So you moved?..... How's that going?

scan

scan

iMTB Rockstah
So some people have moved for career reasons, retirement, economics. I'm curious to know how that's going. And just to guide the discussion:
1. As always, no politics.
2. Are the trails as good as you expected?
3. Has the weather weather affected your riding in good or bad ways?
4. Socially have you been able to make new friends or do you really miss the old ones? Did you move to be near other family or grandkids?
5. And for our significant others, how do they like the move, regrets?
6. Was there anything you didn't think about before the move that you wish you knew beforehand?

Feel free to add anything that may contribute to this discussion.

Ride\write on!
 
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scan said:
So some people have moved for career reasons, retirement, economics. I'm curious to know how that's going. And just to guide the discussion:
1. As always, no politics.
2. Are the trails as good as you expected?
3. Has the weather weather affected your riding in good or bad ways?
4. Socially have you been able to make new friends or do you really miss the old ones?
5. And for our significant others, how do they like the move, regrets?
6. Was there anything you didn't think about before the move that you wish you knew beforehand?

Feel free to add anything that may contribute to this discussion.

Ride\write on!
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Most of you know, we ended up in Prescott, AZ in 2020. I originally wanted to go to Oregon but my wife didn't want to deal with the rain.

1. That P word was the #2 reason I left with the biggest reason being traffic
2. The trails ARE as good as expected, even better after a rain and far less crowded than anyone could possibly imagine
3. The weather has little effect here. Rain improves the DG base of many trail systems and you can avoid any heat issues by riding in the morning
4. I've met plenty of new people to ride with and (6) of them are going to Oregon & on to Whistler later this month. I'll always miss my old riding buddies but we still meet up a few times a year and (5) of them will be meeting us in Oregon as well.
5. My wife likes Prescott even more than I do...she hikes 4 days a week in different ladies groups who also kayak our local lakes (they are bowling today), she also plays pickleball, does water aerobics and is on the social committee for our community
6. Nope

What I miss the most here other than my riding buddies back in SoCal is hole in the wall Mexican food. In Oceanside, I had 25 of them within a 10-12 mile radius and (1) less than 1/2 mile. We have a few in Prescott but I have to drive a minimum 15 minutes to get to the closest one and I'll only get 3 or 4 of their items there. On the plus side, not having them so close has helped my waistline and saves me $$. Of course, practically everything saves me $$ here. The only thing that isn't cheaper is car registration on NEW(ER) cars which is equal to CA but as the cars age, that also gets drastically cheaper ($599 for FIVE years on my 2013 Ford F150).
 
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herzalot said:
Paging @Cougar!

St. George UT
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Oh hai.

2. Slick Rock is everywhere. Having easy access to Bear Claw Poppy, Zen Trail, JEM trail system, and Gooseberry Mesa does not suck. HOWEVER, I long for So Cal riding. Measuring our rides in "ups" and how many bad ass enduro downhills we could get (through suffering through the climbs) is something we do not have here. Sustained climbs is not what SW Utah is all about. It's all punchy techie stuff on all sides. No real sustained elevation gain (or loss) anywhere. Okay, maybe if you wanted to Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, but just no. I don't think I've worn my elbow/knee pads once since I've been here (outside of Brian Head visits). Chris and I used to never go on a ride without them. Tears.

3. The weather... damn I actually have to actually watch the weather here. In SoCal I'd throw some arm warmers in my bag and just go with/without those as it happened. As long as I stayed off the Peaks in winter (thanks for the socks for that Joplin ride on the 1st or 2nd of Jan that one time Chris ;) ). In the summer time, it's all about dawn patrolling. Which is fine, I like getting up and going in the AM just fine. However the winters have really killed my riding. Especially as I've mostly ridden with my family (that's cool), but we don't have/haven't purchased winter weather gear for them. My wife and I can ride in 35-45F just fine with our gear, but our boys don't find it fun and thus we don't find it fun. So I go on about a ~4mo hiatus from MTB'ing which is a bummer. I COULD ride once it warms up, but at that point in time I'm well and truly in my day and I just haven't been able to shake up my routine to get afternoon riding in for the winter months.

4. Socially; I briefly tried but it is hard to meet new people. Mostly my children just grew up and we go out as a family now. I moved in '18 and had a 8, 6, and 3... now they are almost 16, 14, and 10.5. So we just ride together as a family now (including my wife!) and have been for the past few years. Sadly, my eldest loves climbs. WHAT HAVE I DONE. We've gone up to Brian Head a few summers ago, but only my middle child really likes downhills and I might have gone too early. Might try again next year. I haven't found a replacement community from this one, miss you bastards /sniffle

5. My wife and I have really enjoyed our move. The boys being able to ride their bikes to school every day, play around in the neighborhood without supervision (when temps are manageable!), and the overall lower density of people is amazing (we are one of the top 10 fastest growing areas in the country though... sadface). We will certainly be here through our youngest finishing high school and often ponder (semi-jokingly) if there are even LESS dense places that we might want to retire too. But we could also see ourselves never moving again. Have you SEEN the St. George area? Beautiful :D

6. No, and while I'm trying to stay true to Rule #1, you cannot make a move to St. George without talking about LDS. It's the biggest detractor, and even then it's been basically fine. I'm not a small business owner, nor do I want to become a politician. It probably has the biggest impact on my boys (some people will NOT be friends with non-Mormon), but they are still very much enjoying the move.

I didn't like moving away from this community and the style of riding that is so prevalent in SoCal, but it's been a great move for my family in net total. Probably the worst thing is that I have been back to SoCal a bunch since we've left (Step and In-Laws are still in SoCal), and I've never brought my bike. We are always so booked with family stuff when we visit I cannot get away to grab some dirt. I basically always try to make an excuse to bring it so I can get away for a Whiting-Luge-Whiting one morning with Chris ... and then realize my cardio is Sh!t and I'd be way in the back and the grandparents have us booked regardless :p Also, I want to torment my wife with Mathis, which doesn't get me much support :D
 
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We started our move to north of Tucson about a year and a half ago with making the final jump to being here full time this January.

1) I’ll skip the details, but this was on the list as a reason.

2) I had ridden here a few times before the final move so I knew what I was getting into. There is a very active mountain biking and cycling community here and the trail selection is pretty good. I can ride a small system from my driveway and can choose from another four within a 15 minute drive. If I open the radius to 45 minutes, there are several more and I can be up on Mt Lemmon within an hour. The only thing that I miss is the elevation, both up and down that I could easily get in So. Cal. Otherwise, I am really happy with the trail selection here and I’ve only ridden probably 20% of what is available.

3) At 4,500 feet, we’re about 1,000 feet higher than Tucson which is about 1,000 feet higher than Phoenix, so we don’t get Phoenix hot. That said, it’s still averages in the high 90’s in the summer months which does dictate the time of day that I can ride for 3-4 months. It’s either early, or not at all. The good news is that the desert cools a lot at night, so my dawn patrol rides start in the high 60’s to low 70’s and I have a few hours before I need to be done. When I get done riding I can jump in the pool at home and just float the rest of the day. The other 8 months of the year remind me of So Cal weather. I can ride comfortably any time of the day and there is a lot of sun.

4). No issue meeting new friends here. It’s an active retirement community and there are events all the time and lot’s of groups to join. We’re probably busier here socially than we were in CA. That said, I haven’t found a good core group of people to ride with here yet. There are a couple of clubs that I’ve ridden with and I’ve met a few neighbors that ride but haven’t found a consistent group to ride with like I had in CA. I think that will change as I meet more riders. That said, I do miss the friends that I rode with back home. Both our girls are close, one in Tucson and one in Phoenix, so that has been great to see them more often and that was a driver for our move here.

5). My wife loves it here. No regrets for her at all. She probably likes it even more than I do. She has a group that she golfs with weekly, has met a bunch of friends at the dog park, takes classes weekly at the fitness center and we have a large crafts center that she goes to.

6). Nothing that I wish that I knew. We had visited enough to know what we were getting into.

All of that said, there is a lot that I miss about So Cal, and California in general, but we haven’t regretted the move at all. The lower cost of living here is allowing us to retire comfortably in our mid 50’s and be able to do the stuff that we enjoy instead of having to keep working to pay a mortgage, high property taxes, etc. This will eventually allow me to do more riding trips and travel in general. In fact, we’re on a plane to Italy, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece a week from today.
 
Haven't moved yet, even though I retired 7 months ago. Wife hasn't retired yet, so that may have something to do with it.

All I can say for @Cougar as far as the LDS thing goes....I probably have an advantage having grown up in it, and I spent the mid-1980s in Salt Lake City. It's a party town, though most don't realize it. I've seriously considered SLC as the next abode but it's become crowded with expat Californicators.

I know how to deal with it; it's not really hard to get to know them, and if you just ignore the religion thing it usually works out fine. The Mormons, on average (and there are more numbers-wise here in SoCal than in Utah) aren't really worried about your proclivities. They will, however, hound you to convert or, in my case, return. They have learned to leave me alone about it, though.

California is not where I want to stay, but I have to convince the better half that she can always fly back here for visits, and that there are always new people to meet. May have something to do with my time in the Navy.

If I have to stay here, I will become ever more introverted.
 
I have made two big moves so far. I was born and raised in Orange County, Lived there until I was about 22. I went to college at UCI, I chose that at the last minute over Oregon State. I just liked being 30 minutes from home. I wasn't a big fan of the school looking back, but I don't know if I could have done it so far from home. Life is full of trade offs.

After working for about a year and a half post-graduation, I got a job offer in Eureka , up in Humboldt County. I made that move and enjoyed it for a bit. I think I convinced myself I liked it, but it's not easy living up there. It is so isolated up there, when I was living there a decade ago there were maybe 3 flights a day, all to Sacramento and it was a three hour drive through the mountains to the nearest city, Redding. Longer if you wanted to get to Santa Rosa with more stuff. After college my fitness really dropped, and I gained 100+lbs and hardly rode. I never once rode dirt in Humboldt, something I regret now however I just didn't have the fitness to do it. I would ride my hardtail to work but no trails. It's a beautiful area but the isolation and constant dreariness wore me down.

After about 2.5 years there I wanted to make a major career change. I ended up getting a job offer for a dream job, where I currently work. Its with the federal government working engineering for Dam Safety projects and to add a cherry on top they paid to move me. That is how I ended up here in Tulsa. Without the relocation assistance not sure I would have taken it. I've been here 7 years now and it's been nice. The weather is wild here. I moved here mid May 2017, coming from a bay in California where the average temp year round was 60 degrees to the hot humid (but not deep south humid) weather out here took a while to get use to. That first summer felt like actual hell for me. I've come around and tried to become heat adapted, and changed my riding schedule to make sure I can still get it in. I still love riding my road bike in the heat. The feeling of sweating out during a hard ride just makes me feel good.

I've met some good people out here, I am really lucky that all my coworkers are great people. The weather is fun too, spring storms are a delight; I've become a weather nerd after moving here. But after 7 years I have an itch to move again. I really miss the desert and mountains. The flatness out here just sucks for what I like to ride. I didn't really consider trails out here when I moved, I hadn't ridden dirt in close to 3 years by the time I got back to it in Tulsa. It has been nice to have a place to ride, I can pack my bike up and be rolling at the trailhead in 15 minutes from my house. But after a month of riding once a week here, you can ride every trail twice. Not much local variety, but NWA is a 2.5 hour drive. I've done long weekends and day trips out there.

I'm looking to move to Albuquerque. I am a single dude so moving is not a problem, plus I can ride whenever I want to ;). All of my family (except my dad) is back in California and it would be nice to be a bit closer to them. My dad followed me out east and has a place about 45 minutes from me now. At least in Albuquerque I would split the difference almost exactly between the two. Plus it's desert, at altitude, and has mountains. It would also be easy to do long weekend trips to some great riding in AZ, UT, and CO. Just gotta start going through all the stuff I've acquired and pack up, but that's a daunting task.
 
milliontown said:
I have made two big moves so far. I was born and raised in Orange County, Lived there until I was about 22. I went to college at UCI, I chose that at the last minute over Oregon State. I just liked being 30 minutes from home. I wasn't a big fan of the school looking back, but I don't know if I could have done it so far from home. Life is full of trade offs.

After working for about a year and a half post-graduation, I got a job offer in Eureka , up in Humboldt County. I made that move and enjoyed it for a bit. I think I convinced myself I liked it, but it's not easy living up there. It is so isolated up there, when I was living there a decade ago there were maybe 3 flights a day, all to Sacramento and it was a three hour drive through the mountains to the nearest city, Redding. Longer if you wanted to get to Santa Rosa with more stuff. After college my fitness really dropped, and I gained 100+lbs and hardly rode. I never once rode dirt in Humboldt, something I regret now however I just didn't have the fitness to do it. I would ride my hardtail to work but no trails. It's a beautiful area but the isolation and constant dreariness wore me down.

After about 2.5 years there I wanted to make a major career change. I ended up getting a job offer for a dream job, where I currently work. Its with the federal government working engineering for Dam Safety projects and to add a cherry on top they paid to move me. That is how I ended up here in Tulsa. Without the relocation assistance not sure I would have taken it. I've been here 7 years now and it's been nice. The weather is wild here. I moved here mid May 2017, coming from a bay in California where the average temp year round was 60 degrees to the hot humid (but not deep south humid) weather out here took a while to get use to. That first summer felt like actual hell for me. I've come around and tried to become heat adapted, and changed my riding schedule to make sure I can still get it in. I still love riding my road bike in the heat. The feeling of sweating out during a hard ride just makes me feel good.

I've met some good people out here, I am really lucky that all my coworkers are great people. The weather is fun too, spring storms are a delight; I've become a weather nerd after moving here. But after 7 years I have an itch to move again. I really miss the desert and mountains. The flatness out here just sucks for what I like to ride. I didn't really consider trails out here when I moved, I hadn't ridden dirt in close to 3 years by the time I got back to it in Tulsa. It has been nice to have a place to ride, I can pack my bike up and be rolling at the trailhead in 15 minutes from my house. But after a month of riding once a week here, you can ride every trail twice. Not much local variety, but NWA is a 2.5 hour drive. I've done long weekends and day trips out there.

I'm looking to move to Albuquerque. I am a single dude so moving is not a problem, plus I can ride whenever I want to ;). All of my family (except my dad) is back in California and it would be nice to be a bit closer to them. My dad followed me out east and has a place about 45 minutes from me now. At least in Albuquerque I would split the difference almost exactly between the two. Plus it's desert, at altitude, and has mountains. It would also be easy to do long weekend trips to some great riding in AZ, UT, and CO. Just gotta start going through all the stuff I've acquired and pack up, but that's a daunting task.
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Going to break my IMTB fast to recommend doing your homework before moving to ABQ. I’m out there for work a lot. The Panera by the office closes at dinner because of the crime. In the good part of town. The bad part of town is just shockingly disturbingly bad. Homelessness and drug use on a scale that the Californian mind can not comprehend. Let that sink in.

If you’d prefer to not be single, good luck.

But there is lots of work for a GS-xx employee, and it’s an easy half day drive to nice places. Just live life expecting everything to get broken into continuously.
 
tick said:
Going to break my IMTB fast to recommend doing your homework before moving to ABQ. I’m out there for work a lot. The Panera by the office closes at dinner because of the crime. In the good part of town. The bad part of town is just shockingly disturbingly bad. Homelessness and drug use on a scale that the Californian mind can not comprehend. Let that sink in.

If you’d prefer to not be single, good luck.

But there is lots of work for a GS-xx employee, and it’s an easy half day drive to nice places. Just live life expecting everything to get broken into continuously.
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I had heard the same thing about Albuquerque from my sister who lived in Santa Fe - and that was 6 years ago.

Thank you for breaking your IMTB fast @tick and Breaking Bad!
 
herzalot said:
I had heard the same thing about Albuquerque from my sister who lived in Santa Fe - and that was 6 years ago.

Thank you for breaking your IMTB fast @tick and Breaking Bad!
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Well this is all good info. There’s more jobs I would like in Santa Fe. I was looking at Albuquerque because it was cheaper, but there’s probably a reason for that. Is Santa Fe better at least? I’m lucky I’m in a career field where I could get a job just about wherever I wanted based on how many recruiters bug me.
 
milliontown said:
Well this is all good info. There’s more jobs I would like in Santa Fe. I was looking at Albuquerque because it was cheaper, but there’s probably a reason for that. Is Santa Fe better at least? I’m lucky I’m in a career field where I could get a job just about wherever I wanted based on how many recruiters bug me.
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Santa Fe is much better from a crime perspective, but it has been infiltrated and gentrified by white people with money from big cities wanting to get away - so New Yorkers and Californians. As usual, that drove up home prices and drove out smaller local businesses. It's quite an interesting blend of Natives, Mexicans and Transplants finding ways to make a living (or make a killing) on the geographical, historical, cultural and recreational beauty of the place. I have to giggle at all the urban refugees draped in turquoise and silver.

Fun fact - the Santa Fe Ski Basin boasts the second highest base elevation of any ski area in the US! (A-Basin in CO being the highest).
 
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tick said:
Going to break my IMTB fast to recommend doing your homework before moving to ABQ. I’m out there for work a lot. The Panera by the office closes at dinner because of the crime. In the good part of town. The bad part of town is just shockingly disturbingly bad. Homelessness and drug use on a scale that the Californian mind can not comprehend. Let that sink in.
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Agreed....only been there once (not counting driving thru on the 40) to take family to the airport and we drove down from Durango. When we came in to ABQ proper, my LE spider senses were going off immediately. So much so that I took my handy dandy 2nd Amendment object out of the glove box and put it in my lap which is a rare occurrence. I've probably done it one other time since retiring in 2014.
 
I agree with the others here on Albuquerque. I've not spent too much time there, but after only a few trips, I can tell it's not a place I'd want to live. I have similar feelings about Tucson. Just my $0.02 worth.

milliontown said:
Well this is all good info. There’s more jobs I would like in Santa Fe. I was looking at Albuquerque because it was cheaper, but there’s probably a reason for that. Is Santa Fe better at least? I’m lucky I’m in a career field where I could get a job just about wherever I wanted based on how many recruiters bug me.
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AKAKTM said:
I agree with the others here on Albuquerque. I've not spent too much time there, but after only a few trips, I can tell it's not a place I'd want to live. I have similar feelings about Tucson. Just my $0.02 worth.
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The ABQ locals call the area by Kirtland AFB the “war zone.” It is absolutely heartbreaking stuff.

ABQ reminds me of Palmdale or Bakersfield but not as nice, Santa Fe more like Acton but not as nice.
 
scan said:
@pperrelle what's your opinion?
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Paul will assuredly be back but I can tell you that he is actually 30 minutes North of downtown Tucson proper and in a master planned 55+ community so it's a whole 'nother world up that way. My SoCal group went to Tucson to ride in March 2020 before the world shut down. We came into town off the 10 and on the approach thru town to our AirBnB, it looked like the areas of some of the sketchier areas of Santa Ana. Not crazy dangerous but it was in my mind that we didn't want to break down there. On our last visit a few months back, we stayed in Oro Valley (north of Tucson but South of where Paul lives) and it was a mix of places built as cheap as possible and where nobody cared about their yards to other enclaves that were stunningly fantastic and we ate at a few nice restaurants as well.
 
AKAKTM said:
I agree with the others here on Albuquerque. I've not spent too much time there, but after only a few trips, I can tell it's not a place I'd want to live. I have similar feelings about Tucson. Just my $0.02 worth.
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I am pretty sure that the last time I saw @Mikie , he said something about "never driving through Albuquerque again." Last Wrightwood ride. I am old and my memory is going, but I am mostly sure that was the comment. Mostly. :Roflmao
 
Obsidian said:
I am pretty sure that the last time I saw @Mikie , he said something about "never driving through Albuquerque again." Last Wrightwood ride. I am old and my memory is going, but I am mostly sure that was the comment. Mostly. :Roflmao
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Nope! You nailed it. Albuquerque, at least along the Interstate 40 corridor is a horrid stretch of land and human life. Hordes of homeless, insane drivers, dirty, tagged, noisy, and never sleeps.
Having passed and stayed there often in my travels, this next drive will focus on a timeline where I don’t stay there the night and pass through during a none rush hour window. Even then, I’ll pack serious heat.
 
Mikie said:
Nope! You nailed it. Albuquerque, at least along the Interstate 40 corridor is a horrid stretch of land and human life. Hordes of homeless, insane drivers, dirty, tagged, noisy, and never sleeps.
Having passed and stayed there often in my travels, this next drive will focus on a timeline where I don’t stay there the night and pass through during a none rush hour window. Even then, I’ll pack serious heat.
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The Courtyard has karaoke on Wednesdays. Come by and let’s duet! But hide anything in the car.

South of I40 is the worst part. If you do stop, go north on I-25 a few miles and get the carne adovada at El Pinto.
 
Mikie said:
Nope! You nailed it. Albuquerque, at least along the Interstate 40 corridor is a horrid stretch of land and human life. Hordes of homeless, insane drivers, dirty, tagged, noisy, and never sleeps.
Having passed and stayed there often in my travels, this next drive will focus on a timeline where I don’t stay there the night and pass through during a none rush hour window. Even then, I’ll pack serious heat.
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Sounds like Los Angeles.
 
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scan said:
@pperrelle what's your opinion?
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As @mtbMike said above, we’re a good 45 minutes north of downtown Tucson. Oro Valley/Dove Canyon/Rancho Vistoso is south of us. That area is like the Irvine of the Tucson Metro area and where we do most of our shopping and stuff. The Catalina Foothills is another expensive and safe area. Just like most metro areas, there are bad areas and good areas. I’d have to drive at least 30 minutes to see a homeless person or get to an area where I’d worry about crime.

I wouldn’t live in downtown Tucson if you paid me just like I wouldn’t live in downtown LA, San Diego or Santa Ana when I was there. We’re in a master planned gated community with a few thousand homes and literally zero crime. I’d have no problem leaving my doors unlocked here. Other than a few great restaurants or if you’re going to a concert or something, there really is no reason to go downtown.
 
My co-worker is about to retire and he has decided on Walla Walla. Fairly close to the Columbia and Snake rivers, and the Blue mountains to the East. Fairly reasonable real estate. He’s an outdoorsman and is finding lots to like about it.
 
tick said:
The Courtyard has karaoke on Wednesdays. Come by and let’s duet! But hide anything in the car.

South of I40 is the worst part. If you do stop, go north on I-25 a few miles and get the carne adovada at El Pinto.
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Tick! It’s really nice you posted up here. Missed you dude.

I’m a lousy singer but, I can play the drums?

We all have a mutual imtb hooligan friend who happens to now live near Santa Fe. You may recall him as @SS Barby ? He says the mountain biking in the Santa Fe National Forest (I assume) is awesome!

He just finished a race there:
IMG_4088.jpeg
 
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