Panic

Thinking about relocating to the Nashville area. What are the bike friendly areas?

Any tips would be appreciated.

JohnKScott

Well, if you are talking about recreational road riding, I love where I am in Franklin, TN (about 20 miles south of Nashville). The paved country roads are endless and mostly in decent shape. Plus the Natchez Trace is easy to get to. Lot's of roadies down here. There are some decent climbs in the area as well. I'm working on my climbing skills and getting better by picking progressively harder and more climbs on my rides. They are challenging for me anyway

I'm sure there are other areas out of Nashville that are great riding too. I'm just familiar with the Franklin area. I'd bet the Bellvue area would be pretty cool too. I actually head up that way on some of my routes and I've heard others talk about that area as well. That's sort of Southwest of Nashville.

Panic

How long is the commute to Nashville from Franklin? We're heading up in mid-November to really check out the area and see if we can make it work. Franklin is on the list. As are Smyrna, Murpheesboro, Henderville and a couple of others.

Thanks for the input, hopefully I'll see you on the road next spring.

doghouse

Like everywhere else, depends on the traffic. Probably 20 to 30 minutes most days on the interstate. Maybe a little longer from Murfreesboro and Smyrna. Hendersonville is about the same. Mt Juliet is east, about the same distance. Ashland City is Northwest about the same. Clarksville is about 45 minutes NNW.

I know Franklin, Murfreesboro and Clarksville all have very active cycling clubs so you should find good rural roads in all those areas.

Rockinr

Tellico plains MTB rider looking for people to ride with. Tanasi, Chillhowie, IC,King ect.

JohnKScott

I commute to Hermitage which is a bit East of Nashville proper. That takes me about 45 minutes (would be more like 35 with no traffic). Franklin to downtown Nashville without traffic is probably about 25-30 minutes depending on where you start from in Franklin and where you are going in Nashville. With traffic I would guess you would be looking 45 minutes. Franklin is growing quickly and about half of my commute is just getting to I-65. That takes about 20 minutes from where live (which is actually West of downtown Franklin - further away from I-65). There are other areas like Cool Springs and McKay's Mill area where you might be able to get to I-65 easier. Plus they just added a new interchange that is helping out some!

We love Franklin. It's a great community. However, the housing prices have gone up quite a lot since we moved there 7 years ago. I don't think we could afford to buy our house if we were buying now. Well...we probably could, but would have to slash some lifestyle . But it really is a nice area. And the cycling is great!

Panic

Thanks for the info. Heard a lot of good things about Franklin, its on our list to check out next month.

Spokes man

West Tennessee (Memphis) reporting in . . .

I ride for fitness and sanity, 15-20 miles a day, 4-5 days a week.

2008 Specialized Roubaix
2004 Giant Cypress
1982 Specialized Sequoia

Rockinr

2006 jamis XC 2.0 MTB
1990 schwinn world sport RB

chego

I live in Memphis - for the next few months anyhow. I ride mainly around midtown with my daughter on a center-mounted bike seat. I'd love to go on a group ride sometime but I'm scared that I'm way too slow and would be left in the dust before I even got started.

TnDiamondback

Bristol Tn checking here, I just got my third new bike in 4 years, I had an old Mongoose IBOC for years from when Mongoose made quality stuff, I sold it and bought a Diamondback Wildwood and got the bike bug again, I started riding it mostly on the roads so santawife bought me a FELT F90 roadie for christmas in 05,I got to take it to Hatteras Island this year to do some riding at the oceans edge, well a few weeks back me and some friends get together to go risde the Va Creeper trail, so I dust off the DB that has smaller section higher pressure tires from where I had used it on the road and off we go to the woods.
WOW!! I had forgotten how much I used to like riding on something besides pavement, I'm hooked again so on my way home thet day I stop by lbs and pick out a FELT Q720 MTB, now I'm looking forward to finding all the local trails again.

crucifixedgear

Chattanooga here. I mostly commute to and from school and work on an 80's Raleigh Marathon that I converted to a fixed gear. Occasionally, I'll get out for a longer ride (30-40 miles) but I don't have much time for that.

eye3md

Hello all,

I'll be in Nashville through Thanksgiving. Does anyone know of local websites that post group rides? I would like to ride with some of the local roadies each day if I could just find a way to find the organized adventures.

JohnKScott

Here's one I could find...

https://www.harpethbikeclub.com/Off-S...race-Ride.aspx

Official club rides are done for the season, but this one looks like it's still going.

cjj14u

New member here in Knoxville (Concord) area.....

Velo Vol 

Welcome to Bike Forums, cjj14u.

Velo Vol 

Knoxvillians coming out of the woodwork! It's getting close to the point where we think about organizing a East Tennessee/Knoxville area Bike Forums ride.

k_tech

hello fellow knoxvillians. i'm a 24 y/o commuter working for our local EMS. i'm usually found riding chickamauga to bruhin, over the ridge and up to highland drive to a carpool point for work. i also frequent the first creek greenway to downtown. nice to see the other east tennessee folks around.

mattfeet

Hey all, I signed in earlier, but havent been around the forums in awhile. Im a road biker from Jefferson City, TN/ Powell area. Im usually around Powell in the weekends and Jeff City during the week since I go to Carson-Newman.

-Matt

Lamplight

I hope your idea of better weather includes 12+ days straight in August of over 100 degree temps.

Blue-Shamu

I will be moving to the Memphis area very soon as I have accepted a job with a company there. Haven't quite figured out where we'll be living, yet...either Northern Mississippi in the Olive Branch area or maybe out near Collierville/Germantown area?? The first couple of weeks will be in a Drury Inn in Southaven, MS!! ha ha ha

I'm a die-hard roadie and love doing organized rides/events. I have done a little bit of racing, mostly tri's over the years, but I did my first road races in 2007 and enjoyed them quite a bit. Not really up to doing crit's...I really enjoy the distance stuff. Currently sporting around on a 2007 Orbea Orca in the blue/black model. One sweet ride! Hope to see everybody on the road somewhere!

garysol1 

Collierville/Germantown has a very active cycling community. Most of the faster road guys are out of Bikeworld in Collierville. If Tri's will be more of your interest check out Team Thunder. If schools are important to you look no farther than Collierville....end of story.

HandsomeRyan

I'm Ryan, I live in W. Knoxville. I mostly ride the greenways around the area. I occasionally ride off road (Haw Ridge, Concord Park, etc.) but I usually hurt myself so I don't go often.

My riding can be broken down as follows:
85% Solo greenway riding
5% MTB (usually solo or with the group so far ahead I feel solo)
5% Running errands (grocery store)
3% Greenway riding with the wife
2% Rides with other people


In addition to riding from time to time, I enjoy building [crazy] bike related stuff. Anyone who was at the 07' Tour de Lights; I was they guy with the full santa sleigh trailer. I've also built things like automatic handlebar end lights, a 16"x16" front cargo rack, hard plastic panniers, a completely unridable reverse trike, and probably some other stuff I can't think of right now.

Bikes:
2008 Raleigh Detour Deluxe (Best. Bike. Ever.)
2007 Felt Q720 (MTB)
2006 Diamondback Wildwood Citi (Wife's bike)
& a pile of bike parts that may eventually become a SWB recumbent


And a darn good one, I really enjoyed the class.

yakmurph

"Are you from TN?"

No.
I just live here, at the moment.


"Say hello!"

Hello!

"Where do you ride?"

Local roads:
Hwy 321N; Buttermilk Road; White Wing Road; Hickory Creek Road; Kingston Pike; Paw Paw Plains Road; Grubb Road; Woodlawn Road.
And all those other itty-bitty country roadlets that leech off the above roadettes.

"What do you ride?"

A 2007 model, Cruzbike Sofrider V1 front-wheel drive recumbent bicycle.

"Why do you ride?"

For health reasons, for fun, to get me out of the house occasionally.

"Etc..."

I see you guys out there, every so often: you know who you are!
Just wait 'till I install some high-pressure tyres...and some clips.
Oh boy.

Velo Vol 

Hmm. Familiar riding grounds to me (though I don't get out there much during the winter). I don't recall seeing many recumbents around. Guess I'll have to keep my eyes open.