In praise of where I live

[Xcountry41]

  I live in Burnaby ,B.C , and I doubt it'll get any better anywhere else ( different yes  ) , that's my story and I'm sticking with it  .  Peter

I’d agree with you if it were not for the gridlock in the lower mainland, come to think of it way too many people in general. I live in Fort Saskatchewan, 10 minutes NE of Edmonton. North Saskatchewan river valley is literally out my back door and full of singletrack MTB trails you literally can fool yourself into believing you are in Jasper. Lots of great historic gravel roads for the ADV. It is 3 hours to the Rockies but you certainly don’t fight gridlock traffic for the first hour either. I bet we could agree Western Canada is awesome! West Kootenays would be my ultimate choice if forced to pick one spot.

[Don G]

I kinda like the bald arse prairies, but western Canada is a good place to be.  DonG

[cee2cee]

My backyard,  today 83F/23C, not a cloud in the sky. Able to bike to the beach and walk in a very quiet neighborhood.  The wife and I feel guilty at times when so many are locked in small apartments or homes with no backyard.  We know we are very fortunate.  BTW my son and I planted each and every tree in the pic and completely renovated the house, re-tiled the pool and re-roofed with a metal roof. 

[GreyGooseGuy]

I live in the western Denver suburbs. Barring rush-hour traffic, the city center, with all that it offers, is 30 minutes away. The Rocky Mountains run north-south through the state; the 14,265-foot (4,348-meter) summit of Mount Evans is 56 miles west of me.  (There's a road to within about 200 feet of the top.)

Although 5,800 feet up, winters (which run mid-October through mid-April, more or less) are relatively mild here. This past winter, I got out to ride every weekend except one, or maybe two. Probably one.

Except for its eastern Plains and the northwest Plateau, Colorado is chock-full of outstanding roads, like 12,095-foot Independence Pass, Trail Ridge Road, which crosses the Continental Divide at 12,183 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park, a dozen other fabulous passes, the Million Dollar Highway, and lots of canyons along the Front Range (virtually my back yard).

Although the high country is pretty much off-limits to bikes all winter, Colorado makes up for that with an incredible array of riding options from April through October. And we're mighty proud of the show our aspens put on every fall. (I know, you have plenty of poplars in the upper Midwest and north Atlantic region.)   

The downside? Colorado has become very popular, and roads are much more crowded than they were 20 years ago.

Still the best combination of climate and designed-for-bikes infrastructure that I know of.

[TN Mark]

I lived in Southern California for about 16 years, 1983 to 1999. The motorcycling was (is) awesome, it's close to surrounding states (AZ/NM/UT/NV) to enjoy as well. But, it was way too crowded and it's way too expensive. Now, more so then when I lived out their. Yet, I still greatly enjoyed the bike riding all over the Southwest. Every January 1st I'd ride up in the mountains until I had to turn around due to snow. Then ride to the beach to finish out the days Snow & Sand ride.

I now live just Northeast of Chattanooga, TN. Living here is the best of the best roads in CA with 10% of the traffic on our worst days. Of course there isn't an ocean nearby but there's plenty of water, hills and mountains. The riding around TN/NC/SC/GA/AL is simply exceptional. I wouldn't trade it for anywhere I've ever been. And I've been to all 50 US states plus several foreign countries.

So, yea, after living in WI, PA, NY, MI, CA, IL and now TN, I wouldn't move out of TN for anything or anywhere. Being content is vastly under appreciated by many.

[oldbike54]

 Until age made it tough to deal with the humidity here , Eastern OK was about as good as it gets for motorbiking .

 5 minutes East is the beginning of the Ozark plateau , 50 miles South and a little East are the San Bois Mountains , the Northern most reach of the Ouchita mountains . Going West a little ways and I can be on old RT 66 , or out onto the beginning of the Great Plains . Coffeyville KS is about 100 miles North , and from there to Cedar Vale is about 40 miles of road where the speed limit is just about meaningless .

 The only congested area is Tulsa , I don't go there anymore . I can ride all day on curvy roads and see very few cars as long as the tourist zones on all of our lakes are avoided .

 Dusty

[wildebube]

I live about 10 miles outside of Wills Point, Texas.  I'm not that far from Texas Turnip and would be interested in what he has to say about north Texas, but I don't have much good to say about it.  It's beastly hot in the summer, cold, wet, and miserable in the winter, spring is thunderstorm and tornado season, and we don't have much in the way of fall.  No scenery either.  There are some interesting roads southeast of here in the Piney Woods and some decent ones in southeastern Oklahoma, but neither of those are close.  There's not much around here of any interest at all.  It's better than the panhandle, but still mostly flat, mostly straight, and mostly boring.  Then there's the explosive growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex which is causing the urban sprawl to get way too close for comfort.  Even as far out as Terrell they're building apartments and housing developments everywhere you look.  With all the stuff moving onto Forney (little operations like Amazon and B.F. Goodrich distribution centers), it's only going to get worse.  Before you know it, the sprawl will be out to us.  And naturally, they're not doing anything about the infrastructure.  So anything west of us is getting more and more choked with traffic.  Is that enough praise for one post?