They make some great folding bikes nowadays. See the folding bike forum right here on BFN.

I need to check this out! you sure make the cost of living sound nice. And the bike trail is fantastic. We have one here in Cincinnati that goes for 75 miles - but of course in the winter it's not an option - at least for me. mid 40's is perfect for riding so that would work for me. But I am still kind of attracted to being close to the ocean - not right on but say within 30 min. I know this is going to jack the cost way up but you only live once - right! Thanks for the tip - at minimum I am going to file this trail info away and one of these winters get down there and try it out

thanks

You are 100% right! When we were walking thru a house we met another couple who told us how restrictive it was to make changes - in fact there was little you could do until you moved in and then you could retrofit - imagine they were gutting a their totally brand new kitchen before they moved in to upgrade it - crazy. I like the idea of moving into a community with a social network and fitness/pool/tennis etc facilities. But you can get this without the "over 50 only" piece. Having children around is nice - i think it can keep you feeling/thinking younger!

thanks for the advice

I am fortunate enough - or maybe I worked hard - not sure but will be financially secure at 55. I used the term 55 loosely - i won't stop working, just retire from my current job. Then I may teach or consult or volunteer - but nothing that is too demanding. I am on a plane almost every week these days and I am looking forward to getting up, having a coffee and deciding where I will bike that day - sounds like heaven to me.

A friend of mine travels a lot and he bought a Waterford bike with S&S couplers. It is top of the line and even comes with a hard case you can put on the plane as checked luggage. He paid a lot for it, but loves it. http://www.waterfordbikes.com/site/tech/sands.php

<< Btw did you kick but riding with the 35 - 50 year olds? sounds like you put quite a few miles/kilometres on those tyres!>>

Rick - I can put up a good showing against the 35-50 guys/gals, it's the 70 and 73 year-old guys who are humiliating me! Must be the FL weather.

I suppose I should have elaborated more....My parents live in Mt Pleasant, right
outside of Charleston. To me, it is an impossible area to ride in. I love Charleston
city, but outside, the traffic is killer. A very car-centric area.
There is no place to walk even in many places. The new bridge has a bike lane
however. If you were in the city I think it would be great. A ride along the battery
would be fabulous. The food is great and the olde market place is a nice place to stroll.
In the summer it gets very crowded and they are developing everthing that has over
100 square inches :eek::eek::eek:
We are going down south, too this summer and researched a lot of places. We looked at Greenville SC and thought the same. We did look at a place you might want to look into, too, called Summerville, about 20 minutes away from Charleston and it was a really neat old, Mayberry RFD type town. This was where we would have gone but decided on Asheville NC instead.
You will love the South. We had the opportunity to move there before but passed it up to come to VT. A decision Ive regretted deeply ever since.
We cannot wait to get out of this hell and get to where we should have been in the first place !!! Warm people and climate. Wherever you choose, you really cant go too, too wrong :D

::EDIT:: I am basing this opinion on my cycling preferences only.
If you dont mind driving a car the stuff that bothers me wont
bother you. Theres lots to do and lots of culture in that area you
would probably really appreciate.

Here's a listing of bicycle friendly communities:
http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/c...se%20Study.pdf

[QUOTE=-=£em in Pa=-] We did look at a place you might want to look into, too, called Summerville, about 20 minutes away from Charleston and it was a really neat old, Mayberry RFD type town. This was where we would have gone but decided on Asheville NC instead.

Yes - Summerville is where they are planning to build one of these lifestyle communities. And although I did not get much of a chance to drive around that area, judging by the map, I was thinking there might be a number of county roads without much traffic. So close to the beach, the restaurants/universities of charleston and biking. So this spot stays on my list - very helpful perspective - appreciate it!

rick

Artmo - what's in the water down there? Must be the fountain of youth or steroids in the water??? I guess there is hope for us younger guys - all it takes is riding every day I guess. Need to get that little annoyance out of the way - my job!

rick

The Denver area has over 600 miles of cement bike paths, mostly uninterrupted by any road crossings. I can go out my back door and ride for miles without crossing a street. While the map shows the trail by my house stopping about 10 miles south, that trail now goes all the way south to Franktown, and will soon go all the way to Castlewood Canyon State Parke, about 17 miles douth of my house. Additionally, there are feeder and more minor trails that are not shown.

Here are just the major ones (this map is getting a bit old, and some of those trails are now even more interconnected):

http://members.aol.com/dnvrfox/denverbikemap1.jpg

Dnvrfox, the map brings back a real blast from the past. I lived out in Denver for about a year and loved the bike paths all over the city. I lived on the north side and could bike to work (my office was downtown near the capital) and avoid streets for all except a few blocks. Great place for bike riding and outdoor activities all together. What led me back to the midwest was water (I like the more humid climate and the Great Lakes), and a daughter that I didnt' get to see often enough. Not necessarily in that order mind you. I still go out to Denver and Colorado Springs for business four times a year. I drive everywhere so I can take a bike with me. Always look forward to riding in Denver. Last time I stayed in the Cherry Creek area, walked right out the hotel door onto a bike path and off I went. Denver is a great biking city.

That would likely be the "Cherry Creek Trail" - one of the most heavily used paths. Some day (hopefully, soon) that trail is scheduled to join with the section of the CCT that goes by my house, so I can go all the way downtown without ever getting on a road - about 22 miles. Right now, I have to go on about 4 miles of road between where my section of the trail ends and the next section (at the Cherry Creek State Park) begins.

The Front Range Trail is scheduled to go from the Wyoming border to the New Mexico border, but that will be a few more years. Sections have already been completed.

If you buy a house in Fl and it is not your primary residence you loose the $25,000 homestead exemption (possibly going up to $50,000) which means you will pay higher prop taxes. In general prop taxes in FL are no worse that CA or IL two other places I have lived. Property values had been rising at >30%/yr down here but now seem to have leveled off. Also there was a huge overbuilding in condo space so I expect those will start dropping in price.

Insurance is the biggest issue as a new owner will most likely have to go with the State fund since most private companies have gotten out and it will be much more expensive than what you are use to in other parts of the country. When I live in SF Bay area I was paying $300 of homeowners and an additional $500 for earthquake. Down here I am paying $4,000/yr and it is not just homeowners, car insurance is 3x what I have paid elsewhere.

The only thing that makes this work for me is that I am still working, no state income tax and I made soooo much money when I sold my house in CA. Then of course the fact that it was 80F this weekend and I can just watch the cold weather and snow elswhere

Frankly, I see Florida as an ecological disaster waiting to happen. I don't see how that sandbar can withstand the population it already has, let alone more. You can probably expect to see taxes and fees continue to increase as the state has to deal with trying to maintain a water supply and dispose of all the waste that goes along with the population growth.

Not quite but close. Floridians have been good at putting off building basic infrastructure. Their solution to this is to charge the next person moving into Florida something like 184 billion dollars in impact fees to make up for the deferred construction.

Florida has a law that property taxes can not rise faster than inflation (that is quite it, but close). This was to protect property owners from being taxed out of their homes if their properties appreciated. With the recent real estate boom, many people who have owned their homes for 7 years or so are paying very low property taxes. So if they sell and someone moving in from another state buys it, the property taxes can go up 4 fold. But that would happen even if the buyer was a floridian. It can happen if you decided to sell your house and move down the street. The low rate does not move with you.

Actually as of now more people are leaving FL than coming in. This just started and don't know how long it will last but many people are heading North to TN, NC and SC. I have been pretty lucky I moved into the SF bay area in 96 and caught the dot com wave watched my property increase 240% in 8 years, then moved down hear to FL and my property has increased 150% in 3 years. Hopefully things stay in place and by the time I am ready to retire I can cash out and find a small place on the CA coast between Santa Barbara and LA, my dream location.

That is pretty much on the coast. Florida got walloped by 4 hurricanes 2 years ago. That event scared the insurance companies and for good reason. The insurance companies believe that more hurricans can hit Florida. That seems reasonable, Florida has not moved has it? The insurance companies are not allowed to charge enough in rates to offset the risk of paying out billions so they choose not to insure houses on the coast. You can get insurance for houses in the interior of the state.

As for retirement areas, there are some really nice places in Florida with nice cycling. Live Oak, Florida up in the panhandle is quite nice. It is not a big town but the cycling up there is good. The cycling is also good around Ocala. Inverness is a nice town and it is on the Withalacoocie Trail which is something like 45 miles long.

NW Arkansas is great and beautiful

Floridians, PLEASE set me straight as necessary, but my PERCEPTION is that Florida and much of the south is bicycle-hostile.

My current plans are simply to stay put in north coastal San Diego County, but the local cost of housing would be a serious issue for anyone trying to move here from a less expensive area. If my area becomes a victim of its own success, i.e., too overcrowded for my tastes, I might try the central California coast, around San Luis Obispo.

Certainly not hostile where I live. In fact the whole town has bike lanes and there are hundreds of riders on the road each weekend. We have about 3-5 100-300 rider bike clubs in the area and the only real problem I have with cars are the cell phone SUVers. I have never had anything thrown at me, never had anyone yell at me and I ride 5 days a week. Some areas are probably not the same but I currently live in cycling nirvana, in fact after the last hurricane they dug some divots in one of the roads I ride during cleanup, I sent an e-mail to the public works office and they said they would work on it. Three weeks later they repaved the bike lane goinr halfway into the car lane for the entire 1/2 mile problem area.

Anywhere but Arkansas. Don't even consider the northwest corner of the state.

We live in the outskirts of San Diego. It's getting WAY to crowded here and people just don't seem to be as friendly here anymore, so we are heading to northern California about 30 miles north of Sacramento. We hope to retire in 6 months, then fix up our house here and head up there. I have heard there is lots of cycling up there and what we have seen, it's very friendly. We will continue to look around Loomis, Rocklin, Roseville and Lincoln. Can't wait to get up there and jump on our bikes; looking forwarding to riding from Sacramento to Folsom on the river trail.

My wife & I are pleased with where we live now, College Station, Texas and will probably stay right here. Housing prices are low, country roads are safe, there are bike lanes all around the city. We've got family and friends all over the state.

However, the summer here s*cks bigtime, IMO: highs in the 90's with 80% humidity from July through September for days and days on end. So the secret is to leave for 3 months, going into the mountains or to Europe, then come back when it has cooled off. If we keep our house and get it paid off, if the kids will get out of college, if if if then we'll see where we can go with our as-yet-unpurchased Bike Fridays!

But my last kid won't be out of college until 2014 when I'll be 61 so there ain't much dreamin' of retirement around here yet...

By the way, ignore this post - you DON'T want to move to College Station - there are so many other really wonderful communities to live in that there's no reason for you to even consider this town :p

I might be moving to Montana soon, just to raise me up a crop of dental floss.
:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp7S7SI0flQ