Since this is a question I ask myself often, I'll add that there are several threads on moving to NC that may be helpful.
I've lived in both Asheville and Raleigh during the summers to escape the Tucson summers.
In the RDU area you'll often drive to bike. I found it frustrating to drive for 20-45 min each way for a 3h ride. Most of the pools are indoors which after swimming outside year round for the last 2 decades made me cry. Great for my cycling tan lines though...trade offs. Traffic has increased...drastically in the last 5y in the rdu area. As you get out of town what used to be empty roads are now full of suvs. You've got to go further to get out of town, maybe an extra 3-5 miles. Also the only place where I've had random people pull up to me and tell me to have a good ride. I mean who the F does that? Running is great in the area. One summer I lived by the ATT and did hundreds of miles on that. Never got tired of it. The next summer I was there I was near Umstead, again never got tired of it, the black flies well...can't win them all.
Asheville. Spent 3 summers there. There are 80,000+ people that come there every weekend. You'll have 1 week in July where the temps break 34 and then barely. If it gets to 36 be shocked. The riding is great, especially as you get out of town. The running is great as well, a bit hilly and when I came back to Tucson my flat ground pace was often :30-:40 faster than in AVL. Swimming, well every spot has a weakness. The options kinda sucked. You have Recreation Park which is a LCM pool and it's BYOPC (bring your own pace clock) at least the last couple of summers I was there. In the spring/summer they have points races on the mellowdrome (an outdoor 1km velodrome). You can race 2-3x a night. Housing prices have gone through the roof. 8yr ago I looked at a 1400 sq ft house new build. Would have been in for ~$350k. Last time I saw it on Zillow it was listed at $895k. appreciated ~ $75k/yr. There is a tri nearby as well in the summer.
I found in both places you could workout anytime during the day in the summer but I also had been through many 38+ days before arriving. In the RDU area you just sweat a lot and in AVL same just less sweat.
RDU has a pretty good cycling and tri scene. Inside out Sports is the ride start for many rides as is the Apex Community Center, easier to get out of town from the ACC vs IOS imo.
I also train some around High Point bc my Dad lives there. It's close to Winston Salem. Half the time I was training into WS for masters swim, some rides and running around Salem Lake (which is a great place to run). There is a Tues group ride leaving from Lewisville and another group the rides around the Piedmont on weekends that I rode with. Forgot the name of the group. Again though being in HP i did a lot of driving to train which in Tucson I ride & run out my door 997/1000 workouts. HP has the Piedmont Environmental Center which is also a great place to run.
The racing scene in NC is pretty good. I think there will be less races in NC this summer due to various things covid related. Probably/possibly some of those races are not coming back. The racing scene has a few really fast dudes, then a few pretty fast dudes then the drop off is pretty step. At 50yo if I race there I'll still race in the elite/open category bc I'd rather lose to some really fast dudes and occasionally win a race overall than destroy the entire AG field if past history is any guide.
That should be enough to get you thinking a bit. If I was going to move back I think I'd also look into Boone, Black Mountain, WS/Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham/Holly springs/Apex/Cary/chapel hill/morrisville/hillsbourough/carrboro. Maybe even Saluda NC area.
Honestly even places likes rolesville and knightsdale which used to be waaay outside of raleigh are now just part of the 'burbs. Housing prices are nuts right now in NC though. I've seen $10-20k increases in prices this year from what neighborhoods were going for at the end of 2020.
I personally would not consider charlotte ymmv though.
Anyway search the archives for past threads.
Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta
I've lived in both Asheville and Raleigh during the summers to escape the Tucson summers.
In the RDU area you'll often drive to bike. I found it frustrating to drive for 20-45 min each way for a 3h ride. Most of the pools are indoors which after swimming outside year round for the last 2 decades made me cry. Great for my cycling tan lines though...trade offs. Traffic has increased...drastically in the last 5y in the rdu area. As you get out of town what used to be empty roads are now full of suvs. You've got to go further to get out of town, maybe an extra 3-5 miles. Also the only place where I've had random people pull up to me and tell me to have a good ride. I mean who the F does that? Running is great in the area. One summer I lived by the ATT and did hundreds of miles on that. Never got tired of it. The next summer I was there I was near Umstead, again never got tired of it, the black flies well...can't win them all.
Asheville. Spent 3 summers there. There are 80,000+ people that come there every weekend. You'll have 1 week in July where the temps break 34 and then barely. If it gets to 36 be shocked. The riding is great, especially as you get out of town. The running is great as well, a bit hilly and when I came back to Tucson my flat ground pace was often :30-:40 faster than in AVL. Swimming, well every spot has a weakness. The options kinda sucked. You have Recreation Park which is a LCM pool and it's BYOPC (bring your own pace clock) at least the last couple of summers I was there. In the spring/summer they have points races on the mellowdrome (an outdoor 1km velodrome). You can race 2-3x a night. Housing prices have gone through the roof. 8yr ago I looked at a 1400 sq ft house new build. Would have been in for ~$350k. Last time I saw it on Zillow it was listed at $895k. appreciated ~ $75k/yr. There is a tri nearby as well in the summer.
I found in both places you could workout anytime during the day in the summer but I also had been through many 38+ days before arriving. In the RDU area you just sweat a lot and in AVL same just less sweat.
RDU has a pretty good cycling and tri scene. Inside out Sports is the ride start for many rides as is the Apex Community Center, easier to get out of town from the ACC vs IOS imo.
I also train some around High Point bc my Dad lives there. It's close to Winston Salem. Half the time I was training into WS for masters swim, some rides and running around Salem Lake (which is a great place to run). There is a Tues group ride leaving from Lewisville and another group the rides around the Piedmont on weekends that I rode with. Forgot the name of the group. Again though being in HP i did a lot of driving to train which in Tucson I ride & run out my door 997/1000 workouts. HP has the Piedmont Environmental Center which is also a great place to run.
The racing scene in NC is pretty good. I think there will be less races in NC this summer due to various things covid related. Probably/possibly some of those races are not coming back. The racing scene has a few really fast dudes, then a few pretty fast dudes then the drop off is pretty step. At 50yo if I race there I'll still race in the elite/open category bc I'd rather lose to some really fast dudes and occasionally win a race overall than destroy the entire AG field if past history is any guide.
That should be enough to get you thinking a bit. If I was going to move back I think I'd also look into Boone, Black Mountain, WS/Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham/Holly springs/Apex/Cary/chapel hill/morrisville/hillsbourough/carrboro. Maybe even Saluda NC area.
Honestly even places likes rolesville and knightsdale which used to be waaay outside of raleigh are now just part of the 'burbs. Housing prices are nuts right now in NC though. I've seen $10-20k increases in prices this year from what neighborhoods were going for at the end of 2020.
I personally would not consider charlotte ymmv though.
Anyway search the archives for past threads.
Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta
Last edited by:
desert dude: May 7, 21 15:00