Where Would you live ?
 

If you could live anywhere you wanted in the USA and you wanted to live there primarily for cycling where would it be and why?

Coastal NC. I go riding right out of my driveway, while I used to drive 40 minutes to get away from city and town traffic.

The good: Extremely rural, low trafficked roads. Most drivers are very courteous to cyclists. National Forest, State Parks are an hour's drive away. Mild winter with many days 50* or warmer. Very flat terrain.

The bad: Very Flat Terrain (I like climbing), but very strong headwinds can help compensate for the lack of elevation. Summer heat and humidity will push you to ride early in the day, or else head for the mountains or northern latitudes. Also, there are few bike lanes and most roads have no shoulders, though as previously mentioned, little traffic except for major highways. But I haven't seen any paved roads in the mountains that I thought were safe for cycling. I go there for gravel riding.

Sorry, but if I were choosing a location based on cycling, it would not be in the USA

If in the USA, it would be the Big Island for me.

Right where I do in beautiful Fairfax, California!
I say this with extreme gratitude, because I've lived places that are not very bike friendly.
Hell, just not friendly, period.

Moab, UT.

Otherwise, the south of France.

The terrain, and the roads, in both places will let you cycle nearly year-round; however, the wine and food is a lot better in France.

Tucson AZ!
 

Year round cycling, tons of road and mountain biking options, mountains and desert rides right out your door or a short drive away....though the Big Island wouldn't be terrible!

I would live where I live now. Great road riding right from the end of our driveway, amazing mtb trails from the back yard (and we have a little trail network on our property that links to some really great mtb riding.) The Adirondacks have some truly great road and mountain bike riding, and miles and miles of gravel, too. No on3 around- ride for hours and never see another human being... I mean, uh, unfortunately we’re full. No more room for strangers. Please stay home. :)

And trees. Lots and lots of trees. And then more trees. 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲.............

The Denver-Boulder area seems to be home to a disproportionate number of professional triathletes, and the main Olympic training facility is in Colorado Springs. Living at altitude offers a significant training advantages.

San Luis Obispo

(Hoping my kid gets in Cal Poly so I’ll have an excuse to head down there with my bike.)

Very timely...
 

A very, very timely topic.

I was just talking to a friend about relocating. These 2 quotes illustrate my challenges. To me, the OBX or Outer Banks of NC are heaven for cycling in the Fall and Spring, but not in the tourist season or hard winter.

The second seems to be the one that is forcing its way to the surface. I believe that is from where I live now, but from the many posts here, it is just a matter of degree.

I would choose a location that has a lot of dirt/gravel roads and singletrack trails.

I have been considering relocating out of south coastal Delaware. I have been checking out a lot of southern Tennessee areas. I think I need to make a trip to check them out in person. I like the temperate climate, reasonable housing, really good bicycling, etc.

Wolfchild: You are in one of the nicest places I have ever had the good fortune to ride in. I am amazed with the cold winters that Canada has some of the smoothest roads I have ever ridden on. Not a lot of traffic, but some BIG trucks that can really cast a passing gust that can blow you sideways if you are not alert.

I have lived in both Colorado Springs and the Denver area, and I definitely wouldn’t move back there for the bike riding. See post #8. Too many people EVERYWHERE in Colorado now. The best rides (road and dirt) are completely overrun with masses of people. And motorists are a-holes to cyclists, even if you’re far right of th3 whit3 line, in a dedicated cycling lane, or out in the middle of nowhere. I’ll take peace and solitude. Cheers!

There are a few trees here and there.


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I just got home an hour ago from the OBX. I have a house down there that we spend time at when I can. I did a couple of great rides this weekend. My solution to the summer crowds is to fat bike on the beach and up on Jockey's Ridge really early. You can still road bike in the summer if it is not the weekend.

A few miles west of Boston has great year-round cycling with short drives to other really good cycling areas. Access to cycling friendly roads right out my front door will always be a dominating factor when deciding where to relocate to.

Thanks for mentioning the OBX, which is just a day's cycling and a ferry ride from where I live. We plan to make it a fall excursion. For everyday rides, though, the Inner Banks have many days of relatively mild winter. We're looking to do some week long-ish trips though, so where in VA do you recommend? Shenandoah county?

The US is a relatively small part of the world. There are many nice places not in the US.

Florida, for the obvious reasons.

Mammoth Lakes, CA would be ideal for multiple cycling disciplines. That's why many pros live and train there. I do not think boredom would ever set in if one is open to mtn biking, gravel, touring, road, triathlons, fat bikes or bike/fishing.

Somewhere out in the woods with unused but relatively smooth fire roads not a ton of massive hills and nice and quiet with plenty of land and a reasonably sized house. Also a naturally fed spring nearby would be cool especially if it ended in a nice pool.

Well, no need to rub our noses. Recall as well that -20f is not an unheard of temperatures and sometimes it goes from near that to black fly season in about a week it seems. Black flies are good though, you get in shape as you discover they can’t do 20mph.