Best places to ride
 

Hey all,

I am 25 I plan on racing soon, I also plan on leaving the military. I want to go to school instead and have no ties to anywhere. I have applied to university of Washington and university of Colorado boulder and colorado state ft Collins. Any suggestions is NYC a terrible place to ride?

Colorado is a great place to ride in the summer. Year round, California is probably the most ideal in terms of weather/terrain.

Yep.

Like UCLA? Any good schools in San Fran?

Please. I wouldn't send my dog to Fucla if they offered a full ride.

The City is pretty damn cold in summer. Mark Twain was dead on. However, just on the other side of the bay is the world's greatest public university. And since Berkeley is directly across from the Golden Gate, the prevailing on shore flow keeps it clear of fog most days. Also, it's on a hill so you can do all the climbing you like, or keep going and head to Mt. Diablo.

http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/picture...0479_tweak.jpg

Having lived many years in CO, northern NV, and northern CA. I'd rate CA the best place of those to ride year round.

There are many excellent schools in the SFO Bay Area depending on what you want to study. UCSF, UC Santa Clara, UC Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Stanford... Here's a list of just those in SF proper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._San_Francisco

A bit further out there's UC Davis, and many many more.

Thank you I am planning on studying mechanical engineering

The university you pick will also have a lot to do with your major. But, I do agree California is a great place to ride.

Oh yes good engineering schools are important but some places where the best engineering schools are I don't want to live like Kettering in mi

For engineering, I'd be thinking UC Berkeley, Stanford, Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo and Pomona), Cal Tech (Pasadena), USC, and UCLA. Stanford, USC, and Cal Tech are private schools ($$$$), while Berkeley, Cal Poly, and UCLA are state schools.

BTW, Santa Clara is a private Jesuit school, not part of the UC system.

Stanford has a generous scholarship policy and the rest will probably be covered by his GI Bill funds (assuming honorable discharge). There are some great riding roads around Stanford. I loved to climb the Portola Valley roads. If you can get into Stanford, I would highly suggest going there.

If you don't like crowds and are going for a liberal arts degree, Lees-McRae college in western NC has a great cycling program. You can even get a minor in cycling.

Oh yes definately a honorable discharge I was looking at Stanford and uc berkley

A minor in cycling that sounds awesome

Where is that taken at

It was taken from the Berkeley hills just above the UCB campus with the UCB clock tower in the foreground and San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the center of the photo. Angel Island and the Marin County hills are on the right.

The issue with Berkely is dealing with their particular brand of social and political activism, but that is another forum....I also agree with the opinion that California (or parts of it) have the best riding in the lower 48 considering weather, cycling acceptance, bike lanes, paths, etc.

if you want to race, seriously want to race, weather shouldn't matter, you should be training in all sorts of weather. colorado is beautiful, and you are riding at altitude, so when you race in beautiful california, you have extra oxygen.

Austin.

I heard great things about Austin. Austin city limits, south by south west and Texas a&m

Oh I rembered the altitude from the four months I spent in Colorado Springs

The riding around Stanford would be great. I also like the campus. I graduated from USC so I am biased in favor of SC, but the rinding anywhere near the school will be less than steller. Caltech would be a good choice for engineering and the Pasadena area is beautiful with a lot of great places to ride.

Given your writing samples in this thread, you're not going to get into Berkeley or Stanford. Sorry if that's mean, but may as well be realistic.

The riding and weather around Stanford is incredible. Berkeley is more urban, and it's harder to get to the good riding, but still pretty good. Boulder is good all year, but not every day of the year, and you can't do much climbing in winter. San Diego might be a good place to check out - lots of military, some good riding, really good weather. Santa Cruz is incredible for both road and mountain biking, but ex-military might be a tough road socially there.

Go Bears!

+1 on Austin. Good local biking/racing scene and very laid back. Live music, lakes, a very active/healthy vibe. Lots of athletic beautiful gals without attitudes (if you like that sort of thing). Plenty of hills and year-around riding. Texas a&m is closer to Houston, but we have the University of Texas in Austin (I've got a bias there). Both have cycling teams. I think both have good engineering programs, but not positive.