched form time to time.

Rain also means that there are fewer snow days to contend with here than in some places.

Also note, while it may rain a few times a week, you can often find good riding weather, even deep in the winter, especially if dates and start-times are flexible.