Sunny winter riding in the USA

Phoenix- south mountain is a guaranteed warm sunny spot. Probably enough trail there for a few days.

I live at the northern end of the Black Canyon Trail (BCT) and ride it during the winter.

The trail is north of Phoenix and runs through up through the desert to chaparral where I'm at.

February is a good time - too early for the snakes and reptiles to be very active and in before it starts to warm up in March.

https://bctaz.org/

The vistas on this trail are pretty amazing for someone who has lived in Arizona since the mid-80s and I always try to think what that would be like for someone from somewhere completely different.

Easy Moab and Sedona all kinds of options.   
 

NorCal is not snowy unless your in higher elevations.  So depends on what you were thinking.  Tahoe no, Santa Cruz would be possibly. Rain could be an problem though.

SoCal has good riding spots, Laguna Beach, Simi Valley, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo are the spots I'm most familiar.

Moab is hit and miss in February- snow or t shirt weather.
 

maybe go for a guaranteed warm spot and leave options to check out Moab or Sedona pending weather 

As a fellow Canadian who's gone down to the Southwest during the winter, I can recommend Phoenix and adjacent area for good, but more importantly, easily found and accessible riding. LA would be my other vote, but the riding is more spread out and harder to find and access. 

High-elevation desert places like Moab or Sedona are a no-go in feb. Typically you want to wait until mid-march or later to get the best riding conditions, and even then you're at risk of freak snow storms. 

I know there’s a sliding scale when it comes to acceptable definitions of Southern California, but I’ve not met anyone who’d say SLO qualifies. It can be very important to these people where the line is. Im in SLO today and they all say  Central Coast. 
I guess that’s how it is everywhere, but they have special uniforms and shit to make sure you know…

fair point, I've lived all over SoCal (SD, OC, LA)  and spent a lot of time in santa barbara and SLO so I kinda just lump them together.   

I know its not exactly what you asked but... If you're going for vacation and not going to work during your stay. Oaxaca is pretty good for 4-5 days with a tour company. 

created an account for this: slo has the best variety riding anywhere, and the best chunk spots are obviously kept secret. 

I’m looking you up when I move here. 

As a former Calgarian, I'll second the recommendations to stay away from Moab in February. Loads of Cowtown peeps make the trip down to Arizona every winter for dirt riding. I've also heard that San Diego is good, but I think that's more gravel riding than proper mountain biking. $0.02.

I will toss in another vote for the California Central Coast and specifically SLO. Good weather, views for days, good variety of food, chill vibe and great riding. As a California sceptic I was ready to not be impressed but was happily proven wrong. The trails in SB/Montecito were my faves but I am sure we were just scratching the surface in SLO.  Alternatively Vegas/Saint George/Hurricane might be a good option. 

I spent 6 years in San Luis (Obispo), it can be cold and rainy in Feb. And many of the riding spots, save those very close to the coast, are unrideable in the wet. Like the death clay variety.

Best guaranteed place is Arizona, around the Phoenix area. South Mountain, Fountain Hills, Scottsdale, etc. Even if it rains it won't be cold and is still very ridable. Everything from steep, techy, chunk to flowy, swoopy flat trails.

There is a reason why so many mtb pros spend their winter in that area.

Sedona or Phoenix should work. Got a friend who spends the winter in Sedona and he's never had snow issues. Just a little north, Prescott, can get plenty of snow though.

Front range Colorado may very well have plenty of riding (especially south). Anyone know about Santa Fe/Albuquerque?

I've ridden near Albuquerque a couple times while on the way to AZ and it gets cold there during the winter. 5K elevation. 20F in the morning one day I was there, I decided to continue to AZ.

Tucson has great weather in the winter as well, just a couple hours from Phoenix. The lower trails on Mount Lemmon are ridable all winter.

As far as the front range of CO goes, any decent riding from Golden to Boulder to Fort Collins will have at least large sections of snow pack or ice in February but it may be drier on the southern end of the range as you mentioned.

Even for someone who grew up in SoCal, the quantity of people and lifestyle is pretty shocking when I visit so I'd recommend avoiding SoCal unless you're cool with (sometimes aggressive) crowds.

Your best bet in my opinion is South Mountain area in Arizona as others have mentioned.

Just my 2 cents

I would not recommend Santa Fe for reliable winter riding. The town is at 7,000ft and a lot of the good riding is higher than that. And snow is hit or miss depending on the winter. I would avoid the front range for similar reasons. Both  Moab and St. George also generally seem to get cold enough and get enough moisture to shut out a lot of good riding. In my experience Sedona has been quite good through the winter.

I would not recommend SoCal unless you have friends to guide you around while you're here. I moved here a year ago and every time I ride with friends who are local it's a great ride, whereas every time I go on my own to check things out from Trailforks or verbal recommendations or whatever, I get lost or it sucks. A lot of intersections with no signs and seemingly identical overgrown trails heading every direction. South Mountain in Phoenix is very easy to navigate as an outsider and there are other riding spots nearby like Sedona and Prescott valley, or nearby-ish like Tuscon.

Since people concerned about weather in Moab/Sedona I would nix socal then too.  If it rains trails are closed.   And with the expected weather I would say it's likely. 

Tucson is great at that time of year. Mt Lemmon can be a little hit or miss in the upper sections, but there are lots of other places to ride as well. Food is also amazing in Tucson. There’s also a really good indoor there called Premises Park if you ride bmx or dj, on the off chance that weather is bad (we’ve gone last two winters and had the unlikely misfortune of rain/snow for a day or two both times, so the indoor was a nice option). 

Perhaps drive down the 15. Stop in St George Ut, then Vegas, if the weather is good hit Sedona, then cruse over to the Phoenix area.  Rad riding in all those spots. Stop in shops. Ask about group rides. Buy a tshirt.