• » Chris Horner, prodigious eater of hamburgers and Radio Shack’s GC contender in the Tour de France, will speak at Vision Quest in Highland Park tonight. RSVP is required, and fewer than 50 of the 250 spots remain.

• » ABR’s state criterium championships will be in Wood Dale on Sunday, Aug. 8. (It was briefly moved to the 15th in an attempt to accommodate masters nationals but had to be moved back.)

• » ABD has a flier for the Winfield criterium weekend, including a fun, climber-friendly twilight course on Saturday and ABR’s national championships on Sunday.

• » The flier for the Ronald Reagan Criterium is out. (Don’t let the name fool you, my urban, pinko-liberal friends. This is a fun end-of-season race.)

• » The South Chicago Wheelmen take their show on the road -- literally -- next Tuesday, Aug. 2, when the Matteson races move to the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet. $20 for the evening of racing.

• » Top cyclocross star Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly; Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com) is leading a clinic on Sunday, Aug. 15 with Illinois Tech and Randy Warren (XXX Racing-AthletiCo). There are both beginner and advanced sessions.

• » Trackies are reporting some incredible speeds from last night’s prestigious Bob Pfarr Classic in Kenosha, Wis., won by Chad Hartley (Kenda) with Dave Moyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) in 2nd.

• » Nick Gierman (Burnham Racing) won the P/1/2/3’s at this weekend’s Indiana state road race championships in Woodburn, Ind.

• » The Northbrook Velodrome is hosting a duathlon for children this Saturday, July 30.

• » Results are up for the this weekend’s Allvoi Cup, which survived the weather and drew some top talent.

• » Announcer and former U.S. Postal rider Kenny Labbé looks back at the history of our national criterium championships.

• » The New York Times discovers some of the great riding around Madison, Wis..

• » Y’ever fantasize about catching a bike thief red-handed?

Some final highlights from the last few days of Superweek:

• » The crash bug bit the P/1/2’s Friday and Saturday. Ryan Freund (Verizon u25) got the worst of it in Kenosha, breaking his collarbone. Bryan McVey (ReCycling), who on Tuesday had continued his solid riding with a 7th at the Bucyrus Road Race in Milwaukee, broke his nose, and although he was able to return to race over the weekend, he drifted backward in the amateur overall, finishing 5th. Jonathan Cantwell (Fly V Australia), meanwhile, was a cinch for the pro overall, winning the final three races and a record six overall. Cantwell previously won the overall in 2008.

• » Kristen Meshberg (Flatlandia) raced the entire women’s P/1/2/3 series, finishing 2nd overall. Her teammate Kim Gialdini won the women’s 3/4’s overall, finishing out of the top 10 just once over the series. Stacy Appelwick (Bouledogue Tout Noir) raced less but won a remarkable four times, ending up 4th overall, and Jannette Rho (Chicago Cuttin’ Crew) sprinted to a win at Wednesday’s Lakefront Road Race in Milwaukee.

• » Mike Seguin (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) clawed back to finish 2nd overall in the 3’s. He got some help early in the Lakefront Road Race when a sporting field stood up to let him regain contact after a flat. He late would crash while taking a dig off the front but would recover and then take 2nd in the sprint.

• » Rookie Brian Karlow (Verdigris) hit the podium a remarkable nine times in the masters 4/5’s, four of them on the top step, finishing a comfortable 30 points ahead of the next challenger in the overall.

• » Young Trevor Rolette (South Chicago Wheelmen) was our top finisher in the 4/5’s overall. Despite racing only five days, he earned enough points to place 3rd overall.

• » Brent Emery (Emerys.com) came on strong to take the 35+ 1/2/3 overall, bumping Ricardo Otero (WDT-Allvoi) to 2nd, with Mike Heagney (Vision Quest), who finished 3rd Saturday and 2nd Sunday, climbing to 3rd.

• » John Wilkie was busy shooting photos for Peloton Pix. I expect he’ll be adding even more as he finds time to edit his haul.

• » Looking back at this year’s edition of Superweek, I’m in agreement with this assessment from Mark Swartzendruber (Verizon Wireless). String 17 races together in 17 locations and there are bound to be hiccups, but organization seemed better this year. Fields, however, seemed smaller. (On the plus side, I think smaller turnouts warded off the chronic crashing that has plagued us in recent years.) I know many people cut back because of high entry fees, which were especially steep for day-of registrations. Here’s hoping that the pendulum continues to swing to the good. All things considered, we’re extremely lucky to have two big summer series available to us -- ask any out-of-town racer and they’ll tell you so.

Full results.

Here’s hoping you’ve been doing your VO2 intervals and your brake pads are in good shape: It’s time for the big-money, big-money, no-Whammy experience that is the Tour of Elk Grove.

Amateurs get two days of criteriums on a flat, five-corner course. Payout is deep, and primes have historically been generous.

The first corner is a tight U-turn. Expect packs to bunch up here, especially in the lower categories.  My advice is to try to stay in the middle or outside: Go inside and you’ll get pinched and have to scrub a lot of speed. If you go outside, be careful not to get run into the curb. Follow a good wheel and don’t lose your cool when someone veers into your line. The upside is that the turn is taken at a modest pace, so if there is a crash, it probably won’t be catastrophic. Get up, fix your chain and go take your free lap.

Whatever you do, downshift several clicks before the turn and get ready to sprint. You’ll need a massive acceleration out of this corner every time, and you don’t want to be overgeared. Stay up front as much as you safely can, for the accordion effect doesn’t get much bigger than here.

It’s a long sprint from the last corner with a slight chicane. Keep your head up, as lines tend to wander and overeager sprinters may crack before they get to the finish.

Note that the Cat 5 fields all have fewer than 10 spots remaining as of Sunday. Also, note that the race is looking for volunteers.

The pro men get a stage race, starting with Friday evening’s 4.5 time trial, short enough that sprinters can grab a good general classification and then move up with time bonuses over the next few days. Saturday’s 96-mile road race navigates more than two dozen corners on its 9.6-mile circuit, while Sunday’s climactic criterium uses the same course as the amateurs. This is a fun race to watch. I like to sit about 150 meters from the finish to get a prime view as the sprinters wind up for each prime.

Among the 96 pros registered is fan-favorite Chris Horner (Radio Shack), who returns to Elk Grove just one week after placing 10th at the Tour of France. He’ll be riding solo, however, facing full squads from the top NRC teams, including all four previous winners: 2006’s Hilton Clarke (UnitedHealthcare), 2007’s Mike Friedman (Jelly Belly), 2008’s David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and 2009’s Karl Menzies (United Healthcare).

Saturday and Sunday
Tour of Elk Grove
USAC road race, criteriums
Elk Grove, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 0.5 hour
Previous wrap-ups: 2007 I, 2007 II, 2007 III, 2008, 2009 I, 2009 II

Robbie Ventura (Vision Quest) was kind enough to send greetings from today’s Tour de France. John Meyers (Verizon u25) is also somewhere on the mountain. In fact, I think I may have just seen him at 1.6 km dancing in a giant banana costume.

• » USA Cycling this week named John Tomlinson (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) to the track team that will compete at the junior world championships in Italy next month. He’ll be joined by Jessi Prinner (ABD), who will again compete in the road race and time trial.

• » Tomlinson is racing this week at the presigious Tour de l’Abitibi in Canada. Racing with him are James Bird (IS Corp), Chazz Martin (IS Corp) and Brandon Feehery (South Chicago Wheelmen).

• » Olympian Colby Pearce is providing two seminars on the track in August. He’ll also be competing in the Roger Delanghe Trophy Race in Northbrook on Aug. 5. This will be the first such race since Delanghe passed away in November.

• » Voytek Glinkowski (WDT-Allvoi) told me this weekend that there were only three 4/5’s spot left for this weekend’s Allvoi Cup. Women’s spots were running out, too.

• » John Wilkie of Peloton Pix has been taking great shots this Superweek, but my favorite action moment may be this shot from Evanston by Lisa McMahon. That’s Adam Lesniakowksi (PACT/Dish Network) accelerating past Rob Karlow (Verdigris) and Mike Heagney (Vision Quest) in the 35+ 1/2/3’s sprint.

Not a huge surprise given the team's financial difficulties.

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Karlow, Gialdini and Rolette lead their overalls.

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Big win for the Chicago amateur.

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Happy Bastille Day! This week: Soldier Field tonight. Omnium. Dirt jumps. State time trial.

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Lots of local leaders across all fields. Will that hold as the racing heads north?

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