Beginner Triathlete moving from Singapore to NY

The greater NYC is not inexpensive by any means, so that may be a factor when selecting a place to live. In general, it's easier living outside of the city to find a good place to train. NJ, NY state or CT may offer good places to live and train. Just keep in mind that most of the time, you will have traffic to contend with, so expect that part of the ride will be more of a transportation than training, once you get a little further out, riding is amazing and you will find lots of cyclists/triathletes. Even if you had a license and a car, you would still want to commute to Manhattan via public transportation if at all possible. It can take you forever driving (traffic is very HEAVY in the morning and evening, but never light even in off hours) and parking is a nightmare and very costly.

that's a big question you're asking...

There's alot of tri clubs in the NY metro area, and a number of races within close proximity to NYC. There are races right in Manhattan, and some great races in the suburbs that you can get to fairly easily via pubic transportation/regional trains. Asphalt Green in NY has an active tri club, and they are right in town.

I live in Westchester County, just to the north of NYC - it's about a 35-45 min commuter train ride away from Manhattan. Alot of folks commute into NYC from my area. And there a number of really active tri clubs in Westchester and training options in the area, including open water swims. Three clubs that come to mind area: Rye Tri Club, Greenwich Tri Club, and B-Athletic Multisport. All three are very active and focus on all distance races. And there are other clubs too.

If you're job is downtown, ie. close to the southern part of Manhattan, then it might make sense to live NJ and take the commuter rail from NJ into Manhattan. I'm sure there are alot of clubs and training options in NJ, but since I don't live there, I just don't know where. I'm sure there are plenty of folks from NJ here on the message boards who can help you with that.

Good luck with your move, and welcome to the area.

BTW, which IM in 2015 are you targetting?

Thank you very much. This is great advice.

send me a PM if you have some more specific questions. All the best.

Welcome to NYC.

I'm not part of any clubs or training groups, but if helpful at all, I'll let you know my situation and how I've made it work for my training:

I work downtown, lucky enough to have a gym/showers at work, but there's a new Asphalt Green gym with a pool in Battery Park City/downtown.

I live in Brooklyn, next to Prospect Park that has an active bike scene with another gym/pool down the block.

I run to work for my morning commute 3-4 times a week with a trail running backpack with my work clothes inside. Distances/routes can vary from 4.2 to 15 miles by taking detours around the park or going up the running path up the Westside Highway (it's a great way to start the day).

I ride to work on the other days with doing loops around Prospect Park and Central Park before parking the bike at work.

I swim at the pool on my block 2-3 times a week before either run or bike in. For open water swims, I go down to Coney Island during warm months. There's an open water swimming club that meets there regularly.

Long ride across the Brooklyn Bridge, up the Westside Highway, across the GW Bridge and up 9W on Saturday morning before the family wakes up.

This schedule has allowed me to get my training in during the mornings and keep the evenings open to spend with wife and toddler.

PM me if you have any questions.

Edited by strawdog18 2014-04-04 8:52 AM