George

Fredericksburg, Texas, is a place where there is great riding and a lot of retirees as well as a low crime rate. I'm thinking about it myself. They have great medical facilities in Georgetown. I wouldn't go to Austin or live in Georgetown though, to busy for me. Some people come to look at Fredericksburg and find they like Kerrville better. They have a lot of bicycle tours going out of these areas as well. Good luck in your search.

https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/?cit...city2=51714000

oilman_15106

If I pick a place to retire based only on cycling, even with the few qualifiers you added. As Mr. Rodgers would have said can you spell D-I-V-O-R-C-E?

My ideal place is less than 2 hours from a major city to get to shopping, entertainment, major sports and stuff and medical if needed and a small enough town to have low crime, etc. Good cycling within easy reach would just be icing on the cake.

Digital Gee

How about Cleveland? Cleveland rocks!

Digital Gee

And I wonder if I'll even have a house by the time I retire!

Tom Bombadil

Hmmm ... nothing about the climate.

Wisconsin meets all of your criteria. In fact Madison has been named on multiple "Best of" lists in recent years. The list is so long that it becomes tedious to type in, so here's a link to them:
https://www.visitmadison.com/visitorinfo/awards.php

A few do merit mentioning:

- #1 Walking Town in the USA - Prevention Magazine 2007
- Best Road Biking Town in America - Outside Magazine 2006
- One of the top 10 Most Livable Cities in America - Places Rated Almanac 2007
- #1 City of Population 200,000-500,000 for Cycling - Bicycling Magazine 2006

Seriously, except for the long, cold winter, I think the Madison area is a wonderful place to live. Low crime rate, excellent schools, great college sports, excellent health care, very environmentally minded, ranked #1 for the arts for any medium-sized city in the USA, and the cost of living is right at or slightly below the national average.

ad6mj

That's a pretty big exception, WAY too cold for me! I like where I live, good weather for year round riding. By SoCal standards affordable housing which will be paid for by retirement. I live two miles from a trailhead for some good mountain biking, I'm near Idyllwid for some very good mountain biking. For road riding I can go relatively flat or take on a really good climb up to Mountain Center.

Tom Bombadil

The cold is getting to me more, after 19 winters here.

But I would love to have two homes, they could both be very modest. One someplace warm and the other up here, where I would likely elect to spend about 8 months out of the year.

RoMad

Citrus county Florida. One of the best trails around. Small towns with friendly people. Great weather, the gulf of mexico, 7 different rivers for boating, kayaking, tubing. We have lived here for 20 years and plan on retiring here. The biking keeps getting better as new roads have bike lanes and they are now putting in paved paths in the place of sidewalks along the busy roads. https://www.visitcitrus.com/

Beverly

Family is the reason I'll be staying put after I retire. The cost of living is reasonable, we have 300+ miles of paved trails, top notch medical facilities, low crime rate in my small town. Now if I could just do something about the weather in January & February. The other winter months aren't too bad in SW Ohio.

rae

It does, actually, if you are into fine arts. Lake Erie is not too shabby either. Cost of living is fine. Some beautiful areas. Living in the suburbs can be pleasant there -- Unfortunately you would have to like snow, and be able to ignore the city's issues of economy, crime, education, poverty, Dennis Kucinich...

I've been thinking about this recently.

The gulf coast is way too humid for me.

I personally experienced too much crime in Encinitas CA (house burglarized 8 times in 2 years and had a car stolen) but otherwise I am sorry that I left. Love San Luis Obispo & the central coast, but sure can't consider the housing costs there now.

Definitely will not go farther north--I need more sunshine. Maybe I will stay in comfortable Columbus--it's strong in most factors-- & do as BluesDawg suggests--lots of travel. It's still not really bike friendly here, & you have to drive about an hour to get into some very pretty riding, but it is improving.

Spain sometimes sound really good, though.

oilman_15106

Spain sometimes sound really good, though.

When I was involved with ocean shipping for a chemical company, most of the sea captians lived in Spain even though they were from all over. Wonder how the cost of living is there today? I told the wife about this disscussion over dinner and if money were no object, Italy would be my retirement choice. Of course I would call Al Gore to fly me in his private jet over to the states when I wanted to see the grandkids play soccer or something.

zonatandem

Been in 48 states. Have lived in Tucson AZ for past 30 years. Also lived in several other places. Been retired 13 years. Anywhere in southern AZ could be your ticket.
Think we may very well kick the bucket here . . .

John E

I like SLC. In fact, I have seen much to like along the entire Wasatch Front, as well as the Park City and Midway area.

Dogbait

I am pretty much tied to this area because of some medical issues but If I were to move, it would probably be to Florence, Oregon. I don't mind the rain, winters are mild, there are a lot of retired folks there now and businesses and activities that cater to them. Good fishing nearby, seafood markets and restaurants, golf courses and park benches to sit on and watch the river go by...




There are Tsunamis to worry about... and meteorites, but other than that it's a pretty mellow place.

BillK

Well...I've always believed that a sense of purpose keeps you young. For me that's the dream of working (as a volunteer handyman) at the private school (K-10) my kids attended. It's only two blocks from my house. I can't think of anything better than helping keep the place in shape surrounded by friendly, respective kids!

Oh, and the riding here ain't bad either...

velotel

Southern France or perhaps the Piedmont region in Italy but I'll probably just stay right here where I am near Grenoble France. Not really my ideal choice personally but it works for my wife very, very well. If there's a drawback to France or Italy it'll be the cost of living but that's true throughout Europe. The price one pays for a modern, fully equipped country. On the other hand that cost provides an excellent infrastructure and outstanding health care. But for an american, Europe is totally out of the question unless you're rich and looking for some way to get rid of your dollars before they're good for little more than starting fires. All that said, lots of french are retiring to Morocco. Lousy cycling though and some day I suspect they're going to have major problems with religion there.

67walkon

Florida. Year round riding. On the east coast, no terrible temperature extremes. And, when the hurricanes come, you can go really fast in one direction!

Yen

Isn't Cleveland buried in snow a few months of the year?

Monoborracho

Zona...on the humorous side, if I might rephrase, a splendid way to express your contentment towards your locale is to say "we're thinking of buying some cemetery lots and just staying here".

Monoborracho

Having just returned from four days of cycling in Fredericksburg, Texas I will admit to having called Mrs. M one evening to tell her we should look for a lot to build or an older historic home to purchase. The next night when I called home she asked if I had looked at real estate.

But I know she didn't mean it. If we move anywhere other than where we now live, it will be closer to our children, two of which now live in Dallas area.

countersTrike

Although a financial stretch; Santa Cruz, CA. is ideal for me. Growing up here sure helped, being 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean. In the 1980s a trail right on the cliffs became a bike path.

Years later; I live right across the street from the bike path and enjoy it daily! S.C. was just honored with being 'bicycle friendly'. How- I don't know

countersTrike

zonatandem

Mono:
Not interested in cemetery 'real estate!' Bodies are donated to science and we used the cemetry/funeral $$ for vacationing!
As for Fredericksburg, TX . . . great German sausage/food there!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Artkansas 

Well, compared to most of the country, SC is like Bicycle Valhalla. My company is headquartered in Scotts Valley so I get there a few times a year. When I do I just love Santa Cruz and bought a bike at the Salvation Army just so I could ride it while I was there. When my visit was over I rolled it into the Bike Church and presumeably its still giving someone joy.

Moe's Alley has some amazing acts. I got a chance to see Candye Kane and see the Skatellites there.

My only hesitation about Santa Cruz is the real estate prices.

Motorad

All right, Artkansas, you're in trouble. You're supposed to be rooting for Arkansas.

I'm starting to lean more and more on retiring somewhere between Hot Springs and Little Rock. Somebody's got to keep an eye on Billy Clinton, and besides my sisters (Clark Co, Hempstead Co) and brother (Pike Co) live in SW Arkansas.

The last I heard, there is a big project to build a super bike path in Little Rock? What was that bike path, that includes I believe going over a big dam, and how can we get more info about the projected Little Rock bike path?

rainycamp

Although some might knock Austin because it's growing so fast, which leads to heavy traffic and urban sprawl, if you live on the edge of town like I do, biking is great. Easy access to nice lightly traveled roads in the Hill Country. East of the city, the riding is somewhat flatter, if less scenic. Housing prices are still reasonable here.