Not too sure that place exists. I have ridden in a lot of places and have been yet to find where any noncyclist driver gives a rats. Here are my selections.
All time #1 Chianti region of Italy. Not so many cars and tons of rural roads alot of not paved ones.
Idaho, Mont. Eastern Washington. Not that many cars fewer jobs. Spokane has a fair amount of riding and pretty mild winter weather. Missoula has lots of riders and roads with a pretty good bicycle history.
Sandpoint and North of there Idaho. Some big trucks, lots of logging roads.
Iowa, rural Missouri. Again not too much traffic lots of open space. Rural Wyoming and Colorado, far from Denver. Colorado in the summer can be pretty busy. East of Salt Lake City and Bend Oregon. Sort of out of the big City traffic with lots of adventure athletes.
Tucson,Az is kind of hot but has a good cycling community.
North Carolina around Ashville is nice, but getting pretty busy.Rural Alabama and Mississippi can be ok.
Some of your decisions may be weighed on jobs and social needs. Starbucks and the New York Times are not available in a lot of those locations. Austin is getting pretty big and losing some of their quality.
Those are places I have ridden and would consider for new locations. They all have goods and bads. Good luck G

Eugene, Oregon. I lived downtown for a year there and absolutely loved it. I just got sick of my job and moved back to SoCal because my family owns a business that lets me live a more comfortable life. I didn't have a car in Eugene, which would be incomprehensible where I am now, in Lake Arrowhead. Many of the streets in Eugene have speeds limits of 35mph or less, so you find the cars aren't whizzing by and there are bike lanes on EVERY street. Great place, but they might kill you if you voted for Bush. I was paying $380 a month for a one bedroom apartment, but expect to pay about 20% more than that. They also have just built an absolutely magnificent library.

SW Knoxville, TN - I had no idea when I moved here 6 months ago how great of a place this was to bike. Not only do most of the roads have 6-8' paved shoulders, but the rolling hills through farmlands, foothills, mountains, etc is absolutely gorgeous. This is one of the few places in the US, if not the only place, where you have water and mountain all around. The local bike club is the smoky mountain wheelman (www.smwbike.org). I have a metric toys for tots ride this afternoon along the foothills of the Smokys, and can't wait to get out.

If you want to check out some communities around SW Knox, let me recommend Tellico Lake, Rarity Bay, or Tennessee National. Tennessee National, is the newest community so it will be a little while before they have homes for sell, but it is a Greg Norman golf course and will have a resort type marina on the Tenn River as well. If you can wait, this will be the community to get in.

Good Luck,

Kevin

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http://timeoutdoors.blogspot.com/
Photo Blog - App Trail Thru Hike March - Sept 2009

west El Paso...tons of shoulder, lots of bikers, lots of open roads...hardly ever get issues with cars...maybe got 2 close calls in the last 3 years.
but you need to get ready mentally to ride in the wind and with dust!!

Adelaide, South Australia.

This is where the tour down under is held. Ask any TDF rider.

Lots of open roads whith shoulders, small city, great climate with minumum rain, Bike lanes on all roads, Hills with 10-15km climbs, the beach to ride the esplanade, lots of wineries to relax at after a ride, great racing events. This is also where the A.I.S. cycling is. They are also building a new College.

HHHHMMMM what am I doing here in St Louis?

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"Your limits are self imposed"

sure can't say that for the gold coast in Oz...despite tons of riders and tridudes...probably the most unfriendly place for bikers..

My votes for San Francisco as long as you dont mind hills :)....but seriously as far as big cities go it dosent get much better lots of bikes and bike lanes on roads and you can't go wrong w/ marin and the wine country in your backyard.

Dan

The more rural parts of Western Massachusetts are nice. The nice friendly liberal people yield to bikes and pedestrians. There is a ton of empty back country roads with hills and farms to ride in. I think there is a few really tight knit groups of riders. I often see teams out on the roads. It does snow and rain a lot though, as in you sometimes don't see the sun for well over a week. The job market isn't great but it isn't non-exisistant either.

I think that there are more tangible parts to the question than you have indicated. Do you mind stop and go like you'll get with back roads in rural areas, or do you like long non-stop riding. Do you mind riding with larger vehicles even though they are loud, or do you want a quiet ride? What kind of whether do you prefer? What kind of population do you prefer? Do you also want running friendly situtations? More pool swimming or natural lake/coast/river swimming? Anyways, I would describe myself a little better to get the best answer. I would have to say that Deleware, and the Newark area is really nice. You can easily get down to the shore on the weekends pennsylvania has some great outdoor activity areas, the deleware river has endless possibilities. Lots of great road and mountain biking in the region as well. Especially mountain biking which is gerat to get you ready for those awesome XTerra races offered everywhere.

Dave J

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david
asc-arizona state cycling
tribemultisport.com

I can only tell you about one of the WORST areas for cyclist...Washington DC/Northern Virginia. Terrible traffic, no bike lanes, only 1 decent bike trail (W&OD) and loaded with inpatient drivers. I think Maryland is a little better but DC/Northern VA sucks!

Dave from VA

Deetsay-Thank for the reply, but I left it very open and vague as I could live anywhere...just don't want evil drivers around like I hear about in places in the South...bike lanes help...

Would you want to stay in the U.S.? Lot of places in Europe that are super friendly. Weather in some of those places is kind of rough though (northern Europe).

justin

Ya, mostly U.S. or English speaking countries

Tucson. I've done 90 milers and 88 have been in bike lanes. tons of cyclists, hills, flats. A bit warm in the summer but every one gets up and out the door by 6am in the summer.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

" My votes for San Francisco"

Ah, yes, riding in SF. Probably not bad if you stay away from downtown. I was working at 2nd and Market when two cyclists (a bike messenger and a commuter) were killed within days of each other - one right in front of our building. Very sad...

I'll second Tucson, AZ. Went down there for a camp last spring and it's awesome. The good (and bad?) part is that I wasn't able to find much else to do aside from training. I'm going down again next spring, and non-cycling/non-training suggestions for entertainment?

I'm not much into the partying scene, I'm finding it harder and harder to finish a bottle to tequila by myself and still remain standing as in the college days. What are your interests? I'll be able to come up w/something once I know that.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Iowa City, Iowa. Great college town, lovely country roads with little traffic in every direction. Most of the drivers are nice (though not all), lots of cyclists.

Wow! Thank you all for such great responses. A few surprises in there I would have never otherwise thought of!

Trisha

Why would you ride in downtown SF? The rest of the city isn't bad for riding--lots of bike lanes and you are soon over the bridge to Marin. Plus, you have all the other outlying areas (Marin/Sonoma/Napa/CCC/Pensinsula) if you want variety.

One thing about here is that you never hear of cyclists getting crap thrown at them by passing cars or bubba in trucks purposely trying to run them down. Yes, there are some terrible accidents (drunk drivers), but that happens everywhere.

clm, who rode yesterday in SF

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Eastern Washington as previously mentioned is a great area to ride. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but the riding is great. The Centennial Trail is a paved bike path the runs from Spokane,WA to Coeur d'Alene, ID which is perfect for riding. Plus all the country rides with no traffic! The cost of living is also a serious bonus! Plus IM CDA is only like 30 miles from Spokane!

Good luck!

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Enjoy the journey!

Heading out of town, eh Trish?

Mike

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TheBikeRacer.com

Thinking about it...I do have the career that allows me to do it!

-T