General Cycling Discussion - Best cycling area to retire

My wife and I are looking at retirement a few years from now and have decided, if it's at all possible, to move away from Atlanta.
Atlanta = too many cars = air polution = road rage = undesirable area.
In your opinion what's the best place to retire based on cost of living, climate (no snow or long cold winters or months of rain), and terrain (no flatlands, I need hills).

My wife and I are looking at retirement a few years from now and have decided, if it's at all possible, to move away from Atlanta.
Atlanta = too many cars = air polution = road rage = undesirable area.
In your opinion what's the best place to retire based on cost of living, climate (no snow or long cold winters or months of rain), and terrain (no flatlands, I need hills).

California?

My wife and I are looking at retirement a few years from now and have decided, if it's at all possible, to move away from Atlanta.
Atlanta = too many cars = air polution = road rage = undesirable area.
In your opinion what's the best place to retire based on cost of living, climate (no snow or long cold winters or months of rain), and terrain (no flatlands, I need hills).
Even though you said no winters/snow, I would heartily recommend northeast Washington State. I've lived in Spokane the last 7 years and it's a cycling paradise! 1000's of miles great roads, 100's of miles of rails to trails and paved bike paths, surrounded my rolling plains (palouse), mountains, 4 car hours away from the Rocky Mountains and other mountain ranges, a very active cycling community. I love cycling here! Plus the cost of living here is (relatively) dirt cheap! I was in Missoula Montana last week looking at housing, cost of living etc., because of a possible job relocation. Nope, I'm staying in Spokane because of the cost of housing, roughly twice as much in Missoula.

We do have winters here, but because of our dry (low humidity) climate (considered high desert, 2200 ft elevation) the snow isn't the wet slushy kind. Some winters are quite mild, in 2002 we had only a week of snow on the ground. I'm an old-guy and like good, temperate sunny weather. We have it in spades here.

Nice people, great quality of life, even better cycling keep me here.

California?
I thought California = VERY, VERY high cost of living.

Even though you said no winters/snow, I would heartily recommend northeast Washington State.
Sorry Davet. I've lived in Olympia and visited eastern Washington a few times. Even though the Pacific Northwest is beautiful I don't want to have to deal with rainwear or 9 layers of clothes to ride.

My wife and I are looking at retirement a few years from now and have decided, if it's at all possible, to move away from Atlanta.

Come on down the road to Auburn/Opelika, Ron. I can hook you up with plenty of riders.

Weather is same as Atlanta. There's some hills to the north of us, but I drive over to Pine Mtn, GA to do those climbs regularly.

Area population is about 70,000. Which makes us not big enough for traffic problems (usually) but large enough so there's plenty to see and do. Plus, you can watch the Auburn Tigers whup up on the Ga Bulldogs this Fall!

About seven years ago, Money Magazine ranked us in the top 10 (or was it 20) places to retire.

I thought California = VERY, VERY high cost of living.

Can't be much worse than NYC. I can't imagine it being too high in rural areas with a lot of open roads and rolling hills, fresh air, etc. It's only when you get into densly populated areas that cost of living skyrockets exponentially.

I thought California = VERY, VERY high cost of living.

South Dakota, perhaps?

Southern Oregon! A huge retirement movement has sprung up around Medford and Ashland areas. There is the world renowned Shakespeare festival in Ashland. Lots of great cycling areas, hills, and not much rain down there. It can get a bit cool in winter, but not too bad.

I have heard that cost of living is greatly increasing down there though, due to baby boomers retiring and snapping up property.

Also, airport access isn't great. Portland is 6 hours north, and Sacramento is the next biggest place south.

Well, if you are looking for a small town Crested Butte Colorado is amazing. The cost of living may be kinda steep, but I'd check it out. Most everyone there has a college education but goes to Crested Butte to work at the local shops just for the sking/snowboarding and there is a mountain bike trail right on the edge of town (1 mile from anywhere in town). Everyone is really nice and the weather was always nice. The elevation is around 9,000ft so the climate changes from day to night, but if there was any place I'd like to spend the rest of my days I think that would be it. There are quite a bit of tourists durring late summer and winter though. Oh, and everyone has towny bikes and nobody uses their cars unless they are going way out of town. It's an awsome small bike town in the middle of the mountains. Watch out though, I was checking the real estate and it was a little pricey. Good luck.

not dallas.

not dallas.
I once had a guy from Dallas try to tell me that his town was prettier than Seattle. I asked him if he'd ever been to Seattle and he said no, but he'd seen many pictures. That right there told me as much about (some people in) Dallas as I wanted to know....

My retirement suggestions:

Palm Desert California
Destin Florida
Prairie du Sac Wisconsin

55/Rad

How about northern Italy? ;)

How about northern Italy? ;)

that could be good. don't they have nudity on regular t.v.? and italian is probably easy to learn too since it's very similar to spanish. then you could call yourself worldly. yup. this is where you should move.

How about northern Italy? ;)Or Provence?

Mexico....plain and simple

Hemet, California: already a large retired population, probably the lowest taxes & cost of living in the Riverside/Palm Springs area & there are some hills around. Close to Palm Springs but not so hot in the daytime & usually gets ocean breezes in the evenings.

That would be Texas, West Texas especially. Draw a line from Abilene to Austin, anything west of there, and from San Angelo to Midland/Odessa, anything east of there. That area had ~5 nights last winter when it got below 20deg and never a day when it didn't get above 40. This area is well out of tornado alley, and you will have farm roads galore to ride on in absolute peace and serenity.

The area west of San Antonio, east of San Angelo, south of Eden is called hill country and has some of the most beautiful riding in the world.

Midland/Odessa is a particularly nice area, albeit relatively flat, with a strong bike community and a fairly progressive city with many of the amenities you may have gotten used to in Atlanta.

Plus, Texas is a no state income tax state on any kind of income. :)

if you want to stay in the SE and avoid FL/the beach

you should look at asheville/ hendersonville nc, although NC taxes are high for the SE..very popular retirement area with good climate, lots of outdoor activities, and decent restaurants and amenities and you are in the mountains!

Greenville SC...nice town that retains small town charm and has a good bit to do

Nashville TN.... great city, some nice suburbs...and great biking...no state income tax (and last year no snow)...it is what Atlanta was like before it got huge

Santa Barbara California...if you can afford it with the lowest 2 bedroom fixer upper now going for $475K along with high property tax. Very bike friendly community with a wide variety of terrian from flat along the ocean rides to mountain rides, and all within an easy ride from home. Year round temperture averages 74 with winter low's about 55 and summer highs about 84 (once in awhile you may get an extreme, one year I was there it snowed in Goleta near Santa Barbara, another year it got to 100, but these are rare). You do get the occasional earthquake about every 20 years averaging 5.0.

My wife and I are looking at retirement a few years from now and have decided, if it's at all possible, to move away from Atlanta.
Atlanta = too many cars = air polution = road rage = undesirable area.
In your opinion what's the best place to retire based on cost of living, climate (no snow or long cold winters or months of rain), and terrain (no flatlands, I need hills).

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY:
Mason
Kerrville
Fredericksburg
Llano
Marble Falls
Comfort
Hunt
Utopia
etc.
Some of the best riding...very bike friendly, super terrain and very pretty!!

Grand Junction, Colorado

The town does not even own snow plows!

Grand Mesa for hills (actually, awesome mountains), Fruita for awesome mtn biking. Still small town, but big enough to have major services.

Anywhere but the midwest. Never ending weeks of ice and -5 Deg F in winter to 105 deg summers with lotsa humidity. Very few really nice days it seems.
Then there's the apparent inbreeding...

Check out Tucson or St. George Utah. Also, southern New Mexico has a few potentially great retirement spots. All of these areas have below average cost of living, dry climates, mountains in the immediate area and virtually no snow. As I too will be considering retirement in the next 8 years or so, these same issues are becoming more imporatnt. Good Luck!

Boy, has anyone ever slaughtered the word "important" as I did in my above post? I apologize.

Northern CA wouldn't be a bad choice. It's not quite as expensive as southern CA. My parents' 3 bed house on a 3/4 of an acre is the same price as the $350K condo I'm trying to buy.

Plenty of hills. No snow. Although if you live inland like in Sacramento, the summers can reach 100 degrees F and the winters drop to 50 degrees F with perhaps a week of freezing temps overnight.

-Shimpie

May as well retire to south Florida. Everyone else does.

Arkansas. Check it out.

I would suggest the Black Hills of South Dakota.

I hear Canada is really bike friendly.
I plan on moving to Victoria BC.

If you've never visited the Asheville, NC or Hendersonville, NC areas, I would suggest spending a weekend there and checking it out. Wonderful retirement areas. Awesome LBS. Great biking community, and other stuff to do too.

I live an hour and a half from there, but have friends there and it is fast becoming one of the most popular retirement areas in the country. Good Luck.

Be really adventurous
Spain
Germany
Italy

Tucson, AZ

If I were about to retire, I'd be heading straight for Tasmania. I toured there last summer. There is an awesome variety of scenery, ranging from the challenging to the placid, quite roads populated by (relatively) sane drivers. Just perfect. In fact, if the job situation was a bit better, I'd consider moving there now.

I also like the Texas Hill Country, west of San Antonio and Austin. It is a good idea to pay attention to topography when buying property, as powerful rains can make those normally placid, clear rivers rise FAST. Texas has decent taxes, no state income tax, a fairly "balanced" legislature, and laws that generally respect personal freedom. (For example, your Swiss Army Knife or bicyclist multi-tool is not legally considered a weapon; no need to empty every pocket before entering an establishment that sells alcohol.)

Arkansas. Check it out.
I'll have to agree with that, I love it here. Plenty of great mountain bike trails (one of the best is the Womble), and lots of beautiful road rides too. Tons of lakes, rivers, forests, and state parks. Cost of living is fairly inexpensive and so far all the drivers are very nice.

What about Norther Georgia/Alabama/Tennessee.

You can still get good prices on property, your still in the south, though it's not as built up as Hotlanta.

I'm kind of fond of Chattanooga, your close to get to the smokey's and such, your also close to major metro areas like knoxville, nashville, atlanta and more.

If you are looking for a change. West Texas as said before is nice for year round recreation. Look at kerville, or Alpine Ft. Davis area.

I have lived in four states..Climate, number of days you can ride in nice weather. Not hot , not cold...No snow. Few rainy days, most sunny days...
Right where I am at..Northern San Diego county..Here,we ride all year in ideal conditions.Or near ideal conditions...So say I...We have a respectable number of bike lanes and bike paths...
Great variety. Mountains, Coastal, hills, desert. But, you have to be able to afford it..
Anywhere in the world...Southern France or Spain..Aussies, Kiwi's seem pretty content with their part of the world..

I second that thought, but NOT Houston !!!



TEXAS HILL COUNTRY:
Mason
Kerrville
Fredericksburg
Llano
Marble Falls
Comfort
Hunt
Utopia
etc.
Some of the best riding...very bike friendly, super terrain and very pretty!!

I second that. I went to UC Santa Cruz and the riding there is fantastic.

Fly the bike... I love the terrain at Santa Cruz..Fantanstic town..I find the coastal fog that surrounds the Central Coast some of the year more fog than I need..Inland San Diego. A lot less fog.
In winter we get a couple hours worth each day, but it is usually gone by 10 AM...And weather in the 60's. About 15 days of rain.

Mercy, Houston is indeed a terrible place for cycling! Not that there are not a few nice places to cycle in and around Houston, and Houston-area cyclists are some of the nicest people on the planet, but the environment for cyclists is dismal. Maybe, just maybe, the new mayor will help this situation.

I'll second Tucson, AZ. You can't beat the winters, and in the summer riding at 9000 feet (Temps in the 70s) is just outside of town! Nothing like a 6500 elevation difference and a 25-30 degree temperature difference! One heck of a ride up, although I enjoy the 20 some odd miles back down better. :)

The west, but east of California.

Mexico! Forget Wisconsin.

Take heed of these words of wisdom...


Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Ron, I would look for a community in the foothills of the southern Appalachians. South, so the climate is mild, and not in the mountains but within riding distance. And such areas have lots of secondary roads with countless ride possibilities. The trick is that you don't want to be in a resort area (cost of living) or near a large city (traffic). I think there are lots of places like that in Tennessee, NC, and Va. Maybe northern Ga, too. The Ozarks, like around No. Alabama and So. Missouri might fit the bill (although I'm speculating, I've never been there). I could suggest some specific areas not far from here (pm if interested), but in any case you might just want to make some road trips. Good Luck!

Temp 1...I appreciate the fact someone does not want to move to California..It is always picked upon, yet they keep on coming. Cyclists know where they can bike 340 days a year.
At the rate we are going, we will absorb more people than all the rest of the states combined. The one thing I do not like about California.
One climate I know I would prefer to not live in..Where it is very warm, yet humid.

Cyclists know where they can bike 340 days a year.

Off topic, but here in Minnesota you can bike 365 days a year. Do they close the roads for 25 days a year in California? :D

AAJ 42....No..But, on the 15-20 or so days a year when the sky is not blue for half the day, we stay indoors because we think the sky may be falling...Many of us don't know what to do with lousy weather. So the few have to buy trainers for the couple of weeks of lousy weather...But then it helps the oranges to sweeten.