Why do you think cold and triathlon don't work together? Ken Glah was one of the most competitiive pros of all time living in Pennsylvania. It''s all in your head guys. Madison, you probably have 4 months that you don't want to ride outdoors? No big deal....hit a few trainer rides a week and swim 20K per week and run 6 hours per week and you're set. You don't need to do mega long bike rides outdoors all year to be a good triathlete. Generally biking is a waste of time anyway and you can always get bike fit if you're already swim and run fit. Guys who live in the cold, we have a secret advantage.....the quality of our training can be much higher, because we can focus on technical sports in the winter and in the summer the overall intensity of all of our workouts are not as limited by oppressive humidity and heat. Don't assume that cold means bad for triathlon.

Plus you can't be training full throttle all year....the cold temps can create a natural low in the training cycle to allow your body to regenerate.

I'm 10% body fat and have gotten Stage 1 hypothermia swimming in races in September here. Twice actually.

If that's an acceptable tri season for the OP fine, but for people like myself with an aversion to cold it's pathetic. I'd be in California, Arizona, or Florida if I had a job opportunity there.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

Tampa? If you can stand the heat and humidity for 5- 6 months a year. It's an oppressive oven June-October at least. With. No. Reprieve.

I'll give Northern Virginia a resounding NO in this category. Cycling is awful and I don't care that Arlington and Alexandria are ranked cities by the league of American Cyclists. We have zero open water options even though we have bodies of water that could support it. And the congestion is terrible and only getting worse - with all the new roads being built throughout Loudoun you'd think they'd put in cycling lanes right from the start but Nooo!

The reason I moved to Boulder is that there are great swim, bike and run options, and the tri community is pretty big here. The restaurants are great and there are a ton of micro breweries. The people are also friendlier and more down-to-earth than other places I've lived. I do like the winter even though it snows, because it's a forcing function to go and do stuff that is not swim, bike and run. So as long as you're content with starting your tri season in May or June, Boulder is a good option. However if you have your mind set on doing races in Feb/March, it's not fun running outside in freezing temps during December and January. I structure my season so that I'm doing short and hard run/bike training sessions over the winter (indoors) - swimming is still outdoors year round. And then taking advantage of the winter sports that are close by.

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IL2tri... most people (triathletes and roadies) ride on the parkway there in Asheville?

Goblin: ironically I'm NOT the person to ask, I do 99% of my riding on a trainer, have a group that I run with, that, and Masters swim are my social training events. In my town (Brevard) there are 3 or 4 group rides per week, one of which rides up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and down. We have great riding events (Assault on the Carolinas, Assault on Mt. Mitchell, Fletcher Flier, a couple others that are 100K or 100 milers). I've done the Carolinas event a couple of times, it's a great ride. I imagine Asheville is the same way with multiple group rides every week.

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Blog: https://swimbikerunrinserepeat.wordpress.com

You do realize there are ton of tris in California that you'd get hypothermia in the swim too in water the same temp at Wisconsin and some of that water pretty well never gets warm. I am in California pretty well every month to 6 weeks. I am sure there are places in California better than Wisconsin and other places a lot worse. At the end of the day, it's going to be what you make of it. I would not put cold water in a race as a reason to move. Swimming pools exist for a reason. I have open water swimming 15 min from home via bike 4.5 months a year, and I literally never use it. I just find pool time to be much more effective (on the flip side, I have a ton of open water experience).

Seriously, a lot of the criteria that people come up with are for only a few times per year....not a good enough reason to move permanently...just get in a plane or car for the few times a year you really need those criteria.

Why was/is Northern San Diego County where so many triathletes lived?
Because it is near freakin' perfect
You can ride, run and even ocean swim outdoors all but 10-20 days a year. And even those days, most people in Boulder or Madison would call you a pussy
I live in South OC, which is the same, or better; just more expensive
Other than some high housing costs and traffic, I find it hard to find any place in the country any better
Just tell anyone, or they'll move here, too

Why was/is Northern San Diego County where so many triathletes lived?
Because it is near freakin' perfect

Yep. I lived I Temecula for a couple years in the early 90s. That was a little far from the coast, but the cycling was outstanding. Plenty of long routes with minimal traffic and decent roads.

Parkway is great, but there are lots of other roads. Swim is ok. Running is great.

The tri scene is fairly weak here. This place has a way of turning triathletes who move here into trail runners and mountain bikers. It's happening to me.

If that was my situation and my goal, l would not move to the currently most 'triathlon friendly' city. No, l would move to the city that l think would be the most triathlon friendly in 10 years.

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Boise, duh.

You should look up the Lists of top place to live, best outdoor cultures, and best places to retire to like Forbes,USA Today, etc all publish. See who is in the top 5, because Boise is on everyone's list.

If you want astronomical housing prices and crazy traffic, sure, go to Boulder, Bend or San Diego. yeah, go enjoy that!

You do acclimate to the heat and learn to do your long workouts at the crack of dawn. Riding in many US cities sucks but Tampa has a few places that are good and not on the road.

Here are some positives to Tampa Bay Area

• Suncoast Trail - 42+ miles. great for cycling
• Flatwoods - 2 mile connecting branch to main 7 mile loop. Good for brick workouts since there is plenty of cold water stops.
• Upper Tampa Bay Trail - good for running and will be connecting to suncoast
• Courtney Campbell Causing - 10 miles, I believe, with a bridge if you want to do some hill repeats
• For hills cyclists mostly go to San Antonio, FL. There are groups there every weekend. It's obviously not going to be comparable to something like Boulder but there are some good hills.
• many open water swim options
• year round outdoor pool swimming. swimming indoors sucks IMO.
• good triathlon community
• LBS with triathlon specific expertise (that's not always easy to find)
• year round outdoor training.

I'm not saying that the Tampa Bay Area is the best triathlon city but you can do a lot worse.

Agreed. Also, I think training in the heat makes for better conditioning. Most northerners can't hack it.

Sure, but does your local new years day run give away cool stocking caps and feature a guy with ice in his beard on the landing page?

http://www.newyearsdaydash.com/


Madison is a great city, but since OP was asking about retirement, I cannot say it would be on the top of my list as far as places to live out my golden years. If you are snow-birding it, however, you would be hard-pressed to find a better place to live, train and race between the months of April-October.

You've hit on just about every great point there is in Tampa! I would note that the Suncoast Trail is at least 45 miles since they opened the latest extension. The nearby Withlacoochee bike trail is 46 miles in length, and the Gen Van Fleet trail is 29 miles long. Although we don't have extended climbs you can get in decent elevation biking around San Antonio and/or Clermont (check out the Horrible Hundred in November).

I live in Tampa and lived in Madison, WI many years ago. I invented the Misery Index while running in Madison; it goes from 0 to -10; and you get the latter score when you actually shed a few tears for yourself and snivel about how miserable you are from the freaking cold weather. Running through the winter there just sucked. In Tampa, it sucks to run through the summer but I've never been as miserable as I was in Madison, and just about everything else is far better than Wisconsin. I would add that Florida's tri-season is year-round and we probably have a half-dozen or more races to choose from for every triathlon held in Wisconsin.

I live outside nyc and thus train in cold weather, although I do 90% of my cycling indoors for the reasons Dev says. That said, we're talking about retirement. Unless you absolutely love winter sports, why the heck would one retire to a city where it's cold a very good part of the year. If I had a choice, I would leave New York in a second. Austin may have a decent scene (I went to school there). Boulder and Asheville sound amazing. I'm sure bend is cool, but perhaps a bit isolated? Girona seems like a top choice outside USA.

Is Tampa just that much more humid than anywhere else in the state? I have lived in St. Lucie County, Orlando, and Gainesville, but Tampa seems just a bit wore oppressive than the others... Is it a mental thing? I walk outside at 5AM and it's disgusting.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

I just happened to check out your website and recognized the bike picture - I saw it used on Channel3000. :)

I live in Madison and it's pretty good place for triathlon for a city that has all 4 seasons. Biking is excellent here, lots of trails, country roads, short punchy hills and scenic lake rides. Obviously with the Madison Ironman, it draws a good pool of triathletes. On any given weekend, riding on any of the ironman roads, you'll see tons of cyclists and most are very friendly. From what I understand, there's a lot of good mountain biking and winter fat bike races not far from the city limits. Madison often ranks in the top 10-15 cities for cycling as well. I hear XC skiing is also top notch here as well.

Weather is a huge draw card, It's probably part of the reason that Australia has been a strong nation in Triathlon, we don't have snowy Winters.

Retirement for lots in Australia means moving north to Queensland where there's not really much of a winter

Kona is shit.

Hey Dev,

You ever done the Val Thorens climb? I heard it's very hard, but not ridden much as it's not a popular TdF climb since it is not a pass but ends at the ski station.


As for this thread... anywhere near the Mediterranean sea and the Alps wins. Nice weather, good cycling.

Must be perception because my opinion based on stays all over the state is it pretty much sucks everywhere during the summer. And being close to the water moderates the highs. Living inland would be worse.

If I could alter life circumstances I would choose Boise as recommended earlier in this thread.

there are a number of things that could put the plan on hold, not least of which is the referendum on the 23rd, but in the event that we stay in we'll probably sell up from London and just relocate

its not that i do not think I could maintain fitness or exercise in London but I've no compelling ties, no job, no intention of getting back on that treadmill in the immediate future so we think we should just go

kids are young, they'd benefit from the climate, facilities, the outdoor life. we could go pretty much anywhere - I've friends in Alsace and they have amazing summers, as do the Alp's but I just want to be by the sea, near a city and have nice weather and compared to London its cheap

we're looking to rent for 6-12 months whilst we figure out where to stay - or if we don't like it, to go home - at the moment I'm sold though, and I figure if I can spend 6 years living in the ME, I can pretty much find a way of living anywhere

Nice was difficult!

I do truly love it here for a few months per year. But I sure love getting out of here for Mexico, Florida, Arizona or California in the dead of winter!

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram