Junior Chloe Wesson and Assistant Professor Ryan Zwart hold a SORBA trail survey sign during research at Walden’s Ridge Park on Sept. 30. Photo by Sunshine Loveless.
Researchers at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have partnered with SORBA Chattanooga to measure the economic and community impacts of mountain biking in Hamilton County.
The project, titled “2025 Economic and Socio-cultural Impact Study for SORBA Chattanooga,” is a one-year research effort led by Assistant Professor Ryan Zwart and UC Foundation Professor Drew Bailey in the Department of Health and Human Performance’s Sport, Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management (SORT) program.
Supported by a grant from SORBA—short for Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, a regional nonprofit that builds, maintains and advocates for mountain bike trails across the Southeast—the study follows work conducted in 2021-22 that documented mountain biking’s regional economic impact.
“This is a continuation of that earlier study,” Zwart said. “When we’ve completed this data collection, we’ll be able to compare five years ago to now.”
The new study will examine visitation, spending, demographics and community health factors associated with mountain biking in Chattanooga and surrounding areas. Using surveys, trail counters and comparative analysis, the UTC researchers will estimate updated economic impacts and track how the sport’s growth has influenced the community.
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Click here to take UTC’s SORBA survey
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Zwart said the team will gather information at 12 trail locations across Hamilton County, including in-person surveys with riders. Sites include nearby areas like Stringer’s Ridge and Walden’s Ridge Park.
Bailey, the SORT program coordinator, said the earlier study was the first to quantify the sport’s regional value and helped SORBA transition from an all-volunteer organization.
“That first survey showed $7 million of economic impact from people coming in just to bike, and then those mountain bikers spend money in restaurants, hotels, that kind of stuff,” Bailey said. “From that, SORBA was able to approach a foundation and get a guarantee of three years of funding for an executive director.
“Now we’re working with the new executive director, Sunshine Loveless, and it’s amazing to have Sunshine promoting it from the inside.”
Loveless moved into the new role in January.
“This survey is about more than trails—it’s about capturing the full story of their value,” Loveless said. “We know trails are core to Chattanooga’s identity as a National Park City, but this data will help us demonstrate their real impact and advocate for sustainable investment to maintain the 170-plus miles of multi-use trails our community depends on.”
Loveless stressed that the findings won’t just benefit mountain bikers.
“Mountain biking is the vehicle that we enjoy using the trails, but pretty much all of our trail systems are multi-use,” Loveless said. “Hikers, trail runners, birders, dog walkers, even equestrians are all benefiting from the trails that we have in our region.”
SORBA Chattanooga Executive Director Sunshine Loveless, left, UTC student Chloe Wesson and Assistant Professor Ryan Zwart. Photo courtesy of Dr. Ryan Zwart.
For Zwart, who joined the UTC faculty in 2024, the partnership connects his personal interests with his professional research.
“I’m a mountain biker myself, so I spend a lot of time out in the natural areas around town,” Zwart said. “It really makes a lot of sense for UTC to work with nonprofits like SORBA to help keep the Scenic City scenic. It’s a clear partnership for the beauty of the region.”
Zwart’s connection to Bailey dates back more than a decade. As an undergraduate at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zwart took classes with Bailey, who later encouraged him to pursue a faculty position at UTC.
Bailey said it was natural for Zwart to take the lead on this grant.
“He had just completed an economic impact study that he began during his time at Montreat (North Carolina) College,” said Bailey, who has taught at UTC since 2012. “Mountain biking is really his love, so we figured it just made sense for him to take charge of this and run with it.”
Zwart added that bringing students into the process is just as important as faculty leadership.
“We’re including an undergraduate student, Chloe Wesson, who’s going to assist with data collection and research, some analysis and potentially presenting the findings,” he said.
Wesson, a junior majoring in SORT with a minor in psychology, said that assisting with data collection and fieldwork provides a meaningful way to connect her coursework to real-world experience.
“For me, it’s a lot of the application of what I learned in the classroom and seeing that in real life,” said Wesson, a 2023 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga. “It excites me because it just shows how sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in the classroom and think, ‘Oh, I just go to class and then I go home.’ But once you are given the opportunity to do research, it’s like the classroom comes alive.”
Wesson spent this past summer interning in Wyoming with a backpacking and outdoor education company. She said the experience prepared her for the fieldwork she is now doing on the SORBA project.
“There’s a level of confidence that I gained from my internship that will help me with this research and being able to talk to people and just ask them questions,” Wesson said.
Bicyclist Rich Moore on the trail at Raccoon Mountain (photo credit: Nathalie Dupree).
Chattanooga has long marketed itself as an outdoor destination, Bailey said, noting the city twice won Outside Magazine’s “Best Town Ever” recognition.
Mountain biking, climbing, paddling and hiking draw visitors year-round, he said, but their economic presence isn’t always apparent in the community.
“Mountain bikers, climbers, the people who come here to do the outdoor activities often go unseen,” Bailey said. “It’s not like the Ironman where there’s this huge event downtown. You may never see them or even know they came here.
“In order to communicate the impact they’re having, we have to actually go out there and collect this data.”
Loveless agreed, adding that data is essential for SORBA to make its case for future investment.
“If we don’t have data, we can’t tell the story, and we can’t advocate for and leverage funding sources that are available to us to maintain and improve access and infrastructure for those trail systems,” Loveless said. “That’s why it is vitally important that we go out and do this study with UTC.
“As a small nonprofit, being able to collaborate with a local university right here in our town that is equipped and able to capture data, analyze it for us and push it back out as an economic impact report—that’s really powerful.”
The research will continue through August 2026, with a final report delivered to SORBA and the community. Along the way, Zwart and Bailey expect the project to strengthen UTC’s applied research profile while creating opportunities for students.
“We’re trying to develop a sustainable kind of tourism research group of students who would assist us with these types of projects in the future,” Zwart said.
Learn more
UTC Health and Human Performance
Sport, Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management
Bicyclists on the Raccoon Mountain trail (photo credit: Mandy Rhoden).
