Hello, now that I’m laid up with a stress fracture I have time to continue my research on the best place to live for a triathlete. My husband and I are mid 40s w/o kids. We work remote jobs (IT and finance). We currently live outside of Burlington Vermont which is a beautiful outdoorsy place to live. However, even with fat bikes we spend a good 6 months downstairs in the basement on the computrainers. The winters are long and severe and only seem to be getting colder and harsher while the west coast is heating up.
My apologies if this topic has been touched upon repeatedly. But doing a search I couldn’t find anything too recent. So here is what we are looking for:
Easy access to open water swimming and a good masters swim program. We have both here in Vermont and I love our masters group and the open water swimming. I come from a cycling and running background but now LOVE swimming.
Decent roads for cycling. Vermont is beautiful but dangerous. 3 cyclists were recently killed in the last 9 weeks where we normally ride from motorists. Also many Vermonters are hostile towards cyclists. I know this is the case anywhere you go but I’d love to ride in a place that is a tad bit safer. Also Vermont winters destroy the roads so the conditions can be pretty rough depending on where you ride.
Affordable housing. I’d love to move back to San Diego or live in the Bay area of California but the housing costs are unrealistic for us. So we need to find a place we can afford. Boulder is too expensive as well for us.
Some winter/snow is OK but we are looking to get away from our extreme winters.
Places we are considering and planning visits in the next couple of years:
Salem/Eugene, OR
Bend, OR
Sacramento, CA area (hoping to do the CIM once I can get through my first Ironman next year)
Asheville, NC
New Mexico? But is there any open water swimming??
Flagstaff but Lake Mary is the only place for ows and I hear it’s dirty and murky? True?
Durango, CO
Phoenix area, But it might be too hot for us.
Spokane??
So where do you live and is it a great place for triathlon training??
I’ll put in a plug for Albuquerque, particularly the East Mountain area. Pleasant year round (high 40s in winter, 80s in summer), 6-7k ft elevation, trees, sparsely populated, affordable, ~1/2 hr from downtown, good riding with an HC climb.
But I think you’ll have to go into the city to find a good pool. Open water swimming at Cochiti Lake about 90 minutes north.
Austin, TX. I live in Round Rock, 15-20 min north of Austin (if there’s no traffic–traffic is the biggest downside to Austin, IMO).
Several masters programs. I swim at Nitro in Cedar Park, but there are a couple others I can think of that are actually in Austin instead of a suburb. You can even swim at the UT natatorium. Also unique places like Deep Eddy and Barton Springs. Decent roads if you know where to go. Austinite drivers are fairly considerate compared to other places I’ve lived, and there are enough bikes out that it’s not hard to find a group to ride with. Austin Tri-Cyclist, Bicycle Sport Shop, and Jack & Adam’s all have scheduled rides. So does Mellow Johnny’s, I believe, but I’ve never ridden with them. NE of town is rural and fun. W of town (specifically W of Lake Travis) is a little more sketchy in my experience as I’ve never really felt welcome there on a bike. I normally run from my house, but the trail around Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake is good, if crowded.
As for races, you’re within 12 hours (kind of my race driving limit) of Kansas, New Orleans, Panama City, Houston, Galveston, Lubbock (BSLT). I say all this as those are the places I drive to for triathlons. I don’t have much info for bike races.
A close second for me is Boise, ID. Lots of outdoor activities once it warms up in April-ish. I’m not big on being out in cold weather unless I’m skiing.
I’ll put in a plug for Albuquerque, particularly the East Mountain area. Pleasant year round (high 40s in winter, 80s in summer), 6-7k ft elevation, trees, sparsely populated, affordable, ~1/2 hr from downtown, good riding with an HC climb.
But I think you’ll have to go into the city to find a good pool. Open water swimming at Cochiti Lake about 90 minutes north.
Thanks rruff! Ideally a smaller population would be great like Durango, CO but a smaller city might be OK too if we can live on the outskirts (30 mins away). We visited Austin last winter and loved it. But it is too big of a city for us with too much traffic and people moving into the area. It’s also getting expensive. Altitude would be good but not necessary. Desert/lush/rainy/sunny - as long as the extremes don’t limit being outdoors to train we are open to different types of climate. That being said, parts of AZ might be too hot but Albuquerque might be OK. Although driving 90 minutes to ows would not be good. I do hear Albuquerque is a really nice area though. I was there over 20 years ago for a short visit and took the tram up Sandia Peak. I hardly remember the city though.
I should also add that I loved Portland, OR and Seattle, WA when we visited many years ago. But they are large cities with lots of traffic. And I’m not sure if there are ows options.
I live in Victoria, just north of Seattle. It is a triathlete’s paradise. A paradise for most with an outdoor lifestyle, actually. You can train outdoors year round (gets a bit wet in the winter though) and it checks all your boxes. You can get a glimpse of it from Simon Whitfields training day video with Specialized, as he lives and trained here, as well as other former IM greats Peter Reid and Lori Bowden. We have a few national teams based here (including triathlon) so there are a lot of amenities for athletes in town (great gyms, LBS, medical, physio, massage practitioners etc).
We have several lakes within 10-20 minutes of the city that are awesome open water swimming holes from May-October. Every summer evening there are groups of tri folk out swimming them. As for masters, there are maybe 4-6 masters groups in the city. Some are very competitive, some for beginners, some tri focused, etc.
Excellent cycling roads. Generally it is also very cycling friendly. In 10-20 minutes you are out of the city and doing incredible climbs, cycling miles of quiet ocean front, or through rolling farm land. You can ride through the winters, but it requires some thick skin (wet and cold for a few months… no snow though).
Affordable housing. This is the one down side. It is expensive. But, with the exchange rate working hugely in your favour, you might find it pretty affordable. It is also a very American friendly place. Seems like a lot of Americans come up here from the PNW.
No snow, just rain. Bring fenders! Falls are generally dry and mild, summers are perfect (usually around 70-85*F and sunny), low humidity, spring is a total mixed bag of rain/wind/sun/hail and everything in between, but generally pleasant.
You’re a 90 minute ferry ride away from the US, and Vancouver. Great food and beer scene. Great schools if you have kids, and it is very safe.
Austin, TX. I live in Round Rock, 15-20 min north of Austin (if there’s no traffic–traffic is the biggest downside to Austin, IMO).
Several masters programs. I swim at Nitro in Cedar Park, but there are a couple others I can think of that are actually in Austin instead of a suburb. You can even swim at the UT natatorium. Also unique places like Deep Eddy and Barton Springs. Decent roads if you know where to go. Austinite drivers are fairly considerate compared to other places I’ve lived, and there are enough bikes out that it’s not hard to find a group to ride with. Austin Tri-Cyclist, Bicycle Sport Shop, and Jack & Adam’s all have scheduled rides. So does Mellow Johnny’s, I believe, but I’ve never ridden with them. NE of town is rural and fun. W of town (specifically W of Lake Travis) is a little more sketchy in my experience as I’ve never really felt welcome there on a bike. I normally run from my house, but the trail around Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake is good, if crowded.
As for races, you’re within 12 hours (kind of my race driving limit) of Kansas, New Orleans, Panama City, Houston, Galveston, Lubbock (BSLT). I say all this as those are the places I drive to for triathlons. I don’t have much info for bike races.
A close second for me is Boise, ID. Lots of outdoor activities once it warms up in April-ish. I’m not big on being out in cold weather unless I’m skiing.
Hi triflorida - I really did love Austin when we were there this past Feb! We rented a condo close to Barton Springs and I LOVED swimming there! We did a Sat group ride from Mellow Johnny’s. It was fast and furious but super fun! We also ran the Austin half marathon the next day as a training run. That was a blast too. And I keep telling people how the Austin drivers were so much more courteous towards cyclists. Only problem is that there are millions of them. Traffic was a deal breaker. We lived in San Diego during the late 90s and traffic was just too much. I don’t think I want to deal with that again esp now that we’re getting older. I also loved the Austin vibe! “keep Austin weird”! I love forward thinking places like Austin, Portand, SF, etc. (veggie food options, good beer, wine bars, coffee shops are also things we enjoy )
I remember visiting Victoria as a kid - I couldn’t put a year on it but I remember 2 things - it was the first time I’d ever seen a triathlon - IM Hawaii on the flight from London - we and had driven up from Seattle, and the second was that whilst waiting for a ferry there was a guy with a red Kestrel KM40 frame on the roof of a Nissan - like a nissan Z.
I think the whole place blew me away - and it has to be 25 years ago, but my memories of it led to doing an IM 15+ years later and another 13 after that…its also one of the most amazing places - scenery wise, I’ve ever been and I’ve been Canada to Mexico and Canada to the keys and all sorts of other places…it was a formative experience
I digress.
If you’re not limited to the US - I’d propose Provence - the Alpes Maritimes…there is a reason that so many people / cyclists / athletes / stars and amateurs choose to live there if they can…
OWS - the med, great roads, great climbs, good skiing, great weather and a reasonably famous triathlon
Besides what you mentioned, what other aspects are important?
I should also add that I loved Portland, OR and Seattle, WA when we visited many years ago. But they are large cities with lots of traffic. And I’m not sure if there are ows options.
There are a lot of OWS opportunities in the lakes surrounding Seattle. Seattle housing is expensive and it has bad traffic, but the communities to the SE of Seattle are more reasonable prices and have an active community of triathletes. You can train outside all year round if you don’t mind getting a little wet (similar conditions to Victoria).
I live in Victoria, just north of Seattle. It is a triathlete’s paradise. A paradise for most with an outdoor lifestyle, actually. You can train outdoors year round (gets a bit wet in the winter though) and it checks all your boxes. You can get a glimpse of it from Simon Whitfields training day video with Specialized, as he lives and trained here, as well as other former IM greats Peter Reid and Lori Bowden. We have a few national teams based here (including triathlon) so there are a lot of amenities for athletes in town (great gyms, LBS, medical, physio, massage practitioners etc).
We have several lakes within 10-20 minutes of the city that are awesome open water swimming holes from May-October. Every summer evening there are groups of tri folk out swimming them. As for masters, there are maybe 4-6 masters groups in the city. Some are very competitive, some for beginners, some tri focused, etc.
Excellent cycling roads. Generally it is also very cycling friendly. In 10-20 minutes you are out of the city and doing incredible climbs, cycling miles of quiet ocean front, or through rolling farm land. You can ride through the winters, but it requires some thick skin (wet and cold for a few months… no snow though).
Affordable housing. This is the one down side. It is expensive. But, with the exchange rate working hugely in your favour, you might find it pretty affordable. It is also a very American friendly place. Seems like a lot of Americans come up here from the PNW.
No snow, just rain. Bring fenders! Falls are generally dry and mild, summers are perfect (usually around 70-85*F and sunny), low humidity, spring is a total mixed bag of rain/wind/sun/hail and everything in between, but generally pleasant.
You’re a 90 minute ferry ride away from the US, and Vancouver. Great food and beer scene. Great schools if you have kids, and it is very safe.
Thanks BCtriguy1 - Victoria sounds amazing! I haven’t really considered Canada mostly because I’m not sure how we would live there legally. But I am going to look into this. It sounds really great with all the training opportunities. I am ok with getting a little wet in the winters. I have fenders on my Soma cross bike.
There are a lot of OWS opportunities in the lakes surrounding Seattle. Seattle housing is expensive and it has bad traffic, but the communities to the SE of Seattle are more reasonable prices and have an active community of triathletes. You can train outside all year round if you don’t mind getting a little wet (similar conditions to Victoria).
Thanks, I will check this out as I do love the Northwest!
I’ve always thought Delaware shore would be a nice spot for a Triathlete to live. Pretty good biking up and down DE-1. Decent weather except a little muggy in August and cold Jan/Feb.
“Affordable” is different things to different people but I’ve never considered the DE shore expensive. Sure you can spend a ton on a 12 bedroom beachfront castle but you can also get by with a nice place on the bay.
Lots of good triathlons nearby: First Responders in Bethany, Baltimore Tri, Eagleman, IMMD, Escape The Cape.
I don’t know anything about masters swimming there unfortunately.
I’m pretty picky when it comes to climate. I like it a lot where I am now (Ruidoso, NM). High elevation in the SW is pretty great, especially southern NM and AZ. Sunny and mild. OWS is sparse, though.
Isn’t OWS something you would just do occasionally in summer?
Durango, Flagstaff, etc are tourist-sports meccas, but they are also expensive and pretty well overrun with people (traffic), even though smallish. Do you care about having a large tri community or much entertainment? Prefer it more peaceful? Just how small and isolated of a town would you consider?
I’ve always thought Delaware shore would be a nice spot for a Triathlete to live. Pretty good biking up and down DE-1. Decent weather except a little muggy in August and cold Jan/Feb.
“Affordable” is different things to different people but I’ve never considered the DE shore expensive. Sure you can spend a ton on a 12 bedroom beachfront castle but you can also get by with a nice place on the bay.
Lots of good triathlons nearby: First Responders in Bethany, Baltimore Tri, Eagleman, IMMD, Escape The Cape.
I don’t know anything about masters swimming there unfortunately.
I’ve never considered Delaware but have wondered about Maryland. I remember reading about a cyclist saying that someplace in MD had miles and miles of roads with 8 foot shoulders and hardly any traffic. The weather is definitely better down towards DE and MD! And the shore is always nice
I’m pretty picky when it comes to climate. I like it a lot where I am now (Ruidoso, NM). High elevation in the SW is pretty great, especially southern NM and AZ. Sunny and mild. OWS is sparse, though.
Isn’t OWS something you would just do occasionally in summer?
Durango, Flagstaff, etc are tourist-sports meccas, but they are also expensive and pretty well overrun with people (traffic), even though smallish. Do you care about having a large tri community or much entertainment? Prefer it more peaceful? Just how small and isolated of a town would you consider?
We do group swims in the summer twice a week a two really great reservoirs. And we also do master swims in the pool. Our ows season is short (end of may to mid of sept) so we take advantage of it. I really love swimming outside. Our Friday early morning group swim is awesome with about a dozen or so swimmers. It was my favorite workout of the week until my stress fracture. (hoping to get back to that with a pull buoy when I get the OK from my doc). So having a close by place to swim outside is really important to us.
We would love a good tri community. We don’t really need too much entertainment at all. Honestly training makes us too tired to go out to the theater or see a concert. We love the simple things like a small cafe, cup of coffee or a quiet place to enjoy a beer once in a while. A quiet place to live would be great but I’m not sure that exists with all the other criteria we are looking for.
Anyone have in put for Grand junction CO. I’m moving there next may. Cheap housing. Mild dry climate except for summer? Or I"m told. Tons of open roads, mtb trails. Close to Moab. Boulder is 5hrs away so doable for a race weekend. Anyone have experience there?
I lived in Asheville. It has a mild climate. Tons of roads and trails. It is getting more popular and expensive. I don’t know of any OWS in the area other than tris and don’t know of a tri scene there.
My parents live in Eugene. I would move there. Some rain but beautiful. Same as the rest. Tons of roads and trails. An hour from the coast.
I’ve never considered Delaware but have wondered about Maryland. I remember reading about a cyclist saying that someplace in MD had miles and miles of roads with 8 foot shoulders and hardly any traffic. The weather is definitely better down towards DE and MD! And the shore is always nice
MD biking is pretty good starting around Frederick County (MD) and moving west from there. This swath includes Northern Loudoun County in VA.
Forgot to mention the downside of DE is that the whole area is flat as flat can be. To get in your climbing work you’d need to travel somewhere.
Hi Joyce–I’m a great friend of the Covers and used to follow your Raw Blog back in 2008/2009. I moved to Solana Beach from Richmond. PM me if you want to chat housing (even though I know that you are not looking to move to SD). Bummer on the stress fracture.
Hi Joyce–I’m a great friend of the Covers and used to follow your Raw Blog back in 2008/2009. I moved to Solana Beach from Richmond. PM me if you want to chat housing (even though I know that you are not looking to move to SD). Bummer on the stress fracture.
Hi Leslie! So cool you saw this post! The Covers are always saying we have so much in common with the sports and love of veggie/raw food. I love Solana Beach! Lots of fun memories at the Belly Up Tavern Scott and I really do miss living there. It was a fun time in our lives. We lived in a tiny beach bungalo in old Encinitas (Melrose street near Moonlight beach). I’ll message you about housing options. If we could swing it somehow, we might just deal with the traffic. We usually just avoided I-5 at certain times of day. I do miss riding on the coast highway. And I miss all that sunshine!
I would say Phoenix just for the amount of racing available. All types of races sprint, olympic, half full, splash n dash, road racing, mountain biking, ect. You can race year round. Training is great, lakes and pools, roads and trails everywhere. Strong Tri community. Wnat to swim in the ocean, its 5 hrs to san diego, 4 to rocky point mexico. I love phoenix
I would say Phoenix just for the amount of raing available. All types of races sprint, olympic, half full, splash n dash, road racing, mountain biking, ect. You can race year round. Training is great, lakes and pools, roads and trails everywhere. Strong Tri community. Wnat to swim in the ocean, its 5 hrs to san diego, 4 to rocky point mexico. I love phoenix
I always hear great things about Phoenix but my only concern is the heat. I know it’s a dry heat but perhaps you just get up early to train during the summer months? I was considering signing up for IM AZ in November of 2016 so we could check out the area. However, with my stress fracture I now have unfinished business in Mont Tremblant next year.
I do hear there are all kinds of lakes surrounding Phoenix for OWS. I would love that.
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