I'll try to be as concise as possible with this post, but I have a lot of questions and a lot of things I'm looking for in my potential new home city.
I'll give you a little background on my riding and what kind of riding I'm looking for after I move. I'm a very late bloomer as far as mountain biking goes. I didn't start riding trails until about a year ago. I live in Houston, TX, and as you'd imagine the trails here are XC and fairly lame. Little to no elevation changes. The main reason for my move revolves around mountain biking, but there are plenty of things I hate about Houston, so I'm looking forward to getting the hell out of here for other reasons as well.
So one of the first things I'm looking for after I move is a variety of trails. I'd like to have access to XC, AM and DH trails. I've never ridden DH, hell, I've never even been on a mountain with the exception of driving on some mountain roads in California. But I've gotten hooked on watching DH/freeride vids online and feel like it might be my calling. Then again it might be well beyond my skill level and my body might not hold up to the abuse at my age (I'm 30, sadly). With any luck I'll be going to Angel Fire in a couple of weeks to get my first taste of true DH, so we'll see if it's the thrill I'm looking for or if I'll have piss dribbling down my leg while clutching the brakes as I skid slowly down the mountain. I seem to have a pretty significant fear of heights, which I'm sure will come into play while DHing and even keeps me from hitting dirt jumps already. For whatever reason I feel compelled to conquer my fears and not give up. But, if riding DH excites me as much as I think it will I think that would be the majority of the riding I'd be doing after I move so access to DH trails are looking to be a must. I also REALLY like the idea of having a home trail, i.e. something within riding distance of where I'll be living. Wouldn't have to be a DH trail though, just something to ride.
Now, another big factor is weather. I'm looking forward to anything different than the climate here in Houston, which is absolutely brutal and can make it next to impossible to do anything outside. I don't want to live somewhere however, where I'll have to put the bike away for the winter. I need to ride year round. Now I'm thinking snow will keep you from DHing in the winter since those trails are at higher altitudes, but I'd be more than happy with some rideable XC trails for the winter.
Being within an hours drive of a bike park with lift access trails would be awesome as well. Also any kind of local pump tracks, dirt jumps, and free ride areas within reasonable distance would be a huge plus.
Now let's talk demographic and community. I'm looking forward to more of a small town feel. I don't want to live in a podunk town though, I mean I'll need to be able to find a job. I'd prefer to live in a more liberal town. I don't need any kind of nightlife as I don't go to bars/clubs/restaurants/etc. What I will need is a job, roof over my head (I'd prefer to rent a room as opposed to getting my own place to save on living expenses), and access to a 24 Hour Fitness (I have a membership there and I work out 6-7 days a week). As far as work goes I'll have to find what I can. I don't have a degree and no solid career. I do however make over 15/hr right now so I guess I'll look forward to a nice pay cut.
So I guess the long and short of what I'm asking is does such a place exist? Will I be able to find a city/town with a wide variety of trails, nice weather, year round biking, potential for finding a decent paying job?
When I first made the decision that I was going to be moving I told myself I was going to move to BC, Canada. I figure if I'm going to do this I might as well go big and move to the area that has the most epic MTB trails in the world. It seems though the towns there either get a lot of snow in the winter and/or lots of rain. I don't know yet if there is anywhere up there where you can bike year round. Also the whole getting a work visa and being an immigrant isn't that appealing, not to mention that is one LONG ass drive. Although I do love that BC is more liberal than most of the US and from what I've read nearly everyone there is either Atheist or Agnostic. Also, isn't prostitution legal there? Sweeeet.
I have to keep my options open though. Some places I've heard about and am starting to research a bit are Park City, UT, Fruita, CO, Boulder, CO, Durango, CO, northern NM, etc. I'd love to hear some testimonials about either your home town if you think it's the greatest or places that you've been that you think fit what I'm looking for.
I also have another question specific to DH biking. I understand how DHing works at a bike park with chair lifts, but how the hell do you get to the top of the trails that aren't at parks with lift access? If you drive to the top then you either have to climb or hike back to your vehicle. If you park at the bottom you have to climb or hike before you can descend. I've heard of shuttle rides, but I don't know how that works exactly. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
Sorry for the novel. I will really appreciate any input, info or advice anyone is willing to give. Thanks, guys.
Is MTBR the only site that gets a lot of forum traffic? Maybe I'd be better off joining over there...
Nah, dude, This is a good forum. Lots of threads and some get missed.
We're in similar predicaments for what we're looking to get into. I'm going to make the move somewhere outside of Denver. Do not want to live in the city and want a small town vibe with mountains around and access to lots of good riding.
Give it a few days after this bump and someone will probably come along and post in here with a good suggestion. As for your 24h fitness membership, I'd let that "must" die and not limit myself based on a crappy gym chain.
Honestly, your post is to huge to read, concentrate, or care about. Not being rude but its too much info.
Check out Golden, Colorado. I live in Morrison but its a "small town".
Benefits:
I-70 has the lift resorts Jefferson County has the XC Lots of dirt jumps in the area (Valmont is in Boulder) Breweries Creek for floating 30 minutes from Denver
I ride my bike out of my garage for XC rides alot and take the DJ to the skatepark straight from the house.
Live close to I-70, Golden or Morrison is where its at
Check out Southern Ca, I use to live there, and the riding is great. Your within a few hours of some bike park and in the winters down below the mountain are just like Texas. I live here in Austin, and the riding is great here minus having no real big down hill parks. We have lots of trails with all different kind of terrain.
Honestly, your post is to huge to read, concentrate, or care about. Not being rude but its too much info.
Check out Golden, Colorado. I live in Morrison but its a "small town".
Benefits:
I-70 has the lift resorts Jefferson County has the XC Lots of dirt jumps in the area (Valmont is in Boulder) Breweries Creek for floating 30 minutes from Denver
I ride my bike out of my garage for XC rides alot and take the DJ to the skatepark straight from the house.
Live close to I-70, Golden or Morrison is where its at
This!
Your post is too long to digest without a ton of effort.
i live in new mexico albuquerque to be spacific , its cool you got sandia peak for xc and even some poached DH trails, but you want everything deff look into colorado, colo springs is a really nice town. northern new mexico does not have much man, new mexico is a little ghetto, but probably nothing compared to houston, lol
I moved to SW CO. Love the towns, the vibe, access to riding around here is everywhere. The only thing I lament is the lack of lift-served. Guess I got spoiled in BC.
But on the upside there are so many fantastic XC trails around here that it doesn't even stick out as much of a sore point.
If you want a small-ish town that's not podunk, access to options for employment, reasonably liberal, decent weather for year round riding, and a variety of trail options the Front Range is it. Golden, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colo Springs are all options.
Fort Collins is a great town, and there are great trails in/near FoCo, but when you get tired of backyard stuff you'll travel a bit farther. Golden is filled with good trail options out your back door, the town is nice, but it's pretty hemmed in by sprawl. Boulder has the best bike park (Valmont) and fairly quick access to several trail systems. there's also something that's rideable year round (there's a week or two that has snow but it doesn't last). There are also a boat load of bike shops that will provide everything you ever want. Winter Park is probably the closest true DH riding (90 min from Boulder) but there are some other DH-ish trails closer. Durango is limited for employment and get's more winter snow. Fruita is also limited on employment - tons of trails though. Colo Springs isn't terribly small and it isn't terribly liberal either.
A year and a half ago I faced the same issue. I lived in Portland OR - the town was great and I loved Bend, OR, but wanted closer trails and more options. I moved to Boulder. It's not perfect, I don't really love the town, but geographically (weather, access to the bike park, and all trails) it's pretty great.
Just moved to Steamboat Springs last July. Wanted to be far away from city life and actually in a mountain town with everything out your front (or back) door. It's definitely isolated, but i think in a good way (doesn't get the summit county crunch). Pleanty of climby-XC, great shuttle trails, and of course the gondi runs all summer for bike use. The overall outdoor vibe is what we came for. Camping/backpacking access, river fun, etc during the summer, and the snow isn't bad either!!
As far as shuttling goes, we usually leave the vehicle we drove up in at the top and get it after the ride with another vehicle, unless we can convince someone to just drive and drop us.
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