Find me a good place to live for cycling

[fa63]

I will put in a good word for Atlanta. The mountains are an hour away, and riding around town is not too bad either once you figure out which roads to take and which to avoid.

Plenty of jobs too, and housing is still relatively affordable compared to many big cities (though that is changing pretty quickly).

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by .RJ

I'll be out there in a few weeks for a conference.... although I've been to SD a bunch, and rented a house in Encinitas for a week to do some early season riding. Nice place to ride, although, getting out of the city was a bit of a drag.

I could see that, I lived up in Poway and had no issues getting out for a nice ride with good climbing... I was about 30 min from downtown SD... was nice to commute to work a few times a week...

[azrider]

Originally Posted by YesNdeed

Oh man, but Tulsa Tough! It's the "Best weekend of racing" agreed an anonymous New Mexico racer. Never partaken, myself. Looks fun though.

Tulsa Tough or Gateway Cup are by far and away best weekend of racing I've ever participated in. Hands down.

I wished I had checked out Twilight Crit but never made it out that way.

[fuzzalow]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Yeah, I think that's a fair point. I suppose anyone that doesnt agree with my (or your?) world view is an asshole

I dunno what your meaning is here although can only assume the dancing banana is something said in jest. I don't think that almost anyone's disagreement with another's point of view meets the standard of that person being an asshole. C'mon, being an asshole has to be something truly earned so don't devalue the word by tossing it around haphazardly.

I'd suggest remedying your work situation first before moving cities - sometimes the fit just isn't right and that friction & negativity spills over into many different aspects of life. Good things and associated successes IMO often follow people around because of who and what they do rather than as a circumstance of where they live. Good luck.

[thunderworks]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

life's what you make it.

that said, i vote somewhere in tuscany, italy.

+1

Tuscany would be fabulous.

[Lanternrouge]

Originally Posted by .RJ

I'll be out there in a few weeks for a conference.... although I've been to SD a bunch, and rented a house in Encinitas for a week to do some early season riding. Nice place to ride, although, getting out of the city was a bit of a drag.

If you don't "need" the weather here, you can probably have a much better quality of life on other places. The problem with living here is it kind of ruins you for other places since you realize people elsewhere may be tougher because they don't have other options.

[choke]

My only advice is that once you narrow it down to a few places go and spend some time there.....not just a weekend or two. You need to really find out if it's going to work for you.

As a young man, the place (which has been mentioned in this thread more than once) that I thought would be paradise turned out to be quite the opposite for me. Uncle Sam was kind enough to station me in that area and I found that while it was nice for a short time there was no way that I could ever live there.

[bking]

I'd also suggest SLC, if big city, jobs and tall mountains are a priority.
I opened an office in SLC after reading in the WSJ sometime around '02 that it would be the fasted growing metropolitan area in the country for the next 20 years based on jobs and environment. If it's not first, it's dang close and job growth is still strong.

that said, if you're looking for a smaller town, and even more sun, St George Utah could be a consideration. I'm always amazed at how "big" that small town feels. It's only about 90 minutes to LV for full airport access, but has just about anything else a big city has to offer, yet in a very small package and located in some incredible outdoor scenery.
Just around the corner:


This was in January. Nice day for a road ride.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by fuzzalow

I'd suggest remedying your work situation first before moving cities - sometimes the fit just isn't right and that friction & negativity spills over into many different aspects of life. Good things and associated successes IMO often follow people around because of who and what they do rather than as a circumstance of where they live. Good luck.

I've had plenty of good jobs in the area and the guys I work for are great, but both my wife and myself grew up in the area and are looking for a change in scenery - there's lots of things I like about it that have made it a good place to live. If it doesnt work out, the worst that happens is we try somewhere else or come back to the area.

Like I said, We've got our own short list that we've discussed, but sometimes its fun to throw the idea out and see what comes back. Some interesting thoughts in the thread and some places I hadnt thought of.

[Tickdoc]

Originally Posted by .RJ

I've had plenty of good jobs in the area and the guys I work for are great, but both my wife and myself grew up in the area and are looking for a change in scenery - there's lots of things I like about it that have made it a good place to live. If it doesnt work out, the worst that happens is we try somewhere else or come back to the area.

Like I said, We've got our own short list that we've discussed, but sometimes its fun to throw the idea out and see what comes back. Some interesting thoughts in the thread and some places I hadnt thought of.

Best of luck to you and keep us posted. I love these threads because I will never move. Too much of a chore in my profession to just up and leave to start again. I get to live vicariously through those of you who do.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

Best of luck to you and keep us posted. I love these threads because I will never move. Too much of a chore in my profession to just up and leave to start again. I get to live vicariously through those of you who do.

Thanks. I'm afraid if we dont try it while we're young and no kids it might be much tougher later. And, if we do have kids and want to come back to be near family thats alright too. The crux of it is we're ready to sell the townhouse we live in, looked at the prices of larger places with a little bit of a yard nearby and said "****, there's gotta be somewhere else we can live".

I've spent a couple of days to a week or more in most of the places mentioned in this thread, so its interesting to think back about them.

[sailorboy]

I'm in a similar situation being active military, and living in fairfax county, due to retire soon...seems like the more I move, the harder I am to please in terms of the right balance of everything. Federal jobs aplenty here, and the kids will do great in school here, but there is just something vacant about the culture where we live. All planned communities and no feeling of history unless you go into DC, which we do often.

As for the riding, there are some nice roads around but its too busy and no shoulders to ride on. A perfectly-enjoyable ride is easily transformed by a few aggressive a-hole drivers with no warning. That's life in a lot of places tho.

We own a home in the norhtern burbs of Philly which seem to strike a nice balance for me. No you can't ride year round but most of it, and there is great history there, lots of backroads, covered bridges. If you want an excursion to Amish country it gets even better, and there are hills to be climbed over near the river and the jersey border. That's where we're headed anyhow.

[fuzzalow]

Originally Posted by .RJ

If it doesnt work out, the worst that happens is we try somewhere else or come back to the area.

Like I said, We've got our own short list that we've discussed, but sometimes its fun to throw the idea out and see what comes back. Some interesting thoughts in the thread and some places I hadnt thought of.

HaHa! Never look back, only look forwards. As long as you and your spouse are completely in agreement and are both fully committed to make it work - then indeed it will work!

I can't emphasize enough how much you will need and rely on each other's strength to make a full and complete run at making your ambitions come true. It cannot be anything other than both of your best shots. It cannot be anything less than the full use of both of your combined talents as a family team. This is your life and it is forgivable to make mistakes but it is unforgivable to embark on this and have regrets.

I hope that we can look back on this thread in the future and have you update it with the good news of how everything turned out.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by sailorboy

I'm in a similar situation being active military, and living in fairfax county, due to retire soon...seems like the more I move, the harder I am to please in terms of the right balance of everything. Federal jobs aplenty here, and the kids will do great in school here, but there is just something vacant about the culture where we live. All planned communities and no feeling of history unless you go into DC, which we do often.

As for the riding, there are some nice roads around but its too busy and no shoulders to ride on. A perfectly-enjoyable ride is easily transformed by a few aggressive a-hole drivers with no warning. That's life in a lot of places tho.

I hear you... We live and work in Reston, so keeping the commutes short and its not a bad place all things considered. The job market is good, housing market is good, weather is good 9 months out of the year. Have family nearby and in Richmond, lots of good friends close by. We get into DC probably twice a month, lots of good restaurants down the road in Herndon and things to go not far away. For cycling, CX racing is booming, we've got tues/thurs group rides, plenty of sat/sun am group rides, i'm < 10 minutes on bike to lake fairfax or great falls, loudon county is 20 miles or a short drive for some quieter roads or gravel time, real mountain bike riding (GWNF, elizabeth furnace, the shed, etc) or awesome places to get away to are 1-2 hours away. I dont find the drivers to be a problem but i've also learned where to ride and where not to ride over the years and I'm not bothered by the 1 out of 1000 that yell at me to get on the sidewalk or some such.

I'm really selling the idea of leaving the area On paper it may not make sense, but ready to try something different. One of the hard parts about finding a place to move to is really figuring out whats important out of all of the stuff I mentioned that we're used to having around. So who knows, maybe we move elsewhere and find new things that are important or we hate it and miss it and come back.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by fuzzalow

I can't emphasize enough how much you will need and rely on each other's strength to make a full and complete run at making your ambitions come true. It cannot be anything other than both of your best shots. It cannot be anything less than the full use of both of your combined talents as a family team. This is your life and it is forgivable to make mistakes but it is unforgivable to embark on this and have regrets.

Definitely agree. I wont have any regrets by trying something different - we'd learn something from the experience and each other for sure even if it didnt pan out like we expected. One of the things I most worry about is being away from family & friends - I dont think we'll really understand how much we rely on our social networks until they're not there. Thanks for the thoughts.