[snowforner15]

Ah, as I need to send my intent to enroll within the next week or so, im still having trouble deciding which school. I got accepted to each of these for business (as well as boulder) WWU, UO,UW
and need to actually decide now. Is there really very little riding in Eugene? is 50in of rainfall much more noticeable than up north? Being from Chico, Ca I am very worried that im just gonna freeze my ass off and be waiting for it to dry out to go ride..
lets hear it.

Based on school prestige, UW and Oregon-a bit- take the bait from what I hear, but I'm not a fan of big cities so boulder, wwu and uo are appealing in that sense.
It seems eugene has the "worst" riding but im leaning towards it because its the closest and about the cheapest.
thanks

 

[MrCookie]

There is more riding in the Eugene area than you might think.
Check out the Disciples of Dirt.
http://disciplesofdirt.org/

 

[DirtyDog]

I've lived in Boulder and Eugene. Riding around Boulder is much better IMO. What kind of riding do you do?

 

[DirtyDog]

There is more riding in the Eugene area than you might think.
Check out the Disciples of Dirt.
http://disciplesofdirt.org/

Yeah but all that great riding has to be driven to - and kind of far. You have to drive in Boulder too but not that far. And a lot of those trails are going to be unrideable for a lot of the year due to rain and mud.

I guess I'm just not much of a fan of mud riding.

However, a lot of these rides are beyond epic and during the summer (if you are there) and fall, you would enjoy some of the world's best riding if you were willing to make the drive (Eugene).

 

[snowforner15]

Sorry, didn't address that at all. I ride mainly DH, but love fast single track- that I usually shuttle. I ride XC when not shuttling, but on an SX trail.. so its not any 10mile "real" XC.

Thats what I'm worried about, soo much rain in Eug. Colorado looks deadly dry which I'm kindof sick of, about $37ooo a year, but they do have an active collegiate DH team (as well as WWU)

 

[SnowboardinWA]

WWU your just a few hours from the Mecca of DH, Whistler. Whistler also has WED night racing. In a few years there planning Mountain bike parks in Stevens Pass, and hopefully Snoqualmie again. WWU is an awesome school if you have a laid back lifestyle. UW is cool becuase Fluidride is a stones throw away. If your up at WWU you have Transition bikes near you. The rain isn't that bad in the PNW. Its mainly just a drizzle all week long. Nothing you can't handle with the right attitude.

 

[snowforner15]

How hard/ far is it to get to any good riding (NOT urban/street ht riding) from downtown seattle? Same question for Eugene, I know the answer for BHam. exit 37 or something like that rings a bell in seattle...
I rode galby on the way tto whistler last august with a couple locals

 

[Serial Midget]

Pick the school that best supports your academic goals; adapt your riding to the local conditions.

I'd vote for Bellingham because the overall quality of life will be better and cheaper.

 

[ZenkiGarage]

If you dont like big cities dont move to seattle. Its got to be one of the biggest clusterf*ck cities Ive ever been. Also, like previously stated there is good riding outside of eugene, you just have to drive a little bit. Like Black Rock is only 1.5hr drive from eugene.

 

[NateH]

Riding from seattle is within an hour. WWU is pretty cool but gets more rain that UW. Oregon sucks, (kidding)

 

[AlexB]

I've lived in Bellingham and Seattle. Bellingham is a great town for riding..Galbraith, Northshore, Whistler among others. It's pretty convenient.

You should also consider what kind of town you want, as there is quite a difference in Bellingham vs. Seattle in terms non-riding activities. Mt Baker is awesome in the winter too.

If you're concerned about lift access riding from Seattle, Stevens is opening soon enough and will be a shorter drive than Whistler.

In terms of academic interests, UW is going to offer a lot more. There isn't real engineering offered at Western if you have any interest in that field. And if you hate UW and Seattle, it's going to be much easier to transfer from UW to Western. Going from Western to UW is a lot harder...

 

[ffonsok]

Man, if you're going to have a car then I would def do UW. Academically it's awesome, we know how to party, and some of the best trails are less than 45 min away. I can't personally speak for Western, but I have two friends that both transferred to different schools because they felt that Western was boring.

 

[buildyourown]

If you dont like big cities dont move to seattle. Its got to be one of the biggest clusterf*ck cities Ive ever been.

That's a bit mis-representative. Our traffic is nothing compared to socal or the bay area. The city itself is actually quite small. I live just south of downtown (7min drive) and I can be in the wilderness in 1hour.
Not to sound defensive, but if you think Seattle is a cluster****, then you've never been to any east coast cities or California.

 

[buildyourown]

Being from Chico, Ca I am very worried that im just gonna freeze my ass off and be waiting for it to dry out to go ride..

If you wait for it to be dry, you will never ride. Seriously. Somebody had to explain this to me 10 years ago when I got here.
If you really can't handle the rain, don't move here.

 

[arboc!]

bham is nice. fall and spring are epic, while winter is mushy, but not entirely unrideable because the temp stays fairly high. i vote wwu for riding purposes

 

[ZenkiGarage]

That's a bit mis-representative. Our traffic is nothing compared to socal or the bay area. The city itself is actually quite small. I live just south of downtown (7min drive) and I can be in the wilderness in 1hour.
Not to sound defensive, but if you think Seattle is a cluster****, then you've never been to any east coast cities or California.

Ive been hopping between glendale CA, and seattle, and portland for the last few years. LA, really isnt that bad, it flows(sorta). California planned for a lot of people. thats why most of the freeways are 6 lanes. hell when they installed the 2 freewa(6 lane freeway) in the 60's there wasnt even anything in that are but they still made it huge because they planned ahead. oregon and washington dont plan ahead so all the freeways are narrow and clog up immediatly. its much faster to get through downtown LA than seattle.

 

[Eren]

i dont know what hppened to the post i made yesterday morning.
but WWU does have a good business school, and im also going to WWU, about a 10 percent chance ill go to UW.

if you dont like city life stay away from UW because its in a huge city

WWU has good downhill a few exits from campus, the north shore an hour away and whistler 3 hours away so you can make it a day trip.
talked to their cycling team and they have no active Downhiller's but im going to join as they said they would love to have some gravity riders next year since all of them graduated this year.

but if your looking for someone to show you the riding around western and a riding buddy, i wouldnt mind doing that

 

[Str8OutaBallard]

Bellingham... most of the Seattle trails are coved in snow... Seattle is overpriced and the traffic is about is bad is LA/OC (Where my cousins live)... Y
our closer to the Shore, Whistler, not to mention Mt Baker... at the moment most of the good Freeriding that isn't under a foot of snow is in B'ham...
I know because I rode Galbraith last week and I've been commuting up there for work... the d/l trails are lower in elevation than Galbraith

 

[JewBagel]

I'm from Eugene and currently going to UW. If you can avoid going to UW I'd suggest it. Out of state tuition is a bitch, finding housing outside of the dorms is a bitch, and getting to the trails(unless you have a car) is a bitch. I'm in engineering and I can't say I'm too impressed with the compassion of the college admins. They say it is a big school but "there is enormous amounts of help available"...bullsh*t. From that it's easy to see I'm not too happy with my decision and I'm going to transfer to OSU in the fall. Hopefully more riding and less bullsh*t will follow.

Anyways, there are more trails up here(UW) but it takes an hour+ to get to them. I've got my G-spot and my BMX up here and sadly the G-spot just gathers dust. Eugene itself doesn't have any actual DH trails but there is a section off Ridgeline which is pretty fast single track and some hidden stuff off in the woods. We've got Willamette Pass in the summer which, although not the greatest, is only 50$ for a seasons pass and a little over an hour from eugene. There's also a trail crawfish about an hour from eugene that you can shuttle. It's about 2.5 miles of downhill and has lots of built up stuff. We've also got Falls City about 1:15 from eugene which has a ton of stuff to ride, all sanctioned and tons of fun.

I'd go for Eugene if you like smaller cities. I find it nice being able to ride a few miles and be out in the country or at a few easy XC trails. There's tons of other outdoor things too if you're into hiking and camping and the coast is only 45min away. Initially I really wanted to go to UW thinking it would open up a world of new riding and such, none of which happened. I did meet the cool people at Fluidride and there are tons of good deals on bikes and parts but being in college kinda kills it. If you were taking a year off and working in a shop I'd totally recommend Seattle or B-ham with all the opportunities but with all the school work it's a lot harder to get to the trails.

Check out these two sites, the EFR guys car pool up to Falls City quite often,Willamette Pass in the summer, and even to Whistler once a year.

http://huckit.net/phpnuke/

and

http://brmba.org/

 

[Sinister17]

I would recommend going with what school has the best program to support your degree and career goals. There is good riding near each of these universities, and each has positives and negatives.

 

[enjoydirt]

Ya, the engineering program at Udub screws alot of kids over... Thats why I changed majors, but ya other than that Udub is a great school.

Also the riding that is close to campus is constantly improving (Collanade, SST, Greenlake), and of course DH riding if you have a car to get to it.

IMO academically Udub is a tier above those other schools. It was an adjustment coming from Norcal to Washington, but so far its been good.

 

[Str8OutaBallard]

Engineering at Uw is over rated. They just make it hard to get into so people will think that all the BS_E classes mean you'll be somebody when you have your piece of paper.

The most important things in Engineering School is what internship you get, that you finish, and your grades if you want to go on to Grad School.

I have a BSME this is how I know this stuff.

 

[snowforner15]

thanks guys. as much as i would like to go to bham, i think academically UO or UW would be the better choice. Boulder is out of the question with tuition being a few less than 40k I have a littlescholarship to oregon, making it the same as WWU. UW is in the upper 30k's as well and just dont know if im looking to live in the big city. Most likely UO for the cost and proximity to home. we'll see! super stoked to ride more in the NW tho

 

[DirtyDog]

I'm in engineering and I can't say I'm too impressed with the compassion of the college admins. They say it is a big school but "there is enormous amounts of help available"...bullsh*t. From that it's easy to see I'm not too happy with my decision and I'm going to transfer to OSU in the fall. Hopefully more riding and less bullsh*t will follow.

I think you are going to find that undergraduate college education is like this everywhere. I went to OSU, and I would give it a favorable review, but you can expect to be treated like **** until Junior or Senior years just about anywhere. If you excel, and can take graduate level classes as an undergrad, then you might start getting your moneys worth.

 

[MtbFreeride]

WWU. Best riding and, in my opinion, best education. It is the smallest of the three schools and BY FAR the most undergraduate focused. 94% of the students are undergrad.

 

[Eren]

thanks guys. as much as i would like to go to bham, i think academically UO or UW would be the better choice. Boulder is out of the question with tuition being a few less than 40k I have a littlescholarship to oregon, making it the same as WWU. UW is in the upper 30k's as well and just dont know if im looking to live in the big city. Most likely UO for the cost and proximity to home. we'll see! super stoked to ride more in the NW tho

UO is not really better than western, to be honest its one of the easiest schools to get into in the PNW, im not saying WWU is the best school ever, but in no way is UO loads better than wwu.

my friend got into UO without writing an essay, has a 3.25 gpa and a 1550 SAT score

no extra ciricular anything
at the same time, wwu rejected him

 

[DirtMcGirk]

While I would say that the quality of riding is an issue, one also must address the quality of abundant ass around you.

Went to UO, went to WSU, any day of the week drop me back off in Eugene for getting my love on.

 

[freshkid]

UO has a 3.25 gpa and a 1550 SAT score

I thought a 1600 was a perfect score or have I been out of the game that long.

 

[ffonsok]

I thought a 1600 was a perfect score or have I been out of the game that long.

they added a writing section a couple years ago. I ended up getting reading:760, math:670, writing:560 and getting into UW pretty easily. Most schools are still wary about looking at the writing score because there isn't really a trend they can follow because it's so new.

Personally, at UW I feel as if EVERYBODY goes out of their way to help you. I have friends in the engineering department and they are constantly getting help from professors, TA's, other grad students, etc. Not sure why you had such a bad experience, but I have found that you are well cared for here.

Another thing to note is that UW is a leading research college and is going to be recognized as one of the leading colleges on the west coast (it already is). The influence of Microsoft on this school makes it a very technologically advanced school to attend. Also, while this is a liberal school, there are many different viewpoints and beliefs that you will encounter. I've found myself becoming more 'open' to beliefs completely different than my own as a result of going here.

For in state, it was a no-brainer for me. I recognize that you've got a bit harder decision because of the increased tuition costs, but just take a good strong look at all the school academically and talk to advisors. Find a school that fits your personality, lifestyle, and academic goals. Good luck.