# Moving to Dallas Area from Colorado



## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

Road and Mountain Biker with 2 kids. Any suggested area's to buy home (250-350k). I know I am taking a big hit on cycling, moving from Colorado Springs... oh well $$$. Best schools is #1.Looking at Plano. How about Rowlett / Rockwall.


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

*I guess my 12 lb. climbing bike needs to get aero *

*I guess my 12 lb. climbing bike needs to get aero *


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## Sommy (Oct 7, 2008)

what area are you going to work? that will determine the responses.


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## pedalruns (Dec 18, 2002)

sevencycle said:


> *I guess my 12 lb. climbing bike needs to get aero *


lol... Do you have a seven that is 12 lbs? 

Well speed and watts will matter more than the strength to weight ratio!! 

Sorry to hear you have to move from Colorado... that would suck imo. At least I'd love to live in Colorado myself. 

But the DFW area has a pretty big cycling community, rally's every weekend in the summer, great racing community and even pretty good mt. bike trials. (check out dorba.org), so it isn't to bad. 

As to where to live... well I live in the White Rock Lake area, which is old East Dallas which has great unique neighborhoods with giant old trees, riding right out the door.... but I don't have to worry about schools and from what I know Dallas schools aren't so good.... middle school on up, there are some good grade school ones, however Lake Highlands might be a option as that neighborhood is in old East Dallas but has Richardson schools. (others may chime in about that?) 

But as much as I hate to say this... I don't think Plano(filled with giant house's all the same with no tree's or yards) is so bad, especially if you can find a home close to the DART rail... the schools are good there. I think Rowlett might be good with schools, not sure though... there is a good mt. bike trial in Rowlett. 

Anyway good luck and alot will depend on where your job will be, as someone else said.


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

*Baylor Hospital downtown Dallas*



Sommy said:


> what area are you going to work? that will determine the responses.


Baylor Hospital downtown Dallas


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## deroses (Jul 24, 2008)

I also live near White Rock lake - you could find a house in the surrounding area in your price range without issue (you won't be on the lake, of course). You would be able to get to your work via arterial streets (driving) without any problems either - and you will have a decent array of road riding options from your door. Well at least I think I do based on this being Dallas. As for the schools - as was mentioned before it depends on how old your kids are and how long you plan to live in this house. I have a <1 year old and we plan on being at this house 10 years or so - the schools for the younger kids are good in the area (check with your realtor to make sure you hit the right neighborhood).

I used to live in Murhpy - you could do well out there too but it is very different - personally I think living closer to the City has a ton of advantages.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Yeah, the 'burbs generally have the better schools, but the commute from Plano to Baylor will suck out your will to live. If you can afford the Lakewood area that might be your best bet (area around / near White Rock Lake).

WRL is biker heaven for Dallas. You can do laps, hill repeats (short but steep) and group rides leave from nearby to head out East and South.

Any 'burb location will have large biker community, so no worries there. I'm in Richardson, so I see riders from Plano, Murphy, Rowlett, etc.

Rockwall is across the bridge (Lake Ray Hubbard). Commute, again, can be brutal. But, if you get the right neighborhood, just head East for lots of country roads.

www.trulia.com - great real estate search site integrated w/ Google maps.


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

pedalruns said:


> lol... Do you have a seven that is 12 lbs?


12 lbs. is a custom Scott Cr1. 10.8 lbs. with my climbing setup. I got hit head on by another bicycle coming down Mt Evans ( 45 mph out of control) as I was going up. Bent my *Seven* beyond repair and 7 days in hospital for me. The rider that hit me got up and left the scene. It was during Colorado Triple By Pass a few years ago. I was training for Mt. Evans roadrace.


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

I live in Lake Highlands. 2.5 miles from White Rock Lake and an easy commute to Baylor Hospital. $250-350k will get you a nice house in my neighborhood. Probably a 2400sq ft+ 4-3 with a yard and two car garage. Lake Highlands has excellent schools and does not come with the $50k+ premium price tag that somewhere like Lakewood has. 

If you would like to talk with our realtor, PM me and I'll dig up her number. She did a great job with us when we moved in April 2007. She does a lot of relocations too.


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## wiz525 (Dec 31, 2007)

I also live in the White Rock/M Street area. It's pretty great for younger people with younger children, but probably not the best if the kids are out of elementary school. If that's the case, I'd probably go to the burbs for your price range.


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## JeffN (Sep 19, 2006)

*Don't rule out Rockwall*

I live in Heath, which is basically Rockwall. The riding out here is pretty decent, and with the recent opening of Rockwall Cycling there is a growing community of road and MB enthusiasts. Nothing will compare to Colorado, but there are a lot of rolling country roads around here that are fun to ride. $300K will get you plenty of house and probably more yard than in Dallas. Rockwall schools are fairly good as well. The commute to Dallas is approximately 25 minutes without traffic and up to 45 in traffic. Also, I have been told there is great MB riding in nearby Rowlett.


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## pedalruns (Dec 18, 2002)

sevencycle said:


> 12 lbs. is a custom Scott Cr1. 10.8 lbs. with my climbing setup. I got hit head on by another bicycle coming down Mt Evans ( 45 mph out of control) as I was going up. Bent my *Seven* beyond repair and 7 days in hospital for me. The rider that hit me got up and left the scene. It was during Colorado Triple By Pass a few years ago. I was training for Mt. Evans roadrace.



Wow..... that sounds horrible and very serious being in the hospital for that long.... Did this happen before echo lake or after? Do they climb mt. evans during the Triple by pass?? (I guess they do different routes different years?)

Glad you are ok.....


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

JeffN said:


> I live in Heath, which is basically Rockwall. The riding out here is pretty decent, and with the recent opening of Rockwall Cycling there is a growing community of road and MB enthusiasts. Nothing will compare to Colorado, but there are a lot of rolling country roads around here that are fun to ride. $300K will get you plenty of house and probably more yard than in Dallas. Rockwall schools are fairly good as well. The commute to Dallas is approximately 25 minutes without traffic and up to 45 in traffic. Also, I have been told there is great MB riding in nearby Rowlett.


Looking at Rowlett/Rockwall/Heath this weekend.I *migh*t have to miss a Mt Bike race here in Colorado(commitment) doing so. Gotta change gearing on the singlespeed.Did a 46 mile mountain bike ride Sunday less than 1 mile of pavement... going to miss that. Thanks for your input maybe see you on the trails/road sometime!!!


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

"Did a 46 mile mountain bike ride Sunday less than 1 mile of pavement... going to miss that"

heck you can do that here... will be about 5 laps... !


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## GAAP (Sep 29, 2008)

Look at Coppell. A true 20 minutes to downtown _during rush hour_. 10 minutes to DFW airport. Great schools, great soccer, lacrosse, gymnastics, yadda, yadda, from age 4 forward. Great quality of life for the kids and the whole family. You can RIDE your MTB to the fantastic Northshore Trail at Lake Grapevine. Good Luck!


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

Creakyknees said:


> "Did a 46 mile mountain bike ride Sunday less than 1 mile of pavement... going to miss that"
> 
> heck you can do that here... will be about 5 laps... !


 Cool the glass always is half full


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

GAAP said:


> Look at Coppell. A true 20 minutes to downtown _during rush hour_. 10 minutes to DFW airport. Great schools, great soccer, lacrosse, gymnastics, yadda, yadda, from age 4 forward. Great quality of life for the kids and the whole family. You can RIDE your MTB to the fantastic Northshore Trail at Lake Grapevine. Good Luck!


 I will check Coppell out.Thanks for info, Yall Texas cyclists are Awesome


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

pedalruns said:


> Wow..... that sounds horrible and very serious being in the hospital for that long.... Did this happen before echo lake or after? Do they climb Mt.Evans during the Triple by pass?? (I guess they do different routes different years?)
> 
> Glad you are ok.....


I didnt even make it to Mt Evans.It was on the road just out of Idaho Springs.Get this, it was on a straight portion of the road.Punctured lung,broke ribs & 60 stitches on my face.The guy that hit me got up and rode away. I never had a chance to thank him.


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## steve-z (May 29, 2002)

If you are working @ BUMC, try to live near a DART line. The new green line is opening a station there next year. I live on the east side of WRL and commute by bike to Baylor IS downtown a couple of days a week, the rest of the time I take the blue DART line to St. Paul station.


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## tx_shifter (Oct 13, 2008)

Hey Sevencycle - 

Originally from Colo Spgs also. Moved here to Texas "Austin" since 1996.

Get ready for hot weather and living in DFW area, your going to lack trails, but since you enjoy road riding as well, you should find plenty to do on a roady.

If you ever come to Austin, hit me up. I can show you some trails (mountain bikes) that you'll see as a challenge, even being only 500'-700' of elevation.
(In July I was on a MT bike trek w/ my son all over the front range)

As for Texas homes, get ready for no basements and AC on about 85% of the year


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## GLBorchert (Sep 4, 2008)

Sevencycle:

Lake Highlands in Dallas is an area that has been in the process of revitalization over the past fifteen years or so. It was thought to be in decline in the 90's, but has been making a comeback. It seems to be an avid biking area, including Whiterock Lake and connecting trails.

We used to live in North Dallas, in an area that was in Plano schools. The schools were great, but very big. One of my kids graduated from Plano Senior HS and two from Plano West HS, and I think their graduating class sizes were about 1400 kids. Maybe more. Some kids do better in big schools than others. And, as one other person said, if you're doing a Plano to downtown Dallas commute during rush hour, you won't be happy.

We moved to Grapevine, which is just west of Coppell, and the days I've driven downtown haven't been bad. You definitely need to check out the Coppell, Valley Ranch, Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake area. There's lots of new construction and deals to be found, and the schools are mostly very good. Southlake is probably too expensive, but its worth a look. Grapevine has one of those old downtown areas, sort of an old-fashioned Main Street, and is a growing tourist and convention area. There's a lake here, some great routes around parts of the lake including road and bike trails and roads with not much traffic. I ride a mostly lakeside route from my home that's about 25 miles roundtrip each day at lunchtime, and I don't think most people in places like Colorado would even believe that you'd find scenery like this ten minutes from DFW airport. There's also some great bike shops in this area.

Good luck, and if questions come up as you visit, post them here and I'm sure you'll get lots of friendly advice.


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## donmontalvo (Aug 30, 2006)

sevencycle said:


> I will check Coppell out.Thanks for info, Yall Texas cyclists are Awesome


I'm relocating from NYC to Coppell in January to live with my girlfriend and her 2 kids. I have a studio apartment here (filled with furniture and personal belongings) here in NYC and wonder about the best way to get my stuff over to Coppell. I have a large sofa, platform bed, armoire, large desk/chair, dressers, dining table, home entertainment system, bicycle, etc.

Should I rent a truck? I haven't started to look at shipping costs. Was hoping maybe to ship the big stuff, then buy an SUV and driver over with my sensitive stuff (bike, computer, papers, etc.).

Any thoughts? Here's the route:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sad...5.413575&sspn=26.630141,39.418945&ie=UTF8&z=5

Don


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## GLBorchert (Sep 4, 2008)

Renting a truck and driving yourself for that distance would probably be around $2,000 for the truck plus $300 or so for gas. I don't know how that might compare to some of the other options, but I'm curious if you've looked at the container moving options, like Door-To-Door and Smart Move. I haven't used them myself but I see that they are increasingly commonplace. That's an option where they put a container otuside your residence, you pack it, they pick it up and move it, then you unpack it on the other end. I'd guess that would be cheaper - and easier - than renting a truck.


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## GAAP (Sep 29, 2008)

Quite a few years ago I moved from Boston to Coppell. I rented a truck & moved my own stuff - big mistake. Too much money. Brutal drive in a truck. The POS truck broke down, yadda yadda. If possible, I'd urge you to sell everything in NYC and replace (if needed) here. You're girlfriend will hate your stuff anyway. 

Once you're here, if you need a hand, let me know. I have a pickup and I'll lend a hand if you need someone to help you haul stuff upstairs, etc.

Good luck.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

+1 - don't get a u-haul or similar. too many horror stories to recount. 

if you really must move the stuff, pay for the real pro's to do it, with real guarantees and real insurance.


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## donmontalvo (Aug 30, 2006)

GAAP said:


> Quite a few years ago I moved from Boston to Coppell. I rented a truck & moved my own stuff - big mistake. Too much money. Brutal drive in a truck. The POS truck broke down, yadda yadda. If possible, I'd urge you to sell everything in NYC and replace (if needed) here. You're girlfriend will hate your stuff anyway.
> 
> Once you're here, if you need a hand, let me know. I have a pickup and I'll lend a hand if you need someone to help you haul stuff upstairs, etc.
> 
> Good luck.


Wow, thanks for all the valuable advice. Especially that my girlfriend will hate my stuff. Between the pine bed/armoire/dressers, and my Anthro/FreedomChair office stuff, I'm sure she's hoping it all gets lost in transit. 

I'm getting pricing from the different container shipping companies. So far the best price I found is $1680 all inclusive (they deliver the container, pack it for you, deliver it to Coppell, then give you a week to unpack it, then they take it away - no hidden charges, so they say).

The only thing I may not be able to bring is my plush 92" leather sofa I bought at Macy's a few years ago. My girlfriend loves it - she hates everything else. I'll have to sell it, as it won't fit into the container. <sniffle>

We're on the ground floor in Coppell (Wellington Apartments), I think we'll be able to handle moving everything, if I can get a palette or two. From our parking spot to the front door is maybe 50 feet of sidewalk.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon a great bike box buy at BikeNashbar. A Team Bike Case, regularly $359, marked down to $199 with free shipping - no doubt the new TSA rules and lack of compatible built in locks caused the prices to come down. No problem, $20 bought two TSA compatible strap/locks that will fit the bill nicely. If the container fills up, I'm prepared to take it on the plane with me (even with the surcharges and brutal treatment of luggage).

http://www.bikenashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=6000122&subcategory=60001134&brand=&sku=21032&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

Will update this thread...I have 54 days before lift off. 

Don


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## donmontalvo (Aug 30, 2006)

Just an update. Door2Door is coming by to pack my stuff and ship to Coppell. They're going to deliver to our parking space the building. It'll be a couple dozen feet from our apartment so I should be good. Looking forward to getting on the bike as soon as possible, as I need to start a routine (bike, run, gym) to shed some of the weight I put on. Hoping to get down from 180 to 160 by Summer. 

EDIT: These movers were awesome, they packed everything up in a matter of 1 hour and 30 minutes. The bike was easy to pack (just had to buy pipe insulation to cover the entire frame. I hope to see the container in Coppell by Feb 5th. I should be ready to ride that weekend. 

Don


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

there's some decent riding in the Coppell area; be sure to post up when you get settled in or if you find you need help!


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## sevencycle (Apr 23, 2006)

Update: I am all moved in Allen (for Allen ISD). So far rode Erwin and Rowlett off road. Did a 6 hour race at Erwin. Sold my Colorado house day after the race (racing brings good Karma... I guess).Few good group road rides.... I like Texas. Great People!


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## David Loving (Jun 13, 2008)

Glad you made it to Texas. Good riding here, too. Our mountain range is just the Dallas skyline. My wife is from Albuquerque and when we lived in Dallas she called the skyline "the crest."


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## donmontalvo (Aug 30, 2006)

Creakyknees said:


> there's some decent riding in the Coppell area; be sure to post up when you get settled in or if you find you need help!


As I put on a significant amount of weight in the past couple years, I'm looking forward to flat land riding. Is it true there are no hills or even rollers in the DFW area?

I'm set up with 53/39, 12-25 but I can change my second wheel set to to 12-21 if that's better for the terrain?

Don


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## GAAP (Sep 29, 2008)

Don,

Check out the Carrollton Cycling Club. The organize some great training rides, including one that starts in Coppell. The Coppell ride sometimes goes through the Airport land - very cool ride. 

Also, Humperdinks on Beltline in Addison brews their own beers and has Wednesday Happy Hour $1 drafts all night.


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## -dustin (Jan 11, 2009)

sevencycle said:


> Update: I am all moved in Allen (for Allen ISD). So far rode Erwin and Rowlett off road. Did a 6 hour race at Erwin. Sold my Colorado house day after the race (racing brings good Karma... I guess).Few good group road rides.... I like Texas. Great People!


you're close enough:
www.planobicycle.org

...if you've yet to hear of that group. they're huge.


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