I would like to hear why your city is the best to live, work, train, be healthy, raise a family etc… Looking for a potential relocation to a slower paced lifestyle. I am currently living in the Washington DC area.
I would love to tell you why my city is the best to live, work, train, etc. but it would all be a LIE IMHO. Boston is a fun place to live but waaaay too expensive, and the training options (biking outdoors, at least) can be exhaustive. Boston is definitely not slower-paced than metro DC either.
not Las Vegas, or any place SoCal for that matter. I used to live in Kansas, and actually loved Lawrence … college town in the Flint Hills, progressive community, good bike and tri community, close to a large city (Kansas City), low cost of living.
Check out the thread about Gainesville, Fl.
I moved here 4 years ago and there is no other place in the world I’d rather live.
Wish I cold think of a good search phrase for ya, cause this ones been discussed 10 fold on this forum. San Diego, Arizona, yadda yadda yadda…
Stay away from Craplanta, I mean Fatlanta, I mean Hotlanta. Go to Oregon, or Hawaii.
One answer might be “why a city?”
Hard to beat some of the rural areas if you can/want to live there.
As much as I rag on Olympia, Washington, it really is not that bad of a place to live and train. If you have family, we have good public schools (k-12 and secondary), low crime, clean air and water, moderate weather (yeah, it rains alot, but extremes that would prevent training are rare), lots of good quality roads, lots of trails, sent a host of local talent to the 2000 Olympic Marathon trials (Craig Dickson, Phil Jasperson, Karen Steen and some others that escape me at the momment), have a variety of races, a budding tri scene, etc. Other recreational opportunities abound: sailing, kayaking (sea and whitewater), hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, birding, etc. all within 2 hours drive or less.
If you are ever in the area, PM me (that goes for any ST’er too) and I’ll give you the grand tour.
Brett
Different country but Brisbane Australia is where it is at. Not overly expensive for housing, 1.2 million ish population. Have 1 week of winter where it gets down to maybe 5 celcius overnight and up to 20C day time. 1 week of hot usually over christmas up to late 30s. Lowish crime, safeish to go anywhere lots of long rides on pretty empty roads. Heaps of group rides every Mon, wed, sat and sunday. I do not own arm, leg or hand warming equipment.
Heaps of 50m outdoor heated year round pools, races every weekend over summer, awsome running opportunities along the river that runs through the centre of the city, 1 hour north and south to excellent surf beaches. We play rugby, cricket and drink beer. Our steak is good and it is unAustralian not to eat lamb. Excellent schools and decent public transport if that is your thing.
Only place I think that could out do it is the Gold Coast which is 45 mins south and has excellent beaches plus all I listed above except the river. Only US place I have been to that comes close is San Diego.
SoCal mountains are tough to beat if living, training, being healthy and raising a family in clean air are a priority, but I’m not so sure about work.
And I was wondering why every Australian pro writes in his bio ‘I enterered my first triathlon in 19xx and won, and have been hooked since’. You guys have like 483190 races a year. Here we have around 15 races a year, and in each race *everyone *comes. Unless you’re in :58-1:03 range in a sprint distance you’re not gonna ‘win the first triathlon you enter’.
Anyway back to the point of the thread. I heard Boulder, Colorado is great.
Best place to live & train? Vancouver BC Canada. Only drawback is cost of housing. Other than that, best in all categories: schools, low crime, amenities, amazing outdoor opportunities, 2nd mildest climate in Canada (outside Victoria BC), lots and lots of tri, cycling, running, swimming clubs. As a whole, fittest and healthiest population in Canada (smoking is pretty much taboo around here). Amazing restaurants, esp. if you love asian foods. And really varied geography: mountains, rolling farmland, flat plains. How can you beat this? Today (Sat), it will be sunny and about 10degC (not bad for Feb in Canada), I will go for a 3hr ride, on roads with great shoulders marked off for cyclists, then I’ll either swim in any multitude of LCM pools around, and likely not have to share a lane, or I could go for a run along the seawall, where the ocean meets the North Shore Mountains. And later, if I want, after some kickass Thai for late lunch, I can drive 30min up those mountains to go XC skiing. 
You forgot to mention the brewery tour. Isn’t there also some type of building with a mall inside it fo rsix floors? I remember the center of each floor was opena dn it had a kids area with rides at the top.
I went backpacking through Fiji, NZ and Oz for six months in 1991. I never should have left.
I miss Southern Oregon: Ashland/Medford. Lived there off and on for years. The whole area is bigger population-wise than most think: 200,000 so there are some jobs. Excellent cycling, espcially hills and mountains. Great running community too. Not a lot of triathletes, but a few. Great weather, too: half the rain of Portland. Usually perfect weather April-June and Sept. to Nov. July and August are a little hot. Just don’t go for a 3 p.m. run then. You can ride year-round, but still drive 30 min. to skiing.
Bend, Ore.
If it’s good enough for Craig Walton, Conrad Stoltz, Steve Larsen, Chris McCormack, Andy Martin, a slew of Cat 1 cyclists, several 2:20 Marathon types, countless animal Mt. Bike racers, 1/2 the U.S. Nordic Ski team and many more, it’s probably ok for you and I. 8-10 inches of rain annually, High Desert scenery with High Alpine mountains and lakes right nearby, Still small enough to be quaint, but big enough to get a decent Carmel Machiato. Redmond, Or. 20 minutes away has non stop service to San Fran, Seattle etc., so you aren’t too “Island bound”
PS: It is getting discovered however, housing prices are headed higher as we speak. Don’t expect a bargain, unless you look 20 miles or more out of town.
yep- you seem very happy with Ohio. maybe too happy.
that is pretty funny tho. I guess you can just do bridge repeats, eh?
West Knoxville, TN… I moved here almost a year ago and thought I was moving to the sticks. I have lived in the Florida Panhandle, South Florida, Carolina Coast, and none of them compare to this place. The rollings foothills and rural country roads are perfect for cycling. and running The tri scene isn’t great, but the running club (http://www.ktc.org) boast the largest per capita in the US and the local cycling club (http://www.smwbike.org/ ) is around 600 members if I remember correctly. With the TVA dams there are several lakes/parks to swim in. There are also great mountain biking trails and plenty locations to choose from.
I am not a UT fan but the school does bring many events to the area such as games, concerts, conventions, etc. Oak Ridge has some of the highest rated schools in the country. Oh and did I mention no state income tax?
I’ve travelled all over the world and seen and raced in a lot of places. It’s tough to pcik any one that is perfect or best.
I really loved nice, France. I could see myself living in a little apartment in Nice and running everyday along the coast and riding in the mountains and swimming in the sea. That would be nice. Great area. I could live there.
A friend of mine has an apartment there. It strike me as a great place to live.
I wager there are some Caribbean Islands with good roads and excellent places to swim. Aside from the hurricane problem, that would be ideal also.
As long as it is warm, has good pavement, big hills, nice water and a high speed connection I can make it paradise.
Every once in a while, BRAIN (bicycle retailer and industry news) does an article on which cities are the best for cycling and general newspapers do polls for the healthiest cities. I’ve never seen San Diego out fo the top three spots. Usually Bend or Portland OR, Asheville, NC and Minneapolis are rated high as well.
I just moved to gaineville for grad school about six months ago and i love it, great for running and swimming (if youre a student, b/c of the FL pools, though even if youre not, its pretty good), and the riding is pretty good, though not a ton of hills/mountains. But best of all is the community, tons of people workout and do tri