[binary visions]

Hmm, two Greenville threads in a week.

Anyone live in or around Greenville, NC, and wants to tell me their impressions? Near any good riding? National parks? Nice town? What about East Carolina University?

I've done some research, and will be doing more, but nothing beats a first hand impression. I love the outer banks of NC, and Pisgah is supposed to be beautiful - Greenville is just about halfway between them (which is simply an incidental bonus, not why I'm considering the place).

I'm considering packing up next year (probably around this time) and moving, getting out of New England, trying some place a little different, and going to school full time to get my degree while I don't feel like I'm locked into anything. My girlfriend wants to move somewhere warmer, and I'm looking for a change, so this is what we discussed.

Anyone?

 

[BurlyShirley]

Pro-town. You can ride with Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist if you move there. Have you considered Knoville TN? Near windrock. University of TN. Smokey Mtns. Natl. Park. Best of everything down there.

 

[stosh]

I've been debating moving to NC also.

 

[stosh]

Pro-town. You can ride with Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist if you move there. Have you considered Knoville TN? Near windrock. University of TN. Smokey Mtns. Natl. Park. Best of everything down there.

WTF is Pro-town?

 

[JRB]

WTF is Pro-town?

Pros live there???

 

[binary visions]

WTF is Pro-town?

i.e. Pros live there (hence the Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist reference)

edit: beaten by my b**ch.

 

[stosh]

i.e. Pros live there (hence the Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist reference)

edit: beaten by my b**ch.

oh...


Why have you been interested in Greenville?

 

[zod]

FYI, Greenville NC is a long haul from Pisgah...............and relatively close to the coast

 

[zod]

BTW, Greenville is a slum...........

 

[stosh]

BTW, Greenville is a slum...........

So where would you suggest moving in NC that has jobs and is a pretty good town.

 

[TN]

I had a buddy who lived there for a year. he loved the Outer Banks but said the town was kind of small for him.

 

[stosh]

I had a buddy who lived there for a year. he loved the Outer Banks but said the town was kind of small for him.

I prefer small towns.


(Sorry BV for kinda stealing your thread)

 

[zod]

If you want a good job market with excellent local mountain biking and pretty close to the mountain then I'd suggest Charlotte. I wouldn't live in the county Charlotte is in though b/c the poperty taxes suck.

I live one county away(to the west of Charlotte...closer to the mountains) and drive to work in Charlotte. I like a rural setting anyhow......I got a couple acres all to myself :love:

 

[binary visions]

Why have you been interested in Greenville?

Eh, you know, just a place to start looking. Got online on one of those, "find a place to live" sites and filled out a 5 page questionnaire on what was important to me, what was less important, etc. Greenville was one of the results.

Greenville isn't too far south, ECU seemed like a halfway decent school that wasn't too expensive and has a medical school (which my girlfriend wants). Cost of living seems reasonable - about what it is in my town - yet average pay seems to be a little bit higher.

FYI, Greenville NC is a long haul from Pisgah...............and relatively close to the coast

I know it's closer to the coast, but it's not unreasonably far away from Pisgah if I wanted to take a few days off and go camping or something.

BTW, Greenville is a slum...........

Um, okay, can you qualify that a little bit? I mean, "slum" is a pretty relative term, especially considering it's used extensively by people who have never even seen real slums.

 

[JRB]

I like Austin.

 

[zod]

It just is not a very attractive town or campus for that matter and the run down side of town butts right up against the campus.........HOWEVER if you are looking for a cheaper medical school then ECU is a no-brainer

 

[stosh]

If you want a good job market with excellent local mountain biking and pretty close to the mountain then I'd suggest Charlotte. I wouldn't live in the county Charlotte is in though b/c the poperty taxes suck.

I live one county away(to the west of Charlotte...closer to the mountains) and drive to work in Charlotte. I like a rural setting anyhow......I got a couple acres all to myself :love:

Well prop. tax is nothing to me coming from NY it's bad up here.

How far out of Charlotte are you?

 

[narlus]

i was in sanford NC last week for business...no way in hell i would wanna live there. but i didn't get to see the raleigh/durham/chapel hill area, and it was about 45 min away so maybe that's not as bad.

 

[Greyhound]

Hey binary.......I graduated from East Carolina in '95.

Lived there for a total of about 8 years. Let's see......what can I tell ya? First and foremost, it's a college town.....with a ratio of women to men at about 4:1. Not bad, not bad at all. Pretty Carolina girls, too......The town itself consists of "downtown"...which is right next to the campus. It has all the nightlife bars and entertainment. Then there's "the rest of town", which is spread out pretty good, and has all the shops and resturants. The campus itself is pretty spread out, but everything is walkable. Neighborhoods around the campus are very quaint....most either ranch-style brick houses or 70's era craftsman style. The town has a charm to it that you can feel as soon as you drive in. Lots of old style buildings mixed with modern structures give you the feeling that you're in a town with a lot of history and a vision for the future as well. The hospital and outlying medical community is huge.....supporting the states leading cardiology research facilities.

Regionally......you're closer to the beach than the mountains. Getting to Wilmington will take you a little over an hour. Same goes for other beach destinations such as Emerald Isle, Atlantic beach, and outer banks areas like Kitty Hawk and Ocracoke. Greenville is backed up to the confluence of several rivers, and it's proximity to the ocean sounds leads to most waters around the area being "brackish", or slightly salty. Which means that fishing wise, there's a lot to be found. During periods of low rain, when the salinity levels increase, red drum, speckled trout, striper, and flounder can found in waters near the town. The Neuse river is about 45 minutes east in New Bern, which has a rich history dating back to Revolutionary and Civil War era naval battles fought on the river. East Carolina is big into maritime research, and has many different facilities for such all over the eastern half of the state. Most recently, their research team helped raise the USS Hunley---a Civil War submarine....the first of its kind ,that was sunk off the coast in a battle with with a Union ironclad. But enough of that stuff. Let's move on.....

Riding:

Others have mentioned "pro town." Yeppers......it's home to many BMX superstars. Mirra being the most recognized name in the bunch. I think Nyquist is living there now as well. The town has a BMX park and Mirra just opened his own warehouse with huge vertical silliness that he and his buddies sesh all the time. Recently, there's been a bit of bad news for the area's only singletrack--a ten-mile loop around the pine forests just outside of town, has been scheduled for logging by the landowner. This hits pretty hard with the mtn bike population. The "Bicycle Post" trails has been a mainstay of that area for over ten years, and I can remember riding out there on my busted-ass Trek the first week it was open, when there was only a half-mile loop through a gulley. Now they have upped it to ten miles. The landowner, and the local trail group are working with each other to try and keep the trails intact as much as possible, so time will tell what happens out there. Other spots around the town exist, such as the Tar River trails....which are about a 45 min drive to the west. 15 or so miles of singletrack that is privately owned and well maintained. Lots of big stunts out there as well with every one of them built out of burly cedar that will last forever. Teeter's, drops, skinnies, jumps---lots to keep you and the Evil occupied.

Your proximity to the mountains will be approx. 3.5 -4.5 hours, dependent upon where you want to go. But, that travel time also gets you to mountains located in Virginia, and North Carolina.....or the Uwharries--which are a smaller set of mountains just north of Charlotte.

Weather: Well....you said you wanted warmer. Well, you got it there. Summers, I ain't gonna lie to ya, are HOT!!! Winter's are mild, with the occasional snowflake every three years or so. It does get cold---but not the New England cold you're used to enduring. The best part about the summer is the beach...you can be there in no time, and where Greenville is located, there are so many different beaches you can go to that suits your mood.


Well....that's just about all I have time to type right now, but if you have any other questions or whatever, just post 'em up or PM me and I'll give you the straight poop on it. Hope you come to the area, Binary.....you would like it, I think. Toodles!

 

[stosh]

Hey binary.......I graduated from East Carolina in '95.


Well....that's just about all I have time to type right now, but if you have any other questions or whatever, just post 'em up or PM me and I'll give you the straight poop on it. Hope you come to the area, Binary.....you would like it, I think. Toodles!

Thanks for the great info!!

 

[DRB]

If you want a good job market with excellent local mountain biking and pretty close to the mountain then I'd suggest Charlotte. I wouldn't live in the county Charlotte is in though b/c the poperty taxes suck.

I live one county away(to the west of Charlotte...closer to the mountains) and drive to work in Charlotte. I like a rural setting anyhow......I got a couple acres all to myself :love:

HOLY CRAP...... Don't encourage 'em.

Okay... since they're monkeys.

 

[binary visions]

Hey binary.......I graduated from East Carolina in '95.

Well....that's just about all I have time to type right now, but if you have any other questions or whatever, just post 'em up or PM me and I'll give you the straight poop on it. Hope you come to the area, Binary.....you would like it, I think. Toodles!

Wow, great post. Kinda funny, I remember givin' ya' hell on MTBR a couple years ago in a discussion about double crowns on ACs.. who knew we might be neighbors? You still living in Greenville?

Anyhow, sounds like a nice place. I'm not looking for a big name school, just a place to land a degree and explore potential career options. Small towns are much more to my liking than big cities.

I would expect it to get chilly in the winter months (I've checked out the yearly averages and such on weather.com), but it'll be a huge switch from New England for sure. Not so much expecting it to be better or worse, just different and something new to experience.

Weekend riding is about all I get to do now anyway, so as long as there are trails within reaching distance, I'm good. Everything else is mostly urban. BMX parks.. meh. Maybe I'll grow to like 'em if I'm living near some.

You mentioned fishing and rivers.. How friendly are they to canoes and kayaks? By that, I mean do there tend to be a lot of motor boats/traffic in general? Are there local places where you can find some peaceful boating?

 

[me89]

i know your talkin bout places in the middle of the cost and the mountains but, i would suggest black mountain nc. its a small town to hte west of asheville and biggins lives there. also you have montreat college. and there is also UNCA. they have an excellent medical program from what i hear. you are also really close to all kinds of riding from dh to xc to urban trials. if you want you and your girlfriend can come down for a weekend and we can show you all the best places to rip it up here. and me or biggins (if he wants) can show you around black mountain. so that was just a thought. ohh and were only bout 45 min away from pisgah going the speed limit (that never happens). so if you want to come check us out pm me and ill see what i can do about getting it all setup.

ohh also black mountain has the best bike shop in all of western north carolina so theres another plus to black mountain.

 

[Jeremy R]

Yo BV,
You also should really check out Greenville, SC as well.
You would be an hour away from Pisgah, so you could ride it
every weekend which you will want to do once you have been there.
4 hours from the coast.
Downtown is blowing up.
The job market is good.
And best of all, you will only be 30 minutes away from the dopest RM member of all time.
I live in Spartanburg, SC and I can get to Pisgah in about 50 minutes.
Charlotte is another possibility, but the downside to that is that you can run into DRB on any given saturday on the trails. It happened to me the last time I was up there.

 

[me89]

ohh yeh i forgot about greenville sc. you also have tp, bradical, and curious captain down there as well. but my first choice would be black mountain but deffinatly greenville next. maybee comming down to see them would be a good idea.

 

[BurlyShirley]

There's also ETSU in Johnson City where Im at. Hour and a half from Pisgah, and just down the street from Bristol Motor Speedway. I know how you love Nascar

 

[zod]

Well prop. tax is nothing to me coming from NY it's bad up here.

How far out of Charlotte are you?

I'm really only about 15 miles out of Charlotte's city limits, however you don't have to go far out of town to get rural quick. My drive to work is about 28 miles. I live in the county west of Charlotte just outside a small town called Stanley. 15 minute drive to 2 local trails, within 45 minutes of 7 or so other local trails, within an hour.5 of some of the best mountain riding in the Appalachians, close to 2 good urban riding scenes (Charlotte & Lincolnton), and close to 2 indoor skate parks. Also since I live in the sticks and have plenty of land me and a few of my buds have built our own private North Shore park right in the woods in my backyard......

The drive to work is not always fun but when I can walk outside at night and not hear a damn thing it's worth it............I loathe the city

 

[KFulch]

i was in sanford NC last week for business...no way in hell i would wanna live there. but i didn't get to see the raleigh/durham/chapel hill area, and it was about 45 min away so maybe that's not as bad.

Sanford sucks balls. The whole RTP and Piedmont Triad area is really nice. Relatively cheap to live housing and property taxes and both areas are always booming on the jobmarket in several sectors. Charlotte is nice; great place to work if you are into the yuppie scene

 

[stosh]

I'm really only about 15 miles out of Charlotte's city limits, however you don't have to go far out of town to get rural quick. My drive to work is about 28 miles. I live in the county west of Charlotte just outside a small town called Stanley. 15 minute drive to 2 local trails, within 45 minutes of 7 or so other local trails, within an hour.5 of some of the best mountain riding in the Appalachians, close to 2 good urban riding scenes (Charlotte & Lincolnton), and close to 2 indoor skate parks. Also since I live in the sticks and have plenty of land me and a few of my buds have built our own private North Shore park right in the woods in my backyard......

The drive to work is not always fun but when I can walk outside at night and not hear a damn thing it's worth it............I loathe the city

Holy fawk! I have to move there. Thats my name!!!!

 

[Mr Tiles]

The Charlotte area is pretty sweet. I live about 20 minutes from Charlotte so I have escaped the hyper-inflated property taxes for the time being. I'm really close to Pisgah and I believe there are about 8 or 9 local mtb parks within a 45 min drive. It ain't all that bad here. BTW, Zod lives about 15 min. from me so I'll answer for him...

 

[stosh]

I'm really only about 15 miles out of Charlotte's city limits, however you don't have to go far out of town to get rural quick. My drive to work is about 28 miles. I live in the county west of Charlotte just outside a small town called Stanley. 15 minute drive to 2 local trails, within 45 minutes of 7 or so other local trails, within an hour.5 of some of the best mountain riding in the Appalachians, close to 2 good urban riding scenes (Charlotte & Lincolnton), and close to 2 indoor skate parks. Also since I live in the sticks and have plenty of land me and a few of my buds have built our own private North Shore park right in the woods in my backyard......

The drive to work is not always fun but when I can walk outside at night and not hear a damn thing it's worth it............I loathe the city

Anybody know any architects?

 

[zod]

Anybody know any architects?

ahh yea, my wife is an interior designer....she knows plenty.....and Mr. Tiles just went thru checking out quite a few for his own house building process...

 

[DRB]

Anybody know any architects?

Yep....

 

[narlus]

It ain't all that bad here. BTW, Zod lives about 15 min. from me so I'll answer for him...

if zod is the representative of the average resident of yr area, i'll happily stay in liberal massachusetts.

 

[zod]

narlus, you'll fit in good here (8 feet under)

 

[DRB]

if zod is the representative of the average resident of yr area, i'll happily stay in liberal massachusetts.

Mecklenburg county was one of the few NC counties that went Kerry.

Zod is relatively harmless except for his hyenia leanings.

 

[zod]

yea, I'm pretty friendly on the trail......hell I even let all the liberal hippies come out and ride on my property

 

[DRB]

I'm really only about 15 miles out of Charlotte's city limits, however you don't have to go far out of town to get rural quick. My drive to work is about 28 miles. I live in the county west of Charlotte just outside a small town called Stanley. 15 minute drive to 2 local trails, within 45 minutes of 7 or so other local trails, within an hour.5 of some of the best mountain riding in the Appalachians, close to 2 good urban riding scenes (Charlotte & Lincolnton), and close to 2 indoor skate parks. Also since I live in the sticks and have plenty of land me and a few of my buds have built our own private North Shore park right in the woods in my backyard......

The drive to work is not always fun but when I can walk outside at night and not hear a damn thing it's worth it............I loathe the city

Okay stop it already....

 

[Mr Tiles]

I miss out on all you guy's political ramblings. I feel it's safer to stay away from stuff like that...btw, I'm a staunch right-winger ; )

 

[zod]

DRB........trying to hide the great mountain biking secrets of the Charlotte area????