Beej - 2011-07-07 3:22 PM Relocating from Newburyport around October 1. Where do people swim, both pool and open water? What about health clubs, bike shops, group rides, etc. All recommendations appreciated.
I live next town over in Billerica. Lots of great training areas around.
Swim:
For pool I use the Boston Sports Club since I can go to whichever is closer. I go to Woburn during thew week (since I work in the area) and Lexington on weekends (closer to home). Price is reasonable and never had much of a problem getting a lane.
for open water there is Silver Lake in Wilmington or Walden Pond in Concord. I go to Walden more often and enjoy the swim there. It is about half mile across or 1.5m if you swim the perimeter (there is also a 1.2m swim marked off I found somewhere on the web that shows a point to point swim from the beach to different coves).
Bike:
crw.org has some great bike routes mapped out, many of which go through Chelmsford. I've been doing the "Apple Pi" route which is a 56 mile marked road trail starting at the Bedford VA and going through Chelmsford, Concord, Acton, Harvard, etc... About 2800 feet of climbing and beautiful ride by some very nice (expensive) houses and apple orchards. There is a shorter 35 mile version and several other marked trails through that area. Crw has the cue sheets and many routes have downloadable GPX files for a Garmin. The ride brings you through Great Brook which is an awesome area if you like to mountain bike.
CRW also organizes a lot of group rides in the area, but since I only have my tri bike I have not participated in any of them (though road bike is on the menu...)
Run:
Great Brook has some nice trail running. If you want flat and straight, the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail goes right through Chelmsford center and is 6.8 miles with some planned expansion (you can do loops if you want more). Otherwise plenty of street running and back roads away from traffic.
Bike Shops:
I don't know too much about Chelmsford Cyclery. For local shops, Cycle Loft in Burlington (on 3A) is very close and they have always treated me well. Belmont Wheelworks is not too far (20-25 minutes) and I admittedly purchased my bike there since I got a great price, but am not impressed with their prices or service (had a warranty issue on my Cervelo and they were useless - ended up doing it myself).
Lastly, there is a Triathlon group in the area called TriFury which I've heard great things about and just need to join
Lots of great training in this section of MA. Welcome!
Edited by mogulbumm 2011-08-11 10:48 PM