The USA Cycling National Championships is gone from Chattanooga, but the chance to watch competitive cycling in the downtown area is not.
The Scenic City is welcoming bicyclists from more than 20 states to compete in the Village Volkswagen River Gorge Omnium this weekend.
More than 400 riders are expected to race in the two-day event that starts this morning with a four-mile time trial on Raccoon Mountain and concludes Sunday with a road race that features a trek to Alabama.
If you go
What: Village Volkswagen River Gorge Omnium bicycle racesWhen: Today and SundayWhere: The three-event omnium begins this morning with time trials on Raccoon Mountain before migrating downtown for the spectator-friendly criterium races in the afternoon and evening. On Sunday, the road races start from Covenant Transport at 10 a.m. and conclude at Raccoon Mountain.
In between is a series of spectator-friendly criterium races, which are action-packed sprints that will use Market Street and Broad Street with M.L. King Boulevard and West 12th Street serving as cross-streets.
"That's definitely the crowd favorite," said Steve Lewis, an area cycling enthusiast who is competing in two criterium events and the road race.
The criteriums begin with junior division races at 12:30 p.m. and continue throughout the day until the men's professional division at 8:30 p.m.
"It's gotten bigger and bigger," said Lewis, who has been competing in the event since its inception more than 20 years ago. "When it started, they'd run it [the criteriums] on Sunday afternoons and it'd be contested in front of friends and family. Now, it's a happening and people are coming there and bringing their families."
Sunday's 36-mile and 59-mile road races will start at Covenant Transport on Birmingham Highway, and the 59-mile course will take riders up Sand Mountain in Alabama before concluding at Raccoon Mountain.
For Cathi Swanson, a member of the local Taco Mamacita's women's team that Lewis coaches, the climbs on Sunday will be the end of a grueling two days. She is competing in each event of the omnium.
"You just have to be more mentally prepared," said Swanson, a freelance graphic designer. "Nothing I can do the next two days is really going to prepare my legs. It's a season-long thing to get my legs ready for this weekend. So it's just staying mentally prepared, hydrating properly and eating well."
Contact staff writer David Cobb at 423-757-6249 or dcobb@timesfreepress.com.