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Triathlete’s 20 Best Places To Live

Updated: Oct 30th 2009 6:47 PM EDT by Features

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Written by: Triathlete’s Editors

We didn’t use a scientific formula to put together this list. We didn’t worry whether or not certain areas of the country were adequately represented. We just put a few of the world’s biggest tri-geeks in a conference room and asked ourselves one question: If you were moving, and triathlon training was the main criteria dictating your decision, where would you go?

11Tucson1

No. 1: Tucson, Ariz.

Population: 545,702
Median home price: $200,000

Why it’s on our list: There’s a reason names like T.J. Tollakson, Peter Reid, Sheila Taormina and Lance Armstrong have made the college town of Tucson a training base, and why tri camps make annual pilgrimages to the city. And it’s the same reason why current pros Samantha McGlone and Leanda Cave call it home: high quality, year-round training.

The variety of training options on predominantly sunny, warm, rainless days is astounding. Want flatland work on the bike? Head south along Old Nogales Highway. High tempo? Madera Canyon. How about a beautiful rolling cruise in the Sonoran Desert? Try Gates Pass and ride smooth and serpentine Kinney Road. Serious hill work? Make the 19-mile ascent up Mt. Lemmon. There are simply no shortages of options for any level of cyclist.

Running options are equally rife, with many school tracks having open access, and desert trails providing great technical trail running—just keep an eye out for the local flora (cactus) and fauna (rattlesnakes, bobcats and mule deer). Tollakson’s staple run is along the ephemeral Santa Cruz River Park on the city’s west side.

Live here if: You begin to twitch when you think about another winter of riding the trainer, running on the treadmill and doing indoor swim drills while staring at a wall and waiting for your spring race.

Don’t live here if: You can’t take the heat. In the summer, be sure to get your workouts done before 9 a.m., when 100-plus degree temps make you fodder for one of those postcards of a skeleton clawing his way across the desert, the caption reading, “Yeah, but it’s a dry heat!”

Click the numbers below to see the rest of the top 20.

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  • faberk
    what about las vegas - not a good place to train?
  • Oakland/Berkeley is the number one city for triathletes. Oakland has the best weather in the US, bar none. It has a very active cycling community, tons of good mountain bike and running trails, and opportunities for open water swimming. It is close enough to San Francisco for those who feel the need to go there, but the weather is much better over here.
  • Maineah
    Having lived in both cities, how Providence makes this list over Portland, ME is beyond me:

    1. Portland is just without question a more fun and more liveable city - better bars, better coffee shops, better food, better art.
    2. The riding is infinitely more varied, more scenic and more challenging. Coastal and rural rides are within several miles of the heart of downtown. Nasty climbers into the whites or rollers in the bigelows are all doable as day trips.
    3. The city boasts a 5k cinder running track that surrounds a salt-water flat and is immediately adjacent to downtown.
    4. Better retail and coaching support.
    5. Better and growing network of local tri's, road races and ski races.
    6. Atlantic ocean, 9 pools and several good open water swimming lakes within 15 miles of the city.
    7. Ample nordic skiing, snowshoeing and winter triathlon opportunities once the snow falls.
    8. No fewer than 7 premium, local microbrews
    9. Incredible local food to feed the engine.

    You guys are nuts.
  • thejaviman
    If you have never been to Tucson...you're missing out. I live in San Diego and only wish that when I come out to Tucson and Nogales, that I would bring along my bike (I normally come out only for a day or so for family functions). The rolling hills and straight-aways are amazing out here. Also, there are numerous easily accessible lakes that allow for year-round swimmimg. If you're interested in an awesome rolling hill workout, check out Pendlton Drive in Rio Rico, AZ, which is just south of Tucson. You have 20 + miles of non-stop rolling hills that can lead right into Pena Blanca lake for an awesome swim. The lake was recently emptied and clean-up.
  • Nick
    Have you lot ever been outside of the US?

    There is a whole world outside with great places to live!
  • Chris
    This list is pretty stupid, you have cities in a desert and then Bellvue and Wisconsin, DC? These are all places where it's nice for about 4 months of the year. You have no pics in Florida? This should be the list for people who like trainers and bad weather. Bellvue washington???? Where it's rainy and 40 degrees for 8 months? What kind of handouts did the athur of this article get from all these horrible places to be an outdoor enthusiast in?
  • TDT
    Let's see - Phoenix at #1 is dangerously hot the majority of the year and Boulder at #2 you can't do any outdoor training for 4+ months of the year. Carlsbad, CA - perfect weather year round, the biggest swimming pool ever in your backyard and endless number of other tri geeks to train with...how is it not #1???
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