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New to the area

carls10carls10
in Community Forum 🏠

Once again I have moved.  I am now in San Jose, CA.  Looking for any suggestions on places to train, the 'scoop' on the area if you will.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

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    Tom GlynnTom Glynn
    Carly,

    There are a bunch of us in the San Francisco Bay Area. I think most of us live in the East Bay though. Great Climbs in the South Bay are Mount Hamilton and Sierra Road. I love riding Calaveras Road, which is Hwy. 237 in Milpitas and then East. Follow it along the reservoir all the way to Sunol. If you are in the East Bay, one or more of us would be happy to tour you through Mount Diablo (a couple miles from my house), lots of Livermore rides, Mines Road, Collier Canyon and many more. In summary, the Bay area is a great place to cycle.

    tom
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    Fisher MarkFisher Mark

    I live in San Francisco and do most of my riding on the peninsula.  There are so many fantastic rides through Woodside and over to the coast.   Just start at Canada Road and Hwy 92.   You can create all kind of different loops from there: climb Old La Honda over to the coast and then come back up Alipne, drop down to Foothill Blvd. and head to Stevens Creek Reservoir and then take highway 9. There are also some great rides in Marin, but I would assume that is a bit of a hike for you.    

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    carls10carls10

    Thanks for the info.  I drove to Albany this weekend and it was about 50 minutes.  I assuming that it would about an hour drive to get to any of the riding in the Bay Area (not that I am opposed to that).  I'm a bit slow, but would love to join a ride if anyone was up for that.  Also looking for open water swimming options for the spring/summer. 

    Thanks again!

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    Tom GlynnTom Glynn
    For open water swimming in the Bay area, I am only familiar with East Bay watering holes. Shadow Cliffs is in Pleasanton. It is a filled in quarry and is great in the Spring to very early summer. The pollution counts start to spike after that and I wouldn't recommend swimming there unless (a) you are doing the Tri for Fun Series or (b) you don't mind skin rashes.

    Much better, but a little further away is Lake Del Valle in Livermore. Great Lake, probably 5 miles long. Swim from the boat launch as far as you want. Water is clean and with wetsuit, you can swim until almost Thanksgiving.

    tom
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    carls10carls10

    Thanks Tom!

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    John StarkJohn Stark

    Hey Carly:  Welcome to NorCal!

    I know A LOT of folks come from Fremont to swim Shadow Cliffs and I think it because there isn't any place in the south bay to OW swim.  Not sure, but I think that is what I am told.  However, I don;t swim Shadow Cliffs after May because of what Tom has noted.  Del Valle is THE place.  Our friend calls it "God's Country."  When it warms up we would love to take you out there!

    Would love to meet up for a ride if you want.  Tom noted good routes or I am open to coming your way or out towrads Mark and meet up with him?

    John

    925-548-5916

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    Mike HedmanMike Hedman

     Hi Carly!

    I live in Saratoga - my house is literally 1/2 a block away from San Jose.  I've lived in Campbell/Sunnyvale/Saratoga my whole life, so let me know exactly where you live (SJ is a BIG place!) and I'll fill you in on everything (pools, bike shops, tracks, trails, gear stores, local tri clubs, yada, yada).

    Welcome to NorCal!!!

    Mike

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    carls10carls10

    Mike-

    I live just off the 280 on Saratoga (near Santana Row).  I am working for the most part in Cupertino and know that it is only about 3-4 miles away.  I did check out the swimming places that John mentioned but they look like they are about an hour drive for me.  Ok on the weekend but not going to happen during the week. 

    Any info you have would be great!

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    Mike HedmanMike Hedman

    Hi,

    Just to be clear, on Saratoga by 280 (to me) isn't near Santana Row...but if by "near" you mean 2-3 miles, then groovy.

    Your ultimate swim destination is the Santa Clara swim center.  It's close to you, and is a world recognized swim venue.  See page 32 of this doc: santaclaraca.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx  I live a bit further south than you do, so I typically swim in Saratoga at: www.daca.org/lap-swimming.html .  But there's plenty of time to find more pools.

    For biking, you'll have a tough first couple of miles no matter what - it's all pretty busy city streets.  The real cycling around here happens along Foothill Expressway, from Cupertino up to Stanford Univ. and then on from there.  For you, get on Kiely going North, then turn left (west) on Homestead, and it'll dead end at Foothill.  Turn north (right) on Foothill and start counting bikes...any time, any day.  Once you get up to the area around Stanford and Woodside there are about 2.3 million routes   Scroll down on this page.

    For some quick hills (there are none anywhere near where you live ), turn left on Foothill and go south.  Foothill becomes Stevens Canyon Road, and some nice hills.  There's a reservoir there that you can't swim in , but that's also the back door to Fremont Older park - my closest favorite trail running area.

    Before we get into running, the best bike shop IMHO, is Cupertino Bikes.  They're more roadies, but they also know tri stuff.  SportsBasement in Sunnyvale has a lot of (inexpensive) bike, tri, fitness stuff.  Make a Saturday of it, and just go walk around SportsBasement!!!  While we're on a shopping trip, I encourage people to go to Running Revolution in Campbell.  For swimming - you can't beat Nor Cal swim shop just west of you on Stevens Creek.  There's an REI at the bottom of Saratoga Ave (south from you).  It's great (and 10 blocks from my house!).

    For running, you have some options.  Probably the cleanest, safest (off streets) and longest is the Los Gatos Creek Trail.  I think the closest real entry point is here.  From that starting point, the trail goes South-West a LONG ways!!  It's mostly flat-ish, with some bumps.  It's generally uphill going southwest, then downhill (with the creek's flow) the other way.

    Another VERY popular trail running/hiking spot is Rancho San Antonio.  It would be about a 10 min drive from where you live.

    That should get you started!!

    Mike

     

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    carls10carls10

    Mike-

    I couldn't have asked for better info!!  Thank you, I will begin checking out these spots ASAP. 

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    Scott AlexanderScott Alexander
    Man, I used to drive all those roads that Mike is listing. Wish I would have done this tri stuff BEFORE I moved to TX.
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    Mike HedmanMike Hedman
    Carly,
    When you get into longer rides, I'll show you some that go in the complete opposite direction. Out to the southeast part of San Jose are a collection of small lakes - Uvas being the most prominent. You can ride for hours with no stop lights, few cars, and the occasional turkey and coyote to see.
    Mike
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    John StarkJohn Stark

    That whjole Uvas area ROCKS!  I love riding around there.

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    Mike HedmanMike Hedman

    Carly,

    While I wouldn't suggest it for "real" riding, if you are at all interested in why they call this place "Silicon Valley" you may be interested in reading about my Tour de Silicon Valley:

    http://mikehedman.blogspot.com/2008...alley.html

    Mike

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    bigdealbigdeal
    Wow, TON of good info from Mike! Recommendations for Cupertino Bike, Running Revolution, Santa Clara Swim Center, Rancho San Antonio (and everything else) is spot on. I live near Bascom/280 (The Rose Garden), drop me a PM if you want to get together and ride, we live in a FANTASTIC area for it.
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