Skip to main content
Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Wiedmer: Tough to say goodbye to cycling event

Chattanooga resident Hal Wiman dressed as a Teletubbies cheers for racers as they near the KOM atop Lookout Mountain on Monday, May 25, 2015, during the 2015 Volkswagen USA Cycling Pro Road & Time Trial National Championships in Chattanooga.
Chattanooga resident Hal Wiman dressed as a Teletubbies cheers for racers as they near the KOM atop Lookout Mountain on Monday, May 25, 2015, during the 2015 Volkswagen USA Cycling Pro Road & Time Trial National Championships in Chattanooga. Chattanooga resident Hal Wiman dressed as a Teletubbies cheers for racers as they near the KOM atop Lookout Mountain on Monday, May 25, 2015, during the 2015 Volkswagen USA Cycling Pro Road & Time Trial National Championships in Chattanooga.

By Mark Wiedmer 6 min read

Maybe it was all my 8-year-old daughter Ella Beth’s fault, this soggy Monday evening conclusion to USA Cycling’s national championship road race for its professional men.

She’s the one who insisted on wearing her “100 Percent Chance of Rain” T-shirt, which was actually the title of a recent church play she performed in. And, boy, did it rain during the race’s final 75 minutes, though not nearly enough to dampen the enthusiasm of both the riders and the fans, who thickly lined streets from the North Shore to Lookout Mountain to cheer our nation’s best cyclists.

Or as bronze medalist Kiel Reijnen noted, his finish all the more amazing given the flat tire that his UnitedHealthCare team had to change on the next-to-last lap: “When the crowd’s cheering you, you know it. It gives you energy you can’t get on your own.”