OT: Relocating to Boston, NYC, Chicago, or Austin. Where's the best biking?

[Dustin]

For the last year, my wife and I have lived in Burkina Faso. It's been an interesting experience, and the biking ain't bad, but we've decided we need to move back to the states next summer for further professional development.

In the coming months, I'm going to be applying to a number of post-doc positions, and the primary ones I'm looking at are in Boston, New Haven, NYC, Chicago, and Austin. Mind you, if I had my pick, I'd be moving to Montana or Colorado, but that is where the best programs are, and it'll only be for two years.

So . . . not that it will be dispositive, but if I get more than one offer, the availability of good biking would definitely influence my choice. I like both road and mountain biking, and many things in between. Without ever having been there, I kind of assume that Austin would be the best choice from a biking standpoint, but that program has relatively few slots so I think Boston, New Haven, NYC, and Chicago are more likely destinations, and none of them have ever struck me as biking heavens.

With that, for those of you who know these three areas, which would you choose if biking were your only consideration and why?

[Bruce K]

The Boston biking community is pretty big. Lots of clubs, lots of organized rides, lots of cool events, but it's all outside the city.

West, North, South, you will find cyclists on the road solo and in groups.

But it is pretty much a 9 month season outdoors. January, February, and March can be kind of tough with snow, ice, and road salt making it uncomfortable even though the last year or two we've been able to ride longer.

Austin looked like a pretty cool place when I was there and maybe alexis or trophyoftexas could fill you in on that.

BK

[Steelhead]

If you want to ride year round in a great cycling city with all kinds of outdoor activities than Austin is a good place to be. I love it here - tons of great riding, road and off road and cool shops too. Can you handle hot humid summers?

[1centaur]

Agree with Bruce K on Boston but will add that this metro area is HIGHLY commutable from places that have excellent and quiet rural roads, assuming you are willing to live in the burbs and drive in (or live very close to a train station). That's not true of NYC.

I had a fellow employee for a while who was a tri guy who moved here from Chicago. That area is very flat. I'd also pick our summer and our winters as preferable for cycling.

[andy mac]

thumbs down on nyc - couldn't get outta there fast enough.

fun if you're single and clubbing, or you just like feeling caged and/or poor.

:beer:

andy

[Bud]

Dustin-

what's your area of expertise or what are you post-doc'ng in?

[MarleyMon]

I just saw this article: Bike Paths to Nowhere (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-bikegaps_bd_24jun24,1,6280161.story?coll=chi-news-hed)
Lakefront biking is fun but congested, the city streets were too dangerous for me.

[justinf]

Gotta go Austin out of that group.

[Dustin]

Yep, this is starting to confirm the ranking I had in mind:

(1) Austin
(2) Boston
(3) New Haven
(4) (tie) NYC/Chicago

In terms of hot and sticky summers in Austin, I feel like I’ve been living them year round here in Burkina, so having only a couple of months of summer would be a welcome change!

What I’m doing is not technically a post-doc—I just used that as shorthand way of saying that I’ll be doing a two year fellowship that allows me to work on legal scholarship in anticipation of hitting the academic teaching market. Focus is international law and human rights.

[39cross]

If you can, visit Boston and Austin before making up your mind. I live near Boston and think it's a great place to ride (not in the city, the environs). Lots of great places to visit and varied terrain. I hoped to do some riding in Austin last April while visiting friends, but broke my toe the day before leaving, and that was that. I really enjoyed Austin and would think seriously about living there except for the heat and humidity. Austin seems more relaxed to me, but Boston has a good buzz about it. Depends on what you like best.

Enjoyed reading your blog, you may feel right at home in Austin moving from Africa, weather-wise.

[Ken Robb]

having lived in Chi and NYC I would much prefer Chi. Austin is probably most like your preferred places in the western mountains and the weather will be better for more of the year. OTOH, I love the New England area for the woods and history plus how close thge mountains are to the sea.

What fine school in Chi would you be attending? The location would have a big effect on how good the cycling would be. Evanston+ good; UC or UofI Chicago=bad, we're talking cycling here and nothing else folks.

[Dustin]

If you can, visit Boston and Austin before making up your mind.

I actually lived in Boston in the late 90s. Or I guess I should say I lived in Cambridge, since I barely ever left the people's republic, unless you count one year that I had an apartment in Sommerville. Oddly though, I never had a bike there, so I really don't know the area from a biking perspective at all. No car either, so my knowledge was pretty much limited to those areas within easy walking distance from a T stop. Cambridge was great, though I remember the winters being less so.

All this Boston/Austin talk reminds me of the famous limerick:

There once was a man from Boston
He drove a convertible Austin
He had a tank full of gas
and plenty of room for his A##
But his pants blew off and he lost them

[Dustin]

What fine school in Chi would you be attending? The location would have a big effect on how good the cycling would be. Evanston+ good; UC or UofI Chicago=bad, we're talking cycling here and nothing else folks.

UC, so I guess that's another strike against the windy city, at least as far as biking goes.

[aLexis]

If you plan to visit Austin, let me know in advance, so we can arrange for some good riding (road or mountain). The summers are indeed warm, but you will have nice riding year round, save a rainy or cold spell here or there.

Beyond the riding though, the city is great. Lots of music, good food, and good people. The public transportation is not so great, but hey, that is what your bike is for.

[djg]

I've been away for more than a decade, but here's my take on Chicago: it is an awesome city -- great cultural offerings of all sorts, with a friendly mid-western vibe (at least generally) and, relative to the very few big cities with comparable offerings, it's relatively manageable and inexpensive. As for cycling: there is a cycling community (racing and otherwise), and there are places to ride and some good resources for a big city. There's nice countryside available in a couple of directions for weekend trips, and day trips if you're willing to make a project of it, but it's a really big city so riding out of it, and the burbs, is a haul. There are a couple of big limitations, apart from the usual large urban issues. First, while there are beautiful lake views in places, the terrain is just flat (and yeah, I know where there are some small hills, etc.--it's pretty darn flat). Second, it's got a long and fairly unpleasant winter. In fact, it's kind of bad even by real northern standards, in that the cold, wind and variable winter weather impinge upon cycing for a good chunk of the winter, but also make it hard to substitute, say, nordic skiing (and Alpine is a non-starter).

It's a great town, and you can have a cycling life there (most months of the year), but it's hard to imagine moving there because of the cycling.

By the way--I went to grad school at the U of C and you can ride down there and train from there, it's just that all of the stuff above still goes. At the same time, recognizing that there are fine departments in this-or-that field at a number of other universities, there are very few schools like it and I have no regrets about my time there -- in fact, I'd say I'm grateful for it.

[Bruce K]

Thanks Alexis.

I knew you'd come through.

We miss you out here in the East. If you're ever planning to be in the neighborhood.....

BK

[davids]

There once was a man from Boston
He drove a convertible Austin
He had a tank full of gas
and plenty of room for his A##
But his pants blew off and he lost them
OK. That's it. You're no longer welcome here at the Hub of the Universe.






p.s. I've lived in Boston 25 years now, since arriving for grad school. I'm biased, but really do (mostly) love it here. If you get to the point where you've got specific questions, I can probably be more helpful!

[Waldo]

1. Santa Cruz
2. Palo Alto
3. Berkeley
4. Davis

Post-doc-o-rama and great riding.

[stevep]

I actually lived in Boston in the late 90s. Or I guess I should say I lived in Cambridge, since I barely ever left the people's republic, unless you count one year that I had an apartment in Sommerville. Oddly though, I never had a bike there, so I really don't know the area from a biking perspective at all. No car either, so my knowledge was pretty much limited to those areas within easy walking distance from a T stop. Cambridge was great, though I remember the winters being less so.

All this Boston/Austin talk reminds me of the famous limerick:

There once was a man from Boston
He drove a convertible Austin
He had a tank full of gas
and plenty of room for his A##
But his pants blew off and he lost them

you can pick up the bike path in davis sq, ride it out through lexington into bedford and get to nice roads in concord, etc,.
easy to do.. nice warm up w/o cars.

as for he guy and the pants...he could sue for $57 million and see what happens.

[dgstringfield]

I'll put in one vote for New Haven. I moved here a year ago for school and have really enjoyed it. Downtown New Haven is bikeable, but I usually walk. However, the back roads are great for biking. For a small city New Haven has a lot of amenities and great restaurants. Also, it is a short train ride to NY or Boston.

[djg]

Yep, this is starting to confirm the ranking I had in mind:

(1) Austin
(2) Boston
(3) New Haven
(4) (tie) NYC/Chicago

In terms of hot and sticky summers in Austin, I feel like I’ve been living them year round here in Burkina, so having only a couple of months of summer would be a welcome change!

What I’m doing is not technically a post-doc—I just used that as shorthand way of saying that I’ll be doing a two year fellowship that allows me to work on legal scholarship in anticipation of hitting the academic teaching market. Focus is international law and human rights.

I missed this post the first time through. If you're thinking seriously about this, then you already know just how pedigree-conscious law school hiring can be. Texas has a fine law school and it could get you started, but it's just way down the pecking order from Yale, which doubtless is the best place to get your ticket stamped. It's also well down from Harvard and Chicago (I know a couple of folks who've done well after taking a Bigellow fellowship there). You can get some miles in at every place on your list, but this is a two-year stint that may have a great deal to do with the trajectory of your career. It's your own path and there are many ways to do it, but I'd ignore cycling considerations until choosing between very close alternatives.

[ClutchCargo]

I missed this post the first time through. If you're thinking seriously about this, then you already know just how pedigree-conscious law school hiring can be. . . . It's your own path and there are many ways to do it, but I'd ignore cycling considerations until choosing between very close alternatives.

my 2 cents (if you're talking road riding, at least), I think the road riding outside New Haven is pretty great. many areas in Conn. have quite a rural feel. by and large, I would think Boston and New Haven are pretty equivalent from a bike perspective, with Boston being the larger metropolitan area and maybe some more suburban congestion before you hit the biking sweetspots.

NYC is definitely at the bottom of the biking list. (I don't know Chicago, but it's got to be better than New York.)