should we live?

This is the same question I posted on mtb-wales and I'm curious to see if I get different answers....

My wife and I (no kids) will be relocating from Santa Cruz, California to Newport (actually Exit 24 off the M4) in the next few months. We're both avid mountain bikers. Mostly for fun and with the occasional race thrown in. We also race 'cross. Looks like we can't really go wrong where we live but want to survey you locals since we'll be here for 2-3 years. We would like to live close enough to Cardiff or Bristol that we can get into the city centre in 10 minutes or less and would also like to be able to ride to 1 or 2 decent trails instead of always relying on the car to get there. Ideally it would be nice to live near like-minded folks if it's possible. If it sounds like we want it all, you're right ;-)

Bristol is about as far as I want to commute so anything over a 30 minute drive is out of the running. I've walked around Roath and the city centre of Cardiff and also Clifton in Bristol and think we could live in either area but I'm sure there are a lot of other places to consider.

Thanks in advance,

Alex

Bristol of course!
Seriously though, seeing as you said you are relocating to Newport I assume you have jobs there. Therefore Wales may be a better idea becuase you would have to pay the £4.90 bridge toll everyday! At a very large risk of offending any Welsh people who may read this I would definately locate yourself in Cardiff. Cardiff being the capital of Wales naturally has the amenities and the rest of south Wales is still trying to recover from the closure of the coal industry. Biking wise you're spoilt for choice whatever you do.

good luck

Try not to get your hopes up for a 30min commute my friend. That is virtually impossible over here. It could take you 30 mins just to get out of Bristol on a bad day - which are fairly frequent by the way. But Bristol is a good base for MTBing. I recently moved from Oz, and was in bristol for 6 months. The local trails are good, and there are lots of them (not so good in the winter or when they are wet). Cwm carn is just over an hour, Afan about 1.5h, and then there are the Quantock hills, Mendip hills, forest of Dean and a few others all within about 1.5h.

I agree, Bristol traffic can be a nightmare. If your working at Newport, South Wales seems a much better bet. I moved to near Chepstow last summer, there's plenty of good biking within 60 minutes of here. Cardiff is nice if you like the city life and there are plenty of nice small villages if you like being in the countryside. I would avoid Newport if I were you...bit of a dump really (sorry to anyone who lives there !!!!). Oh yes, the houses are cheaper in South Wales than they are in Bristol.