Residents and visitors will have free use of Bike Chattanooga bike share bicycles Sunday and Monday during the Volkswagen USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial National Championships. Volkswagen and BikeToursDirect have partnered with the city of Chattanooga, PeopleForBikes, and Bike Chattanooga to offer complimentary 24-hour Access Passes.
"Cycling is perhaps the best way to explore Chattanooga on any day, but it certainly is the best way to explore and navigate the downtown and North Shore areas on race day,” said Jim Johnson, president of BikeToursDirect. “Offering free bike share passes is our way of celebrating, giving something back to our community, and sharing our city with visitors."
“As a committed partner of the Chattanooga community, and a company devoted to environmental preservation, Volkswagen is pleased to support an event that enables thousands of people to get on bikes and explore this wonderful city in a sustainable and fun way,” said Vinay Shahani, vice president, Marketing, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “Through our collaboration with PeopleForBikes, we will continue to work to make cycling a safe form of transportation in communities across the nation.”
Community members and visitors can visit any of Bike Chattanooga’s 33 Station Kiosks on Sunday and Monday to take advantage of the complimentary 24-hour Access Pass. Bike share system ambassadors will be placed around the city to assist customers with their ride transaction. A credit or debit card is required to initiate rental but cards will not be charged for passes. The complimentary 24-hour Access Pass includes unlimited station-to-station trips 60 minutes or less. Trips exceeding 60 minutes will incur overage fees that will be covered by the customer.
Bike Chattanooga encourages riders to use key stations located at Outdoor Chattanooga, Finley Stadium, and Renaissance Park, which offer a park and ride options for viewing the women’s and men’s races from the North Shore, downtown or by catching the free CARTA race shuttles to the top of Lookout Mountain. For more information about Bike Chattanooga and a complete list of stations visit bikechattanooga.com.
Volkswagen of America is the title sponsor of the USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial National Championship. The time trials will take place on Saturday, near the LEED-platinum certified Volkswagen Chattanooga assembly plant, followed by the road race on Monday in downtown Chattanooga. For more information on the National Championship, please visit: www.usacycling.com.
For information on the best places to watch the races, visit
www.outdoorchattanooga.com/learn/usa-pro-cycling-champs