I’m starting to think ahead to retirement, and I’m looking for somewhere that I can train outdoors, year-round. Unlike others, I positively hate training indoors. The last two East Cost winters have me looking for warmer climes. What say the gathered Slowtwitch throngs?
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What do you like doing when NOT training? (going out, arts, theatre etc.)
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Are there any restrictions that you have placed on yourself already (eg. must be continental US)?
Look for places with lots of golf courses… and, you pretty much have a location where the weather is good year round.
No suprise, that would be the desert SW part of the US. (assuming you did mean the US).
FWIW Joe Moya
if in the US go to tucson. best place for training in the US. Hills, flats, trails, pools, bike lanes, low cost of living, golf etc.
Tons of pro cyclists, runners, T&F, and triathletes train there in the winter.
Summers can be warm but if your out the door at 5;30 or 6 back by 9:30 it’s not too bad.
Phoenix sucks compared to Tucson for training and it’s hotter. Flagstaff would be nice in the summer, maybe a bit too cool in the winter.
In no paticular order but worth checking into. My advice is to sell your place, put all your stuff in storage and take a couple years to try several areas. What difference does it make to pay rent in Arizona, SoCal, or LoCal, Hawaii, Fla. or even Southern Europe?
We plan to do just that, not so much for training (Lucky we live Hawaii), but plan to try out Tuscany, Ireland, and Spain before we are too old to get around like we want to. Got to make it another 8 or so here first. Aloha G
New Zealand. (it’s beside Australia)
Next question?
How could you possibly say that Tucson is a better place to train than Phoenix. Despite the obvious temperature differences during the summer months there is absolutely no reason why you would choose Tucson. Tucson has to be by far one of the top 3 worst cities in the United States. There is absolutely nothing to do their when you aren’t training. There would be no reason for anyone to go to Tucson, EVER!
David J
look at Ventura County, CA
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It really depends on what your “other” interests are and what you like to do in the off season.
If you are looking for great weather year-round then there are all kinds of options in the southern US states.
I know this sounds strange, but I actually like winter and the change of seasons. It gives each year a bit of rythmn. I have spent entire years with warm seasonless weather, but it did not seem right to me. I love cross-country skiing and downhill skiing. My perfect spot would be somewhere near/in the mountains where, I may not have to deal with sevre cold our huge amounts of snow, but great skiing was a short drive away. In Canada, such a place would be the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia - home of Ironman Canada.
Joe M is right. It is hard to beat the SW, and in my opinion, Southern NM. It has everything that Tucson has to offer, but not as hot and not as crowded. It has a great University pool, trails galore, awesome group of triathletes and cyclists, free weekly TT’s, we’re trying to start a splash-n-dash series (free also), can ride from your house in any direction for miles, longest running triathlon series anywhere, true year round trainingand racing, low cost of living,…
I think in 2002, Las Cruces was voted to be the best small town in America by a magazine and Sports Illustrated just named us the best sports town in NM.
for year round training i would say asheville,north carolina…winter here is usually in the low 50’s and summer is low 80’s. its never too hot or too cold. we have all, kinds of terrain here…you can climb up to mt mitchell or mt pisgah(5-6000 ft) flats, climbs,lots of active folks and cars are very nice to cyclists…north carolina has one of the largest triathlon series in the country and we are only 3.5 hrs from the coast(charleston,south carolina)…i know a lot of people think west coast, but san diego is very crowded and arizona is hot as hell in the summer…the only strike against asheville is lack of triathletes, there are only a few.
john
Desert Dude:
You seem to be forgetting that this is a triathlon forum. For triathlon training and racing I will argue that Phoenix is one of the best non-ocean cities in the world and much better than Tucson. Where do you do open water swimming in Tucson? Phoenix has Tempe Town Lake, Lake Pleasant, and Saguaro Lake for swimming. The result is probably 20 events that include open water swimming in Phoenix metro. Phoenix has much better urban mountain biking than Tucson and if you live in the right part of the city the road cycling is quite good too. The weather differences are pretty much trivial. Phoenix is a bit hotter but Tucson is colder.
You seem to be forgetting that this is a triathlon forum. For triathlon training and racing I will argue that Phoenix is one of the best non-ocean cities in the world and much better than Tucson. Where do you do open water swimming in Tucson? Phoenix has Tempe Town Lake, Lake Pleasant, and Saguaro Lake for swimming. The result is probably 20 events that include open water swimming in Phoenix metro. Phoenix has much better urban mountain biking than Tucson and if you live in the right part of the city the road cycling is quite good too. The weather differences are pretty much trivial. Phoenix is a bit hotter but Tucson is colder.
—yea. But you have to live in Phoenix.
I love the change of seasons. Ideally I would live in a warm climate from January-April and then in the upper midwest the rest of the year. I have to wait until my son is out of school before I can pursue this.
I must admit Tucson is a close second to Ventura County, CA.
Can’t beat Hawaii for year round training. The downside is you are so far away from some of your family. The upside is you are so far away from the rest of your family. :~)
Aloha,
Larry
NM, at least in Albuquerque/Sante Fe is not very hot at all. In the wintertime it is downright freezing. The summer can be pretty hot, but since it isn’t humid it’s not so bad.
I live in Albuquerque and it’s pretty nice for training. Good roads and a lot of off road trails near the city. It’s mostly above 5000ft so you get the altitude training. You can bike in the winter, but it can be quite cold. I live right next to the Sandias, so I can literally hike up to 10000 ft altitude in about 7 miles.
I gotta agree with Desert Dude, Tucson is great. It’s a big city but not overcrowded like Phoenix. Training is a plenty around here and I would put Tucson’s mountain biking up against Phoenix’s any day of the week.
I just did an open water sprint tri yesterday at Rancho Sahuarita. You can always go down to Patagonia Lake for open water practice, and driving to Phoenix for a race is not really that far.
Tucson is good.
Tucker