Southerners - Help a bruh find a warmer place to live

[dancinkozmo]

Bentonville AR

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by dsimon

I was Born an raised on Tybee Island so yea I know a little about Savannah. But I would say Asheville NC, you get a true 4 season and the diversity. food culture and some southern charm still around

yeah Savannah is too flat. I was going to recommend Asheville as well. Great town, great ridding, 4 seasons but all manageable. Beautiful place.


I would say upstate NY but taxes here are ridiculous and winter sucks.... summer can also be WAY TOO hot. I do love it here though but man, every winter I want to move back to Portugal

[avalonracing]

I agree with a few people here that Asheville is nice. I could never do the Florida thing as it is way too flat. Charleston SC is nice and has access to the water also but again, I think it's too flat for cycling.

[Spaghetti Legs]

Originally Posted by zennmotion

Charlottesville VA. Although the vampires do occasionally visit from out of town to burn tiki torches, the rest of time it's a great place to live and the riding is phenomenal.

+1 I love it here. Great restaurants (I mean a lot of top notch eating), college town, generally bike friendly. Even in the depths of winter I can still get out on the bike occasionally. Summers are hot and getting hotter, but better than points further south and on the worst days, I can escape up to the Blue Ridge Parkway where it’s 10+ degrees cooler.

Car free is possible here; train goes to DC and points north and it’s possible to safely ride a bike to the airport from downtown. Not much sailing here, although there is a river for kayak/canoe. Smith Mountain Lake is 2 hours south and Atlantic Ocean is 3 hours East.

[Lovetoclimb]

The SE will allow you escape some rain, but keep in mind we have hurricane season down here. And at times, crippling humidity. Now there are some pockets up in the mountains, Asheville or our NC high country (Boone area) that will get less rain and have less humidity. Winters are normal IMO. Similar to Ohio but typically a bit less harsh. And the 4 seasons are quite distinct and lovely. Close by is Greenville SC and not far from there is Athens GA. If a smaller city is your thing I would enoucrage some research into all of them. I moved from Cincinnati OH, a great city in its own right, to be in the mountains, and have never looked back.

[Tandem Rider]

I can't speak for everyone, but sunshine means a lot to my demeanor. In the Midwest, I dreaded winter, had to take Vitamin D, sunlamps, etc. Here, I just go play outside, it's sunny. I've been to Portland a number of times, too gray for me.

[DrewK]

Asheville. Especially if you do any MTB riding, or want to... south of Asheville is some of the best MTB on east coast, and you’re not far from lift served madness if that’s your style. Definitely a progressive thinking town. I don’t know much about night life, I am usually in bed by 9 (as I post this at 9:20)... I get a lot done between 5am and 9am every day! HA

But Asheville has mild winters, warm/humid summers.

Charlotte has a great roadie scene and plenty of nightlife.

Greenville SC also has a great road scene, not far from the MTB stuff either. Between Greenville and Asheville is roadie heaven. There is a reason that Hincapie built his hotel there.

[DrewK]

Savannah GA also sounds like a place that would check all the boxes for you. Or Charleston SC.

[sokyroadie]

Bowling Green KY would be a possibility - lots of nightlife - home of Western Kentucky University. Population is growing 60K+ lots of opportunity, good rural riding close by, not flat but more rolling hills vs mountains. Barren River Lake (10,000 acres) is 30 miles away and has an active sailing club - Port Oliver Yacht Club. Weather is pretty moderate in the Winter, normally very little snow. Nashville is 1 hr away and has everything.

I live on Barren and good riding around the lake.

[zmalwo]

San Diego is pretty nice I heard. Expensive though!

[Whit51]

Austin TX or Richmond VA.

[Louis]

I have one comment:

Be very careful when you establish your "must have, 100% certain" criteria, because you may find out later that they aren't as cast-in-stone as you might have originally believed.

Let's say, for instance, that you want to move to a warmer place because you don't want to cycle in cold weather in the winter. You might later find out that in winter you could use an indoor rower instead of riding in miserable weather or turning your mind to mush on rollers, and so avoiding cold winters may not be as critical as you thought. Besides, rowing is a much better workout than cycling. Not as much fun as riding outdoors, but way better for your body.

I won't bore you with the details, but several times in my life I've made a relatively big decision based on criteria that I later found out to not be as important as I thought.

Good Luck

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by zmalwo

San Diego is pretty nice I heard. Expensive though!

We still like it but it's gotten pretty crowded over the past 50 years. Towns along the Central Coast of CA. are pretty nice and less expensive. San Luis Obispo is a college town with nice weather but I don't know what the real estate prices are like.

[Lanternrouge]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

We still like it but it's gotten pretty crowded over the past 50 years. Towns along the Central Coast of CA. are pretty nice and less expensive. San Luis Obispo is a college town with nice weather but I don't know what the real estate prices are like.

SLO is pretty expensive, though I don't think as bad as the San Diego area.

[Ken Robb]

Thtennis with a bunch of guys e OP wants some night life hence my thoughts of SLO but Morro Bay, Cambria, and others are smaller/cheaper. I was surprised lately to discover that my cousin/old pal has moved to Nipomo where there are new developments popular with active seniors. After playing tennis for several months with a bunch of his neighbors he realized one of the other guys was at our high school at the same time as we were. Nipomo is not far from Santa Maria as the nearest "bigger" town. The whole area might be too quiet for the OP.