So I've spent the past two northern summers in Whistler, riding heaps on some simply amazing terrain, and even though my exploration here certainly hasn't covered even half the riding available in the Sea to Sky area, let alone the rest of BC, I'd dearly love to spend time living and riding somewhere new. I'd consider living almost anywhere that allowed me to ride tons and live reasonably comfortably, but I'm trying to work out exactly where the best place to do that is - or if I'm already here.
Basically, as an Australian citizen, what I'm ideally looking for is:
- LOTS of riding (especially DH), good terrain and the opportunity to actually ride lots. Working 9-5 Mon-Fri in a big city doesn't give that much flexibility unless the riding scene in that area makes it possible to ride after hours or whatever.
- Weather or at least a season length that gives as much riding in the year as possible. Whistler seems to have the longest season of pretty well any bike park in the world at 5 full months, anyone know of anything longer?
- Decent winter sports if year round riding isn't possible. I like skiing but bikes are my priority.
- Somewhere it's possible for me to get work; that means I have to be allowed to work there (if in doubt, suggest something anyway, I'll find out if I'm allowed to work there), jobs have to be available, and it needs to be possible to live in reasonable conditions off whatever wages are available. Unfortunately, this rules Switzerland out, as I can't work there without sponsorship. Don't think I can easily work in the US either, need sponsorship or a green card, neither of which is easy to get from what I've been told.
- Ideally, some kind of nightlife nearby would be great, but it's not really that necessary.
Anyone got any suggestions? Learning a new language in order to live/work is something I'm entirely willing to try to do. Morzine? Les Deux Alpes? San Remo? Nice? Barcelona? Rotorua? Nelson (either BC or NZ)? Dunedin? Cairns? Vancouver? Squamish? Are? Hafjell? San Remo?
Basically, as an Australian citizen, what I'm ideally looking for is:
- LOTS of riding (especially DH), good terrain and the opportunity to actually ride lots. Working 9-5 Mon-Fri in a big city doesn't give that much flexibility unless the riding scene in that area makes it possible to ride after hours or whatever.
- Weather or at least a season length that gives as much riding in the year as possible. Whistler seems to have the longest season of pretty well any bike park in the world at 5 full months, anyone know of anything longer?
- Decent winter sports if year round riding isn't possible. I like skiing but bikes are my priority.
- Somewhere it's possible for me to get work; that means I have to be allowed to work there (if in doubt, suggest something anyway, I'll find out if I'm allowed to work there), jobs have to be available, and it needs to be possible to live in reasonable conditions off whatever wages are available. Unfortunately, this rules Switzerland out, as I can't work there without sponsorship. Don't think I can easily work in the US either, need sponsorship or a green card, neither of which is easy to get from what I've been told.
- Ideally, some kind of nightlife nearby would be great, but it's not really that necessary.
Anyone got any suggestions? Learning a new language in order to live/work is something I'm entirely willing to try to do. Morzine? Les Deux Alpes? San Remo? Nice? Barcelona? Rotorua? Nelson (either BC or NZ)? Dunedin? Cairns? Vancouver? Squamish? Are? Hafjell? San Remo?