The Tri Cities Road Club is one of the oldest bicycling clubs in the state, founded in the early 80’s by Tom Raymond, James Brooks and others. In the early days the club produced the first ever US Professional bicycle race and was held in Jonesborough, Tennessee. When asked about the race James Brooks was quoted as saying “My only regret for choosing a purely professional race was that it was not able to continue and grow”, but to see what happened to pro racing in the United States as a result, has to make it the greatest accomplishment in this humble journalist’s life.” The race was also directly responsible for the growth of cycling in Tennessee as evidenced 30 years later.

Over the clubs long history it has promoted many races and several of note. The roan Groan, which was also the first race to have a mountain top finish, starts in Elizabethton and finishes on top of Roan Mountain, making it the highest finish in the state. The Roan was also included in the 1996 Tour DuPont. In 2003 the Pro category was one by Ryan Trebon, who is now a professional cyclo-cross racer and three time national cyclo-cross champion. Throughout the years the club produced many races two of largest and most well known, were the Coors Classic in the eighties which was a stage race including a road race, time trial, and criterium. The Coors Classic was part of the now defunct Johnson City, Springfest. In 2000 and 2001 the club produced probably the most prestigious race to that point, the Carnegie Classic. Sponsored by the Carnegie Hotel. The race consisted of a grueling road race of 85 miles starting at the Carnegie Hotel, crossing Hughes Gap into North Carolina and then climbing Iron Mountain back to Johnson City. There was a time trial up Buffalo Mountain in Johnson City that afternoon, and the following morning a criterium on the campus of ETSU with the finish line in front of the Carnegie Hotel. The Carnegie only lasted two years but attracted professional teams from around the country as well as Olympic and national champions.

In 2006 the club combined the long running and popular Roan Groan with the Settlers Life Criterium in downtown Bristol and with the addition of a short time trial the Settlers Life Omnium was born. As a result of the full race weekend the event had 400 entries in its first year. As a result of the increased entries and the continued sponsorship of Michael Lowe and Settlers Life Insurance, the club was able to support the D.A.R.E camp located in Bristol, Tennessee. Do date the Tri Cities Road Club has donated over $1400.00 to the D.A.R.E camp from the proceeds of the race and continued support of Settlers Life. We look upon this as one of our greatest achievements as a club and hope to continue to support the D.A.R.E. program. 2008 was the 3rd year of the Omnium and broke records for attendance. The professionalism of the race and challenging venues has drawn more professional teams to the event including Hincapie-Coca Cola (owned by the brother of Tour De France star George Hincapie) and by the international professional team of BMC. This year’s event was won by BMC rider Brent Bookwalter who during his collegiate career at Lees-McCrae College was the National Champion in Road, Mountain, Time Trial, and Cyclocross. The Omnium will move to Johnson City this year with the Time Trial at Borla Industries, the criterium in downtown Johnson City, and for the first time in a decade, the Roan will finish at the Rhododendron Gardens at the very top of Roan Mountain (6200’). This will extend the climbing by another mile with some very steep pitches before reaching the finish line at the top.

As we look to the future we have added more events to our calendar another Criterium in Kingsport, Tennessee, two century rides: the Pink Ribbon (which benefits cancer research) and the Jacob Francisco Memorial Century (which benefits a lectureship fund to inform the medical community of the dangers of E. Colli). This fall will mark the sixth season of the Mud, Sweat and Gears Cyclo-cross rounding out the clubs year, and for January 2010 the Tennessee State Cyclocross Championships. We are committed to the promotion of cycling and cycling events now and in the future.