By Cole Villena

We’ve hosted Tour de Nash for over two decades, inviting riders from across the state and the country to explore our city on two wheels. It’s our signature event and our biggest fundraiser of the year, and we’re so grateful to every rider, volunteer, sponsor, and person who contributed to a fantastic 22nd edition of the ride.

When you’re hosting something as big as Tennessee’s largest urban bike ride, it’s the small things and simple moments that stand out. Here are 10 things we’ll remember for years to come from Tour de Nash 2026.

Our riders

We cracked the millennium mark yet again with 1,080 registered riders this year. Those riders came from 20 different states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee (naturally), and Texas. The best part? 466 of those riders were Tour de Nash rookies. Don’t even get us started on all the bikes we saw, including tandems, recumbent bikes, e-bikes, road bikes, cruiser bikes… We even had some rollerskaters, plus a group of skateboarders that took on the whole 45-Mile Grand Tour!

Starting the ride on First Avenue

The intersection of First Avenue and Broadway is usually thought of as an area for visitors, but the 1,000 registered riders who showed up bright and early on ride day helped us show that Nashville’s most famous pedestrian street is for locals, too. It was special to see the streets flooded with bikes, and we know we sent a loud message to the onlookers and visitors further up Broadway: Nashville is a cycling city!

Open Streets Downtown

For the past three years, we’ve set up the Tour de Nash start and finish line along an Open Street to show what car-free, people-first streets can look like in Nashville. We took that to another level this year with Open Streets Downtown, which opened up streets in the heart of Downtown Nashville just for riders and walkers. All three of this year’s rides looped around the Open Street, and riders, onlookers, and families stuck around to party in the street after their ride. We especially loved seeing people use our parklet on Broadway, whether they were challenging strangers to games of chess, creating chalk art on the street, or just relaxing on a street without cars.
May 15 was just the first of three Open Streets Downtown events. Join us June 13 and July 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to show us what you’d do with a car-free street!

The photos

We’ve worked for years with photographer Stephanie Swart to capture car-free spaces and events in Nashville, and she took some more amazing photos at this year’s Tour de Nash. We also love this year’s photos by Matthew Trask, who continued his yearslong tradition of taking on-route photos during the ride.

The routes and route committee

Tour de Nash is a showcase of great places to bike in Nashville, and we take our routes seriously. Membership and Volunteer Assistant Manager Derek Morgan led a committee of experienced riders to build off past Tour routes while showcasing new streets and neighborhoods. We’re so happy with the routes we created together, but there’s always room to improve. Want to be involved next year? Let us know!

Above the Fold Events

Tour de Nash gets bigger and more complex every year. For the first time, we worked with an outside logistics partner to help us provide the best possible experience for riders and balance Tour with our other priorities at Walk Bike Nashville. We didn’t trust this to just anyone. Victoria Weise of Above the Fold Events is a longtime Tour de Nash rider and a former Walk Bike Nashville board president, and we were so happy to work with her on this year’s ride. If you had a good time at a rest stop, enjoyed dancing to music from DJ Smoke, or enjoyed this year’s snack selections, Victoria was the driving force behind those elements and so many more.

Inaugural Fun Run

“Is there an option for runners?” We’ve heard versions of this question for years, and the answer was finally “yes!” this year thanks to the inaugural 1-Mile Fun Run. Communications Manager Cole Villena drew on his experience as a three-year high school track team member and led/ chased a small but determined group around car-free downtown streets. We hope to welcome even more runners and walkers next year!

Special guests

This year, we welcomed Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, Vice Mayor Angie Henderson, and Councilmembers Burkley Allen, Brenda Gadd, Rollin Horton, Jacob Kupin, and Sean Parker as Tour de Nash riders. We’re grateful for their support, and we know they benefitted from seeing the depth and breadth of Nashville’s cycling community firsthand. We also want to thank our presenting sponsor, LDA Engineering, for their continued support of our mission.

Partners on First Avenue

Over a dozen community organizations, businesses, and other partners helped make Open Streets Downtown a party. We appreciate the way they donated their time, provided fun giveaways for attendees, and showed support for our mission to create a strong culture of walking and biking in Nashville. To learn more about our Open Streets partners, visit openstreetsnashville.org.

Our members (including you?)

A lot of our work at Walk Bike Nashville happens behind a computer, but our favorite days are the ones where we talk face-to-face with people who want better, safer streets. We loved meeting with so many Walk Bike Nashville members at Tour de Nash, from policy wonks to cycling junkies to folks who just prefer walking, biking, and public transit over driving a car. Our community is stronger when you’re part of it! Join us as a member today and support our mission — plus score discounted tickets to next year’s Tour de Nash.

Thanks for being part of Tour de Nash. We can’t wait for next year!