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I'm Moving to the North West

boombatz

Chimp
Sep 29, 2005
35
0
south florida
I want to move somewhere in the pacific northwest in 2006... mostly for the riding. But I don't know anyone on the west coast and I'm having trouble deciding exactly where I want to go. I've been looking at anywhere from Portland to Hood River in Oregon. I've heard the riding is great in that area. In Washington was thinking of somewhere on the outskirts of Seattle.

Anyone have any opinions they'd like to share? What is the job market like? I'm a salesman and a copywriter for a direct mail company.

Right now I live in Florida and I'm officially sick of huricanes, the general flatness, and 80lb soccer moms who aim their 7000lb S.U.V's at me every time I ride me bike to the beach.
 

dwaugh

Turbo Monkey
May 23, 2002
1,816
0
Bellingham, Washington ~ U.S.A.
Bellingham (Washington), no question about it. It has a lot of good riding and it is close enough to Seattle and Whistler and the north shore and Mt. Baker, if you ski. Come live here... there's room for one more... :sneaky: :devil:
 

carbuncle

Monkey
Dec 2, 2004
364
0
Edmonds, WA
dwaugh said:
Bellingham (Washington), no question about it. It has a lot of good riding and it is close enough to Seattle and Whistler and the north shore and Mt. Baker, if you ski. Come live here... there's room for one more... :sneaky: :devil:
I second that, there is sick riding right up there and your are an hour or so from the Shore, Cypress Bike Park, and all that Vancouver scene. I'm into moving up there in a couple of years.
 

matt12

Monkey
Aug 17, 2004
512
0
Napa, CA
dwaugh said:
Bellingham (Washington), no question about it. It has a lot of good riding and it is close enough to Seattle and Whistler and the north shore and Mt. Baker, if you ski. Come live here... there's room for one more... :sneaky: :devil:
That's my spot David!:D
 

mattv2099

Monkey
Aug 16, 2004
192
0
Bellingham, WA
definately portland oregon outskirts.

Bellingham pretty much sucks and you will kill yourself after you first 100 straight days of rain.

If you do choose bellingham then you will be doomed to work a crappy dead end job where you have to grow pot in your attic to make it.
 

Qman

Monkey
Feb 7, 2005
633
0
Bellingham rocks if you can find a job and don't mind the weather.
I went to school there and we always joked that the Arctic Circle dips down to include Bellingham. There's a small mountain range to the south of town that captures the cold fronts that sweep down from the Great White North and Alaska. I've seen a physical line on I-5 where the snow starts and the dry pavement begins. Weird.
A while back I met a guy that worked for a company that did specific research to find a town that people wanted to live in so bad that they didn't care much about their salary. They found Bellingham.
Unfortunately, so have a lot of other people. It's in the middle of a housing bubble and good jobs are hard to come by unless you know someone or have a hookup so I can't say what the cost of living is these days but with a lot of university students, it's usually pretty easy to find cheap rooms to rent or houses to share.
I'd live there if I could afford it. Maybe you could work for Jeremy of 'Broken Spoke' fame.........:thumb:
 

jodysbike

wheel man
Oct 11, 2001
390
0
Dune
mattv2099 said:
Bellingham pretty much sucks and you will kill yourself after you first 100 straight days of rain.

QUOTE]
I like the rain. Riding in the rain can have a cleansing effect on the soul as well as the body. All you need is the right Core Rat and Raceface riding gear.:thumb:
 

boombatz

Chimp
Sep 29, 2005
35
0
south florida
Looks like the "I's" have it. I was looking at Bellingham already. I figured it had to have some good riding if it was that close to the Shore.

I've got no problem working a crappy job in order to live around great riding. Is the riding like the shore? steeper? mellower? Epic? Stunts?

But is the weather really that crappy? I mean we get ALOT of rain in Florida. It rains hard and passes quick so we still get tons of sunny days. How many days a year would you say it's cloudy in Bellingham? How cold are you talking about in the winter.
 

fattyfat1

Monkey
Mar 22, 2005
163
0
Kelso, WA
being from florida you have no idea what cold and wet is. 33 degrees and rain for weeks on end. you learn to bundle up and ride in the nasties, or go snowboarding until april..........
 

fattyfat1

Monkey
Mar 22, 2005
163
0
Kelso, WA
portland has post canyon in hood river, about an hour away. post kicks ass for krazy stunts and freeriding, and its all legal. (check out gorge freeride associations wbsite) way better than b-ham! but, b- ham is 4 hrs closer to the shore and way closer to whistler. portland=better job & sick riding within an hour. b-ham= good riding + very close to the sickest riding on our planet, crappy job. put seattle out of your head. all the good riding is illegal, no race series, and all everybody does is complain about no places to ride and race without ever doing anything about it
 

boombatz

Chimp
Sep 29, 2005
35
0
south florida
Thanks Dwaugh, that site is a good one. I'd be interested in seeing the secret trails too :D . I'm planning or making a trip out there early in the new year.

Fattyfat1 - would you say that Oregon just has better riding than Washington overall? I don't mind the rain, like I said Florida gets alot of rain. And I would learn to deal with the cold. I'm originally from the north east so I'd get used to it. It's the "greyness" I'm worried about.
Do you get many powder days out there? Or is it just rainy all winter?
 

boombatz

Chimp
Sep 29, 2005
35
0
south florida
dwaugh said:
Check out www.galbraithmt.com - Galbraith I would say is the main riding attraction with a bit of everything to offer, and then there are the secret trails. ;)
I just looked at that site in a little more detail. It looks like scene is mostly cross country up there... not alot of elevation in Bellingham. I was reading quickly and could be wrong. Is there anywhere close by with more elevation? What about Dirt jumps?
 

allsk8sno

Turbo Monkey
Jun 6, 2002
1,153
33
Bellingham, WA
bellingham has its one dirtjump park next to the skate park, i assume there is more illegal stuff but dunno, i am moving up there in december myself!
 

mattv2099

Monkey
Aug 16, 2004
192
0
Bellingham, WA
boombatz said:
T
Do you get many powder days out there? Or is it just rainy all winter?
We typically get 1-2 snow days in town per year. On a bad year we might get 1-2 weeks of snow in town. Outside of town and up on the hills there will be snow during the winter.

Yeah galbraith is pretty much XC. I've been riding XC up there since '98 but slowly every year the dh guys have been building some gnarly trails and now there's a good bunch of more DH/freeride type trails... But It's probably nothing compared to canada, though.
 

fattyfat1

Monkey
Mar 22, 2005
163
0
Kelso, WA
bellingham is your best bet. you are 1 hour from the shore!!!!! check out www.gutsploder.com click on fromme seymour or cypress, a map should pop up and start clicking on the littile flags and dots. pictures of wonderment will appear before your eyes and you will start packing and preparing for your move. mt. baker rips for snowboarding and skiing, best snow in the state. if thats not good enough for ya, whistler is only 3 hrs. from b-ham i think. what am i doing living in kelso? i wish i was born in b.c.! mom screwed the wrong guy i guess? all this is a mere 6 hr. drive for me, but for you, it would be nuttin to jump in the car, drive across the border, and ride on the worlds best handcrafted,LEGAL,sickest trails. NOWHERE has trails this good. i've ridden everything the PNW has to offer, even been to moab and colarado, montana,wyoming. the north shore is hands down THE COOLEST TRAILS EVER BUILT! move to b-ham, get a crappy job, a decent place to stay, so i can come and crash on your floor and ride the shore. seattle is the closest i have friends to stay with, i don't know anyone in b-ham to break up the drive alittle.
 

boombatz

Chimp
Sep 29, 2005
35
0
south florida
hey Fattyfat,

Gutsploder is a good site... I've been to the shore a few times. I usually go up there and ride with johnny Smoke during the summer. If the shore is only an hour away that would make a big difference. But I really wanted to move to a place that had good riding right there. Being that I live in Florida I'm always traveling to ride.

The bottom line is that I need to come visit!! That's the only way I'll be able to decide. You say you're from Kelso? Do ride all winter?

Ya up fer a rode trip, eh?
 

MTB_Rob_NC

What do I have to do to get you in this car TODAY?
Nov 15, 2002
3,428
0
Charlotte, NC
boombatz said:
hey Fattyfat,

Gutsploder is a good site... I've been to the shore a few times. I usually go up there and ride with johnny Smoke during the summer. If the shore is only an hour away that would make a big difference. But I really wanted to move to a place that had good riding right there. Being that I live in Florida I'm always traveling to ride.

The bottom line is that I need to come visit!! That's the only way I'll be able to decide. You say you're from Kelso? Do ride all winter?

Ya up fer a rode trip, eh?
Why dont you go to NC? I may need a roommate for a few months before I buy something
 

kinghami3

Future Turbo Monkey
Jun 1, 2004
2,239
0
Ballard 4 life.
Bellingham or Portland. Seattle is not your best option. Bellingham is much closer to the Shore and Whistler, and Galbraith is making a move towards DH and FR, but that is already existent in Portland. HOWEVER, if you don't mind illegal riding there is some good stuff in Bham (even on Galbraith). Crappy job market, but no worse than Seattle, and it you will feel at home there.
 

boombatz

Chimp
Sep 29, 2005
35
0
south florida
I don't know how big an issue illegal trails are around Bellingham. I don't want to piss anyone off but I have no problem with illegal trails. I just want to ride. Most of the things we have to ride in Florida aren't techincally leagal. Although I get the feeling that an "illegal trail" has a much different meaning out there than it does down here.

I don't mind cross country trails either, I like peddling as long as there is a reward at the end. Sometimes you have to eat your brussel sprouts before you can have ice cream. I like all kinds of riding. It's just that if I'm moving out west I want to live near some steep gnar stuff.
 

dwaugh

Turbo Monkey
May 23, 2002
1,816
0
Bellingham, Washington ~ U.S.A.
Land owners, etc, probably dont like illegal trails, but so far, not much has been torn down and people keep riding. And if (very very rare, never heard of it actually) you get caught/in trouble for riding - "Hey, I just moved here, and I've seen people riding here. I didn't know it was illegal." :D
 

allsk8sno

Turbo Monkey
Jun 6, 2002
1,153
33
Bellingham, WA
i am moving up there from pullman washington(WSU)...pretty much the furthest away from bellingham you can be and still be in washington state...well back to housing searches...
 

carbuncle

Monkey
Dec 2, 2004
364
0
Edmonds, WA
Mtb_Rob_FL said:
What a wus. I cannot believe you are thinking about leaving.


http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135195


Sh!t, I bailed out of Florida (Lauderhill, Lauderdale & Plantation) right after hurricane Andrew and have never even been back there since! Uber-wuss! Damn, but I do like it up here though. Everyone else is right about location, though: Seattle has very few good freeride trails nearby, whatever it does have is illegal, and functionally it's just an extra hour of driving away from wherever you really want to ride. Portland is kind of sleepy, in my opinion, and four hours farther from the Shore.