[QUOTE=DnvrFox]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.

Denver sounds fantastic - but since I am looking for a spot to live from Oct - Mar, and be able to bike in a mild climate, not sure Denver will fit the bill - but looks like a fantastic summer spot. Which months of the year are "bikeable"?

rick

[QUOTE=John E]Floridians, PLEASE set me straight as necessary, but my PERCEPTION is that Florida and much of the south is bicycle-hostile.

And as you answer this, isn't it too hot to bike for months of the year. I love Miami (not so much for biking) but i have to believe that Oct/Nov and Mar/Apr can be in the 80's which - at least for me - is not the most conducive bike weather - i prefer 70F

rick

I read somewhere that Fayetteville is one of the nicest places in the US, but having never been there, I apologize but my perception is not overly favorable (I just don;t know). Anyway, i doubt my kids would come and visit me there - which might not be a bad thing**********

rick

Not too sure about College Station - I hear that Austin is nice but not sure about biking there. I used to travel to Texas and I remember once landing at Dallas/F Worth airport - it was about 105F and had been for about 1 1/2 wks. It took me 60 minutes before I turned the AC down from MAX - so ya, the summers must be brutal!

rick

My wife and I are long time residents of the Portland, OR metro area. The city and surrounding areas are very cycling oriented. Lots of bike lanes and dedicated trails. There is a very active and involved biking community and some very good LBS'. If you ski, we are an hour from mountains. If the beach is your thing 1 1/2 hours.

Summer weather couldn't be better, avg. temps in high 70's to low 80's. Humidity is low, very little rain. Winters can be dreary, lots days of grey cloudy skies and drizzly precipitaion. While we have a reputation for a lot of rain, it averages 35" per yr. Not much cold weather, maybe a week a year with temps at or below freezing.

The area is growing rapidly and housing prices with it. Of course how high they are is relative to what your coming from. Oregon passed a property tax limitation similar to California's some years ago, and there is no sales tax in the state.

All in all, its a pretty good place to live, but the lack of sunshine in the winter turns a lot of people off.

[QUOTE=rick11]Last year I biked every week. This year, due to most unusual and record-breaking snowy weather. no.

Denver is far warmer than most people realize, partly because of our abundant sunshine. But, don't move here - we have too many folks who have "discovered" Denver already.

So you can be a lonely cyclist raising lonely floss? boy, now that sounds like a REAL retirement...even if you manage to become a floss tycoon...

[QUOTE=rick11]Actually it starts getting humid in April and that lasts through Sept. The heat almost always in the 80s or low 90s worst case. It is not the heat that gets you its the 80% humidity. I ride all summer and basically you have two choices, get out early when it is mid 70s and 90% RH or afternoon when it is 90 and 70% RH. I prefer the afternoons since I handle the heat well (cycling in CA in 100+ temps) but the humidity wipes me out. Cycling is much like swimming in the summer. However, from Oct - March you have wonderful weather most of the time the humidity drops to 60% or less and the temps stay between 70-80. Occasionaly you get a cold front and get a frigid morning of 45 but I think the coldest afternoon I have experienced in two years was 65.

That's just plain old great riding weather!

Denver, I thought they couldn't discriminate against wheelchairs because of the Disabilities Act?
Actually Bismarck ND would be a great place to retire if only we could trade Jan and Feb for another June and September!
It's about -15 out there this morning with 4 inches new snow! Time to crank up the 4WD tractor and clear the road!

It is not the ADA, but the Fair Housing Act. And what it works out to is that they must allow the changes to be made, but you must pay for it. They said they would do it, but their cost (charge) would be $10,000.00.

We didn't really want to live there anyway, so we did not pursue the matter.

I am struggling with the same issue (at age 65).
We live in Illinois close to Wisconsin. Great bike trails in WI and Mn and some decent ones in IL. Forget all that from November through March. It is really bad this year. However, these trails are so nice that we do not want to give them up year-round.
We found Inverness, Fl which has a great paved 46 mile trail and other trails close by. Also is a nice town.
Property taxes and insurance are NOT a great concern if we rent a house or condo. We studied the possibility of permanent residing in Fl and decided against it because of the high humidity (which requires an a/c buttoned up house, a no-no for me) and other factors which make the mid-west more attractive.
The cost of snow-birding is relatively affordable but has the downside of a less than perfect existence in FL. Life is a compromise.
I made a month long vacation in Inverness twice. Temperatures were 60-85 in mid-day but humidity was very high. Clothes would not get dry hanging outside. Mold would form if you do not do a/c.
Biking was great if you do not mind being wet from sweat and/or frequent rain. (I do not mind)

It depends on where you are. I go once a year for riding near Live Oak, Florida up in the panhandle. The drivers there are as courteous to cyclists as drivers I have seen anywhere. However, in Central Florida the drivers are just a bit insane. They seem to think that they HAVE to pass a cyclist IMMEDIATELY or they will die of old age. By the way, the people who seem to have this affliction are not senior citizens.

That's about what we've decided - since my prediction is that there are going to be overbuilt communities in nice locations all over the country, we'll just rent a condo somewhere for a month or two and keep our relatively inexpensive permanent dwelling right where we are.

I've not yet found another community where I want to invest in property with the intent of eventually living there permanently. Downtown Chicago for a month, the northern California coast for a month, the southern Rockies for a month, being a campground host in a national forest campground for a couple of months - all seem to offer a pleasurable variety of retirement experiences without taking on another mortgage.

So how do you find these places - it seems it would be difficult to find a suitable spot, that is furnished etc. Do you have a system for finding the ideal spot?

I know you are not asking me, so I apologise in advance for
post hogging
But, we have moved quite a bit and will until we find whatever it is we are
looking for ! We have come to enjoy the process and look forward to it
I am trying to live a car-free or car-lite lifestyle so I key places into the BF
and other cycle specific pages, search functions. You get lots of posts so
take some time to read them. Then, I shamelessly bother people through
PM about what they think of thier area. This forum has many, many wonderful
people who are very happy to help. Simultaniously, my wife is checking out jobs
in those areas on the various education job pages of that state.
We narrow our results down and then go to the local newspapers of these towns
and look through them along with the towns web pages. There are sites on the
web that let locals upload videos of thier towns, sort of like Youtube we scan all
of this stuff !! On friday nite, we really get buck wild and brew up some coffee
and hit www.realtor.com and look at properties !!
Wow....I can hardly stand the excitement !!
Finally, we visit the areas in person.
This is the process we used to find our last two places and the one we are going to,
Asheville, NC. ITs very importatn to visit if you can. We were set on SC based on
this process but in person, it was waaaay different than we envisioned. Conversely,
NC was way better than we envisioned.
Best wishes in your upcoming change of life !

Live Oak, Fl Holy cow, we went to look a seed drying business there about 15 years ago. Seemed like a pretty nice area. The girl that showed us around the business wore no shoes. There were pesticides and seed treatment chemicals everywhere! Gotta wonder.

Check out Lakeland if you want Fl. Not sure about the bike cultrue there but the town is nice.

OP - Once you settle on a general area, this is what my wife and I did: Took a road trip and stayed at least 3 days in each town we considered. Talked to realtors, get lay of the land, go to Chamber of Commerce, etc. When we finished we knew where we wanted to plant our retirement roots. Also, if this is your cup of tea, check out the Del Web Sun City type places. Everything is structured but there is always something to do an we were pleasantly surprised when we visited there. Houses are not little boxes.

It is supply and demand. It is a buyers market at this time. There is no area without homes for sale and rent. The Realtors all have lists of homes for rent. They rather sell but what to do if you can't?
BTW, we had a nice motel, on the bike trail, big room, balcony looking over the bike trail, small kitchen area, all for $60.-/night.
Google has vacation homes for rent and so do Realtors.

I live in north central Florida and absolutely love it. The only thing missing from the cycling environment is serious climbing. I ride all year outside. In the winter i might wait until later in the morning to ride instead of the crack of dawn for a "pleasure" ride. If commuting, I'll just put on full-fingered gloves and do it.

I would suggest that you look at Clarkdale, Cottonwood or Camp Verde Arizona. Beautiful sunny weather, low population, within a couple hour's drive to Phoenix.

I have to agree that "The Western Gate to the Sunshine State" . . . Pensacola would be a great place to retire. I lived there for 9 years and loved it.

Since I have been thinking about moving to NW Arkansas (I am an artist who paints a lot of landscapes) I would like a little background for your perspective. Is it an area hostile to cyclists or are you referencing the humongous hills and two lane roads without shoulders?

Good points, Will. Your lodging in FL was around $ 1800 - 2000 for the month or about that?

I'm figuring that if we can budget around 2 grand for a month's stay, there are LOTS of places we can visit during retirement. Not that I've got 2 grand laying around anywhere accessible at this moment but hopefully when all 3 kids are finished with college and our mortgage is down a bit closer to the finish and our expenses are stabilized with just the two of us then yes, we can budget that kind of cost at least once a year.

What I've learned from international travel is that the longer I stay, the less expensive the trip can become on a per diem cost because lodging for a month is usually cheaper than the 3-day or 7-day rental. Also if airfare is factored in, the cost of the travel relative to the rest of the trip costs is reduced. A 5-week trip to Germany costs me less than a 1-week trip, a semester's teaching abroad is cheaper than 5 weeks teaching... of course that means establishing a base and working out from there, not staying in a different place every few nights but that is our preferred way to visit a place anyway.

Not trying to stray OT, but responding to the idea that one has to retire 'TO' some place for good.

Shifty. Great area. Cornville road is a bit dicy of a ride. Are you a roadie, mt. biker?

Oops. Sorry Shifty. See your from Eugene, OR.