In 2013 I bought my house for $130k (still live here). My closest local trail has 2200 feet of vert, with several more in that range...
In 2013 I bought my house for $130k (still live here). My closest local trail has 2200 feet of vert, with several more in that range just a few min away. The trail that I ride from my office parking lot has over 3k of vert. All of it excellent Enduro style riding.
Since then my house has tripled in price. Its a shame that kids who grew up in this place cannot return from college and afford to live in the town they grew up in.
My ride from just a few days ago
I may have just added Valhalla, WY to my list. That's gorgeous! Do you get a lot of snow in the winter?
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still love that Paul Aston announced buying his farm (house + barn + land) for less than "3 Sworks bikes".
An option I haven't seen mentioned is Oaxaca in Mexico, I visited but didn't bike, I believe they have great trails and the location is really nice and cheap.
But anyway, I live near Nice, on the expensive coast, but I think there are better places than the ones mentioned above.
Dirtbag plan: Allos "the birthplace of Enduro racing" has tiny studio apartments going for 45k. You have a bikepark and amazing trails to ride without needing a car, but the place is empty in spring/autumn and you need to deal with snow for about 4 months.
Actual dream project: the valley underneath Valberg recently had an old 6-bedroom hotel going for 400k (the price of a 2 bed apartment on the coast). This was at the bottom of multiple EWS and transprovence stages. Add about 10k for a gym, 10k to setup the bike garage with spares, 30k for 6x ebikes and run it as a riding hotel/ team training camp all year long.
The sustained vertical isn’t there and y’all can think I’m crazy, but both Duluth Minnesota and Marquette Michigan have phenomenal riding and some really good tech...
The sustained vertical isn’t there and y’all can think I’m crazy, but both Duluth Minnesota and Marquette Michigan have phenomenal riding and some really good tech laps. They just happen to be 2.5 minutes in length not 5-10.
But the access is phenomenal, the towns are rad, and they’re cheap compared to anything out West.
You do have winter though.
I grew up in Salt Lake but just moved from the U.P. of Michigan to Grand Junction Colorado and I would take Marquette or Duluth riding over SLC/GJ any day.
To each his own, but there's well over a 1000 miles of singletrack in the surrounding SLC area and so much more vert than the UP. Housiing is expensive and air quality is susepect in the winter, but it's also a much milder winter than the UP.
Restaurant for sale with relatively large apartment above it for 150k. The EWS stage that Greg Callaghan won finishes about 200m from this place. 2 bike parks (much) less than an hour away.
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still...
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still love that Paul Aston announced buying his farm (house + barn + land) for less than "3 Sworks bikes".
An option I haven't seen mentioned is Oaxaca in Mexico, I visited but didn't bike, I believe they have great trails and the location is really nice and cheap.
But anyway, I live near Nice, on the expensive coast, but I think there are better places than the ones mentioned above.
Dirtbag plan: Allos "the birthplace of Enduro racing" has tiny studio apartments going for 45k. You have a bikepark and amazing trails to ride without needing a car, but the place is empty in spring/autumn and you need to deal with snow for about 4 months.
Actual dream project: the valley underneath Valberg recently had an old 6-bedroom hotel going for 400k (the price of a 2 bed apartment on the coast). This was at the bottom of multiple EWS and transprovence stages. Add about 10k for a gym, 10k to setup the bike garage with spares, 30k for 6x ebikes and run it as a riding hotel/ team training camp all year long.
Oaxaca is definitely cheap and has amazing riding. As another poster pointed out, DIY riding might present some difficulties there. The high altitude trails are best accessed via a shuttle (or e-bike). They're also managed/protected by the local village councils. While I didn't know EXACTLY what was happening, we ran into a crew from the local village who were up fighting a fire while on a ride. They questioned our guide quite a bit, but he knew them. Our guide gave them a couple of beers out of his backpack, and we were on our way. The guide alluded to giving them a little bribe to smooth things over, as maybe we weren't permitted for riding that specific trail area that day. I'm sure if you lived in the area (and spoke Spanish... I can't emphasize enough that speaking Spanish would be a necessity of living in Oaxaca as there's less English spoken there than anywhere else I've been in Mexico... plus a lot of indigenous dialects are spoken as well), you'd be able to figure it out.
Restaurant for sale with relatively large apartment above it for 150k. The EWS stage that Greg Callaghan won finishes about 200m from this place. 2 bike parks (much) less than an hour away.
So how many miles is that from Finale or Morzine ?
(I think I actually ate there back in the day. Beautiful location. Not much going on for business, like so many places inland. Bien trouvé !)
The sustained vertical isn’t there and y’all can think I’m crazy, but both Duluth Minnesota and Marquette Michigan have phenomenal riding and some really good tech...
The sustained vertical isn’t there and y’all can think I’m crazy, but both Duluth Minnesota and Marquette Michigan have phenomenal riding and some really good tech laps. They just happen to be 2.5 minutes in length not 5-10.
But the access is phenomenal, the towns are rad, and they’re cheap compared to anything out West.
You do have winter though.
I grew up in Salt Lake but just moved from the U.P. of Michigan to Grand Junction Colorado and I would take Marquette or Duluth riding over SLC/GJ any day.
To each his own, but there's well over a 1000 miles of singletrack in the surrounding SLC area and so much more vert than the UP...
To each his own, but there's well over a 1000 miles of singletrack in the surrounding SLC area and so much more vert than the UP. Housiing is expensive and air quality is susepect in the winter, but it's also a much milder winter than the UP.
(**Please read this as a friendly and jovially rebuttal, not confrontationally)
How much of that 1,000 miles would you really want to ride regularly if you're being honest with yourself? And how much is accessible to someone living and working in West Jordan after work (where MAYBE you could afford a house)?
Marquette has well over 150 miles of interconnected single track and Duluth more than 250 miles that can be accessed from multiple points in town and no more that a 10 minute drive from virtually anywhere. You could also easily afford a house in both places that is within an easy ride to the trailheads to access all this.
Trails like this in Marquette are 5 minutes from downtown and pedal-able from multiple neighborhoods:
And yes, way less vert, but vert for vert's sake isn't always better. Another illustratable example for this would be skiing. If you want vertical, Park City has 3,000 feet of it, but it's all pretty boring. The U.P. absolutely can't compete on that. If you want to get into gnarly terrain where you never have to vie with others for tracks, I can give you plenty of that:
Aberdeenshire in Scotland is a bit of a sleeper. There’s the potential to earn a very good wage (oil industry) and there are great natural trails to ride (granite slabs) that finish in a few local towns and villages and you’ll get a 3 bed semi for less than £200k.
(**Please read this as a friendly and jovially rebuttal, not confrontationally)How much of that 1,000 miles would you really want to ride regularly if you're being...
(**Please read this as a friendly and jovially rebuttal, not confrontationally)
How much of that 1,000 miles would you really want to ride regularly if you're being honest with yourself? And how much is accessible to someone living and working in West Jordan after work (where MAYBE you could afford a house)?
Marquette has well over 150 miles of interconnected single track and Duluth more than 250 miles that can be accessed from multiple points in town and no more that a 10 minute drive from virtually anywhere. You could also easily afford a house in both places that is within an easy ride to the trailheads to access all this.
Trails like this in Marquette are 5 minutes from downtown and pedal-able from multiple neighborhoods:
And yes, way less vert, but vert for vert's sake isn't always better. Another illustratable example for this would be skiing. If you want vertical, Park City has 3,000 feet of it, but it's all pretty boring. The U.P. absolutely can't compete on that. If you want to get into gnarly terrain where you never have to vie with others for tracks, I can give you plenty of that:
I'm here in Brașov, Romania. Cost of living is obviously cheap, being the country we are, although some prices line up with the West, where the...
I'm here in Brașov, Romania. Cost of living is obviously cheap, being the country we are, although some prices line up with the West, where the wages don't necessarily. But it is generally cheaper for most things.
Mountain biking? How about FREE shuttle service on state-operated local buses, that take you up 12 km to our local resort? You just pay a normal bus ticket, which is about 1 EUR a ride, and on Fridays it's completely free. From the local resort (Poiana Brașov), you can either ride back down on a plethora of trails (of which some are shared but the most are made for MTB and yo never find hikers there) or go up to the bike park, via gondola or cable car. The bike park is rough, as the local mountain is mostly limestone with little loam and the trails are pretty hard. Blue and green trails are more expensive to build than red and black ones. Of course, you can ride from the top of the mountain directly to the city, without passing the resort. You can also ride to the other side of the mountain, descending circa one hour and then return to the city on the national road, that passes through the mountains and is pretty flat, from the point you join it.
We also have a lot of XC loops, two evolving progressive smooth jump lines up in the resort, that are meant for people to learn how to ride, and also 2 asphalt pump tracks and an earth one, plus a good concrete skatepark, which is pretty fresh.
30-60 minutes away you have 3 other resorts that have shuttle services. Some are easier (Brava), others are more technical (Azuga, Cheile Grădiștei). Cheile Grădiștei hosted an XCO European Championship and an e-bike World Cup. Speaking of this, e-bikes are huge here and you can either go session local trails or explore the mountains around, of which we have plenty. Some of the most epic rides are in Ciucaș, Piatra Craiului, Bucegi or Piatra Mare. Yes, normal MTB-ing can be done too, it depends on your fitness.
We also have fantastic scenic rides where you can ride a gravel bike on dirt roads, like Măgura, Peștera, the area of Bran or mangificent Holbav. Oh, Bran is where the famous vampire castle is, as we are in Transylvania. One of my favourite things to do, as a guide, with tourists, is start in Sinaia, use the cable car, cross the Bucegi mountains to Padina and then ride the epic Strunga descent to Șimon, do a quick tour of the Bran castle and then go have a nice dinner back in Brașov.
And if you get bored and want to ride different epic terrain, you can hop in the car and go to Avrig, Păltiniș, Băișoara or the Jiu Valley and there are even heli rides available, that operate in the Făgăraș, Țarcu and Bucegi mountains.
We have bike shops that are better than a lot that I have seen in the West, experienced mechanics, rental operations with good bikes (Santa Cruz, Evil, Trek, Specialized, Mondraker, Rocky Mountain, Polygon etc.) and also serious guiding operations with experienced personnel.
I'd say we have it pretty good...
If you need more info or want to plan to ride here, I'm happy to answer any questions.
Cheers, Mx
P. S.: I haven't done a calculation of living cost here, but I'd say prices are similar to what the Bulgarian colleague says above. Maybe housing is definitely more expensive, as Brașov is the second highest city in the country in his regard. A pizza downtown is 7-9 EUR, a kebab 6-8, a soup 5 and a beer 3-4 EUR. Roughly.
And to be fair, another place that I have been blown away by is Malino Brdo in Slovakia. Excellent prices, good food, fantastic local riding.
Dude I’m gonna lobby for the family to visit…this sounds so sick!
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still...
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still love that Paul Aston announced buying his farm (house + barn + land) for less than "3 Sworks bikes".
An option I haven't seen mentioned is Oaxaca in Mexico, I visited but didn't bike, I believe they have great trails and the location is really nice and cheap.
But anyway, I live near Nice, on the expensive coast, but I think there are better places than the ones mentioned above.
Dirtbag plan: Allos "the birthplace of Enduro racing" has tiny studio apartments going for 45k. You have a bikepark and amazing trails to ride without needing a car, but the place is empty in spring/autumn and you need to deal with snow for about 4 months.
Actual dream project: the valley underneath Valberg recently had an old 6-bedroom hotel going for 400k (the price of a 2 bed apartment on the coast). This was at the bottom of multiple EWS and transprovence stages. Add about 10k for a gym, 10k to setup the bike garage with spares, 30k for 6x ebikes and run it as a riding hotel/ team training camp all year long.
I mentioned Oaxaca earlier but I think access might depend on the tour companies or getting in with the locals. I think most of the main trails are on native land and you pay for a pass or access. Either way you will be driving up to the top of the pass and riding the shorter trails up high.
You're from Nice so you know Sospel and Roya are pretty affordable areas with really good riding. Roya when I was there the last 2 years is practically dead. Ever since the hurricane the valley hasn't recovered. Its almost like France just took the area after ww2 for the hydro then forgot they owned it. Either way the riding is world class and I would live there in a heart beat but its French and too close to the Argentina valley to not just live there!
Dude I’m gonna lobby for the family to visit…this sounds so sick!
I'm happy to help with planning, recommendations and whatever you guys might need. I am here and can make all sort of connections. Soon I will be also able to tell you what races we have next year.
)))
We can wrap this whole thing wearing VitalMTB t-shirts and taking a selfie for the guys on the forum.
The spots in Romania and Bulgaria sound very cool not even on my radar. I went into a good rabbit hole on both and they sound very nice. This is the reason I started this thread to hear about places like this. Thank you for all your responses.
The sustained vertical isn’t there and y’all can think I’m crazy, but both Duluth Minnesota and Marquette Michigan have phenomenal riding and some really good tech...
The sustained vertical isn’t there and y’all can think I’m crazy, but both Duluth Minnesota and Marquette Michigan have phenomenal riding and some really good tech laps. They just happen to be 2.5 minutes in length not 5-10.
But the access is phenomenal, the towns are rad, and they’re cheap compared to anything out West.
You do have winter though.
I grew up in Salt Lake but just moved from the U.P. of Michigan to Grand Junction Colorado and I would take Marquette or Duluth riding over SLC/GJ any day.
Welcome, and, I'm sorry. 😆There was a similar thread on Reddit last week, and someone suggest Grand Junction was cheap place to live and I had...
Welcome, and, I'm sorry. 😆
There was a similar thread on Reddit last week, and someone suggest Grand Junction was cheap place to live and I had to burst their bubble. It's definitely cheaper than almost anywhere else I'd want to live (access to great riding being a top priority), but it ain't cheap. I went to the parade of homes a month or so ago and was appalled at what almost $1,000,000 gets you –– it's nice, but not what I pictured a "million dollar home" being growing up. But the market is cooling significantly.
SW Utah has access to great riding and is slightly more affordable. People rave about Tennessee.
If I could, I'd move to Durango in a heartbeat. But yeah, it's wildly expensive now.
I am lucky to have gotten into Durango when I did. I will never sell because I will never be able to get back in. TBH I don't really love desert riding so have no interest in going anywhere west of me within a few hours. Even GJ is too desert for me but the moto is great
If you ask most people in and around Bellingham no one would classify it as “cheap”. Especially if you’re looking to buy a house the $/sq.ft. figures are quite high.
I grew up north of SLC and as GoRide said there’s lots of amazing riding around SLC. Within 4-5 hours drive you also have Boise, Sun Valley, Jackson, Moab and St George. But… it’s sooo busy traffic and construction everywhere and only getting worse. Air quality is horrendous basically year round, Mormon culture can be problematic, and NICA kids are the worst! As of a few years ago some places around the area were unrideable because of how many kids would be out for team practice.
So how many miles is that from Finale or Morzine ? (I think I actually ate there back in the day. Beautiful location. Not much going on...
So how many miles is that from Finale or Morzine ?
(I think I actually ate there back in the day. Beautiful location. Not much going on for business, like so many places inland. Bien trouvé !)
The area is about 2hours from Finale, but more like 5 from Morzine. But you really don't need to leave, there are 5 lift access bike parks all about 1h from each other and endless incredibly diverse alpine trails.
If you ask most people in and around Bellingham no one would classify it as “cheap”. Especially if you’re looking to buy a house the $/sq.ft...
If you ask most people in and around Bellingham no one would classify it as “cheap”. Especially if you’re looking to buy a house the $/sq.ft. figures are quite high.
I grew up north of SLC and as GoRide said there’s lots of amazing riding around SLC. Within 4-5 hours drive you also have Boise, Sun Valley, Jackson, Moab and St George. But… it’s sooo busy traffic and construction everywhere and only getting worse. Air quality is horrendous basically year round, Mormon culture can be problematic, and NICA kids are the worst! As of a few years ago some places around the area were unrideable because of how many kids would be out for team practice.
Yeah... after visiting there for the Monster Pro Series last year, SLC is definitely sick... but dang is it crowded. The traffic in Cottonwood Canyon was nuts and hiking trails absolutely packed. We got up early (like before dawn) to hike up to a mountain lake one morning thinking we would beat the crowds, and there were already tons of people ahead of us hiking and even already headed down the trail.
Kinda surprised nobody mentioned Spokane. My car broke down and I spent a few days on Beacon hill, and it was rad. Median home is 400k compared to 750k in Durango. less trails and vert, but what’s your metric, miles to house cost? Maybe has Durango beat.
Put NH / VT / MA as options too. So many lifts in a short distance. So many decent trail networks in many communities especially in...
Put NH / VT / MA as options too. So many lifts in a short distance. So many decent trail networks in many communities especially in VT.
November to March is a crap though.
My buddy lives in East Burke VT and the riding is pretty awesome. He bought a pretty sweet house and 5 acres for 120ish. No opportunity to make a good living out there, and he's an engineer working mostly remote. I went to the ews at burke and sugar loaf when they came through, such a rad town.
Like said before cottonwood/prescott valley or outskirts of prescott would be sweet. Close to sedona, flagstaff, prescott riding is great, and not too far from some chair lifts. Prescott has a pretty good economy it seems like.
I have been to bellingham about 10 times visiting a friend and to me it's extremely expensive. Even the surrounding areas I feel are pricey, but I would love to move there.
Born and raised in south oc and mostly when I ride other places I just miss riding aliso/laguna/saddleback. I bought a house in East county SD because it's close to my dad and "cheaper" out here. The riding is pretty sweet out here, but we're struggling. No joke I have 3 jobs trying to stay afloat and my wife's company is dissolving at the end of the month...
We're looking at relocating to the PNW and my wife has her heart set on Portland. What is it like to ride mountain bikes out there. Obvisouly it's a cycling mecca, but mtb doesn't come to mind.
pardon my ignorance, but say if you have an american citizenship and exploring the places to live in the EU how do you plan to sort out the legal stuff? I mean, the most obvious would be a Blue card / a work permit from a company that most likely will not be very stoked for you to stay somewhere rural...
If you can handle a small town; Oakridge, OR is cheap and no sales tax. Year round riding.I don't think it has much in the way...
If you can handle a small town; Oakridge, OR is cheap and no sales tax. Year round riding.
I don't think it has much in the way of jobs or a decent school system though....
Second that, but not sure on the year round riding. Especially on elevation you will get snow. However, along the Willamette Valley of OR you strike a good compromise of good riding, access to all amenities you need and fairy reasonable prices if you are a little away from the bigger towns.
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still...
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still love that Paul Aston announced buying his farm (house + barn + land) for less than "3 Sworks bikes".
An option I haven't seen mentioned is Oaxaca in Mexico, I visited but didn't bike, I believe they have great trails and the location is really nice and cheap.
But anyway, I live near Nice, on the expensive coast, but I think there are better places than the ones mentioned above.
Dirtbag plan: Allos "the birthplace of Enduro racing" has tiny studio apartments going for 45k. You have a bikepark and amazing trails to ride without needing a car, but the place is empty in spring/autumn and you need to deal with snow for about 4 months.
Actual dream project: the valley underneath Valberg recently had an old 6-bedroom hotel going for 400k (the price of a 2 bed apartment on the coast). This was at the bottom of multiple EWS and transprovence stages. Add about 10k for a gym, 10k to setup the bike garage with spares, 30k for 6x ebikes and run it as a riding hotel/ team training camp all year long.
Oaxaca is definitely cheap and has amazing riding. As another poster pointed out, DIY riding might present some difficulties there. The high altitude trails are best...
Oaxaca is definitely cheap and has amazing riding. As another poster pointed out, DIY riding might present some difficulties there. The high altitude trails are best accessed via a shuttle (or e-bike). They're also managed/protected by the local village councils. While I didn't know EXACTLY what was happening, we ran into a crew from the local village who were up fighting a fire while on a ride. They questioned our guide quite a bit, but he knew them. Our guide gave them a couple of beers out of his backpack, and we were on our way. The guide alluded to giving them a little bribe to smooth things over, as maybe we weren't permitted for riding that specific trail area that day. I'm sure if you lived in the area (and spoke Spanish... I can't emphasize enough that speaking Spanish would be a necessity of living in Oaxaca as there's less English spoken there than anywhere else I've been in Mexico... plus a lot of indigenous dialects are spoken as well), you'd be able to figure it out.
Oaxaca is freaking amazing, though.
I wondered the same thing about Oaxaca after doing Trans Sierra Norte. The riding there is absolutely incredible, food was unbeatable, and the city is super cool, but it does seem like access to trails would be tough. As far as Mexico goes, I wonder how areas around Mexico City would compare. I haven't done it, but looking at the locations for the Trans Azteca race, it seems like a couple of the riding days are based in the Desierto de los Leones national park right on the edge of the city. Talking the friends that have been, the riding is supposed to be absolutely stellar.
Olly Wilkins was building a bike park in Sicily and bought one of those cheap Italian places you hear about. More of a vacation spot than a place to live and ride.
Can confirm the Sea to Sky is not an affordable place now. Glad we got in when we did though.
I may have just added Valhalla, WY to my list. That's gorgeous! Do you get a lot of snow in the winter?
Ha, that's just a placeholder, I live in Utah
If you can handle a small town; Oakridge, OR is cheap and no sales tax. Year round riding.
I don't think it has much in the way of jobs or a decent school system though....
Responding in general support (see my previous post on the region), but you ain’t buying a cheap house in Eagle Harbor proper! Haha.
Go two miles inland and 10 miles down the road and you can probably buy a fixer upper for 50k still though.
Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still love that Paul Aston announced buying his farm (house + barn + land) for less than "3 Sworks bikes".
An option I haven't seen mentioned is Oaxaca in Mexico, I visited but didn't bike, I believe they have great trails and the location is really nice and cheap.
But anyway, I live near Nice, on the expensive coast, but I think there are better places than the ones mentioned above.
Dirtbag plan: Allos "the birthplace of Enduro racing" has tiny studio apartments going for 45k. You have a bikepark and amazing trails to ride without needing a car, but the place is empty in spring/autumn and you need to deal with snow for about 4 months.
Actual dream project: the valley underneath Valberg recently had an old 6-bedroom hotel going for 400k (the price of a 2 bed apartment on the coast). This was at the bottom of multiple EWS and transprovence stages. Add about 10k for a gym, 10k to setup the bike garage with spares, 30k for 6x ebikes and run it as a riding hotel/ team training camp all year long.
To each his own, but there's well over a 1000 miles of singletrack in the surrounding SLC area and so much more vert than the UP. Housiing is expensive and air quality is susepect in the winter, but it's also a much milder winter than the UP.
This is not a drill!
https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/ventes_immobilieres/3228967666
Restaurant for sale with relatively large apartment above it for 150k. The EWS stage that Greg Callaghan won finishes about 200m from this place. 2 bike parks (much) less than an hour away.
Oaxaca is definitely cheap and has amazing riding. As another poster pointed out, DIY riding might present some difficulties there. The high altitude trails are best accessed via a shuttle (or e-bike). They're also managed/protected by the local village councils. While I didn't know EXACTLY what was happening, we ran into a crew from the local village who were up fighting a fire while on a ride. They questioned our guide quite a bit, but he knew them. Our guide gave them a couple of beers out of his backpack, and we were on our way. The guide alluded to giving them a little bribe to smooth things over, as maybe we weren't permitted for riding that specific trail area that day. I'm sure if you lived in the area (and spoke Spanish... I can't emphasize enough that speaking Spanish would be a necessity of living in Oaxaca as there's less English spoken there than anywhere else I've been in Mexico... plus a lot of indigenous dialects are spoken as well), you'd be able to figure it out.
Oaxaca is freaking amazing, though.
So how many miles is that from Finale or Morzine ?
(I think I actually ate there back in the day. Beautiful location. Not much going on for business, like so many places inland. Bien trouvé !)
(**Please read this as a friendly and jovially rebuttal, not confrontationally)
How much of that 1,000 miles would you really want to ride regularly if you're being honest with yourself? And how much is accessible to someone living and working in West Jordan after work (where MAYBE you could afford a house)?
Marquette has well over 150 miles of interconnected single track and Duluth more than 250 miles that can be accessed from multiple points in town and no more that a 10 minute drive from virtually anywhere. You could also easily afford a house in both places that is within an easy ride to the trailheads to access all this.
Trails like this in Marquette are 5 minutes from downtown and pedal-able from multiple neighborhoods:
And yes, way less vert, but vert for vert's sake isn't always better. Another illustratable example for this would be skiing. If you want vertical, Park City has 3,000 feet of it, but it's all pretty boring. The U.P. absolutely can't compete on that. If you want to get into gnarly terrain where you never have to vie with others for tracks, I can give you plenty of that:
Aberdeenshire in Scotland is a bit of a sleeper. There’s the potential to earn a very good wage (oil industry) and there are great natural trails to ride (granite slabs) that finish in a few local towns and villages and you’ll get a 3 bed semi for less than £200k.
Carpet canyon is only minutes away!
(At midnight when there is no traffic)
Dude I’m gonna lobby for the family to visit…this sounds so sick!
I mentioned Oaxaca earlier but I think access might depend on the tour companies or getting in with the locals. I think most of the main trails are on native land and you pay for a pass or access. Either way you will be driving up to the top of the pass and riding the shorter trails up high.
You're from Nice so you know Sospel and Roya are pretty affordable areas with really good riding. Roya when I was there the last 2 years is practically dead. Ever since the hurricane the valley hasn't recovered. Its almost like France just took the area after ww2 for the hydro then forgot they owned it. Either way the riding is world class and I would live there in a heart beat but its French and too close to the Argentina valley to not just live there!
I'm happy to help with planning, recommendations and whatever you guys might need. I am here and can make all sort of connections.
)))
Soon I will be also able to tell you what races we have next year.
We can wrap this whole thing wearing VitalMTB t-shirts and taking a selfie for the guys on the forum.
Bring it on!
Mx
The spots in Romania and Bulgaria sound very cool not even on my radar. I went into a good rabbit hole on both and they sound very nice. This is the reason I started this thread to hear about places like this. Thank you for all your responses.
Trails are good but a bit boring after a bit and town might be a bit too.... Tweaker for me haha. I do love Eula
I am lucky to have gotten into Durango when I did. I will never sell because I will never be able to get back in. TBH I don't really love desert riding so have no interest in going anywhere west of me within a few hours. Even GJ is too desert for me but the moto is great
If you ask most people in and around Bellingham no one would classify it as “cheap”. Especially if you’re looking to buy a house the $/sq.ft. figures are quite high.
I grew up north of SLC and as GoRide said there’s lots of amazing riding around SLC. Within 4-5 hours drive you also have Boise, Sun Valley, Jackson, Moab and St George. But… it’s sooo busy traffic and construction everywhere and only getting worse. Air quality is horrendous basically year round, Mormon culture can be problematic, and NICA kids are the worst! As of a few years ago some places around the area were unrideable because of how many kids would be out for team practice.
The area is about 2hours from Finale, but more like 5 from Morzine. But you really don't need to leave, there are 5 lift access bike parks all about 1h from each other and endless incredibly diverse alpine trails.
I've mapped out the best ones that are drone friendly here, and there plenty more: https://eointhomas.github.io/PACA_rides/?hl=en-GB
Yeah... after visiting there for the Monster Pro Series last year, SLC is definitely sick... but dang is it crowded. The traffic in Cottonwood Canyon was nuts and hiking trails absolutely packed. We got up early (like before dawn) to hike up to a mountain lake one morning thinking we would beat the crowds, and there were already tons of people ahead of us hiking and even already headed down the trail.
Put NH / VT / MA as options too. So many lifts in a short distance. So many decent trail networks in many communities especially in VT.
November to March is a crap though.
Kinda surprised nobody mentioned Spokane. My car broke down and I spent a few days on Beacon hill, and it was rad. Median home is 400k compared to 750k in Durango. less trails and vert, but what’s your metric, miles to house cost? Maybe has Durango beat.
And you are 3.5 hours from Nelson.
My buddy lives in East Burke VT and the riding is pretty awesome. He bought a pretty sweet house and 5 acres for 120ish. No opportunity to make a good living out there, and he's an engineer working mostly remote. I went to the ews at burke and sugar loaf when they came through, such a rad town.
Like said before cottonwood/prescott valley or outskirts of prescott would be sweet. Close to sedona, flagstaff, prescott riding is great, and not too far from some chair lifts. Prescott has a pretty good economy it seems like.
I have been to bellingham about 10 times visiting a friend and to me it's extremely expensive. Even the surrounding areas I feel are pricey, but I would love to move there.
Born and raised in south oc and mostly when I ride other places I just miss riding aliso/laguna/saddleback. I bought a house in East county SD because it's close to my dad and "cheaper" out here. The riding is pretty sweet out here, but we're struggling. No joke I have 3 jobs trying to stay afloat and my wife's company is dissolving at the end of the month...
We're looking at relocating to the PNW and my wife has her heart set on Portland. What is it like to ride mountain bikes out there. Obvisouly it's a cycling mecca, but mtb doesn't come to mind.
Your van/truck!
pardon my ignorance, but say if you have an american citizenship and exploring the places to live in the EU how do you plan to sort out the legal stuff? I mean, the most obvious would be a Blue card / a work permit from a company that most likely will not be very stoked for you to stay somewhere rural...
Second that, but not sure on the year round riding. Especially on elevation you will get snow. However, along the Willamette Valley of OR you strike a good compromise of good riding, access to all amenities you need and fairy reasonable prices if you are a little away from the bigger towns.
I wondered the same thing about Oaxaca after doing Trans Sierra Norte. The riding there is absolutely incredible, food was unbeatable, and the city is super cool, but it does seem like access to trails would be tough. As far as Mexico goes, I wonder how areas around Mexico City would compare. I haven't done it, but looking at the locations for the Trans Azteca race, it seems like a couple of the riding days are based in the Desierto de los Leones national park right on the edge of the city. Talking the friends that have been, the riding is supposed to be absolutely stellar.
Housing prices in WNC are nuts
Olly Wilkins was building a bike park in Sicily and bought one of those cheap Italian places you hear about. More of a vacation spot than a place to live and ride.
Can confirm the Sea to Sky is not an affordable place now. Glad we got in when we did though.
Post a reply to: Whats the cheapest place to live and mountain bike