...In your thoughts, what is the best town to live and ride in? I really want to move from Az, and I want mountains, pine trees, and colder weather. I've thrown around a few different locations, Missoula MT, back to Boise ID, Boulder CO. But I just cant settle on something. I want your opinion on the best place to ride AND live. Oh, and it'd be great if its a college town, being eventually I want to start school again.
Best place to live...
- Thread starter DhDork
- Start date
Morgantown, WV.
not as many pines are you might have out west, but we've got our share. no shortage of mountains or places to ride, and one of the best places to live in the U.S., not to mention also one of the country's best party schools/cities. Mo-town has won numerous awards for being "best place to live", "smartest place to live", "best small city", etc. and the list goes on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgantown,_West_Virginia
EDIT: oh yeah, don't worry about the cold weather either. that has been perfected to a science here.
not as many pines are you might have out west, but we've got our share. no shortage of mountains or places to ride, and one of the best places to live in the U.S., not to mention also one of the country's best party schools/cities. Mo-town has won numerous awards for being "best place to live", "smartest place to live", "best small city", etc. and the list goes on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgantown,_West_Virginia
EDIT: oh yeah, don't worry about the cold weather either. that has been perfected to a science here.
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Bellingham washington = heaven
it has everything, great biking (and skiing) college town, really good night life, near a city for everything, but far enough away you don't have to deal with traffic, and it is only ~3-4 hours to whistler.
Kyle,
it has everything, great biking (and skiing) college town, really good night life, near a city for everything, but far enough away you don't have to deal with traffic, and it is only ~3-4 hours to whistler.
Kyle,
Morgantown is a great place, but I guess my opinion is a little biased, being that I basically grew up there.......but I had to get out of that area and find the rest of the world. It's a good town, great riding, rabid football fans, a party can always be found no matter the time of day, and is close enough to some good ski resorts for both winter and summer fun. Morgantown has a big positive of being affordable and if you score a decent job, owning a house and other equity while being able to enjoy your life is very realistic.....the same can't be said for a lot of other college towns.
However, a recent work trip to Boulder, CO showed me that it's damn near the exact type of town I had always day dreamed about while I was growing up. It barely edges out anything around Lake Tahoe for me, but it does so because it's a college town.
Southern California sucks in more ways than I can count, but YEAR ROUND RIDING!
Game, set, match.
Game, set, match.
Southern California.
Santa Cruz has year round riding too, although it's starting get some of the problems that So Cal has
Morzine looks after me quite well...
I wanted to suggest some Yurp place but the main problems with places around here is although they are amazing places to ride they don't meet the rest of the requrements.
From what I know Vigo, Insbruck and Maribor have universities and amazing trails but don't know much about night life. Maribor doesn't really seem like it's full of it. Haven't tried insbruck and Vigo.
From what I know Vigo, Insbruck and Maribor have universities and amazing trails but don't know much about night life. Maribor doesn't really seem like it's full of it. Haven't tried insbruck and Vigo.
Believe it or not Greenville SC is a great place to live. Housing and job market is good. Low cost of living here. Ride year round with some of the best riding in the US about 45 mins away. We also have 18Miles of great riding here in Greenville. The Beach is 3 hrs away and we have 3 great lakes about 30 to 40 mins away. The temp runs winter down to the low 30s and teh summers low 90s.
In your parents basement "apartment".
Gstaad-Switzerland is #1, Then Klosters-Switzerland, Durango Colo is pretty mint as well, followed closely by whistler.
I moved from AZ to Santa Fe. Much cooler yet still dry. Bigger mountains and close to 2 really kickazz DH lifts. The trails at Pajarito are really becoming world class as there are tons of hard working volunteers that work on them constantly and lift access is almost free at 80 bucks a season. Plus we have great snowboarding in the winter. Decent party scene once you figure it out and some easy chicks to screw, some even in the azz.
+1 on the Santa Fe.
+1 on the Santa Fe.
Maryland.
It's awesome if you go to right places.
It's awesome if you go to right places.
Yes yes yes. 3-4 from Whis and like 2-3 to Baker depending on how hard its snowing...:biggrin:
Apart from the weather.
Scotland is the place to be.
All year round riding,WC tracks within 2 hours Plus a host of other world class venues.
Cant beat that.
Scotland is the place to be.
All year round riding,WC tracks within 2 hours Plus a host of other world class venues.
Cant beat that.
Anywhere other than Spokane WA is the best place to live. 
lthumbsdown:
Bellingham can't be beat. Close enough to BC without paying BC taxes and gas prices.
TONS of ripe college girls.
lthumbsdown:Bellingham can't be beat. Close enough to BC without paying BC taxes and gas prices.
TONS of ripe college girls.
The switzerland suggestions are good ones... but a couple of things to keep in mind:
- many of these villages are completely dead in the summer time (excluding holiday season)
- jobs in these small mountain villages are far & few between
- you can be pretty much anywhere in Switzerland and be within 1 hr of a medium to large city.
- many of these villages are completely dead in the summer time (excluding holiday season)
- jobs in these small mountain villages are far & few between
- you can be pretty much anywhere in Switzerland and be within 1 hr of a medium to large city.
Currently just working at a shop. Before I move anywhere tho, I would have to get a job. Im open for a lot of things to as far as jobs.
And I should have cleared that up... Best places to live and ride in the western US. As much as I would die to live in Euro, I could never afford just a damn plane ticket over there. And I can't see myself living out East again.
I find the best place to live is a house.
Caves can get drafty.
Boats, well. Just hope you're not prone to seasickness.
Living in trees is just plain silly.
Caves can get drafty.
Boats, well. Just hope you're not prone to seasickness.
Living in trees is just plain silly.
I like Salem, Oregon but Portland is cool as well. Both have healthy cycling communities, some big shops, and lots of places to ride. Salem has a lot of government employment if you want to go that route. PM me if you want more info
<edit> cost of living in Salem is reasonable as well
Santa Fe - FTW
Realize that if you are going to be in pines and colder weather, that means significant snow and cold temperatures are likely, which means less riding. If you live in Phoenix or Tucson, I truly feel sorry for you, but for right now I love Northern Az, and I'll have to think hard about where to move next, because it may mean a lot less riding than I currently do. I'm not saying that you shouldn't move, but you should consider where carefully. There are plenty of places in Colorado, Id and Mt that flat out suck and are far from good riding, or simply get way too cold or snowy for anything.
On the otherhand, I'm enjoying mild temperatures in Northern AZ and the daily thunderstorms, although today it's a little less because there's some drier air in part of the state, but it's supposed to start cranking back up tomorrow and the new few days. It's truly amazing that it can be low 70s to upper 60s here at 5000-6000', and 110 degrees down near phoenix. There's a few places around where you get the "best of both worlds", and I'd like it to be a little cooler, but I can't complain too much. If I move to Co, I have to be carefull to go front range or somewhere that can be ridden in the Winter, but then that means less pines and more scrub. The elevation range in Az is one thing that makes it happen for me.
Northeast if you like variety in your DH. I am central to the following lift served mountains (45 minute to 3 hour drive): Plattekill, Mt. Snow, Jiminy Peak, Whiteface, Sugarbush, Diablo, Hunter, Windham, Attitash. Highland, Killington (not to mention Bromont and Mt. St, Anne...). No year round riding, tho.
Id say Portland Or. Its where Im currently residing and i love it. Awesome public transportation, so i never have to use my car anymore. I can bike pretty much everywhere. good shops, good riding scene, from urban, to dj, to downhill, to those crazy fixie riders. Good nightlife, not too spendy, unless you are in NW portland, downtown or upper SW. Even then its a lot cheaper than So Cal.(thats where I moved from).
Ive lived in Missoula and its awesome. Great riding in the summer and great skiing in the winter. Not much FR though. Montana is sweet but the winters are long. If you are a skier you would love it. The seasons change fast. You can bike one day and then all of a sudden its ski season. Ive been thinking of moving too. I looked at Durango but its mostly XC riding. I looked at B-ham and its grey and rainy in the winter. There is no perfect place..... It would be sweet to live in Montana 6 months and then Arizonia 6 months.
Boulder, Colorado. For Obvious Reasons. Do a search. Colorado is it. You can't go wrong.
What about Bend? It's the 2000 era's version of a early 90's Durango...meaning all the people who want to live a mtb dream move there.
In saying that, Bend is certainly no Durango.
In saying that, Bend is certainly no Durango.
I've never understood what is so cool about Bend, anyone care to tell me? Looks super flat and boring on Google Earth...
My vote is for either Durango or Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
I don't know if I would want to live someplace with riding truly year round. I think having a little bit of an off season prevents you from getting burned out.
My vote is for either Durango or Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
I don't know if I would want to live someplace with riding truly year round. I think having a little bit of an off season prevents you from getting burned out.
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I'm moving to durango soon but it's not the best place for DH really.
Washington or Oregon!
I just moved to Boise from So Cal (Not by choice
) and So Cal ahs some great riding and Boise has some pretty good stuff (not epic unless its teh resorts).
If I was to base a move for college/pines/DH-FR without a ? it would be bellingham or Oregon (hood or other)..... I tried to get the wife to go to Bellingham instead of here!
I just moved to Boise from So Cal (Not by choice
) and So Cal ahs some great riding and Boise has some pretty good stuff (not epic unless its teh resorts).If I was to base a move for college/pines/DH-FR without a ? it would be bellingham or Oregon (hood or other)..... I tried to get the wife to go to Bellingham instead of here!
Flagstaff is a cool town and some really nice riding there. Half Moon Bay is a cool town in northern California, awesome local bike shop good local riding, beach is 5 minutes away and the mountains are 2 hours, Santa Cruz is an hour down the coast, La Honda and the redwoods are 30 minutes away. It is an anti-growth town so you get the good things like having open hillsides but bad things like no movie theater or nightlife. You get a lot of people that really know whats up and aren't fake unlike the city.
I grew up in Tucson, AZ then moved to Durango then to Missoula then back to Durango then to Gridwood, AK then Costa Rica then back to Durango and now in Champery, Switzerland. I have finally found my place. There are 25 lifts for bikes behind my place. Go to Europe. It is not nearly as hard as people think it is. You got a chance to dial in the rest of your life, don't make too many compromises.
If I had to live in the States it would have to be either Bellingham or Bend.
If I had to live in the States it would have to be either Bellingham or Bend.
Yeah all the Durango-ites are down here on the weekends at AF or Pajarito.