Have you thought about Oklahoma? It is a lot greener than the desert. There are long stretches of flat road and leg burning hills if you want them as well as everything in between.
I believe there was only about one or two weeks last winter that I didn't ride one of my bikes. It does snow occasionally in the winter but it usually melts off within a day.
There is a large cycling population here and every year there is a cross-state tour called the Oklahoma Freewheel.
http://www.okfreewheel.com. 2003 was the 25th year that it ran. It is also the third longest running bike tour in the US.