Ok guys, I’m a 24 yr old P.E. Teacher looking to move out of Illinois. I want to live somewhere I can get in great training and have a good social life. I’ve mainly looked into moving to Tempe/Scottsdale Arizona.
Are there any other warm weather cities I should consider? What about like Eugene or Portland? Anywhere in Texas or Florida? I’ll take any suggestions. I have absolutely nothing tying me down to a specific area, thanks!
I’ll put in a vote for Boulder, CO. The level of competition, access to excellent training facilities (pools, gyms, trails, roads, etc), coaching, and general interest in sports of all types as well as interest in the outdoors is at a very high level. It is a university town, so has a liberal lean to almost everything that it does and the social scene (restaurants, entertainment, etc), partly due to the presence of the university, is very good. Can be a little bit expensive and the winters are not as good as some other places for biking, but all-in-all, I think that it is a great place.
Portland has spectacular running. As good if not better than any city in the country and the weather is pretty much ideal for running year round as it never gets particularly cold or hot.
The cycling is good depending on where you live. Getting out of the city can be a pain and involve riding on Highway 30, which isn’t a lot of fun, but there are numerous climbs right off of there and the riding on the other side of the west hills is generally really nice. The issue here is you better get used to riding in drizzle. It’s certainly rideable year round if you have the right gear.
The pool situation is pretty bad. The options for pools, especially public pools, is pretty mediocre to bad for a major city.
Can be a little bit expensive
Congratulations. You’ve won the understatement of the day award.
I used to date someone who’s Mom was a teacher in AZ. 17-18 yr experience w/ a masters degree and she and I made the same amount. Except her $45k was her salary and my $45k was my bonus money from selling pharmaceuticals.
Also when you warm weather cities summer in AZ is a new kind of hell. I’ve spent summers on the east coast (NC) where you can go workout any time of the day in the summer. That does not happen in AZ. Especially not in the PHX area. Your over night lows will be in the low 90s during the hottest days of the summer and your highs will be >110.
Your dollar does stretch further in AZ than most places in OR or CO though.
Something to ponder.
I have lived in both Eugene and Portland and when push came to shove, we chose Eugene over Portland. If you’re into a triathlon social scene and can deal with the traffic and commuting to go ride and run, then Portland is your place. PDX Tri Club, Tri Team PDX, and Steelhead all have great clubs. The bike and run shops are awesome, and Forest Park’s Wildwood and Leif Erickson trails are some of my happy places. However, you will be driving or riding through a lot of traffic to the best roads to ride. I lived on the west side and it was hard to find a pool that wasn’t crowded or kept really warm, and with my work schedule, commuting across town to another one wasn’t a logistical possibility. Hagg Lake is a great spot west of Hillsboro to take your wetsuit, bike, and running shoes where you can get some great safe swimming, followed by a few laps of the lake on the bike, and then running on trails.
The roads south of Eugene have very light traffic, are well maintained, and easily accessible from just about anywhere in town. You can ride flat or get in a lot of climbing, and you’ll usually see a good number of people out riding. The Ridgeline Trail is beautiful, steep, technical, and a quad buster run, while Pre’s Trail, Alton Baker Park, Amazon Park, and the Clear Water Trail are flatter but nice. Amazon Pool (after COVID subsides) is an outdoor 50m by 25yd/25m (it’s wider in the deep end) and is open year round. There are a couple of different Masters Groups. RunHub NW and Eugene Running Company both host group runs with paces ranging from beginner to elite. The Oregon Track Club also hosts a race series. Rolf Prima wheels are based in Eugene and they take pretty excellent care of the local cycling community. However, there is not an organized triathlon club outside of the Rolf Prima Factory Team. Cottage Grove Lake and Fall Creek Lake are both popular for OWS.
Both Eugene and Portland share the winter drizzle. Get out on a gravel bike and get muddy. It doesn’t get super cold here so you can ride, run, and swim outside year round. Housing is more affordable in Eugene and the drive from Eugene to the PDX airport takes just a little longer than trying to get to PDX from Beaverton/Hillsboro. For true winter sports, both Eugene and Portland are about a 60min drive to alpine and nordic skiing, and both are also about 40-60min from the coast. Portland definitely has a better nightlife and social scene, but Eugene is a college town and when Duck football is in season, things get rowdy.
As for Texas, summer is tough and long (think May through Sept or even October). A lot of people train here (DFW Metroplex) year-round but coming from SoCal four years ago, I still struggle with the heat/humidity. Pockets of good running but lap pools are somewhat scarce. I rarely ride on the roads any longer, mainly off-road and indoors, but again, a lot of people ride around here without any issues. I will say, most of the school districts north of Dallas pay really well, the schools are newer, and your paycheck will go pretty far.
Since you seem to know Oregon quite well, do you have any views on Bend? Both as a place for training/sports and more generally as a place to live.
I have lived in both Eugene and Portland and when push came to shove, we chose Eugene over Portland. If you’re into a triathlon social scene and can deal with the traffic and commuting to go ride and run, then Portland is your place. PDX Tri Club, Tri Team PDX, and Steelhead all have great clubs. The bike and run shops are awesome, and Forest Park’s Wildwood and Leif Erickson trails are some of my happy places. However, you will be driving or riding through a lot of traffic to the best roads to ride. I lived on the west side and it was hard to find a pool that wasn’t crowded or kept really warm, and with my work schedule, commuting across town to another one wasn’t a logistical possibility. Hagg Lake is a great spot west of Hillsboro to take your wetsuit, bike, and running shoes where you can get some great safe swimming, followed by a few laps of the lake on the bike, and then running on trails.
The roads south of Eugene have very light traffic, are well maintained, and easily accessible from just about anywhere in town. You can ride flat or get in a lot of climbing, and you’ll usually see a good number of people out riding. The Ridgeline Trail is beautiful, steep, technical, and a quad buster run, while Pre’s Trail, Alton Baker Park, Amazon Park, and the Clear Water Trail are flatter but nice. Amazon Pool (after COVID subsides) is an outdoor 50m by 25yd/25m (it’s wider in the deep end) and is open year round. There are a couple of different Masters Groups. RunHub NW and Eugene Running Company both host group runs with paces ranging from beginner to elite. The Oregon Track Club also hosts a race series. Rolf Prima wheels are based in Eugene and they take pretty excellent care of the local cycling community. However, there is not an organized triathlon club outside of the Rolf Prima Factory Team. Cottage Grove Lake and Fall Creek Lake are both popular for OWS.
Both Eugene and Portland share the winter drizzle. Get out on a gravel bike and get muddy. It doesn’t get super cold here so you can ride, run, and swim outside year round. Housing is more affordable in Eugene and the drive from Eugene to the PDX airport takes just a little longer than trying to get to PDX from Beaverton/Hillsboro. For true winter sports, both Eugene and Portland are about a 60min drive to alpine and nordic skiing, and both are also about 40-60min from the coast. Portland definitely has a better nightlife and social scene, but Eugene is a college town and when Duck football is in season, things get rowdy.
Bend is amazing and it’s a who’s who of world class endurance athletes. Juniper is great to swim at and you have your pick of crystal clear high lakes to swim in. Endless trails to run and great roads to ride, though I’ve found them slightly more congested than the ones around Eugene. Nothing like the chaos of Portland metro though. With a gravel or mountain bike, you will never ride the same route twice. The social scene is awesome because everyone there either is on two wheels or is fitting up a hydration pack to run through the mountains. Cost of living is definitely higher than the Willamette Valley and it can be hard to find a good paying job unless you have a very specific skill that is needed. You will escape the winter rain, but you will get true winter with a lot of snow and sub-zero weather. That being said, Mount Bachelor is a hop skip and a jump from downtown. Living 10-15 miles north of Bend in Redmond, you can get a lot of the same benefits with a lower cost of living if that’s an issue. Schools are great and Bend is just a really fun place to be. My friends and I like a plate of jalapeno bacon poppers and a Sweet As at Good Life Brewing.
Oregon is really an amazing place to live and train. I’m originally from Missoula, MT and though I love the big sky and wide open lands, the endless winters can get rough. I feel like you get a high quality of everything without the cost and congestion of some of the more well-known tri meccas.
That’s really helpful, thanks. Will need to look into how serious the winters are (I am not a huge winter person) and the ability to do proper road riding. You confirmed what I have read about excellent trail/gravel riding, but I also need to get on my road/TT bikes for proper tri training.
If you’re already looking at AZ, I’d add Las Vegas, NV to your list of places. Yeah, it’s hot in the summer, and all your outdoor summer workouts will need to be done early morning, but there is plenty of bike riding (both road and MTB), lots of decent swimming pools, a lake to get open water swimming done, and little to no winter.
It’s also a bit cooler than the Phoenix area and slightly less humid.
SoCal, Boulder
.
Can be a little bit expensive
Congratulations. You’ve won the understatement of the day award.
x2- id say Boulder qualifies as very expensive… not a single family home under $1MM last I checked
Maybe I’m crazy, maybe I’m a bit of a homer, but you should consider Northern Virginia (Arlington and Fairfax Counties) or Bethesda/Silver Spring, MD.
**Cost of Living: **The obvious downside is that certain areas are pricey. Depends how close you are to the metro/subway and the center of DC or Arlington, or Tysons Corner.
**Swim: **However, these areas all have good public pools (county pools in Arlington and Fairfax, and YMCA, etc. in Maryland).
Biking: I for one am a big fan. As biking goes, depending on exactly where you are, you’ll be 5-15 miles of bike path to Montgomery County, MD or the rural parts of Loudon and Fairfax counties in Virginia which have nice country/suburban routes. Except for the coldest weekends in December-February, you can ride outside all year (summer gets muggy, but the evaporative cooling effect of biking mitigates most of it). Also only about 1-1.5 hours from Shenandoah valley which is spectacular (lookup Skyline Drive if you haven’t seen it before).
**Running: **Nothing like Boulder but plenty of trails and parks, and high density means lots of local tracks to get in more structured workouts.
**Support/Social: **Tons of bike shops, tri clubs, etc. in the area. Not great for open water swimming practice though–but with the quantity of local races, you could realistically swim open water once every couple weeks April-October.
**Race Opportunity: **Tons of local races and relatively close to the IM circuit with Chatanooga, Wilmington, Virginia, Maryland, etc. all hosting events. Kinetic Multisports puts on more events than you could possibly attend in the Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania region: practically one every weekend and they are affordable (~$100 per race).
Spokane, WA is a really underrated place to live and train that is worth looking into. Teacher salaries in Washington are decent and cost of living is much more affordable than most metro places. I think my rent tripled when I moved from there to Portland.
I enjoy running there as much as anywhere else I’ve lived or spent significant amount of time (Portland, Seattle, Bend, DC, and all over Montana). There is the 60 mile long paved centennial trial that follows the river. Miles and miles of single track and hiking trails around town. Some official and some un-mapped that you start to learn after living here for a little bit. Riverside State Park and Beacon hill are great places to mountain bike. Good road biking isn’t too hard to come by as it’s easier to get out of town and onto country roads than a place like Portland. The indoor pools are a bit underwhelming though.
Good races nearby. CDA 70.3/Full is 40 minutes from Spokane and there are a half dozen or so more tris each spring/summer within a 90 minute drive. Plus lots of running races throughout the year (the best being Bloomsday).
As for non tri stuff. It isn’t as exciting or a place to be as Portland in terms of social life for a young single person (few places can match that). But more people are leaving Seattle for Spokane due to cost of living and there are more cool restaurants/bars/etc opening up. Summer never gets too hot. Winter involves snow, but probably less miserable than an Illinois winter and there are good places to downhill and cross country ski. Tons of beautiful lakes nearby as well given its proximity to Northern Idaho
I live in Denver and go to Boulder frequently. The training is definitely great, but it’s expensive. Maybe check out neighboring cities – Lousiville, Broomfield, Denver, Fort Collins.
Can be a little bit expensive
Congratulations. You’ve won the understatement of the day award.
x2- id say Boulder qualifies as very expensive… not a single family home under $1MM last I checked
Go about 45 miles north and a tad east and you’ll find cheaper living and, dare I say, equally as good or better training opportunities than Boulder.
Can be a little bit expensive
Congratulations. You’ve won the understatement of the day award.
x2- id say Boulder qualifies as very expensive… not a single family home under $1MM last I checked
Go about 45 miles north and a tad east and you’ll find cheaper living and, dare I say, equally as good or better training opportunities than Boulder.
so now your lumping in Greeley with Boulder?! just a bit of a stretch there…
I currently live in San Antonio, grew up in Dallas, have family in Austin, and visit Houston as infrequently as possible.
IMO, San Antonio is one of the best places I’ve ever lived in or visited for training.
POSITIVES
Low cost of livingWinter doesn’t really exist. October through April is pretty much ideal for training. Most days have highs in the 60’s or 70’s during that time and there is a lot of sun. Good pool systems. They’ve hosted USMS Long Course Nationals at the pool 3 miles from my house and were set to host SC Nationals before it got cancelled this spring.Also a good Masters program (MOST) that has a great coach and some solid endurance workouts. Great Riding. From the North side of town, you can be out in the hill country riding within 10-20 minutes. Rolling hills, much like IM Wisconsin course. You can also go West and ride mostly dead flat if you want some wind and time trial.Big network of paved greenways for running. It is concrete but at least no cars. All of these greenways also have lots of mountain bike trails alongside them.From my house, I can drive downtown hanging out on the riverwalk in 20 minutes. I can ride a protected path and be on mountain bike trails in 5 minutes. Or I can take the road/TT bike and be outside city limits in 15 minutes.
NEGATIVES
Not a big “elite” presence of athletes. There are training groups and some teams but primarily recreational athletes. Same goes for “elite” type services. There are some good bike shops but it definitely isn’t a Boulder.The summer is hot. Much like everywhere in the South. Not as bad as Arizona though.City is growing and so traffic is getting worse. Still nothing compared to Houston or Dallas but we are seeing more out in the common riding areas.We do have chipseal (28’s at 60 psi will fix this)
Depends on what sort of training environment you are looking for. I’ve never lived anywhere with real winter and I’ve always though it would be kind of fun. Then I talk to my coach, who lives in Maine, after I ride in a short sleeve jersey and shorts in Fredericksbug, Tx where I saw more goats than cars and realize I’ve got it pretty good.
Can be a little bit expensive
Congratulations. You’ve won the understatement of the day award.
x2- id say Boulder qualifies as very expensive… not a single family home under $1MM last I checked
Go about 45 miles north and a tad east and you’ll find cheaper living and, dare I say, equally as good or better training opportunities than Boulder.
so now your lumping in Greeley with Boulder?! just a bit of a stretch there…
yes, everyone should move to Greeley 
It is “the exact opposite of Hawaii”