As I’m sitting in my 6th month of northern winter, I was thinking about what location in the Americas would be best for training.
Looking at weather, ability to do long outdoor rides, open-water swim, pool, other active people/active clubs, etc… Also assuming that this lucky person works remotely.
North/central/South America.
EDIT: have been thinking a lot about Austin, Arizona, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, or Colombia.
If you look just for the positives, many cities in Brazil have this.
I used to live in Rio de Janeiro and could ride, run, pool/open water swim year round.
Not sure if you meant mainland, but I’d pick somewhere in Hawaii.
Not sure if you meant mainland, but I’d pick somewhere in Hawaii.
Hawaii is not in the Americas, it’s Oceania.
If I was rich AF, I would probably train in Kihei for at least 4 months of the year.
6 months of winter is awesome if you nordic ski, just saying…
Boyaca region of Colombia. Home of Nairo Quintana. Altitude. Cycling crazy culture. Several Olympic distance pools and a big lake. Live like a king for $1,000.00 per month. Temps between 65 and 80 degrees year round.
Haven’t been there. Please check it out and report back.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Colombia seems slept on. I’ll report back ASAP - soon as I leave the frozen mitten
6 months of winter is awesome if you nordic ski, just saying…
It’s not the winter that gets me, it’s the shoulder seasons. They haven’t groomed in weeks and there’s only so much slush skiing I can do.
This is an easy answer, but probably not what you want to hear.
It’s California. Either northern or southern, with southern getting more sun and dryness but less greenery. Both are year-round cycling in shorts places, and it doesn’t get so hot in the summer that you always have to hide in the afternoon. LA and SF bay area are the main hotspots, but most of CA works.
The big bummer - you will pay through the nose if you move to a ‘nice’ area - meaning not just nice for triathlon, but nice for general living. It’s so expensive I can’t even recommend considering it unless you already have the money and reason to move here.
There are better places during various times of the year, but for all-round, year-average, stay-in-one-place, California is it. Better than Hawaii and better than Colorado, even if those places and others are better than Norcal at various times of the year for various things.
Yeah, I tend to be swayed by Holly Lawrence’s argument for LA - ocean swimming year round, rides with great hills, great pools, tracks, runs along the beach. Alternatively, Boulder or Arizona seem pretty great for tri training. Boulder with the altitude would be great for the O2 saturation.
This is an easy answer, but probably not what you want to hear.
It’s California. Either northern or southern, with southern getting more sun and dryness but less greenery. Both are year-round cycling in shorts places, and it doesn’t get so hot in the summer that you always have to hide in the afternoon. LA and SF bay area are the main hotspots, but most of CA works.
The big bummer - you will pay through the nose if you move to a ‘nice’ area - meaning not just nice for triathlon, but nice for general living. It’s so expensive I can’t even recommend considering it unless you already have the money and reason to move here.
There are better places during various times of the year, but for all-round, year-average, stay-in-one-place, California is it. Better than Hawaii and better than Colorado, even if those places and others are better than Norcal at various times of the year for various things.
It is really hard to beat and I will gladly listen to all the non-Californians complain about it and tell us how much it has gone downhill. 
I love California, but damn the traffic gets to me.
I love California, but damn the traffic gets to me.
The traffic is still multiplefold improved now in the immediate post-COVID world than before COVID in CA! It’s getting worse by the day though…
Again, money solves a lot of these problems, unfortunately. You pay for a ‘high-affordable’ house, and you’re getting stuck with the hordes of people coming from the same areas of housing. You pay for a ‘WTF expensive’ house, and all of a sudden you’re going counter to traffic on most every drive and it’s completely a nonissue as there are usually a lot fewer people living in those pricey neighborhoods.
I live that life right now.
I live in a beach community in West Los Angeles. Open water Ocean swimming in 5 places within 10 miles. Bay swimming is a bit further.
Member of 2 fantastic triathlon / swim clubs
Ride in the coastal Santa Monica mtns every weekend. The San Gabriel mtns are an hr away for even more climbing on the or run trails.
LA is pretty dang good!
6 months of winter is awesome if you nordic ski, just saying…
Yeah, I was thinking Canmore or Tremblant for this reason.
6 months of winter is awesome if you nordic ski, just saying…
Yeah, I was thinking Canmore or Tremblant for this reason.
I’d love to retire to Canmore. I was just there skiing with the kids over spring break. Not sure what the cycling is like but I imagine that the gravel scene would be good. The road from Canmore to K-Country was an amazing drive and the whole time I was wishing I was on the bike.
6 months of winter is awesome if you nordic ski, just saying…
Yeah, I was thinking Canmore or Tremblant for this reason.
I’d love to retire to Canmore. I was just there skiing with the kids over spring break. Not sure what the cycling is like but I imagine that the gravel scene would be good. The road from Canmore to K-Country was an amazing drive and the whole time I was wishing I was on the bike.
The road/gravel scene in Canmore is somewhat limited. Not many roads to choose from.
The Smith Dorrien Trail to K-County you mention is horrible because of the heavy traffic, dust clouds the whole way.
Better to ride the High Rockies Trail that parallels it, but it’s way more gnarly, and way more fun on a MTB from what I’ve heard.
Gravel scene is better near Calgary, but you’ll be driving to start good rides.
I know the places I’m gonna say are not in America, but it’s just daydreaming, isn’t it?
I have all planned just in case I win the lottery. Northern hemisphere winter, I’d go to New Zealand or South Africa. When weather gets better up here, Spain, Italy and Greece
That’s too bad about that road, it looked like it would be fun! I didn’t mention the road scene in Canmore because there just don’t seen to be a lot of roads but I guess there aren’t that many gravel roads either. I’d stick to MTB at the Nordic Center. Thanks for the info! I’ll keep dreaming about it and idly checking the Realtor.ca listings for the area.
How has no one picked Vancouver yet? You can train outside year round, there are pools/lakes everywhere plus an ocean, gravel rides, skiing, hiking, and mountain biking. What more could you ask for?