Best Place to Live and Mountain Bike... Small and Large Town.

Don't forget the extra garage bay and guest quarters and RV parking/hookups for my trailer, just saying...

 

Bicycle friendly!

 

My in-laws did this, it got old within a couple years. I need a home base where my "peeps" are, and I expect that will be especially true some day after leaving full time work behind. And as much as I'm ready to not fight traffic and taxes, my peeps are here in OC. Maybe that will change in 15 years.

On-topic: seeing how Oaks is already beat up into year-end condition, I'm voting for a trail town with some appreciable level of summer precipitation.

 

The politics of CA... indeed.

Check out Bishop. My son is there and loves it! Skiing, sport climbing, alpine gateway, bouldering, and some less traveled big walls... mtb riding, trail running. Hot in the summer though.

 

Lots of potential up the east side for the the Sierra Nevada lover. Bishop was somewhat discovered a couple of decades ago, so not what it used to be. Too many beards, Subarus and trendsters who couldn't make it all the way to CO. Don't tell your kid I said that!!!!!! Great place to visit, tho.

 

Ha ha ha true dat @mike My son says that about Colorado. . Lack of water and private land will keep the pop down in Bishop but housing ain't cheap as a result #chinatown. He is 23, lives in his Subie (!), is a wound care nurse at the local hospital, works with the local SAR team, skis, climbs, runs trails, and chases girls in long jackets and short skirts... and is a long way from retirement. Dad visits to Bishop are gonna be fun!

Edit: and it has most certainly been hipsterized, after all, there is now a regularly maintained pit toilet in the Buttermilks.

 

Way to go meta on the posting!!!! I see what you did there...

 

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As long as you are in uniform and have your I.D. with data chip, you should be fine.

Going to go look at Cedar City Utah. It's around 4 to 5 thousand feet, it has local riding It's 4 hours from Park City Utah, 4 hours from Moab, and less than an hour from St. George which gives you Hurricane and Gooseberry.

 

Cedar City's elevation is nearly 5,900 feet. Plenty of snow in the winter, but you also have Kolob Canyons right there, and the Fish Lake National Forest is an hour north, just east of Beaver. Literally hundreds of miles of trails, some ATV specific but that doesn't mean you can't MTB there. I've ridden up there...I'd love to have 6 months to explore.

https://utah.com/atv/paiute-trail

 

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/fayetteville-dreaming.html

 

If you're considering UT as a home base, check the tax implications. Utah is not as easy on retirement savings as Colorado or Wyoming. Choose your rectangular states wisely.

 

Post of the week fer sure ... totally... ohh sorry dude I'm stuck in the wrong decade...need to time warp to hipster time-land.

 

Always with this blasphemy, Jay! Floop is a 34 year old gift from the ancients. It's a scientific fact that your heart is two sizes too small if you don't like the Floop.

That's more like it.

I feel pretty spoiled living in Fullerton, but the cost of living is outrageous, and this state's politicians have made it clear that they hate my guts and want me gone or in prison. So, sadly that takes OC, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Downieville, Auburn, etc off the list for me. Tahoe/Reno might work if I live on the American side of the wire.
A lot of the places that have friendly laws don't have year round riding. The idea of living somewhere cold in the summer and warm in the winter is appealing in theory, but after spending four years living in Yuma, AZ, I have a deep loathing for Snowbirds. It would gall me to become one. There are such things as indoor trainers and BMX parks, and I don't mind snow, so maybe a cold place wouldn't be that bad.

It's hard for me to narrow it down, but there are a LOT of places along I-40 that don't seem half bad. Bentonville and Hot Springs in AR, along with the Asheville, NC area are looking appealing.

I lived in Everett, WA for a year, and I really miss the PNW. So WA and OR are definitely on the list.

Sounds like I need to take a lot of road trips soon.

 

Don't forget - UT is a theocracy.

 

So is California, we just pray to different gods.

*edit* I just remembered the epic journey for beer from SLC Punk. That would suck.

 

I lived in one of the snowbird capitals of the world for 20 years, interacted directly with very many, and I don't see them as more flawed than people who live in one home. I have, however, seen more one-home livers griping about snowbirds than I could hope to tally – pretty much universally because snowbirds are old, drive terribly and they get to go somewhere comfortable. Less theorizing, more trying?

 

Thou art misinformed, my son.

I lived there (SLC) for 3 years - 1984-1986 - and have been there many, many other times before and since. Getting a beer was not difficult then and is even less so now. Including in the much smaller towns.

I never had an issue with the locals. I went deer hunting and everything. Cracks me up to hear some of the preconceptions people have about Mormons.

Or maybe it was just easier for me, having grown up in it. The religion, not the state.

 

Most of ones I met in Yuma had a more entitled attitude than the kids they whined about. No thanks. If you can do that and you choose to, that's cool. That's just not for me.

 

I would take that any day of the week compared to California Librocracy. I'm sure that I made that word up.

 

Not preconceptions, 2nd hand knowledge. My brother has lived there as a non-LDS for about 6 years and shares with me the beauty of the politics. Especially when trying to get a job, run a business or even rent a place. That said, the LDS kids at my last two schools were absolutely the best. Give me a school full!

 

My wife went to high school in UT, if you aren't LDS you are an outsider at school, work, anywhere. People are polite but you never really belong, except maybe with the non-practicing folks and other outsiders. So forget career advancement.

My mother in law had a "greatest snow on earth" bumper sticker that was modified to read "greatest taxes on earth."

 

If you are considering Cedar City, might as well gander at Mesquite NV. It's 45 minutes west of St Geo and in NV. No snow! And there's the potential for some epics right out of town.

 

So much good info here. Never thought about how far my retirement dollars would go in any particular state. I still have 3 years to go so plenty of time to sort that out. While honeymooning in St. George last year we felt welcome wherever we went. Maybe they knew we were tourists?

 

Nobody is rude. If you are there to spend money you are welcome. But look around:If you want a burrito you will have to go to Cafe Rio or Costa Vida. Both make Chipotle seem tasty and authentic, but you can't make a buck selling something non-lds when there's an LDS alternative. And there is almost always an alternative.

That said, SLC is big enough that you would be able to make friends. And if the oil price goes back up you can find work in the oil fields. Case in point: the little non-lds christian school that my in-laws founded isn't so little now. It turns out that a Texas-based denomination will thrive in an oil boom, even in UT. If you want to know more about that town, read the May 2016 edition of Bike Magazine. The trails are pretty sweet as is the whitewater.

Utah does have the lowest income inequality of any state, so if that's your big issue you should check it out.

 

Looking at home prices in Cedar City it almost seems I won't need a mortgage just my checkbook. I see many a trip coming up.

 

I see what u did there - meta.

My best friends in law school were LDS. I guess we share the same core values. As a non LDS, I never felt that their religion impacted our relationships. Guys who would (and did) give me the shirts off their backs- I know that SLC is not the best career path for non LDS - just stay away from the compound.

 

I'm still a few years out. My In-laws are still with us and I'll be here for them until the end (closer to them than my own parents). After that though, my wife and I are cashing out and leaving this poor excuse of a state (born and raised here). Our boys want to leave also before they set down roots so they can actually have a decent lifestyle. In the mean time, we visit and explore as many places as we can.

Below is a link that I use regularly when looking at other state taxes. I don't have any problem paying taxes as long as they go to what they are supposed to pay for such as military, police, fire, infrastructure, and parks. I just want to maximize my retirement dollars.

I know I was supposed to list some cities that had good riding (all of the above are great places BTW), but after being robbed by the liars and crooks in Sacramento for so long, the financial burden is my priority. The recreation can be found anywhere.

http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/retirement/T055-S001-state-by-state-guide-to-taxes-on-retirees/

 

Great link! Now I have a better idea where my retirement dollars will go the furthest. Looking at Nevada there is pretty much no income tax for retirees. Property tax even seems low.

 

Yep. Nevada is very good for retirees. I love the Reno area. My son graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno and I would put it up against any Cal State or UC school. Unfortunately the property values from Gardnerville to Reno have skyrocketed in the past few years (do to Californians moving there).

In keeping with the theme of this thread, everybody knows how great the riding is around Lake Tahoe. The south end is about 45 minutes from Gardnerville and the north end is about 45 minutes from Reno.

 

Cherie and I were considering Prescott as well; even went there over spring break last March. Recently she was researching Prescott on line and discovered several articles/reports about the massive increase in drug rehab houses in Prescott over the last 5 years. 150-200 such houses there currently! The houses are unregulated by the state or city and locals have many legitimate complaints about increased crime and homelessness when the patients either leave the house or are removed when their insurance runs out. We are now sold on Boise for retirement which we checked out last week. Prescott is a great mtb location but for it's size, that many rehab houses is something to think about!