If you are in North Cali you should go here to cycle!
 

I live in FAR Northern California. If you like to participate in year-round outdoor recreation, of all types, this place isn't too bad. The town is called Redding; most people haven't heard of it or have a negative opinion of it but that's another story. It's situated at the north end of the Sacramento Valley and base of the Klamath and Coastal Ranges. This provides a range of opportunities, you can walk out the door and do 40 miles with 4000 ft climbing or a Century with as little as 1000 ft climbing. The only thing lacking, as it relates to road cycling, is long sustained climbs. It's mostly rolling hills with shorter, but steep, climbs. The nearest longest single-push climb to me is about 4000 ft. It's pretty rural up here so there's not a lot of road traffic and, from a personal perspective, the traffic is pretty great about sharing the road. There are always exceptions to that but will always be the case. You didn't ask but there's also loads of MTB and CX, climbing (mountain and rock), kayaking (flat and whitewater) backpacking, hiking, fishing, hunting, etc. There's no night life to speak of, your international food options are limited, and very little cultural diversity but it could be worse. You're going to find those same issues in most rural communities.

I drove thru there when I was in college and 'home' on a break. My parents had moved out to Half Moon Bay which is just south of SF on the coast, I had nothing to do each day, so I drove all over norcal to see what was to be seen.
Looking up quick info now, I am shocked at how hot it gets in the summer! Avg over 90deg for a couple months and its that far north?! Wild how coastal weather and mountains/valleys affect so much of the upper half of the state.

Sounds like an outdoor paradise.

Deal breakers. That, and the oppressive summer heat.


-Kedosto

Did you mention Mt. Shasta? Or all the miles of rail trails you have? Not that I'm envious, here on the other side of the Trinity Alps from you, with better weather and minimal cycling infrastructure. We also don't have In n' Out or Trader Joe's.

Okay, I may be a little envious. ;)

Redding is in a beautiful part of the state. But good lord is it hot up there. Even Sacramentans think it's too hot.

I had a roofing contractor move there for work some years ago.

Wonder how that's going...

Driven 299 several times... once on motorcycle. Love the area. Love fishing just north of Chester. Hope Shasta Lake is full.
But ya, hotter than a mofo there.

My ex-inlaws had a nice place on the north side of Lake Almanor. One of my favorite towns is Chester. Does it still have only one red light in the middle of town or has it grown up too? Lassen Park would be a great place to ride if you like a lot of ups and downs.
Jon

If you make it to Reading, find a hole in the wall called Jack's Grill and order the filet mignon. Possibly the best piece of cow I've ever eaten.

Pish tosh. The meth issues is a given in any rural area.

And when it gets too hot, you can come over to the coast to surf and hike.

I lived in Lakeview, OR for a year, and the scenery up in that part of the world is breathtaking. The 299 drive is epic, and on a clear day the Mt Shasta snow cap can be seen from the summit of Cedar Pass, all of 100 miles away. The Brass Rail in Alturas does decent Basque food.

I proposed to my wife in a little inn just north of Redding, but I hadn't planned everything out too well; when we asked the hotel staff for celebration dinner recommendations, there was pretty much just the one Italian place all the way back into Redding that they could hand-on-heart "recommend." It was ok. Too much garlic. For good food, go up the 97 a few hours to Bend.

As bad as Redding can be, avoid Susanville like a contagion.

My wife has family in Chico. The Wildflower century ride there is a good 'un. The route goes up to Paradise (or did the year I did it), which must be at least recovering a bit by now.

I'd love to get back up to the Shasta area with the freedom to just ride my bike when-and-wherever I'd like. Beautiful part of the world.

Fair enough, lakes are good.

You must not have ever been to Humboldt; we have a bad case of meth and heroin here.We're in the middle of the Emerald Triangle, so weed is endemic; smelly but comparatively harmless. Possibly related, we also have a disproportionate number of homeless people, not enough housing, not enough jobs, and far too much poverty.