Folsom, CA. We moved here from the Phoenix area of AZ about a year-and-a-half ago and we love it. The American River Bike Trail boasts a 64 mile round-trip paved trail: http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail...lid=BGS057-026
We have Folsom Lake right here, and we are about 90 minutes from Lake Tahoe. Lots of bike clubs, such as Sacramento Bike Hikers and Folsom Peleton, even the Bodacious Biking Babes whom you may have read about in Bicycling Magazine (I've yet to meet any, but I may join if I do!). We moved here for my job, but my husband found work as a supervisor for a grant-funded after school program for at-risk youth (through a neighboring school district) - small world, huh? He was a licensed professional counselor in AZ, but the CA licensing requirements are completely different and a real bear. You did say that you want a dry climate though . . . it is rainy in the winter. Last winter I thought it would never stop raining and there was lots of flooding. This winter it was relatively dry and we are hearing the good ol' conserve water warnings because we aren't going to get the benefit of good snow run-off. Another drawback to this area is that it is BOOMING. Folsom is still a relatively small town, but developers are snatching up every bit of available land. We don't yet have a mall, but they've begun groundbreaking. I hate shopping and crowds, so this is not my idea of fun. But, if you live and work in Folsom as I do, you can bike to work on the many paved trails within the city limits. Oh, and the cost of living is outrageous. California property taxes are ridiculous! It was very hard for us to go from a $700 per month house payment (which included property tax, homeowner's insurance, etc.) to on 3x that amount for a smaller house with a much, much smaller lot (in AZ our house was 1350 sq. feet with a .20 lot). This is with a 50% down payment.

You can read more about Folsom here:

http://ci.folsom.ca.us/