Looks cool. I lived in San Diego for a short time before heading back east. What is it like in summer other than hot? I lived in Florida for 13 years and I just got used to training in early am in summer. How does it compare to there?

Always looked like a great place. Wife’s parents live in Sedona and have trained there a few times but never Tucson. Might see about a week or so in Sedona if you’re interested...

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Can't see anywhere touching Tucson. Maybe a warm weather stretch in Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez. Tucson has everything. Trails, mountain passes, great pools, good food, and is inexpensive. The only complaint I can possibly think of is the road quality is pretty terrible, but thats true in a lot of California too.

I am a huge fan of Tucson having lived there for 5 five years - it will always be a special place for me. Now I live in Clermont and it is also a great place to live. For me, I really prefer the warmer mornings and warmer evenings especially in Winter. Tucson can be very cold (relatively) in the morning. Tucson is great for riding with lots of diversity and lots of pools. However, for me you simple can't beat Waterfront park in Clermont and is ultimately why I choose Clermont. It is such an asset. To have such a clean body of water you can swim in year round is awesome. Ironically, it is probably the least utilized asset by the camps that come here. Flights out of MCO are abundant as well however I would have no problem living in Tucson in the future.

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I used to spend most of my winters in Tucson training. I liked it a lot. The weather during the day was ideal, and the evenings were cool. It almost never rains or super windy. Mt. Lemmon is awesome and a ride I miss greatly. The one thing I loved about the area was that you could ride off in many directions and almost never see a car. The amount of cyclists there training was astounding. The shootout was fun, but it was so cold on some of those mornings in January I thought I would freeze.


But then I spent a winter just south of Santa Barbara in Oxnard/Ventura area. I found it much more entertaining. Riding along the coast looking at the ocean was the most boring part of my ride. Climbs like Latigo, Las Flores, Deer Creek, Yerba and Gibraltar were amazing and the descents down Tuna, Deckar, Painted caves and the Rock Store were the thing of dreams. Making almost any turn and coming across a beautiful green valley was amazing. Water fountains were plentiful on the climbs and the drivers were very courteous. Tonnes of pro cyclists live and train in the area, so you often run into incredible riders.


Tucson is now a solid #2 for me. I would go back there in a heart beat, but only if I could not do California again.

pretty big cost of living difference between arizona and california though. what's the snake situation for trail running in tucson? Or just in general. not a big fan of running across too many snakes. I like the idea of a cycling friendly, warm, low humidity, plenty of mountains, with a low cost of living.

I went to tucson back in january, first time i flew with my bike as well, and it was so great. rode lemmon and saguaro east, stayed at an airbnb on east side of town so was close to those areas. wife went running in saguaro east as well. it wasn't a training-centered trip for me but did get a ride in every day and did long hikes (sabino canyon, wasson peak). as soon as I left, I said to myself damn i want to go back there for a week when im in decent shape and just train. it is an absolute playground for tri training (i didn't swim, but based on what everyone says, good pools are plentiful). we didn't explore "The Loop" either, which seems like a huge asset for easier rides and for running. i haven't been many other places, but i'd find it hard to imagine many places that are better than tucson. i'm dying to go back.

follow ben hoffman on strava and instagram. and heather jackson. aside from being wow'ed by the incredible workouts he's been posting (especially lately, I think he's in lead up to IMSA?), you can learn a lot about training in tucson and what it has to offer.

I duno, this kind of kicks Tucson's ass.

where is that? looks a bit pricey

mickison wrote:

where is that? looks a bit pricey

Málaga, Spain. I hear it's quite reasonable.

in europe it's hard to beat canary islands (lanza, fuerte & gc). lots of cheap flights from continent and accomodation choice there. jan-mar temperature in the low 20° C's

I’d guess 80% of the Euro pros i follow on Insta are training at FeurteVentura or Lanzarote right now Having been there back in January, I have no doubts why

CC

looks great. I think I'm too damn Americanized to live anywhere but the US and am certainly not a good enough athlete to relocate for winter training.

Do they have delicious breakfast burritos for $6?

in the summer you will almost certainly see them if you run trails in the morning (or ride); snake season is something like april or may through september/october I think. just have to be aware. i am extremely afraid of snakes and they really gross me out, but in the encounters I've had I've never been overly worried for my safety.

and to answer your (way) earlier question about how hot it gets in the summer: hot. It's different than humid hot. I grew up in New Orleans and lived my life in the southeast (VA, NC, LA) so I'm used to humid, hot weather (nothing is like New Orleans in the summer. Nothing.) and the dry heat was a bit of a welcome change but you really can't work out when it's over 100+ unless it's very short. It's genuinely not that safe.

Yeah, my post was really a troll against the US-centric nature of this forum. There are much nicer places to train during the northern hemisphere winter than fucking Tucson.

it's okay not to bash one city while recommending a different. would you expect people to recommend a city they've never been too?

yeah. I worry less about snakes for me but more for my dogs. dogs tend to be curious about snakes and don't realize they should keep away.

I've done mid-day workouts in humidity close to 100 but it was the sort of thing I knew was a short workout and I would just keep a gallon of cold water near to cool off. I lived in FL for many years and summer workouts were always early AM

Tuscon is nice, about like La Quinta(Palm Springs area). Super vibrant cycling community in the winter in the Coachella valley, but like Tuscon, you have to get out of town for at least 4 months, so not a great place to live and stay. Agree the winters are great though.

Santa Barbara is also pretty good, but dead of winter it can be cold and foggy a lot. And forget about the ocean, lucky to ever get out of the 50's. I think the San Diego/Orange County area is probably the best all around. More a banana belt type of climate, varies just a few degrees up and down, and you dont get those butt ass cold mornings the deserts get in the winter. And you can usually go in the ocean most the time, tons of pools and masters programs, and ride inland and you can climb mountains up to 6k feet.

And the best thing is that you dont have to leave in the summer!! When it is 115 in Tuscon and Palm Springs it is 85 and beautiful here!!!

Why can't people spell the city's name correctly? Astounding.

Also, La Quinta isn't even close to Tucson as a training destination. Was just there this weekend. Nice, but not even close.

Sorry about being focused on what's accessible to me.

EMJ makes something for you

Also, La Quinta isn't even close to Tucson as a training destination. Was just there this weekend. Nice, but not even close. //

Tell that to the 100,000 Canadians that go there to live and train every winter. What's you beef with La Quinta, weather is virtually the exact same as Tusscon, so must be something else?

Holy crazy amount of tar strips on those roads! That would drive me crazy.

I don't have "beef" with a town montee. I can't explain anything about what Canadians choose to do with their time.