varian72

I may have an opportunity to open an office for our business. Extracurricular activities (Riding, skiing, trail running) are of the utmost importance to me, but obviously they have to mesh with business needs. I really, really don't want to live in a flat place. I need at least 500ft vertical. I was hoping people here might get my juices flowing with some small city/suburb suggestions.

Criteria:

• Riding: Lots of climbs & Safe roads, no need for competition or club rides
• Jobs: Need good supply of smart technical(Ie web skills) oriented people
• Housing: reasonable so that prices don't force out workers
• Schools: Good and lots of choices (pub, private, montessori, etc)
• Edu: Preferably near a University that has MBA & Masters programs
• Outlets: (relatively) Quick access to hiking, woods, MTB trails
• Travel/commute: Short commute, little traffic, Airport no more than 1hr away...I hate Traffic
• Population: Would like less than 100K people
• People: I lean to the left socially, but conservative politically....I ain't no bible thumper and I am pretty informal.
• Crime: Well....safe obviously.
• Entertainment: Good music scene, great food
• Weather: Prefer something less hot than an oven
• Active Farmers market, Whole Foods Store, etc...we're food snobs

A lot to ask in a place perhaps, but I figure someone here has most of what I am looking for.

Thanks

fosmith

madison wisconsin, gotta like XC skiing though

varian72

OK I should have mentioned this.....I live in VT so winters need to be shorter than 6Mos.

Isn't Madison pretty damn flat? My parents use to live there. Loved it.

Tapeworm21

Look into Montana State in Bozeman, Montana.

ridethecliche

What about the area surrounding princeton, NJ?

Rutgers is there and the riding isn't bad. My GF lives in the area and I always wish I had my bike with me when I drive over there.

BigSean

Berkley California

Tequila Joe

Just outside of Bologna Italy.

Mitro

You should just move to a small college town somewhere.

ravenmore

Austin. Cost of living is relatively cheap compared to other parts of the country. Huge cycling community and you can ride year round. Lots of jobs here too.

timmyquest

Heaven

varian72

Thanks,....keep 'em coming. I've thought about Austin, TX actually. heard it's a pretty cool place

uuuuhh.......Housing: reasonable so that prices don't force out workers

2cyl

+1

Check out that whole area:Lawrenceville, Pennington, Princeton, Hopewell.

close to NY for cultural activities (take the train from princeton junction); lots of great rides (check out the ride to Lambertville); decent skiing relatively close (Poconos, Vernon Valley/GG); close to Philly as well; stop at Hoagie haven - italian with extra hots and a side 'o cheese fries. housing can be expensive though and I think NJ's taxes are out of control.

Princeton U right there, College of NJ, Rider U, (Rutgers is in Somerset County); the Lawrenceville School, Hun School, Peddie, Princeton Day School for your preppie fix

Bristol Meyers has a sprawling complex there as does Lenox, major law firms, Merrill Lynch. Lots of edumucated folks. There is even a TPC course "Jasna Polana" that used to belong to the widow of Mr Johnson of Johnson and Johnson (she used to be his cleaning lady).

As far as food snobbery, not sure you will get more snobby than P'town. Check out Terhune Orchards - great home grown foods and veggies.

CAAD5AL

You're getting some great suggestions with Montana and Jersey (yep, Jersey . . . honestly the most enjoyable place for road biking i've ever lived). Cost of housing is about the opposite of what you said you want, though.

I'd also put in a huge recommend for Boise, ID. Exactly what you want right down your list, just slightly bigger than the 100K. One of the coolest towns in the country though.

ravenmore

It does get pretty hot in the summer though.

We do have tons of techy jobs, the University is here, the music scene is argueably one of the best in the country (hello SXSW and ACL), pretty good public schools, and didn't Whole Foods start here?

varian72

That is where my thoughts are as well, but I went to school in a small college town that fit about 1 of my criteria: affordable housing. So, not all are created equal.

An example of what I am thinking: Chapel Hill or Charlottesville, VA.....but there are lots of other place I've never been and would consider like GA, TX, TN, etc. I just don't know those markets for workers, housing, etc.

fosmith

Austin is HOT! mega hot.... good scene though. especially music. you can ride all year, so no skiing, at least in the snow.

Madison itself is pretty flat, but just go west and it's pretty hilly. i mean it's not boulder or anything, but it meets the criteria.

i lived in princeton for a while too, the riding is some of the best i have done, and the drivers are surprisingly polite. expensive though.

kukusz

Charlottesville, VA seems to meet many of those requirements. Close enough to DC for when you need a weekend away, but far enough away that the lifestyle is really chill. I just moved up to Northern VA from there, Charlottesville has some good riding.

- Good schools
- UVA, Law, and Business Schools are all very good
- Lots of private schools, good public school
- Great MTB trails in and around city
- Good road riding all over the place, near the parkway for epic rides, plenty of climbing
- Great local groups if you want them
- Mild weather
- Close to bleh skiiing, 3 hours to decent skiing
- Good music scene, good restaurants and bars, local festivals, farmer's market, Whole Foods, etc
- Airport 10 minutes away, traffic is bad only on one street, but never more than 30 minutes into town if you live out of town
- Totally freakin safe except in known neighborhoods
- My company and many others are DYING for developers of any kind to move into town
- Local development community is pretty well known, several authors, etc
- Plenty of conservative and liberals due to the university, but the area has $ and leans conservative outside of UVA

Mitro

Chapel Hill and Charlottesville came to my mind too. I think both are great places. The Triangle seems to have a fair amount of tech sector jobs too. Not much climbing though - at least I don't think there is.

richardmasoner

I think Austin falls short on 500 feet of vertical and Cool summers.

Boulder Colorado fits all of your requirements. The summers can be a little warm sometimes, but it's a quick escape to the mountains. You can ride almost year round, and on the days you can't/won't ride there's skiing and hiking.

euro trash

what about Chattanooga, TN?

Second Mouse

We're a little long-winded sometimes, though.

slimvela

great thread, I'm in a similar situation and also scouting locations.

My list is copmrised of the following:
Austin, again (Still own a home adjacent to the Round Rock Dell Complex, and not far from home aka San Anton)
Boulder
Denver
RTP area, again (I miss Chapel Hill, GO TARHEELS!!!)
Atlanta
Phoenix (where I live now, and talk about year-round riding...if you don't mind 5:30am summer rides in 90+heat)

Thus far...


Keep those suggestions comin...

NJ2NC

Davidson, NC...nice small college town near a decent size city with lots of potential. May not hit the mark on all of your requirements however. Oh yeah, turns out they have a pretty good basketball team if that matters

dcbikeguy

fixed

ericcox

A vote for both Charlottesville and Austin. The riding around Charlottesville is fantastic, but last time I visited (after having lived there for a while), it is getting harder and harder to navigate due to traffic.

And though Austin is not mountainous, there are hills about.