In 2024, Chattanooga,
was named North America’s first National Park City, and this mixed-surface ride is designed to show you exactly why. Grab your basket bike, snorkel, and sunscreen, and head out of Chattanooga through protected bike lanes, urban singletrack, and quiet farm roads to the crystal-clear swimming holes of North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park. In the Southeastern U.S., it doesn’t get better than this. Mitchell Connell from Two Bikes Chattanooga takes us on a guided tour of a mixed terrain ride out to Lynne’s Blue Hole, in partnership with Bike Tennessee, below!
Getting to Chattanooga
Getting to Chattanooga is a piece of cake. The city has a small airport (CHA) five miles east of downtown that offers convenient nonstop service to Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Dallas, and more. Chattanooga is also just an hour and forty-five-minute drive from both Nashville’s International Airport (BNA) and Atlanta’s International Airport (ATL). Other nearby cities include Knoxville (110 miles), Birmingham (150 miles), and Asheville (180 miles).
National Park City
Chattanooga proudly earned the distinction of North America’s first National Park City in April 2025. This places the small Southeastern town alongside London, England, and Adelaide, Australia as one of only three cities worldwide to hold the title. This designation recognizes urban spaces committed to preserving nature, encouraging outdoor life, and integrating ecosystem stewardship with cultural vitality. This is a notable transformation from Chattanooga’s 1969 designation as the nation’s most polluted city. Since then, the local and federal governments have worked tirelessly to do extensive environmental remediation and weave more than 70 parks, 100 miles of trails, and extensive riverfront access into daily life.
Best Time of The Year to Ride in Chattanooga
Sometimes it’s worth it to embrace the heat. Any local from East Tennessee will tell you that finding a swimming hole is one of the best ways to survive the overwhelming summer heat and humidity. We’ve loaded this route with gas stations, swimming holes, coffee stops, and a corner market—all with the intention of breaking up the sweltering heat of the Southern summer.
Our best time to ride balances swim-friendly temperatures with rideable weather. We recommend this route anytime from mid-May to mid-September. Peak summer from late June to early August is still rideable and delivers the full Southern experience, but visiting a little earlier or later in the season may offer more comfort.
What Bike to Bring
This ride is designed to feel like a mini-adventure. There’s singletrack, beautiful country roads, and a gas station with Coca-Cola, so make sure your bike has clearance for 40mm tires and some carrying capacity for things you pick up along the way. The route is consistently hilly, so I recommend a bike with gearing lower than a 1:1 ratio.
It’s also recommended to bring a change of clothes for swimming, a snorkel, and plenty of water. For the full experience, let this bike ride take all day. Stop multiple times. Stop at a yard sale. Enjoy yourself.
Lynne’s Swimming Hole Ride
This 50-mile route was developed by the avid local cyclist, botanist, and musician Lynne Welden. They’re one of the driving forces behind Chattanooga’s thriving bike community, and you’ll even pass by their house on this route! You’ll start in the parking lot behind Two Bikes and Mean Jeen’s. If the lot is full, grab an on-street spot on Lynnbrook Ave.
Two Bikes Chattanooga and Velo Coffee
Two Bikes is a nonprofit bike shop (Wed–Sat, 12–6) that provides free and affordable bikes to the community, youth workforce development, and community bike rides. They have three public work stations that are free to use, so feel free to pop in and give your bike a quick tune-up while you’re in town. They also carry a selection of fun bike accessories from Crust, Stridsland, Blue Lug, plus Nag Champa Sandalwood Incense and a well curated selection of NTS Radio Stations. Once you leave Two Bikes you’ll head towards downtown on the 14th St. Greenway to connect to Main St. and Velo Coffee…