Perhaps the primary factor when I choose where to live is avoiding the use of a car. Thus, I live where I can ride out the door and enjoy myself.

When I see people unload their bikes from their cars in the places where I ride I don't know whether to be sad because they don't feel they can ride there or to feel glad because they are likely new to riding and haven't yet fully incorporated it into their lives by living where they can ride without driving. We do have the donut problem here: You can ride in town with relative safety and you can ride well outside of town with reasonable safety, but the edge of town is less than fun.

When I want to do some single track, I generally ride my touring bike and just put some off-road tires on when I leave the pavement. The mountain bikers are usually confused/amused/pleased to see what I have done.