I live in Raleigh, NC. Which is 4 hours from Asheville and 2 hours from the beach. Pretty nice spot. But Asheville is an incredibly cool town. They have fantastic arts\culture and a nice downtown. As has been mentioned the Blue Ridge Parkway runs near Asheville and is truly beautiful.

I play to drive to Asheville next summer, catch a bus to Swannoa (sp?), VA. Then bike the length of the Blue Ridge back down to Asheville.

Also there are some MTB trails http://www.singletracks.com/php/zipc...s=25&zip=28801. There are likely more, that was just a quick 20 second google search.

Good luck in your relocation.