Exploring a job opportunity there and looking for information. Any insights appreciated!
I spent a summer there ~25 years ago, so take that into consideration. The loop up Colorado National Monument around to Fruita was a spectacular ride, other than that the options were pretty limited. I would drive back east on I70 a few miles and do a ride up Grand Mesa, hour or two of climbing and then a just turn around and descend back down in like 20 minutes or something. Maybe there are more options now.
It was hot as balls, but a dry heat, as they say.
Lots of great mountain biking in the area - Kokopelli Trail, Lunch Loops, and a lot more. Over the Edge is a good bike shop there.
My daughter and her family moved there last year. I have visited several times. The biking is amazing all around the area. Moab isn’t that far away.
The hardest thing for me was finding a pool to swim. No Master’s teams I am aware of. I have only found the pool at Mesa Fitness (only 3 lanes). Maybe folks who live there know of other options.
Food wise, there are some quality restaurants downtown.
I spent a summer there ~25 years ago, so take that into consideration. The loop up Colorado National Monument around to Fruita was a spectacular ride, other than that the options were pretty limited. I would drive back east on I70 a few miles and do a ride up Grand Mesa, hour or two of climbing and then a just turn around and descend back down in like 20 minutes or something. Maybe there are more options now.
It was hot as balls, but a dry heat, as they say.
hot AF in the summer. but it’s not too far from crested butte, which has great alpine mtb and overall a great cycling town.
gj is a purplish leaning red city imo. lots of dumbass maga people driving around in lifted turbo charged diesels, just to go grocery shopping, coal rolling at red lights, then complaining that gas is 5 dollars a gallon. but there are a growing number of hippie dippie coffee shops, where 25 year old are somehow surviving off of their 9 dollars an hour job.
i’ve spent a ton of time there over the past 2 years. the riding mtb is decent, but it’s desert riding, similar to moab, but imo better d/t how busy moab gets with the atv crowd. fruita nearby is more my jam, but good luck finding a home there.
I spent a summer there ~25 years ago, so take that into consideration. The loop up Colorado National Monument around to Fruita was a spectacular ride, other than that the options were pretty limited. I would drive back east on I70 a few miles and do a ride up Grand Mesa, hour or two of climbing and then a just turn around and descend back down in like 20 minutes or something. Maybe there are more options now.
It was hot as balls, but a dry heat, as they say.
hot AF in the summer. but it’s not too far from crested butte, which has great alpine mtb and overall a great cycling town.
gj is a purplish leaning red city imo. lots of dumbass maga people driving around in lifted turbo charged diesels, just to go grocery shopping, coal rolling at red lights, then complaining that gas is 5 dollars a gallon. but there are a growing number of hippie dippie coffee shops, where 25 year old are somehow surviving off of their 9 dollars an hour job.
i’ve spent a ton of time there over the past 2 years. the riding mtb is decent, but it’s desert riding, similar to moab, but imo better d/t how busy moab gets with the atv crowd. fruita nearby is more my jam, but good luck finding a home there.
I didn’t have a mountain bike when I was there. I remember there only really being a couple of options to road ride if you wanted to ride from Grand Junction itself, the loop up the monument (there was a road at the top that was paved for several miles heading toward Utah, but it turned to dirt at some point) and then there was road going north toward Wyoming but you just had to ride out and then turnaround at some point and come back. There were something like half mile or mile grid roads on the north side of town that I would go and ride sometimes, but frequent stop signs at the intersections. It was pretty redneck back then. I had a couple of drugged out looking guys fuck with me once up in that area north of town.
honestly, the roads there are better for road riding. i’ve seen a lot of the college club/roadie teams ride together in small groups. but tbh, i wouldn’t touch a road bike these days unless i was riding with a group of 4 or more, or under 10 with wide shoulders, even if the roads are not busy. too many idiots driving with their phones, too many idiots in lifted trucks thinking coal rolling and buzzing riders is cool.
if you want to pound out miles, get a xc mtb or a hardtail mtb and pound out some single track. or, if you really want to suffer, get a gravel bike and you can ride kokopeli to your hearts content. i just don’t trust the car culture in GJ to be safe.
The last couple of places I’ve lived have been way more “MAGA hat and 4x4” than “hippie dippie.” I find I can get on with most folks pretty well and find common ground, but would rather not go hard one way or the other. For example, Idaho and Utah seem a little too hard one direction, but Boulder and Asheville seem a little too hard the other direction.
Someplace I can road ride, mtb, gravel, and x-country ski in the winter, and hike/snowshoe/kayak on off days sounds pretty interesting. Summer weather doesn’t seem too bad compared to where I am currently, and it seems like the winters aren’t too harsh and don’t involve too much shoveling, but good powder, and sounds like fairly uncrowded, is an easy drive away.
Traveling out of the area seems like it could be a bit of a hassle, but on the flip side there is a lot to do and explore within a day’s drive.
FWIW, The other area we had been considering is western carolinas/virginia or eastern TN. That area has a lot to offer and is a bit more affordable, but of course everything is a trade-off, and a very interesting work proposition in one goes a long way.
Thanks to all for the feedback.
Moved here to GJ a few years ago and I find it a pretty much amazing place for tri training, and was a big factor in buying a house here. Need at least 2 hands to count the number of places to swim, there is good riding in every direction on and off road if you know the area, and has a solid running community and venues too.
I can list more if people are interested, but otherwise feel free to reach out directly and I’m glad to give you the scoop.
You will adapt just fine in the, “Junkyard†then. Plenty of room for all types of people in the great state of Colorado.
I don’t live there, but I spent some extended stays there and my riding buddy went to college there and that is where hs parents retired.
The university has the nicest 50m pool in all of Colorado, so if you can get access to that the pool situation is covered. I don’t know the other pools on town though.
Riding the monument is a real treat and they have tons of great montain biking right out of town. North of town is pretty much pan flat ag land with the typical 1 mile grid of roads. You can travel sort of rolling rural roads down to Fruita. I haven’t tried the gravel bike there, but I bet you could finds lots of interesting stuff.
It is definitely high desert with pretty minimal rain fall (sub-10" per year if I remember correctly.) so snow and rain aren’t an issue, but they do get some winter inversions that can keep the valley cold during the winter.
As far as social life is concerned, it is an interesting mix of small college town, rural ag, oil and gas, vineyards, retirees, and a bit of tourism.
this is Lauren Boebert country. They elected her overwhelmingly last time, enthusiastically voted for her in the recent Republican primary, and will elect her again this fall. So that’s what your neighbors will be like. If you’re white and not visibly atheist it’ll probably be fine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Boebert
Guns and God is what the bumper stickers in GJ say. I don’t see the connection myself.
On the plus side - excellent trail riding, good mountain access, the world’s best peaches, not a lot of traffic, and a relatively mild climate (except for the summer heat but that’s everywhere now).
https://www.city-data.com/city/Grand-Junction-Colorado.html
Some observations…
8% more women than men.
Growing fast. 50% increase since 2000.
Wages are low compared to the rest of CO, but housing is cheaper as well. COL is 93.8% of US average.
Crime is a little high, but not too bad.
Solidly republican.
Beautiful area.
Mild climate? I guess it depends on what you are used to. Avg highs in the high 30s in January, and low 90s in July would be pretty extreme to me. It is dry, though; 9" annually.