May 28, 2007



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Race previews

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This weekend's races: June 2-3

This weekend brings two great days of racing to Chicago with the Winfield criteriums. Saturday will be the twilight criterium, run on a slightly different course than Sunday's race, which serves as the ABR national criterium championship. ABD puts on these races and they're always well run with generous primes.

Here are brief course descriptions. I've never done the twilight event, but Sunday's course is a long milelong rectangle. The backstretch is a shallow incline with a short kicker at the end. You turn left into a short descent, and then turn left again and have about 300 meters to the start/finish area. It's not very technical, but it's not unheard for breaks to get off on this course.

I won't be racing, but I may go just to see whether Marek Serafin (WDT) is beatable. With a jersey on the line, my guess is "probably not."

Both days have citizen fields, and Sunday's even is unusual in that there's a 5-lap citizen women's race. This is an excellent opportunity for women to try their first race and see if it hooks them, or for women who have until now been forced to ride in the open fields.

If crits aren't your thing and you have a place to bunk near Indy, the Indiana Race Series has a road race about 4 hours away with the St. Crispian Junior Road Race. (Don't be thrown by the name: It's not just for juniors.) It's a challenging course with a nice climb close to the finish. Personally, I've never regretted driving so far for the IRS races that Dan Daly puts on. They're low-key, fun and good opportunities to nab some upgrade points.

Saturday
Winfield Twilight Criterium
ABR criterium
Winfield, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 1 hour

Sunday
ABR National Criterium Championship
ABR criterium
Winfield, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 1 hour

St. Crispian Junior Road Race
ABR road race
Nashville, Ind.
Distance from Chicago: 4 hours


Comments

Very cool site!
Sorry about the collarbone!

Posted by: Jes at May 28, 2007 11:10 PM


Great new site Luke! Sorry to hear about your misfortune (clavicle)!

Posted by: Cameron at May 29, 2007 10:01 PM


Comments about the Winfield courses: Twilight course - the incline up Oakwood wears on every rider. The incline isn't steep, but the incline is long. Last year, an ABD rider said "have I told you how much I hate this hill?" Also, the right turn is a spot for crashes. Someone taking an inside line is bound to go down, especially if they go into the turn behind someone who is braking. Someone went down there last year and, I think, other years.
Sunday course - The turn into the finishing straight is after a short downhill, but the turn slopes away a bit. Many people have gone down in this turn taking it too fast for their abilities. Driveways provide escape routes if you are forced off the course.

Good luck to all.

Posted by: Scott at May 30, 2007 10:28 PM


I don't think there's a National Championship jersey on the line for the men's Cat 3 race.

Posted by: Steve at May 31, 2007 11:36 AM


Steve's right. Appears jerseys are only available for the masters, P/1/2 and W-1/2/3 races.

Posted by: Luke at May 31, 2007 12:46 PM


Anyone have any comment on the road race in Indiana? Crits aren't really my thing, but it is really really far away.

Posted by: Matt at June 1, 2007 12:54 PM


The course is a little different this year, but here's Eric Goodwin's race report from 2005.

My team and I are fond of the Indiana road races. They tend to be more casual and, with all due respect to the Hoosiers, less competitive than the Wisconsin road races, and the promoter is always gracious to people who've driven from Chicago to get to them.

Posted by: Luke at June 1, 2007 04:45 PM