Southerners - Help a bruh find a warmer place to live

[nighthawk]

Asheville came to mind first, but think about Flagstaff, AZ.

Other thoughts... Pensacola, FL. Athens, GA. Greensboro, NC.

[Elefantino]

Gainesville is nice.

[nighthawk]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

Gainesville is nice.

I lived there for a few years. Great town. Flat as a pancake, though.

[mjb266]

Sedona, AZ
Moab, UT
Gunnison, CO
SLO, CA

Some are up high, so chilly in winter, but “it’s a dry cold.”

[weisan]

Dead pal, you are correct in choosing Austin based on your criteria. Let me offer you some local area expertise.

1) traffic is not getting bad, it's BAD already, it doesn't need getting there.

If you don't need to drive to work every day, then it's a non-issue.

If you can use the train to get to work, then it's a non-issue.

2) Expensive housing

Austin is pretty much full.

Overflow to neighboring bedroom communities that are within 15-25 miles radius like cedar park, manor, round rock, to name a few, for more affordable housing options ($250-300k decent size house) but the problem is...point #1 - traffic.

Other than that, you are pretty much spot on.

I live in Leander, TX.

I think it's better than San Marcos but I am biased.

Contact me.

[BobC]

Williamsburg.
Great small town centrally located between Richmond & Hampton Roads. Great riding on & off road. Rolling hills. W&M is there, so there is stuff going on. Weather is mild.

[sailorboy]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Asheville, NC. Middlebury (or Burlington) VT. Two cities I might consider living in.
And I still owe you beers in the Oakland Hills....

I could get behind Burlington, but Middlebury? Not so much. It's a cute, sorta quintessential Vermont town, but not really any nightlife. Live in S. Burlington and visit Middlebury.

[glepore]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

+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.

You can get to the bay in less time than the ocean, 2 hrs or so. But yeah, otherwise its a great place, aside from the fact that its been discovered.

[buddybikes]

Ok does such a thing exist:
- Ocean/estuary
- Not frigid NE winter
- Bike paths
- Reasonable access to good healthcare


We live on east bay RI, but I want some sun in winter for retirement.

[Gsinill]

Originally Posted by zmalwo

San Diego is pretty nice I heard. Expensive though!

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.

Another thought on San Diego.
Don't underestimate the impact of where you grew up.
I lived in San Diego for 2 years and really missed the change of seasons.
One of the reasons I moved back to Chicago.

[steelbikerider]

Weisan is right. Leander - Georgetown, TX is a bettter choice than San Marcos. North of Austin but still within 45 min and avoiding the new construction and crowding that is hitting Austin - San Antonio.

[jr59]

I’m a southern guy. Born in Jackson Memorial hospital in the middle of Miami. But have lived and rode all over the south.
I would cross off south Florida off my list. To much traffic and such. Other places come to mind in Fla. As stated before Inverness, and Mount Dora come to mind. Gainesville and Tallahassee both college towns provide nice riding.

Augusta Ga, and Athens are good. Neither to far from sea or mountains.

Tough to beat Austin. Super place to ride, ear or go out for the evening. But sailing the lake would be boring.

Take both Memphis and New Orleans off your list. I’ve lived in NOLA and Memphis I’ve rode to many times.

Good luck, and let us know.

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by nighthawk

I lived there for a few years. Great town. Flat as a pancake, though.

True, but Clermont is only an hour south. And Gainesville is probably Florida's most forward-thinking cycling town.

[bigbill]

I'd live in Fredericksburg, TX in a heartbeat. It's a little more than an hour west of Austin (airport), incredible cycling, great downtown area with lots of restaurants, and mild weather. Texas has a great gravel riding scene too, lots of routes and events.

I live in NW AZ for now. I make frequent trips to Flagstaff and the MTB riding is awesome but the roads are starting to get a bit busy. High cost of living. Sedona has a little better weather but still has a high cost living. Flagstaff is on I-40, you have to want to travel to Sedona. Prescott is nice too. Either place would fit your progressive requirement.

[texbike]

Another spot to consider on the I35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio is New Braunfels. It's an old German-settled town with lots of character, a wonderful city park with a spring-fed river originating in the middle of it (the Comal-shortest river in Texas which flows into the Guadalupe river in town), a great lake close by (Canyon Lake), beautiful scenery just to the West (it sits on the edge of the Hill Country), great road riding out the door, two growing cities within an hour drive, and the coast is only a couple of hours away. Plus, every November they have WurstFest - their version of Oktoberfest which takes over the town.
Oh, and housing prices are still reasonable.

I love Austin, but it's becoming increasingly expensive and challenging from a cycling perspective.

Texbike