Hello from Nashville, Tn. USA.

[Nashcruiser]

Hello from Nashville. My name is Mike and I’m a new e-bike owner. Just got a Trek Allant +8s yesterday and am loving it so far. I’m 63 years old and had been riding a Bianchi Brava road bike for about 25 years. The past couple of years I haven’t been riding due to some physical ailments and decided to get back into it with an upgrade. I used this site for a lot of info and insight and am grateful this is here.

 

[Art Deco]

Welcome to EBR. That's a nice bike and you will find an active group of riders in the Trek forum. And great weather for riding down in TN . I hope anyway, since I'm planning to go there this summer.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Welcome! Looks like a great bike. Nashville is pretty bike-friendly, there are quite a few good trails. Enjoy!

TT

 

[Nashcruiser]

Welcome to EBR. That's a nice bike and you will find an active group of riders in the Trek forum. And great weather for riding down in TN . I hope anyway, since I'm planning to go there this summer.

Thanks. Be prepared for heat and humidity when coming here in the summer.

 

[Nashcruiser]

Welcome! Looks like a great bike. Nashville is pretty bike-friendly, there are quite a few good trails. Enjoy!

TT

Thanks. Nashville has come a long way in becoming bike friendly but still has a long way to go. IMO

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Yeah, you're right. I was thinking mainly in terms of Greenways and other dedicated bike/pedestrian offerings. And the Natchez Trace. Generally, even though Nashville has a lot of bike lanes on streets, and they put in safe storm drain covers years ago, I don't ride on the streets much and I don't see a lot of other people doing it. The bike lanes are where all the road debris collects, so they are mine fields for flat tires, and bike lanes or not, car drivers seem to consider bikes more as targets than as something to share the road with.

I do get out on the roads some, but you have to be wary, confident, very careful, and make some efforts at increasing visiblity with colors and/or flashing lights. I've had some close calls.

TT

 

[Art Deco]

Thanks. Be prepared for heat and humidity when coming here in the summer.

Yeah. Been there in August before, and lived outside of "Hotlanta" for years. Still beats drought, I guess.

 

[Nashcruiser]

Yeah, you're right. I was thinking mainly in terms of Greenways and other dedicated bike/pedestrian offerings. And the Natchez Trace. Generally, even though Nashville has a lot of bike lanes on streets, and they put in safe storm drain covers years ago, I don't ride on the streets much and I don't see a lot of other people doing it. The bike lanes are where all the road debris collects, so they are mine fields for flat tires, and bike lanes or not, car drivers seem to consider bikes more as targets than as something to share the road with.

I do get out on the roads some, but you have to be wary, confident, very careful, and make some efforts at increasing visiblity with colors and/or flashing lights. I've had some close calls.

TT

Fortunately my neighborhood has a lot of side streets in a grid setting that makes for good short rides to start with. Have to build up to get out to Percy Warner Park and tackle the hills. That’s my favorite biking area.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Warner Parks are nice but they aren't my favorites. I probably don't know my way around well enough. Now, there's a relatively new loop that goes across Hwy 100 near the bridge that adds some nice distance to the park trails. It's on roads (relatively quiet roads) for a while, but then follows the Harpeth back to the park (depending, or course, on whether you go clockwise or otherwise). I guess my favorite rides are on the Greenway between Percy Priest Dam and Two Rivers Park, across the pedestrian bridge into Shelby Bottoms and beyond, into downtown and out to beyond MetroCenter. You can get in some very pleasant miles doing just parts of that. I do Shelby Bottoms to Percy Priest and back a few times a year and am thinking about doing it today. It's just under 30 miles round trip.

TT

 

[Nashcruiser]

Warner Parks are nice but they aren't my favorites. I probably don't know my way around well enough. Now, there's a relatively new loop that goes across Hwy 100 near the bridge that adds some nice distance to the park trails. It's on roads (relatively quiet roads) for a while, but then follows the Harpeth back to the park (depending, or course, on whether you go clockwise or otherwise). I guess my favorite rides are on the Greenway between Percy Priest Dam and Two Rivers Park, across the pedestrian bridge into Shelby Bottoms and beyond, into downtown and out to beyond MetroCenter. You can get in some very pleasant miles doing just parts of that. I do Shelby Bottoms to Percy Priest and back a few times a year and am thinking about doing it today. It's just under 30 miles round trip.

TT

Yes, the Harpeth River Greenway. I ride that out to the golf course and back and do both Edwin & Percy Warner Parks. I guess what I like about that is the seclusion from cars. About 26 miles of no cars, park like riding. Being in Sylvan Park here on the west side I’ve only ridden Shelby Bottoms to the dam once. I’ll have to look into going Metro Center to get there. The way I went was down Charlotte thru downtown and I didn’t care for that. But the greenway out to the dam is a great ride. I’ll agree with you there.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Hmm. I'd rack my bike and drive rather than ride on Charlotte if I had a choice! Sylvan Park is a great neighborhood though, nice and centrally located. I haven't spent any money there yet but I kinda like the 615 bike shop at about 46th & Charlotte.

TT

 

[Tars Tarkas]

So, I did ride out to Percy Priest yesterday from the Shelby Bottoms parking lot under the train bridge. Just wanted to correct the mileage I quoted yesterday. It was more like 24 miles I think, maybe 26, not the 30 miles (round trip) I stated. There are plenty of side trips and extensions but I didn't do them yesterday, so it's easy enough to make 30 miles out of it.

Beautiful day. Saw deer, turkey, a baby bunny, a black snake on the trail, and a great blue heron (on a little rock in front of the dam, below, if you want to zoom in enough) among other things. Hard to imagine a better day to be out but I've seen the Greenway much more crowded.

I still remember dealing with some of the hills between the dam and Two Rivers Middle School on my analog bike several years ago. God bless e-bikes!

.

TT

 

[Nashcruiser]

So, I did ride out to Percy Priest yesterday from the Shelby Bottoms parking lot under the train bridge. Just wanted to correct the mileage I quoted yesterday. It was more like 24 miles I think, maybe 26, not the 30 miles (round trip) I stated. There are plenty of side trips and extensions but I didn't do them yesterday, so it's easy enough to make 30 miles out of it.

Beautiful day. Saw deer, turkey, a baby bunny, a black snake on the trial, and a great blue heron (on a little rock in front of the dam, below, if you want to zoom in enough) among other things. Hard to imagine a better day to be out but I've seen the Greenway much more crowded.

I still remember dealing with some of the hills between the dam and Two Rivers Middle School on my analog bike several years ago. God bless e-bikes!

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TT

Thanks for the update. I will have to get over there for a ride. Looks like a wet week is in the forecast. Hope to get rides in between raindrops.