This is an important tip considering all the fast, technical crits coming up. Cat 4’s and 5’s, bookmark this page and review it the night before Downers Grove.

As we corner, our bikes will lean into the turn. The faster we go, the more we lean.

Thus it’s important to to keep your inside pedal up, with your weight firm on the outside pedal, lest your inside pedal strike the ground as you lean. The faster you go, the more important this is.

At best, a pedal strike will give you the scare of your life. At worst, it will cause a catastrophic crash.

As you preview the course, be thinking about which corners you can safely pedal through. Keep in mind, however, that on the last lap or two of a criterium, everything will be 10 to 20 percent faster. You might be able to pedal through a given corner at 25 mph, but at 28 mph on the same corner you’ll be sent flying over a fire hydrant.

 

• » The Tour of Oak Brook, our state road race championship, now has a Web site.
• » The Bicycle Film Festival comes to Chicago next week. “Road to Roubaix” looks particularly good.
• » A friend of Amber Rais (Team Tibco) tells me that her post-up upon winning Sunday’s Chicago Criterium was a new invention: “Spraying the Uzi.” Take that, Flecha!
• » Full but imperfect Chicago Criterium results.
• » Watch as a cyclist brazenly and viciously attacks a police officer’s forearm. (The New York Times has this update, and Bike Snob NYC has this commentary.)
• » Just in time for Cyclocross: Carlos Cabalu is taking orders for his sexy Unattached Rider kits.
• » ABD/Geargrinder coach Julie Carter has been appointed director of the Midwestern State College cycling team. The famed Texas program owns 21 national championships, including Bristol, Wis., native Natalie Klemko (Team Advil-Chapstick) in the 2007 Division I road race.

Superweek and the Chicago Criterium merely set the stage for weeks of big-prestige, big-money racing.

It starts this weekend with the Tour of Elk Grove, where a total of $225,000 is up for grabs for amateurs and pros. Of note is the separate 1/2 series, where a total of $35,000 will go to the riders who spent the past two weeks making donations to Superweek. After last year's short races left many riders sour, the 2008 schedule is a little more generous. Still, expect the races to be fast and frantic, and most will come down to a bunch sprint down the curving Elk Grove Boulevard. The finishing stretch will be marked every 50 meters, but this is another course where it behooves you to scout the finish to pick your cues. This time of year there are a lot riders trying cycling for the very first time, so there will be a wide range of skill level in the 5's, from seasoned racers to triathletes to dudes with toe clips and Discovery jerseys. Stay near the front from the start. Expect gaps to open early and often. Look for them and quickly skip around slower riders and on to the lead group. If you hesitate, the gaps will grow too big to jump across. Each day’s courses are L-shaped, effectively flat on smooth roads. (Saturday's $5,000 Cat 3 race is on a T-shaped variation.) The U-turns, one of which is pictured above, are guaranteed to cause some low-speed drama. Riders at the fore will have an easier time, so get up front and stay there. Shift down twice before each turn so that you're able to accelerate out and close any gaps. Payouts go 20 deep in the 3's and 4's, so sprint every last inch even if you’re mid-pack. Quitting early can cost you a nice dinner out. Once the amateurs are done, the real business starts with the pro races. On Saturday we get to watch the pros roll in from their 150km road race. Grab some lunch in town, replenish your carbohydrates with a cold beer and make a day of it. I don't know which pro teams are making the trip, but the action should still be electric. (The race is not on the National Racing Calendar this year, but I expect many big teams will want to come for the big money, at least on the men's side.) But Elk Grove isn't the only big race this weekend. Elgin returns with an interesting neighborhood course on Sunday. The money's pretty good here, too.

Saturday Tour of Elk Grove USCF criterium Elk Grove, Ill. Distance from Chicago: .5 hours

Sunday Tour of Elk Grove USCF criterium Elk Grove, Ill. Distance from Chicago: .5 hours

Elgin Cycling Classic ABR criterium Elgin, Ill. Distance from Chicago: 1 hour

And here's the rest of the known reports and photos from the last seven days of Superweek. Reports are still trickling in, so I'll update this post as needed.

There's not much more I can add in regards to the racing, other than to congratulate the Chicago-area riders who won their series: Voytek Glinkowski (WDT-Allvoi) earned twice as many points as his nearest competitor in the masters 4/5's, Alex Smetana (Spidermonkey Cycling) took the 4/5's, and as previously mentioned, junior Jessi Prinner (ABD) won the women's 3/4's. I think she might have a future in this sport.

Tour of Holy Hill race reports Clint Carter (Ski Utah; 3): "There needs to be a lake at the finish of every hot bike race."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "Got pinched on the right side, and lots of swearing with Australian accents were thrust at the rider responsible for the pinch."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "The race got shortened to 65 miles, totally reshaping what is typically a long race of attrition into a glorified circuit race. Adding to that the finish was unmarked from any distance until you happened upon it at the crest of a hill."

Joey Rosskopf (Kudzu; P/1/2): "It actually kind of felt like my brakes were rubbing the whole race. They weren't actually, but that's how sluggish I felt."

Adrian Silva (Half Acre Cycling; 4/5): "Soon the gaps grew, my body redlined and before I knew it there was a big one, right in front of me."

Cedarburg race reports Clint Carter (Ski Utah; 3): "The speed is up, then it's down, and everybody is riding their brakes through the turns. It makes harder."

Jason Danvir (Sugar Cycles; 3): "Coming out of the last turn I was sitting about 10 back (where I wanted for an uphill sprint) and making ground quick when my rear derailleur pulley threw my chain."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "Alors, apres de rien de courer avance pour long temps, avec 10 tours avant de arrive, un petit group de quatre courers gagne une minute sur le peleton."

Alex Smetana (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4/5): "He clipped his pedal coming out of the turn and with some nervous grace, I slipped through the 6 or so inches between his head and the curb."

Cedarburg photos Clint Carter Extreme Photography John Wilke

Whitnall Park race reports Jason Danvir (Sugar Cycles; 3): "I felt good about my legs and managed a good move up the last climb but got pinched and was forced to give way (not crash) only to accelerate again and hold on for 13th."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "Slowly moved up, and kept it near the jersey for the final few laps. He's a good draft, and you know he's obligated to be at the finish mix, so it works out well."

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "I covered more attacks than I probably should have. I finally got sick of it near the end, and the next attack that went wound up sticking. Damn."

Mike Shea (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4/5): "I really didn’t actively race this one. It felt like no one really did. I sat in. I played it safe. There were no attacks, few surges. Everyone pedaled along with an understanding."

Whitnall Park photos Extreme Photography Dana Melanz John Wilke

Racine race reports Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe's; P/1/2): "Rock Racing were out to brake the field apart from the gun and to have Magnell Sterling try and form a breakaway without me in it. Again the boys did a great job and we did not let anything dangerous go up the road."

Jason Danvir (Sugar Cycles; 3): "We snaked the entire field and I was able to hold out for 3rd across the line in the field sprint. Good day!"

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "I see an opening on the inside and, chop or not, dove into it. Normal stuff. BUT! The big former jersey wearer went even further inside and I had to slam the brakes or take us both down. Dicey, at best."

Racine phoos Judith Pannozo John Rowland John Wilke

Kenosha race reports Jason Danvir (Sugar Cycles; 3): "Wreck after wreck, people cutting corners, cutting wheels, coming unclipped (cause of 2 separate wrecks) and just being ignorant. To add insult to injury they were going to the wheel pit, taking their free lap and jumping back in to cause more damage."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "I rolled in probably with a top 10 in the field sprint, but too many breakaway mates were in the mix as well. 48 km/h. Most probably the fastest crit I've ever done/seen."

Angelo DiGiovine (Active Athlete/Squadra Ovest; 3): "I think I did some kind of Superman flying move into the metal barriers."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "If I run second overall in the race, I'm going to do it in style. I'm very proud of the riding I've been doing from the beginning. No one else has had more challenges come their way. I've had a target on my back the entire time and I'm stilling putting it to them every time I line up."

Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): "I had plenty of spark left, and was simply waiting for a hole, waiting, waiting. Finally I had daylight to the line and I shot through."

Kenosha photos Dana Melanz John Rowland John Wilke

Downer Avenue race reports Denny Yunk (CZ Velo; 3): "Playing it safe through the corners put me at the back of the field pretty quickly. I stayed there until guys started popping off the back, requiring me to accelerate around them."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "Wyoming's finest, Adrian Geritts (La Grange), hit the deck hard. I was twowheels back, on the inside, and luckily he fell to the outside. I saw sparks, and jussst missed his rear wheel. Had legs, but lost the nerve to make the jump, and followed wheels to finish 11th."

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): "Just as I cracked, Chris Padfield joined the spearhead of it and off he went. I just got spit out the back like shit through a goose."

Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus; 4/5): "I was hurting, as I should be, as I accelerated out of the second turn and snapped a quick glance back. It didn't look good."

Scott Peterson (Team Wheaton; 3): "I assumed I could determine who was or wasn't going to be a problem so I threw down my money like a deep-in-the-hole drunk at a Vegas roulette table."

Downer Avenue photos Paul Matsushima Julie Pusateri John Rowland Brooks Taggert John Wilke

Whitefish Bay race reports Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's; P/1/2): "Don’t get between an Aussie and his beer!"

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "I'm happy and disspointed at the same time. It gives me a lot of motivation to go home and work hard to improve my riding."

Whitefish Bay photos John Rowland John Wilke Runaway Wind

Tower Racing has made a splash this season with some strong performances on the bike, and now it's stepping up in a big way off of it, having agreed to promote our state championship road race Aug. 23 on a 3.2-mile course in Oak Brook. The flier is now online, and registration is open. Contrary to my orginal post, the start/finish will be on 31st street, described as a "blistering two-lane, 3/4-mile rolling hill finish." Chip timing will again be used at this event. Note that 5's races are capped at 50, but a second field will be added if necessary.

Save for the first and last five laps of Sunday's P/1/2 race at the inaugural Chicago Criterium, I could have sworn we were watching a training ride go through Grant Park.

But what a training ride it was! About 20 minutes into the 80km race, an enormous, 20-strong group formed that included multiple representatives of all the major teams (above). Two from Toyota-United, two from Bissell, two from Texas roadhouse and four from Kelly Benefit Strategies, not to mention Frank Pipp (Health Net) and Chris Horner (Astana). Once this group came together, it was lights out for the field. Except for some large primes, including a big field prime where Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) pipped Freddie Rodriguez (Rock Racing) with a monster throw and a $1,000 prime won by Josh Carter (ABD/Geargrinder), the next hour was not exactly the most exciting racing we've ever seen. Finally with 10 laps to go, fireworks started happening in the break, largely led by Graham Howard (Bissell) and Adam Bergman (Texas Roadhouse). With five to go, five riders separated for good, including Horner, who in his inimitable way appeared to be the only one not taxed by the effort. It was 2007 Evanston Grand Prix winner Bergman, however, who attacked on the backside and crossed the line with several bike lengths over Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United) in 2nd and David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) in 3rd. The amateur Bergman also won the $1,000 halfway prize on top of his $5,000 for the win. Team Tibco brough its heavy hitters to bear on the women's P/1/2/3 race, including former Evanston resident and ace sprinter Brooke Miller. After several of her teammates had made some attempts off the front, Amber Rais finally broke free alone with about 20 minutes to go, quickly creating a 45-second lead for herself, and it became a race for 2nd place. Junior Samantha Schneider (Mesa Cycles) would win that race for 2nd, with Miller rounding out the podium in 3rd. Earlier, the women's 4's race was dominated by Jeannie Kuhajek from New Zealand, who scooped up several primes on her way to winning the bunch sprint. In a fast 3's race, Ren-Jay Shei (Team Tortuga) shocked the field by slipping away by himself in the final laps and holding a slim lead all the way, followed by Tim Henry (Project 5 Racing) and Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek) in the field sprint. After a rough Superweek for the 3's, the race was thankfully incident-free, save for a hard crash on the final corner (I'm not aware of any injuries). In the masters 4/5's race, the first three through the final corner were the first three aross the finish line: Nate Iden (Spidermonkey Cycling), Newt Cole (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) and Ed Ekstrom (Tower Racing). Several breaks threatened in a loaded masters 1/2/3 race, but it came down to a sprint, where Derek Witte (Bissell) took it ahead of Dave Scherer (MetCycling) and Adam Lesniakowski (PACT/Dish Network). Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus) had targeted this weekend and executed to perfection: After winning Saturday at Downer Avenue, he rode up front the entire 4's race Sunday, attacking hard on the last lap and holding a large gap all the way to the line. The juniors race appeared destined for a two-up sprint, but a hard-working chase caught the break in the final laps. Downers Grove's Adam Kosela (Bikeline) then sprinted for the win in one of the day's closest sprints, just ahead of Chazz Martin (Smart Cycling). And in the morning's very first races, XXX Racing-AthletiCo won both 5's heats behind Tom Briney and Dave Moyer, not to mention a sizable contingent of teammates in support. All in all, everyone seemed thrilled with the event. Great weather, perfect organization and fun racing -- let's do this again! Full results. (Note that Rodriguez and Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing) are swapped.)

Race reports Brian Boyle (Vitaminwater-Trek; P/1/2): "I rode up to some Toyota United guys, one of whom was Ivan Dominguez. I sat on his wheel coming out of the final turn as we were getting the bell. I happily pointed this out to my teammates, literally, by happily pointing to Dominguez as we rode by them."

Gary Chioda (Tower Racing; 30+ 4/5): "With three laps to go the pace bumps up a little and I can still see the Tower colors flying high at the front of the race."

Ron Cook (Project 5; 3): "I asked Tim Henry to let me know when he wanted to move up. Before he even was able to respond he saw an opening and took it and left me there sitting mid pack."

CyclingNews: "There were more attacks but with a smaller group the marking was much easier, especially when you are Horner or Rollin. But not as easy when you are a wild card in the group, as was Bergman."

Jason Danvir (Sugar Cyles; 3): "I hit the last turn full-tilt and then it happened: Some morons decided to dive into the last turn and take me out from the side."

Erik Didriksen (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): "Several times I'd try to move up, but the 119 riders in the field managed to fill the spacious course and made moving up quite the chore."

Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire; W-P/1/2/3): "Like any good team should, Tibco pretty much neutralized anything that tried to bridge to Amber which made it clear that we were at that point racing for 2nd place."

Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; W-P/1/2/3): "Bike racing is humbling. I hadn't forgotten that, I just haven't been so thoroughly humbled in a while."

Nick Gierman (Vitaminwater-Trek; 4): "The break is only as strong as the weakest rider and I was that rider today."

Cory Hickman (Vitaminwater-Trek; P/1/2): "At the second to last corner I was fourth wheel and proud of myself. What happened in the next 300 meters is a blur, save for the absolute insanity of people diving this way and that."

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "Someone dives in front of me, stuffs their pedal into my front wheel and down I go."

Aaron Hubbell (Nuvo Cultural Trail; P/1/2): "I was 5 meters off his wheel and starting to die. I looked at my computer: 58 kph! I immediately decided that was enough of that shit and sat up. The pack swallowed me and I went about 60 places back before I started to recover."

Emir Jaganjac (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 5): "The pack was really moving down Columbus and the second time down Jackson, the front 15 already gapped the rest of the field leaving the rest of us to try and form groups."

Brooke Miller (Team Tibco; W-P/1/2/3): "17-year-old Sam Schneider most certainly made me pay for my bad finish focus! She had a great sprint and I did not have enough time to grab her on the line. Hat’s off to her for a great finish!"

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "Not knowing if Jeff was OK -- he’d crashed hard at Evanston just a week earlier -- took all the fight out of me."

Damon Nelson (Beverly Bike/VeePak; 30+ 4/5): "With just a few laps to go in the race Tony Rienks made a move on the backside of the course that I happened to catch on the Jumbotron just as he jumped."

Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus; 4): "I knew I was not where I wanted or needed to be, but nothing to do about it now other than dish out the hurt to everyone else and see how it shakes out."

Jared Rogers (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 5): "Dave Moyer livens things up for a lap to try and break the field. It did some damage and strung us all out and as soon as they were done, some unattached rider countered to prolong the agony going into the kicker on Balbo."

Mike Shea (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4): "It was long enough and somewhat technical enough to make it interesting. The turns and the bend at Congress forced me to plan my advances up the field."

Ren-Jay Shei (Team Tortuga; 3): "With me being the only Tortuga rider there and with a few other teams having like five or more guys in, I figured I should play it smart. It worked out."

Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek; 30+ 1/2/3, 3): "On the last lap, Ren-Jay made a good move and people just watched. I watched too, but I was also yelling my fool head off in the hopes that someone would make it fast."

Team Tati: (4, 5, 30+ 4/5, W-4): "Was this an omen of some sort? Should I advise our little elephant to sit this one out?"

Jeff Wat (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): " I moved up with him, but was pinched on the inside as riders from the right started to converge on the apex of the turn. It was an aggressive move and I was confident everyone would make it though OK. I was wrong and my hole closed on me and down I went."

Andrew Yeoman (Team Pegasus; 5): "I was pedaling down harder and harder to get up to the front two. The rider in 2nd place was beginning to lose it. This was all the motivation I needed."

Photos Matt Dula Carolyn Golz Eric Goodwin Jason Knauff: P/1/23, 4, 30+ 1/2/3, W-4 Melody Kramer Jeff Lynch Paul Matsushima Cecile Redoble Lee Sam Second City Warehouse Luke Seemann Bob Segal Tricia Smith Don Sorsa

No details yet, but Superweek has already updated the results to reflect Sunday's action.

Jairo Perez Suarez (Colombia) won, his second of the series after winning the second day of Bensenville. Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe's) finished well ahead of Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing) to secure the overall title. Meanwhile, Rahsaan Bahati appears to have been a no-show for the fourth consecutive day came up empty in the sprints after a break got away and devoured most of the available points, enabling Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's) to run away with the sprints title. Alex Voitik (Turin) finished 4th to wrap up the 3's overall title, and Jessi Prinner (ABD) came in 3rd in the final women's 3/4's race, giving the South Elgin junior the overall title. Full wrap-up to come.

Adam Bergman (Texas Roadhouse) wins the inaugural Chicago Criterium after attacking out of a large break, above, that included teammate Paul Martin and Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United). Full report to come.

Rock Racing let its legs do the talking at Downer Avenue on Saturday with Justin Williams winning the $7,000 prime -- the largest prime in American racing -- and then Sterling Magnell winning the race to get within 3 points of Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe's) for the overall. Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) took another day off and it now looks doubtful that he can win the sprints competition, with Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's) leading by 18 points.

Update: CyclingNews has a full report. Chicago's Chris Padfield won the 4's race, and Alex Voitik (Turin) and Matt Hebard (GS Boulder) went 1-2 in the 3's, which is also where they stand in the overall. Jessi Prinner (ABD) won the women's 3/4's and now leads by 4 points.

With two days of Superweek left, things are getting tense up in Wisconsin.

Yet another Colombian won in Kenosha Friday -- Juan Pablo Forero Carreno, the fourth from the squad to do so this Superweek -- but the real action is for the overall, where current leader Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe's) and Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing) have stopped being polite and started being real. Check out this CyclingNews report or this race report from Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw) for all the drama. Sprints leader Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) took two days off for a wedding and has now lost the red jersey again to Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's), who leads by 4 points. The CyclingNews story reports a clever tactical move, in which with a large break up the road Friday, Jittery Joe's intentionally slowed the field so that the break would lap, thus giving Hartley a chance to pick up points. Same old, same old in the 3's: A horrendous crash took down several riders in the final sprint Friday. My eyes on the ground, John Wilke of Peloton Pix, says three ambulances were required. Meanwhile, Chicago's Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek) won just inches ahead of Turin's Alex Voitik (above). It's now a three-man race for the overall, with Voitik leading by 4 points over Matt Hebard (GS Boulder) and Tomasz Boba (WDT-Allvoi). (Myself, I was registered for what should be a thrilling day on Downer Avenue today, but with the way the 3's have been riding, I'm not confident about getting through those tight corners without major incident. I'll be taking the day off.) In women's 3/4 racing, South Elgin's Jessi Prinner hasn't won since Evanston, but she's been racking up the points and now leads the overall by 1 point.

Just got an update on some of the pro stars registered for the Chicago Criterium.

Among those representing Kelly Benefit Strategies will be sprinter Alex Candelario and David Veilleux, winner of two stages and the overall at the Tour of Pennsylvania. From Bissell we'll see Benjamin Jacques-Maynes and Tom Zirbel, who recently placed 2nd at Italy's famous Granfondo Pinarello. And from Toyota-United we'll have the Cuban Missile himself, Ivan Dominguez, winner of Stage 1 at the Tour of Georgia, and 2006 Downers Grove and Tour of Elk Grove champ Hilton Clarke. This is just a partial list. Organizers are also still expecting Chris Horner (Astana), as well as some of the biggest names in women's racing. Finally, here is a story from today's Sun-Times. [Insert rant about how with a Chicago rider sitting in 6th place in the Tour de Frickin' France, you'd expect more coverage -- and better coverage -- from local media.]

In last night's Racine Criterium, cyclocross star Jonathan Page (Battley Harley-Davidson/Planet Bike) went up a lap with four others, then outwitted the sizeable Kelly Benefit Strategies leadout train to take the victory.

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing) continued to find himself marked like a jelly donut at a Weight Watchers meeting and couldn't slip away from the field. In the sprint, Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe's) was able to pad his lead by a few more points and now leads by 5. I don't have any 3's results from Racine, but it continues to be a tight race for the overall between Tomasz Boba (WDT-Allvoi), Alex Voitik (Turin), Matt Hebard (GS Boulder) and Robert Quinn (Unattached). Crashes again marred Thursday's race. Here's video of one that Tim Keeley (ABD) reports was caused by a crosswalk that was "slick as snot," and this photo from John Wilke suggests Quinn was the victim of one as well. No word on whether he made it to the finish. Word from Ben's Cycles in Milwaukee is that Saturday's crowd prime at the Great Downer Avenue Bike Race will be a minimum of $4,000. With Tour of Elk Grove primes topping out at $2,500, I believe that makes this the largest prime in the entire Midwest. And speaking of Tour of Elk Grove, Voytek Glinkowski (WDT-Allvoi) tells me only 10 spots remain in the amateur time trial. He also shared a photo of the trophies his team his providing for the top 10 amateurs, and they are handsome indeed.

In all the Superweek hoopla, I've neglected to preview the biggest Chicago race of the year: our Chicago Criterium.

I did a few circuits of the course this evening. It's fantastic. This is unquestionably the finest criterium course in the Midwest and perhaps the entire United States. USA Cycling should move the national championships here. It has everything: Technical corners. Climbs. A long stretch on which to wind up some wicked speed. And the views! In fact, this could be the course's only drawback: Between the architecture, the sculptures and even Lake Michigan, it will be dangerously difficult to focus on the race. People will want to dismount and write postcards. The stretch down Michigan Avenue and Congress Plaza is particularly amazing. Chicago hasn't enjoyed a backside this perfect since Beyonce played the United Center. (By which I mean the B-side of "Dangerously in Love." What did you think I meant?) The money will be huge, the crowds will be enormous and some of the biggest names in domestic racing will bring their legs of great wattage to the City of Big Shoulders. Indeed, the final sprint Sunday could very well become the fastest a bicycle has ever gone within city limits since Major Taylor did a mile here in 1:19. If that's not enough, I have two words for you: "Jumbo" and "Tron." And lucky us, we amateurs get to race, too. Depending on how the barriers are set up, Turn 2, a downhill left onto Michigan Avenue, may prove dicey. Keep your inside pedal up as you lean. Do not use this turn to advance positions. Find a wheel you trust and stay there. Advance up the inside and you will get pinched and yelled at. Advance on the outside and you will quickly run out of real estate and run up into one of our mayor's beautiful concrete planters. Let's not have to christen this corner the Art Institute Stacker. Cat 4 and 5 riders should expect a lot of accordion effect at this corner. The first rider will go through at full speed, but the second will slow a smidgen. The third will slow two smidgens. And so on. By the 20th rider, you’re going through at 15 mph and already seeing the leaders go up Congress Plaza. What do you do? Make your way to the front 10 riders and stay there. Failing that, be sure to shift down once or twice before the turn and be ready to sprint out of the corner to catch the rider ahead of you. The first time you let a gap open here may well be your last. Consult the race bible for a list of the generous primes available. Primes are so generous, in fact -- $425 for the 3's, an astounding $2,800 for the P/1/2's -- that I'd be surprised if any breaks got off. If someone is foolhardy enough to try -- and especially if that someone is, say, a XXX Racing-AthletiCo rider who hasn't gotten much sleep lately -- I recommend not wasting any energy in pursuit. Team tents can be set up at Columbus and Balbo, Turn 4. It's there that you'll find Vitaminwater-Trek giving away World Bicycle Relief water bottles in return for a $6 donation. If you're dropping off bikes or other gear, do so on Columbus north of Jackson. This will be fun!

I don't have time to write a full wrap-up, but the news from Wisconsin is that the Colombians have won two in a row. Carlos Alzate won out of a four-man break Tuesday in Cedarburg, and then last night at Whitnall Park, Juan Esteban Caruzjul took a two-lap flier and held it for the win.

The major development, however, is that Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe's) came in 2nd, giving him a one-point lead in the overall and the yellow jersey that Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing) has worn since winning two weeks ago in Beverly. "I can only imagine what Rock has in store for me in the next few days," Cantwell writes in his blog, "but they better realize that I'm an Aussie and we are built tough!" Magnell's rejoinder: a picture of a dollar bill on a toilet seat. The next few days should be exciting. The only other result I'm aware of comes from the 3's race in Whitnall Park, where Robert Quinn (Unattached) picked up his second victory of Superweek won the field sprint behind a solo flier from Paul Beyer (WWVC).

• » Longtime cyclist and masters racer Paul Sorenson (The Bike Shop) of Aurora died Friday after an unexplained crash while training in Ohio. Visitation will be Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Frederich-Jones Funeral Home, 44 South Mill St., Naperville.
• » More sad news: ABD member Jon Flick was seriously injured in a car accident his month. ABD is organizing a July 30 ride to raise funds to help him out.
• » It's been hard not to notice the Attack Cycles wheels the Rock Racing lads have sported during Superweek. This is a new venture from Rahsaan Bahati, who jokes in this CyclingNews profile that the "bling-bling" wheels are "for the people who like to spend money but don't really go that fast."
• » The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation will have a members-only viewing section at Sunday's Chicago Criterium. Bring your member card for entry.
• » Rising gas prices confirm what we've known all along: Driving less saves lives.
• » Another suspicion confirmed: Bicycles are useful for chasing down evil-doers.

OK, fellow report dorks, I've populated the Evanston wrap-up with all the reports and photo galleries I'm aware of. Go crazy.

The Cat 3 crash video is proving to be an Internet sensation. Its star -- the Bikes To You rider who hits the deck, gets up and is then slammed from behind -- has raced both days since Evanston and seems to be enjoying his new celebrity. Quick updates from up north: A long delay shaved a few laps from Cat 3 and P/1/2 road races at Holy Hill, but otherwise people seemed happy to be away from the crit courses. If ever there were a race to scout the finish, this was it, as the .4-mile, uphill finishing stretch caught both amateur and pro riders by surprise. In the pro race, a small group slipped away late. It included representatives from both Kelly Benefit Strategies and Rock Racing as well as Frank Pipp (Health Net), making his Superweek debut, but it was Ryan Roth (Team Race) who held a gap from the corner all the way to the line to take the win. The Cedarburg course was also a welcome one: safe, hilly and fun. It even ran mostly on schedule. The 3's were scheduled to do 35 miles but did 38 -- serving your correspondent right for only packing one energy gel. Chicago-area riders doing well included Alex Smetana (Spidermonkey Cycling), who won the 4/5's race in a sprint, and Alex Voitik (Turin), one of this Superweek's revelations, who halfway through the race was somehow able to form a break faster than you can say, "Dude, that's a dangerous move." He and fellow tough guy Matt Hebard (GS Boulder) rode two others off their wheels before Hebard took the win in the two-up sprint.

The directions in the race announcement are incorrect for Wednesday's race in Whitnall Park. Do not follow them unless you've been dying to visit Green Bay, Wis. Instead, follow instructions to this address. Also, the Racine course has been slightly altered. Says official Carl Wilkins: "The 15-foot-wide turn lane onto State Street will not be used. The race course is the same except we will be turning onto 3rd Street instead of State Street." Finally, Wilkins reports an item of "significant value" was found at Holy Hill. Find him if you know what it is and it is yours.

An administrative note: I'll be racing in Wisconsin the next few days and will be off-line. Expect your next update Wednesday or Thursday. By then I hope to populate the latest Superweek post with more reports and photos from Evanston. If there are any I may not be aware of, feel free to drop me a line.

Crashes were again the main story Sunday when Superweek returned to the Chicago area in Evanston.

With the exception of the masters race and the women's P/1/2/3, every race on the day was suspended at least once while medics tended to fallen riders, and all races were abbreviated. Is it any wonder this race is sponsored by a hospital? In the P/1/2, Turn 4 proved to be the trouble spot. The first serious crash took out Proctor winner Matt Busche (IS Corp), sending him to the hospital with deep cuts on his face. The second happened with five laps to go with Tuesday's masters winner Daniel Carruthers (Hansaton Hearing Systems) hitting the deck hard. It was a scary crash, but he would eventually jump back in to finish the race and even finish in the money. Racing was suspended each time. During the pauses, I noticed series leader Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing), clad in custom yellow shorts to match his jersey and knee warmers to cover his bandages, roll up to check on the injured riders and offer supportive words. Classy move, I say. After the final crash, the race was reset with 10 laps to go in order to give riders a chance to warm back up before going for some big primes. Soon a three-man break formed that included Wednesday's solo winner Jairo Perez Suarez (Colombia), Tommy Nankervis (DLP) and Friday's winner Peter Dawson (Rock Racing), who finished 5th out of a break here in 2007. Dawson must be getting some sprinting lessons from his new teammates because he easily took both the $600 crowd prime and the final sprint for the win. Rock Racing would thus go home with all three jerseys: white for the stage, yellow for Magnell's overall lead and red for Rahsaan Bahati, who continued to pad his lead in the sprints competition. Magnell and Bahati are positioned well to take the $1,500 prize for top overall and the $2,000 prize for sprint points. However, the pro race announcement states that riders must race on July 27 in order to be eligible for these prizes. Many of us have been expecting Rock Racing to be racing the $25,000 Chicago Criterium that day. Will Bahati and Magnell have to forfeit their prizes in order to show up on Chicago's JumboTrons? Or will they be compelled to stay in Wisconsin and race in Whitefish Bay instead? As for the women, the P/1/2/3 series wrapped up with Verducci/Breakaway taking home both the stage and the overall behind sprinter Theresa Cliff-Ryan, who ended the week as she started it, winning a bunch sprint. Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire) and Devon Haskell (Team Get a Grip Cycles) were your top Chicago finishers, getting 5th and 9th respectively. Back to the crashing. As far as I know, the women P/1/2/3's was the only race without a crash. The women's 3/4's were not as lucky. Jessi Prinner (ABD) was well off the front when Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) took a hard spill in Turn 4. Prinner was allowed to take the win uncontested, and the rest of the women raced two laps for 2nd place. The 4/5's and 4's races were surprisingly clean in their early trips through Turn 5, the notorious BK Stacker. About halfway through the 4/5's race, the day's first race, two riders off the back became its first victims. One of them continued to lie there as the pace car came around followed by a five-man break that had formed in the first few laps. Its leader at the time, Nick Gierman (Vitaminwater-Trek) plowed into the downed Northwestern rider, who now had a chainring-shaped gash across his back to complement his road rash. The race was then halted. When it resumed, Gierman jumped back in and the break was awarded its estimated gap. Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus) and Ryan Freund (IIT) snuck away from the break. They did so so sneakily, they apparently escaped the attention of the officials, who failed to give them a bell with one to go. Thus, on what should have been their final lap, they rolled through casually, confusing anyone who was paying attention. If this were indeed the final lap, Freund would have had an uncontested victory. Instead, they continued to roll for one more lap, and this time they sprinted for it, with Padfield crossing the line first. Freund would have had a good case for a protest, but he did the sporting thing and instead jumped straight into the 4's race. This race would be unlucky for him again as he would bloody his nose getting caught up in one of that race's crashes at the Stacker. They day's most violent crash may have come in the 3's race. Two riders tangled about 50 meters from the finish line. High-speed pileups ensued with bikes, wheels and bodies flying through the air and down the road, as captured here in video form and here in still photography. Meanwhile, Tomasz Boba (WDT-Allvoi) escaped the carnage and won his fourth race of the series. Just about anyone who finished behind him was just happy to have gotten through the minefield unscathed. But aside from the crashes, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the racing? Fast and fun, and Evanston was again a fantastic host. After two years of mayhem in Turns 4 and 5, however, it may well be time to rethink this course. Turn 7 at Downers Grove is the only other corner I can think of that causes this much trouble. Downtown Evanston is the perfect spot for a bicycle race, but perhaps there can be a different route that's just as exciting and spectator-friendly but safer for everyone. Backing up a day, it was a wet one up in Waukesha. Only about 30 finished the P/1/2 race, finishing a day that got started after a long delay after a set-up truck had to be towed from the course. CyclingNews credits a late $1,000 prime with setting the table for Spencer Beamer (DLP), who attacked out of a break as the sprinters stood up with three to go. (If that name rings a bell, it may mean you've been perusing my Flickr photos. Here's a photo of Beamer demolishing the juniors field in 2005 at the beloved Tour of Alpine Valley.)

Waukesha race reports CyclingNews: "A $1,000 cash prime resulted in disorganization and hesitation in the large breakaway group, allowing opportunist Spencer Beamon (DLP Racing) to get one of the biggest wins of his career with a brave solo move."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a Mack truck. I've never really messed my face up before like this and it's oh so strange."

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "The guy in front of me sat up from complete exhaustion and opened up a huge gap. By the time I closed it, I had 2 seconds to recover for the sprint."

Waukesha photos CycleSage John Wilke

Evanston race reports ABD/Geargrinder (P/1/2): "The officials restarted Jeff Schroetlin with a small gap but didn't give one to the other riders. With a fresh field behind him, his solo move lasted approximately two blocks."

Charles Biro (Team Get a Grip Cycles; 3): "I narrowly squeaked by the carnage, improving three places from people crashing out in front of me."

Brian Boyle (Vitaminwater-Trek; P/1/2): "I did something I've never done in any criterium at any level after being dropped: I chased back on. I couldn't believe I actually made it back into the field."

Clint Carter (Ski Utah; 3): "A rider hit the deck close to my line and a bike was flying through the air right at me. I didn't know if I was going to make it or not."

Gary Chioda (Tower Racing; 4): "Sure enough guys to my inside go down. I can feel the breeze from the rider next to me as he hits. I manage to keep cool and not overcorrect. I made it through."

Newt Cole (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): "All around me was absolute carnage. I felt like I was in the eye of a Hurricane as a clinic of bad bike handling was on display."

Jason Danvir (Sugar Cycles; 3): "We went from 18 to go to 14 to go after the restart. This caused a large portion of the field to lose their minds!"

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "Midway between Turns 4 and 5 there was a bit of a lull in the pace, and I attacked. Hard. Went into Turn 5 almost too fast, but I had a gap! Rounded the final turn first. Just me, thousands of people, and massive noise from all angles. I didn't dare look back. What a feeling."

Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire; W-P/1/2/3): "Things were fast but safe. I only had someone's shift lever shoved into my ass once, so that's pretty good."

Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): "When another racer swung across my line in a corner, I touched my brake -- my front brake -- probably harder than I needed to. D'oh! I went over the handlebars and landed on my chin and chest."

Nick Gierman (Vitamanwater-Trek; 4/5, 4): "I got to send a huge thanks out to the medial crew as they were definitely on top of their game today.

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): "My body actually goes inside the barrier, shoulder first, and I come to a screeching halt and fall on the curb."

Damon Nelson (Beverly Bike/Vee-Pak; 4/5, 4): "The team was really starting to steamroll the course and were picking up plenty of places until the race was stopped with eight to go. After the riders were peeled off the pavement in the infamous BK Stacker, the race was lined up for a third time."

Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus; 4/5, 4): "Another wreck or three after this I mentally called it quits. Enough. I no longer had the legs to make it back up to the front nor the will."

Jason Ludtke (Team Pegasus; 4/5): "Holy cripes, this was ridiculous! I stuck with the group for a while but got nerves and fell off the rear at the end of lap five."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "Made for an odd outing but we maintained and are focusing on tomorrow now."

Seth Meyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; P/1/2): "I enter the turn and I see 10 guys on the ground in front of me. I brake hard and swerve to make my way around."

Joey Rosskopf (Kudzu; P/1/2): "I was on the wheel of the guy who wrecked. He took the corner too wide and might have been blinded by the bright setting sun and ended up running into the outside curb/barrier, which sent his bike flying up and back out onto the road right in front of me! I kind of ducked and swerved to avoid the back half of his bike."

Mike Shea (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4/5): "Instant frustration. And the chase group? I guess we didn’t exist. Chase eliminated."

Mike Sherer (Alderfer Berger; P/1/2): "It was a blast getting to race 100 feet from my condo. The race went great for me. I felt amazing and was probably the best I have ever felt on my bike."

Tom Thiesen (Endeavour; 3): "If you find that you are not physically capable of ducking and covering, whatever you do, do not stand up and start walking around without looking what's coming."

Tati Cycles (4/5, W-3/4): "Jesse Williams is off the front, leading Liam Bradshaw out. The field is now completely strung out. Jesse dumps Liam off at the BK Stacker, who takes two hot corners and a long sprint solo and just edges out an xXx rider for the win."

Jeff Wat (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): "I worked really hard to get to where I was on the last lap and throughout the race and a bit of poor bike handling at 30+ mph did me in along with a few other riders."

Evanston photos Carolyn Golz: 3, 4, 4/5, 30+ and 40+, W-3/4 Eric Harper Jason Knauff Paul Matsushima Julie Pusateri Luke Seemann Pupila Quadrada Matt Smith Ed White John Wilke

How's the racing going up in Wisconsin? Hard to tell. Amateur results haven't been posted yet. But Rock Racing picked up another win, this time behind Aussie Olympic pursuiter Peter Dawson (above). Overall leader Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing) crashed in both races: He got back up at Shorewood to get 9th, but at Ripon he ended up with a concussion and stitches after this tire blew out in a turn. He still retains the yellow jersey, however, and teammate Rahsaan Bahati still has a lock on red.

Kelly Benefit-Strategies found Ripon's rain to their liking, just as the squad did when it dominated a rain-soaked Downers Grove last year. Jake Keough was part of a three-man break that lapped the field, at which point his team, including local favorite Reid Mumford, shepherded him home for the victory. Of note is the presence of three-time cyclocross national champion Jonathan Page (Battley Harley-Davidson). He came in 6th at Shorewood, 3rd in the field sprint.

Humboldt Park race reports Clint Carter (Ski Utah; 3): "I went on an early break with 3 others, only to have one of the riders overlap a wheel right in front of me and crash."

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "To make matters worse, it was uphill and someone attacked it every single time. 45 hill repeats, woo!"

Tom Thiesen (Endeavour; 3): "I was all like 'This is hard. I quit.' Then I saw that I broke a spoke and my brake was rubbing hard."

Humboldt Park photos Clint Carter

Shorewood race reports ABD/Geargrinder (P/1/2): "Once the break was established, the day was pretty much over for everyone else."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "The course was an odd one, but didn't worry me too much. When the legs are good, minor things like course type, pavement, hills, etc. are just interchangeable variables that don't mean much in crit racing."

Kudzu (P/1/2): "Thomas was sitting in a really good spot with one lap to go but said some really sketchy stuff happened on the last lap."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "I went down in a 10 man pileup with 10 laps to go. It roughed me up pretty good and I had to ride a spare bike from SRAM to 9th place."

Katy Steudel (Team Pegasus; spectator): "An older gentleman came over and says, 'Meet my friend, Greg Lemond. He's a seven-time world champion.' I kinda laugh and say, 'Well, I'm two-time state champion. Would you like my autograph?'"

Shorewood photos Clint Carter BigDane John Wilke

Ripon race reports Clint Carter (Ski Utah; 3): "Three of the four turns were slightly off-camber for added fun. It took me about half the race to finally start taking them right."

CyclingNews: "A late-race shower significantly affected the racing, as it allowed the break to actually catch the field and made the turns like ice."

CyclingNews: "'I went to the ER and they stitched me up,' Magnell said, 'seven above my eye and my lip is swollen. People take one look at me and they just turn away. It's like I have leprosy or something!'"

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "Some riders just stopped and pulled out. I felt fine, surprisingly, as wet weather ain't my thing at all."

Hub Racing (W-P/1/2/3): "Not every team ahead of Hub in the general classification had the same ability and a few of Hub's rivals found themselves out of the race. Such is the nature of a tour."

Kudzu (P/1/2): "As soon as it started raining, riders started dropping like flies. Not 'getting dropped' but sliding out and falling almost every lap."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "My rear tire blew in the middle of the fastest corner and sent me strait off the road at 40 mph. I woke up on the sidewalk scared as shit because I couldn't think, literally. But I've hit my head before so I just tried to relax."

Tom Thiesen (Endeavour; 3): "The import thing is I tried and failed abjectly. And it's delightful."

Ripon photos Clint Carter

Your Superweek schedule has the 4/5's race going 15 miles in 15 minutes.

I'm sorry, friends, but even on your best day, with the strongest tailwind and the steepest descent and the tuckiest tuck, that's not bloody likely. Superweek staff tell me that since the schedule was printed with this error, racing will not start any earlier than 9:30 a.m. The first few races of the day, therefore, will be abbreviated to accommodate. Turin's Chris Mailing, however, tells me that he expects the course to be ready at 9 and he hopes to stick to the original schedule. My advice? Show up ready to race at 9, but don't be surprised if you're standing around for a long time. Mailing says the city has bent over backwards to improve on last year's success. Officials and businesses are as excited as we are, and the course has already been re-patched to remove any grooves. In addition, Mailing says the barrier system at Turn 5 is being reconfigured to provide more safety at the treacherous "BK Stacker." Mailing is also recruiting volunteers to help marshal the course and perform other duties. This is a pretty good deal: Volunteers get a free T-shirt and a coupon for credit at Whole Foods. Two other notes:

• » I forgot to include this in my Holy Hill preview, but don't forget to bring your swimsuit Monday. The course starts on a lake, and after a long, hard day in the sun, you will welcome the chance for a satisfying dunk.
• » Unrelated to Superweek, Tim Henry (Project 5) tells me that mountain bike pioneer Tom Ritchey will be appearing at Sammy's Bikes in St. Charles on Monday to give a talk and go for a group ride. It starts at 5 p.m. at 602 1st St.

Bensenville residents went to a concert Wednesday night and a bicycle race broke out.

And what a race it was. Announcers cajoled dozens of music fans out of their lawn chairs to come watch Jairo Perez Suarez (Colombia) wrap up an amazing solo break from the men's P/1/2 field. He was off by himself for about 25 of the race's 80 laps. Several tried to bridge, including hard efforts from ABD/Geargrinder, but none got more than halfway across. This wasn't Suarez' only solo effort: He successfully stayed off the front of the field on Tuesday to capture 9th place after the break had lapped the field. Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) won out of that break after attacking early and lapping the field with seven others. Wednesday his team's attentions seemed to be on the points competition and defending its overall lead. Bahati had had his sprints leader jersey taken from him before the race because of what had been discovered to be a misallocation of points. The jersey thus passed to Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's). During the race, Hartley and Bahati were always close, shadowing each other like sumo wrestlers before a grapple, but it was Rock Racing, operating with a full squad, that manhandled most of the points sprints, and the points leadership passed back to Bahati. Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing) finished 3rd on the day to retain the overall lead. Other highlights from the rest of this week's Chicago races:

• » As cyclists we talk a lot about courage. Usually it involves an improbable attack or a difficult time trial. We have so much courage, we like to think, that we carry it around in suitcases. No more will I hold this delusion. Tuesday we witnessed true courage when trained spectators leapt into action to save the life of Jim Scott. There was no hesitation. Thinking was quick, actions swift.
• » Firefighter Tony Rienks (Beverly Bike/Vee-Pak) was one of the heroes who gave first aid. Wednesday, he showed his mettle on the bike, getting a well-deserved victory in the 4/5's race.
• » Richton Park was a well-received course, aside from an egging in the 3's race. Bensenville? Not so much. Technical is one thing. Unnecessarily dangerous is another. Uneven pavement in Turn 3 caused multiple accidents on Tuesday; to our relief it was paved overnight. (Thank you, Bensenville.) An off-camber turn on the chicane struck me as dodgy, and I was surprised to see only one rider wipe out there. The biggest problem, however, was the finish, which was positioned on the snaking stretch of new pavement in order to be near the park's bandshell. USA Cycling's rulebook gives these specifications for road races: "The finishing area should be at least eight meters wide and be adequately protected so as to prevent spectators from running into the street. The last 200 meters should be free of turns and curves." Assuming that this applies to criteriums as well (which it apparently does not; the national championships in Downers Grove finish a mere 150 meters from the final corner, after all): 1. Promoters have said the path is 25 feet. If that's accurate, that's less than 8 meters. 2. The last 200 meters was decidedly not free of turns or curves. 3. It seems painfully obvious that the chute out of the finish should be free of curves, too. Cyclists are utterly exhausted at the end of our sprints, and if we throw, it's difficult to steer safely. Only one crash occurred at the finish line, but it was catastrophic, and there were many more close calls.
• » All that said, Bensenville was once again a cordial host. And knowing the generous and expensive work the village did in order to construct this course, I don't mean to be ungrateful when I make these observations. I hope Superweek can return for years and years to come.
• » Not many pros have shown up for the women's pro tour, but many of the country's top amateur squads are here. Three locals to root for are Jessi Prinner (ABD), Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire) and Kristen Meshberg (Flatlandia). Meshberg is easy to spot: Just look for her omnipresent grin.
• » Between sprinting and time trialing, most of us have to choose but one. At Blue Island, Tomasz Boba (WDT-Allvoi) showed the 3's that he can hold his own in a field sprint, getting 2nd in the field. Sunday in Olympia Fields, he proved he can time-trial, single-handedly holding off the field for the final 10 laps. On Wednesday in Bensenville, he proved that he can do both in the same Herculean effort. With just a few laps to go, he easily jumped across to a dangerous three-man break. Just as that break got absorbed at the final turn, Boba launched a ferocious sprint and held off a charging Robert Quinn (Unattached), who himself has proven this week that neither his time trial nor his sprint are to be trifled with. He sprinted to win a three-up sprint Tuesday in Bensenville, and he came in third out of the break on Saturday.
• » Kiwi Daniel Carruthers (Hansaton Hearing Systems) rode to a long solo victory in Wednesday's 30+ 1/2/3 race. If he does it again, be sure to wave your hands rather than clap to show your appreciation: Carruthers is deaf. (He depends on a flag to know when the bell lap is.)
• » Joe Bippus (South Chicago Wheelmen) is off to a great start: In the first four races of Superweek, he landed two 4ths, a 2nd and a victory in the 4's.
• » Forgive me for being braggy, but I'm proud of my teammates in the lower categories. Both Monday and Tuesday saw XXX Racing-AthletiCo riders going on successful solo attacks late in the 4/5's races: Sean Piper in Richton Park, Dave Moyer in Bensenville. Then on Wednesday in Bensenville's 30+ 4/5's, Jeff Holland outsprinted the formidable Voytek Glinkowski (WDT-Allvoi), who had come in 1st and 2nd the previous two days.
• » Chicago's Spidermonkey squad should feel good about themselves, too. They've accumulated 11 top-five finishes in the lower-category races.
• » Many people have noticed the smaller fields in the 4's, 4/5's and 30+ 4/5's. I don't think attendance is necessarily down. Keep in mind that in previous years there has only been a 4/5's field with the occasional masters race. Last year, most of the Chicago-area 4/5's races, which were all held on weekends, filled up. So now instead of a crowded 75-man field, we have three fields of 20 to 30 riders. I don't think it's a bad thing. This has kept these races safer, and with the 4/5's races serving as proxy 5's races, more riders have a chance to be competitive within their own ability levels. My only surprise is that more riders aren't doubling up, either because the races are scheduled back-to-back or because they are scheduled to be longer than we're used to.

Full Superweek results.

Richton Park race reports ABD/Geargrinder (P/1/2): "With only three riders it was difficult to cover every move and a couple of times it looked like the team would only have stories about the one that got away, but then Zach Watson bridged across to a large group."

Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "After a number of attacks, a group of eight guys slipped away and we had the youngster Justin Williams there."

Taggert Brooks (CZ Velo; 30+ 1/2/3): "tTey had better numbers when the field was together. Why would they block for one teammate in a break of 10 when they had nearly 20 percent of the remaining field?"

CyclingNews: "With one lap to go it was all green and gold of Kelly Benefit on the front -- but not far behind were the Texas Roadhouse riders waiting to crash the party."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "Major props to perennial 'sit in and sprint' guy Justin Williams (Rock Racing) for getting up the road and lapping the field. Never seen him attack, let alone lap the field. Bravo, guy."

Kudzu (P/1/2): "The race started off faster than a blitzkrieg as we averaged 412 watts for the first 15 minutes."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "I'm on this like you wouldn't believe. I'm scared, I'm nervous. I've been getting support from every angle and I feel like I'm on a razors edge. It feels good. I feel compelled. This is big for me."

John Meyers (ABD/Geargrinder; P/1/2): "Superweek races are way better than 9 out of 10 regional races. Fast people show up. The races are hard, and hard men do well."

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "Someone started throwing eggs at the riders in the Cat 3 field. Two guys got hit in the head and shoulder. WTF?"

Joey Rosskopf (Kudzu; P/1/2): "Having already made the mistake of letting one break slip away today, no one in the bunch wanted to let it happen again."

Richton Park photos CyclingNews

Bensenville Tuesday race reports ABD/Geargrinder (P/1/2): "Although this was the fifth day in a now of racing for many riders, the attacks started once again from the gun."

Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "Back to business and with a very technical course, I did what Justin did the day before and lapped the field very, very early in the race."

Beverly Bike/Vee-Pak (30+ 4/5): "In the 4/5 with seven laps to go around an easy left turn half the lead pack went down."

CyclingNews: "All looked set for a two-up sprint when a moment of inattention over a dodgy corner by Katie Weber (WebCor) sent her to the ground with 10 laps to go."

Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire; W-P/1/2/3): "It was definitely a good race: difficult, sometimes twitchy, but that's just part of criterium racing."

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "Brian Morrissey and I were ready for a breakaway when the time presented itself, but nothing really stuck in the wind."

Nate Iden (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4): "Why did they have to change the Superweek course n Bensenville? Last year's course was kick'ass, and it was right in the village next to the greatest deli in the Chicagoland area, Mario's."

Karla Kingsley (Easton/ Sugar CRM/ Specialized; W-P/1/2/3): "I was grateful to have my break companion back with me, and we got down to business working together again."

Kudzu (P/1/2): "The slightest gap on this course could spell disaster, as the pace stayed high on the long straights and especially out of the turns."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "[Bahati] cleaned up like a formality with a little trackie split to the right while everybody was looking at their shoes. He won by four bike lengths. Ha."

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "The last thing I remember before realizing that I was on the grass with a torn skinsuit was thinking, as I was hurtling towards a barrier, 'Oh, shit.'"

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "I was probably 8th position as someone a few bikes ahead of me took the turn too hot and slid out. The guy on my inside panicked to avoid the crash, swung right, and rode me right into a rock garden."

Joey Rosskopf (Kudzu; P/1/2): "With expert timing, as soon as Oscar saw me surrender to the charging field, he jumped off the front, and within the next lap or two he joined the group already off the front."

Jeff Schroetlin (ABD/Geargrinder; P/1/2): "Hence, a semi-gianormous bunch of impatient over-achievers pedaling faster than the rest of us, went on ahead and, apparently missing the security of the general population, ended up pedaling all the way around to the tail end of the main mob from which they pedaled so feverishly to escape. Nice work, geniuses."

Team Tati (4/5): "Early attacks meant that the speed was very high for a one hour, lower-category crit."

Bensenville Tuesday photos Luke Seemann

Bensenville Wednesday race reports Beverly Bike/Vee-Pak (30+ 4/5): "Tony attacked and was able to hang on for the victory in front of the gentelmanly Nate Gayesky from xXx by four bike lengths."

CyclingNews: "The Colombians are always floating on the front of the field, looking for cash primes and any opportunity they can use."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "The course was an odd one, but didn't worry me too much. When the legs are good, minor things like course type, pavement, hills, etc. are just interchangeable variables that don't mean much in crit racing."

Kudzu (P/1/2): "When a rider in front of you pulls off at 30 mph it makes it very difficult to close the gap, thus it usually means you are in a spot of bother."

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "I’ve never seen such unselfish and committed teamwork as I did today from my teammates Chris Sherpitis and William Pankonin."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "The only thing we couldn't control was this one Colombian who is riding otherwordly."

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "Losing positions sucked, but luckily there was no crash this time and the long sprint started from the last turn."

Joey Rosskopf (Kudzu; P/1/2): "Attacks had started once again, and I was only jumping on the stuff that had Rock guys in it."

Chris Sherpitis (XXX Racing-AlthetiCo; 4/5): "My vainglorious hope was that I could lift the pace even higher on the backstretch of the last lap so that nobody could attack or at least not with great speed."

Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): "We weren't flying, but it was fast enough for that muggy day. With six or seven to go, I started checking the lap counter. Not a good sign."

Bensenville Wednesday photos Chris Carter: W-P/1/2/3, P/1/2, 3 Luke Seemann

• » Here's a thorough VeloNews update of last week's L.A. road rage incident, plus this update on felony charges.
• » Frank Zappa was a cyclist.
• » A great collection of photos from the 2008 tour.
• » Precisely how awesome is Chris Horner (Astana)? This awesome. Perhaps he'll be offering piggy-back rides during the Chicago Criterium?
• » Results of the ICA's chip-timing survey.
• » These two Kenyans have a great idea, but apparently haven't heard of Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing). Or Justin Williams (Rock Racing). Or Erik Saunders (Time). OK, it's a short list, but it's still a list. Or does U.S. cycling just not count? (Don't answer that.)

A disturbing crash at the end of today's 4's race in Bensenville sent a rider to the hospital, but early word is that he will be OK.

According to e-mail now making the rounds, based on information from the rider's son: "James Scott (Apache) was transported to Loyola after the accident today. He was conscious the entire time and joking with the MDs prior to surgery that he was VERY excited he took 3rd! He is out of surgery and doing well and they expect a full recovery." This is a massive relief to all who were present, myself included. The finish line of the Bensenville course sits in the middle of a long chicane of new pavement. After the finish line, the course bends to the right. Scott had just sprinted for 3rd up the left side of the course but, either because of the follow-through of his throw or because he was distracted by the other finishers, did not turn in time, slamming hard into the metal barriers and catching one at a freakishly unfortunate angle. Several emergency medical technicians were on the scene within seconds, including the medical service team hired by Superweek, and he was well cared for. I salute their professionalism and coolness during the crisis. They saved a life today. An ambulance arrived 20 minutes later, and racing resumed. I'll update this post if and when there is more to report.

Wednesday update: I spoke to Jim's son Jeremy this evening and the prognosis is good. Jim continues to be in good spirits, and doctors expect to release him from the hospital this week.

We have our first Superweek crash porn, compliments of Tricia Smith.

It's impossible to tell exactly what led to what in this sprint from Sunday's Cat 3 race, but here we have Chris Hurst (Baraboo Sharks) unclipping and falling into Matt Hebard (GS Boulder). Hurst ends up completely on one side of his bike, briefly defying gravity before hitting the ground. Hebard stays upright but hits his arm hard on the barricade. Hebard placed 4th, Hurst 5th. The uncropped photo series starts here. Hebard's initial self-diagnosis was a broken arm, but that proved not to be the case. In fact, he was back in action Monday in Richton Park. Perhaps in an attempt to stay as far away from other riders as possible, he created a huge solo lead in the first 10 laps. He would get caught but after recovering, he successfully got off the front again with about 10 laps to go, this time with Brian Moritz (Bikes To You). Together they built a huge lead, and it was Moritz sprinting out of the final corner for the victory. There were palpable sighs of relief as riders showed up in Richton Park and found the race much safer and enjoyable than Sunday's course in Olympia Fields. Let's hope Bensenville delivers as well. Full wrap-up to come later. Richton Park P/1/2 results. Richton Park W-P/1/2/3 results.

Because of construction around the ol' paint factory, Matteson will not take place this week. Organizers expect it to return on the 22nd.

There's been some outstanding early racing at Superweek, but the biggest story so far has been the course for Sunday's Olympia Club Criterium.

A protruding manhole cover was unable to be patched safely, so the course was shortened from the planned 6-corner .6 mile to a 4-corner .5 mile through a development of mostly vacant monster homes. In addition, a raised lip of concrete lined the gutters of the unfinished streets: deep enough to take you out, but shallow enough so that you forget it's there. Andy Daley (Vitaminwater-Trek) likened it to a giant game of Operation: Touch the sides, game over. These gutters, a tricky Turn 3 and a strong, swirling wind -- and no doubt some dodgy handling -- resulted in a series of hard, bone-breaking crashes in the closing laps of the Cat 3 race. That field started with 60 riders. Officials and organizers were thus wary of unleashing more than a hundred P/1/2's on the course. A chaotic riders meeting was convened at 5:15 p.m., a half-hour before the scheduled start. The issues were presented, and various solutions were proposed, including splitting the field into two heats, running a shorter race or canceling the race altogether. (More than one wag suggested a miss-and-out for what was essentially a 800m velodrome. Match sprints and madisons were also mentioned.) At one point, announcer Eddie van Guyse took a straw poll of who wanted to cancel the race. The photo above shows Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) registering his vote.
Guyse: "Is that your hand, Rahsaan?"
Bahati: "That's both my hands -- and my bike!" It was a tense yet almost comical 20 minutes. In the end, riders who wanted to bow out were offered credits or refunds. Most local amateurs took advantage of the offer, reducing the field by about a third. I couldn't stay for the entire race, but I watched as the first few laps passed without incident. The riders lined out at a scorching pace but took the corners smoothly. And it resembled a miss-and-out after all, with about one rider getting popped and pulled on each lap. Later, multiple crashes would take place in Turn 3, a fast, sharp and bumpy corner. With about 30 of the 80 laps to go, a group of four had formed, including ABD/Geargrinder riders Zach Watson and Josh Carter, who counterattacked following an intermediate sprint. With 16 to go, however, a serious crash suspended the race while an ambulance was brought in. The break was restarted with a half-lap lead, and then Watson, an expat member of the squad living in Boulder, Colo., led out Carter for the win. Other notes from the first weekend of Superweek, with the caveat that my commentary is somewhat hamstrung by the fact that few results have been posted:

• » Rock Racing took another bite out of Superweek Saturday with Bahati winning and Friday's winner Sterling Magnell taking 3rd and keeping the lead in the overall.
• » Team Tati picked up the first victory in its short history with Liam Bradshaw sprinting to win Saturday's 4/5's in Blue Island after a late Wild Card flier was reeled in with one to go. The downstate Wild Card squad, another new team in orange, still managed to put riders in 2nd and 3rd. Many have wondered how Team Tati's retro wool jerseys are holding up in the heat: "The Ibex wool is great," Patrick Myers reports. "Really no problem at all. I did a 200k brevet in it." So there you have it.
• » Nothing like creating a secret alliance with another team, getting them to promise to lead you out -- and then losing the wheel and finishing 2nd to your co-conspirator. That's what happened to Nick Gierman (Vitaminwater-Trek) in Saturday's 4's race. He'd lose to Nate Iden (Spidermonkey Cycling), and then Sunday would finish 2nd again, this time in a two-up sprint against Dan Damotte (Proctor) after the field disintegrated in their wake.
• » XXX Racing-AthletiCo had a banner day at Olympia Fields. First Dave Moyer won out of a three-man break in the 4/5's. Then Jonathan Dugas and Brian Morrissey took an early leave from the masters 4/5's race, creating a break with Brian Kavanaugh (2CC) that nearly lapped the field. Dugas won and Morrissey getting 3rd, and then Newt Cole and Jeff Holland went 5-6, giving the squad four of the top six.
• » There were attempts to get away but nobody got a very long leash in the Cat 3 race. With 10 laps to go, however, Tomasz Boba (WDT-Allvoi) counterattacked a move and quickly built a quarter-lap lead. From my perspective on the sidelines -- I had exited the race in order to get a better view of the sprint; the things I do for you people -- Vitaminwater-Trek appeared to be the only team willing to commit bodies to the chase. That lack of commitment, plus disruptions from the aforementioned crashes, let a fading Boba hold the narrowest of margins all the way to the line. Just one second behind him an argy-bargy sprint barreled to the line, sending James Pradun (Endeavour) into 2nd and Chris Hurst (Baraboo Sharks) into 5th but also into the barriers, out of his pedal and then down the tarmac.

Full Superweek results.

Blue Island reports ABD/Geargrinder (P/1/2): "'One of the Canadian guys totally chopped me in the turn [for Rahsaan Bahati’s wheel], and then what really killed me was that he couldn’t even hold Rahsaan’s wheel!'"

Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "On this course you could come out of the corner sixth or seventh and take your time because it was so long to the finish."

Brian Boyle (Vitaminwater-Trek; P/1/2): "Out of the last turn I was able to drill it and pick up many places over the apathetic riders at the back who were just looking to finish."

John Coyle (Wolverine Sports Club; P/1/2): "The Colombian team continued to push breakaways and the field was unwilling to let them go, so the peloton resumed the strung out two abreast or single-file for dozens of laps and I began to tire."

Eric Goodwin (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): "I missed a turn at the front and started to draw a little unwelcome attention from my companions. I said something about seven teammates blocking and indicated that it would be my only comment on the subject (using fewer and more colorful syllables)."

Nick Gierman (Vitaminwater-Trek; 4): "Nate was right ahead of me and I was closing on him. However, the line was closing on both of us."

Don Hanke (Tower Racing; 30+ 4/5): "About 24 years ago I finished 2nd at the Moline Quad City race. That had been eating away at me for a long time, but not any more!"

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "I sprint, start to fade, sprint again, fade again, and then sprint again as I see people moving up to left and right. I cross the line 7th."

Nate Iden (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4, 30+ 4/5): "I passed the taco stand and still had the lead, still grinding, just waiting to be over taken, but it never happened."

Kudzu (P/1/2): "In the final three laps the field was pretty sketchy as it stretched more than 15 wide through the corners when only about 10 riders should have gone through."

Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus; 4): "I never thought I would describe a crit as 'mellow,' but this was downright relaxed."

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "I held onto his wheel, pulled out with about 100m to go, put my head down and gunned it."

Mike Shea (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4/5): "The plan changed to a simple one: keep an eye on the stronger riders from each team and mark their position. I didn’t have extra juice to spare and it was still a hard race."

Team Tati (4/5): "Meanwhile, the other teams ignored and overlooked us as usual, and fought it out over a series of futile breaks."

Tom Thiesen (Endeavour; 3): "Despite being almost twice as long as most crits in the rest of the calendar, competition for positions was fierce from lap one."

Tim Yuska (Get a Grip Off Road; 4, 4/5): "A rider tried to squeeze through a quickly closing gap directly ahead of me. Of course the slight contact caused a meeting with the pavement for the poor fellow."

Blue Island photos Carolyn Golz Jason Knauff: 3, 30+ 4/5, 4/5, 4 Matt Smith Team Tati Team Tati (II)

Olympia Fields race reports ABD/Geargrinder (P/1/2): "Josh Carter scored ABD/Geargrinder’s first win of Superweek, winning out of a break of four that had also been powered along by pseudo-teammate Zach Watson."

Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "I won more points in the red jersey and Sterling Magnell finished 6th, and that allowed him to stay in yellow."

Newt Cole (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "'Sorry, bro, nothin' personal. Those are my boys up there.'"

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "It was a nice course. Turn 3 was a bit of an odd one, but nothing we hadn't done 2,049 times before."

Nick Gierman (Vitaminwater-Trek; 4): "I get to the front and started pulling. Next thing I look back and I have opened up a pretty big gap."

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "We used strong team tactics to keep our guys in the break and also get our blockers a top-10 finish. Does it get any better than that? "

Nate Iden (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4): "None of us crashed, Alex came in 5th, me 3rd and Nick 2nd. That is all I can say about a 12-mile race."

Kudzu (P/1/2): "Countless wrecks occurred as everyone battled for the wheel in front, only to run out of real estate."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "Then came a crash that the officials stopped the race for, then restarted us, giving the break a dubiously generous head start."

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "I learned a hard lesson in tactics this afternoon, and that I am entitled to nothing until I cross that line."

Dave Moyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4/5): "As we’re halfway up the hill before my pull I attack, which for some reason really surprised the other two. I didn’t look back until two corners later and saw I had a pretty solid gap."

James Pradun (Endeavour; 3): "With three to go the pace picked up again and didn't slow down, stretching almost single file the whole way."

Joey Rosskopf (Team Kudzu; P/1/2): "It turned into a very sane race for the amount of deliberation and worry that went on before hand."

Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): "A blue shirt had the audacity to tell the assembled riders' that all the crashing wasn't because of the course."

Tom Thiesen (Endeavour; 3): "With 3 laps to go, the carnage started. Apparently everyone realized it was their last chance and simultaneously tried to move to the front."

Tim Yuska (Get a Grip Off Road; 4, 4/5): "I was always getting gapped on the 120-degree turn that had already claimed several other riders’ skin."

Olympia Fields photos Carolyn Golz Luke Seemann Matt Smith

And we're off!

Superweek kicked off hot and humid tonight with the Beverly HIlls Cycling Classic, a challenging but thrilling course on Chicago's far south side. Gaps opened up all over the place early and many locals got a rude welcome to Superweek P/1/2 racing when they found themselves blown off the back before they'd even gotten to their first energy gel. Kelly Benefit Strategies had a large crew and was aggressive from the get-go. Eventually a 10-man break came together about 30 miles into the 60-mile race. Familiar faces included Rob White and John Meyer (ABD/Geargrinder), Hinsdale native Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's), former UCVC star Todd Yezefski (Fitness Together/IF) and Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies). Thousands of dollars in primes later, the pack lapped what little was left of the field with about 10 laps to go. ABD/Geargrinder had good numbers at the front, but it was a green-and-black sprinting clinic that a large, raucous crowd got to enjoy: First Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) won out of a chase group to take 11th, and then Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing) beat Hartley by inches (above) for the first win of Superweek 2008. I'll update this post as more photos and reports roll in. Tomorrow we have what may be a rainy day in Blue Island, and then a debut course in Olympia Fields on Sunday. Partial results.

Race reports ABD/Geargrinder (P/1/2): "The team started off racing aggressively and just 20 laps in Rob White joined three other riders off the front, and shortly thereafter Ryan White buried himself to help get both he and John Meyers into the group as well."

Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "When the rest of the boys get here next week, we should have some good times."

Aram Dellalian (Bearclaw; P/1/2): "My shorts totally got caught in my saddle. The midwest humidity ... gahhhh."

Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe's; P/1/2): "First loser. But it was close."

Sterling Magnell (Rock Racing; P/1/2): "Cramping, nauseous, the whole bit, then somehow I won."

Mike Sherer (Alderfer Berger; P/1/2): "A break went early with about nine guys. Of course I missed it like I always do."

Photos Luke Seemann Matt Smith John Wilke

Regarding the speculation and hand-wringing in my previous post, please note this important clarification from Superweek's Andy Garrison: "We have worked with The Village of Bensenville for over a year on this project. The path that is shown on the map is now 24' to 25' wide in all areas. The Village has repaved the area with fresh new pavement. Mayor John Giles and the Village have made a huge commitment to bike racing and moved the race to the park to coincide with an event that culminates on the 16th at 8 p.m. with a free concert featuring The Gary Puckett Band. There will be the usual food and beverages and $4,000 in guaranteed primes."

Garrison also informs us that the 4/5's race at Evanston is filling up. Update: Gary Chioda (Tower Racing) sends us these camera photos of the course. The image on the right is where the path spits back onto the road, and Chioda reports that a crew was there today patching cracks.

I received some Chicago Criterium updates from my source deep within the bowels of City Hall:

• » Fewer than 40 slots remain in the 125-man 4's field. Register now or risk missing out on the race of the year.
• » Professional rosters are yet to be released, but you can expect to see fan-favorite Chris Horner (Astana). Horner has raced the past two years of the Tour of Elk Grove, and it's never a mere celebrity appearance. He rides an animated race and races to win.
• » $40,000 in prize money not enough? Winners jerseys will also be up for grabs in all races. I'll post an image as soon as I have one.

The Superweek technical guide is out, including course information for the Tuesday and Wednesday Bensenville races.

It's an interesting course, and by "interesting" I mean, "At least there's lots of parking." About half the course appears to run down some sort of recreational path. Perhaps someone more familiar with Bensenville can inform us. Can we ride more than two abreast there, let alone sprint for the finish line? (I could be wrong, but the map in the technical guide suggests the start/finish sits about halfway down this path.) Update: I missed this when it was first published last week, but CyclingNews has an item about some of the troubles Superweek is having. Scroll down to the seventh item. (Thanks, Matt.) CRITICAL, ALL-CAPS UPDATE: Superweek's Andy Garrison e-mails me with a clarification that will put most of us at ease: "We have worked with The Village of Bensenville for over a year on this project. The path that is shown on the map is now 24' to 25' wide in all areas. The Village has repaved the area with fresh new pavement. Mayor John Giles and the Village have made a huge commitment to bike racing and moved the race to the park to coincide with an event that culminates on the 16th at 8 p.m. with a free concert featuring The Gary Puckett Band. There will be the usual food and beverages and $4,000 in guaranteed primes." Hooray for Bensenville! Here is a Bensenville Press story detailing some of the events: "Bike race, other events switch to weekday slots."

Some belated highlights from the holiday racing:

• » ABD/Geargrinder's White Bros. did it again, with Ryan and Rob going 1-2 at Saturday's University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Road Race. On Sunday, their teammate Jeff Schroetlin mistook the Wood Dale Criterium for a velodrome and lapped the field not once but twice, taking the victory and leading out Josh Carter (ABD/Geargrinder) into 2nd place.
• » Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek) proved his Proctor state championship was no fluke by repeating the feat at ABR's state championship in Wood Dale. His gap was so wide that when I first saw the photos of the sprint, I thought he was being lapped. Sorry, Matt. I'll never doubt you again. But I think it's time for a new post-up. The one-arm "hailing of the cab" just isn't working any more. Have you considered a crucifixion? (Complete with stigmata cycling gloves!)
• » Thanks to some lap counting confusion, the Chicago Cuttin' Crew had the ignominy of sprinting for 2nd -- twice. Newly attached Avi Neurohr did it on the bell lap of the 4/5's race, and then Brean Shea did it when it counted.
• » I'm dying to see the UWW results so that I can identify the women in this photo series from the women's 4's race. I'm curious whether the woman on the left made it to the line in time. It appears she either flatted or her broke her chain and had to dash for the finish. Or perhaps she just wanted an early jump on some cyclocross drills. Update: I bumped into a heavily bandaged Lindsay Jones (Unattached) at the junior state track championships, where she was coaching Yojimbo's Track Cats. She said had been engaged in some cat and mouse about a quarter-mile from the finish when she got tangled up and went down. Despite having done quite a number to the right side of her body, she picked up her inoperable bike and ran to the line, barely missing out on 6th place to Liz So (Team Tati) riding from behind.
• » Attention, masters riders: Your races just got a little more challenging. Mike Jones (MetCycling) has returned to racing after breaking several bones over Memorial Day weekend. Jones is one of the nicest guys in the peloton, but when he turns the pedals in anger, he turns them fast and he turns them hard.

Full Wood Dale results.

Whitewater photos Carolyn Golz Team Tati John Wilke

Wood Dale photos Carolyn Golz Vitaminwater-Trek

Whitewater race reports Doug Braun (Tower Racing; 30+ 4/5): "Having a milelong leadout at full gas was a new experience."

Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; W-4): "When we crested the little rise before the finishing stretch, I popped up to a big gear, stood up and mashed gamely."

Ari Neurohr (Chicago Cuttin' Crew; 4/5): "I'm not a total idiot. There were a bunch of us that got screwed and left flat in the final lap."

Brean Shea (Chicago Cuttin' Crew; 4/5): "It was hard. Like when you come home late at night and your keys don’t work because your landlord is too cheap to replace the lock and you have been in your sweaty chamois for hours and your ankle hurts and you are wearing racing shoes and trying to climb into your window and you are poor and your credit is bad. That kind of hard."

Team Tati (W-4, 4/5): "Tommy cramped up on this, his inaugural road race, so more bananas next time."

Tom Theisen (Endeavor; 3): "If you're not too concerned about your own result, it can be fun to frustrate a chase effort."

Wood Dale race reports Brian Boyle (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+, 3): "Helped with tempo. Chased."

Gary Chioda (Tower Racing; 40+): "There were several occasions when the hammer was down that the entire 40-man field was strung out in a single file. I only noticed maybe two times when the pace actually eased up a bit."

Fran Connelly (Tower Racing; 50+): "It became a little dicey as suddenly about 5 riders all at once, rounded the final turn into the straightaway."

Ron Cook (Project 5; 3): "They called a prime of a box of Powergels that I ended up winning but that seemed to kill off the rest of my break partners."

John Coyle (Wolverine Sports Club; 30+, 40+): "I put on the afterburners and re-accelerate into the corner in 6th, with a lock on 3rd coming out of the corner -- that is until the rider in 5th suddenly gets out of his saddle and swings 3 feet left, hitting my front wheel, bending half my spokes and almost taking me down."

Debbie Dust (MetCycling; 40+): "I even got in on the action a couple of times, just for kicks and to hear Kenny Labbe call my name as we crossed the start/finish."

Seth Meyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; P/1/2/3): "At least this time I didn’t have any trouble sticking in. Heck, I even had some promising bridge attempts."

James Pradun (Endeavor; 3): "I threw up a little in my mouth. I got some water, sucked it up and kept close to the front. "

Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3, P/1/2/3): "I jumped hard from the front of the pack at the bottom of the hill, caught him at the top, and kept going for the win."

Vitaminwater-Trek (30+, 3): "Corey Hickman and Jeff Schroetlin (ABD/Geargrinder) clung to the front of the pack and found enough power to explode out of the penultimate turn of the bell lap."

Ask and you shall receive. I have course information for the four new Superweek courses.

Sunday's criterium in Olympia Fields will be in a development that, as of the last pass of the mapping satellite, was still under construction. It's a .6 mile course with some sweeping turns. Monday's criterium in Richton Park is .7 miles and goes around Pierce Park. It's hard to tell from the profile, but it looks flat. Here are MapMyRide profiles for the new Wisconsin courses: Ripon, a 1.6-mile 6-corner course close to but very different from where Wisconsin held its state championships this year, and Racine, which looks like a nice downtown course with a long stretch along a river. I'm also told that discounted hotel rooms in Wisconsin are running out.

Enough exasperated people have e-mailed me for the Superweek schedules because they can't locate them at the Superweek site that I'll re-post them here: For P/1/2's, for the rest of us.

And, no, I don't know where the Olympia Fields or Richton Park crits will be, but I'll let you know as soon as that information is released.

• » Your 2008 cyclocross schedule.
• » A horrifying road rage incident in L.A., in which a car stops short ahead of cyclists on a training ride. (Our own case of alleged road rage goes to trial in late August. Stay tuned.)
• » Once again, your destination for wonky Tour de France analysis -- and the upcoming Olympics -- is Science of Sport. It's a daily must-read.
• » Something to make your bike utterly theft-proof. (Thanks, Simon.)
• » Will old ten-speeds be the next fixed gears?
• » It's a long drive, but organizers of September's Oak Ridge Fall Velo Classic omnium invite you to take a stab at their $10,000 purse.

The races will be longer, the weather will be hotter and the racing will be faster and more breakneck than ever. Superweek is here. Are you ready?

This year's 17-day, 19-venue series has several new courses (which have yet to be revealed) and I don't have experience with all the old ones, but here's what I know:

Beverly (Friday, July 11) Opening night is P/1/2-only, but all cycling fans should pay a visit to one of Chicago's more charming neighborhoods and take in this doozy of a course, perhaps the jewel of the Superweek portfolio. A steep hill at Turn 1 takes its toll on riders, and a screaming downhill turn sends racers down the homestretch at a frantic pace. The atmosphere is electric and the sprints are wild.

Evanston (Sunday, July 20) Beware the BK Stacker! Gorgeous weather and solid organization made this a racer- and fan-favorite in its 2007 debut, but lower categories had more than a few troubles getting past the Burger King at Turn 5, where an optical illusion makes the turn look wider than it actually is. Avoid the outside line on the early laps until your pack gets the hang of it. Turn 6 also narrows before spitting out into the wide finishing stretch of Sherman Avenue. Lower categories should count on bottlenecks at both corners and be prepared to accelerate out of them. Stick to the front or you'll be sapped by the accordion affect.

Holy Hill (Monday, July 21) Disputes with local authorities have taken away the popular Alpine Valley and Proving Grounds courses, making Holy Hill our only true road race. There are a few uphill kickers, but nothing that will afford climbers much advantage. (Sigh.) Last year the biggest challenge was getting through a dodgy mile of chip seal. Hopefully a year is enough time for it to have settled into a smooth surface. Give yourself time to scout out the uphill finish, as it's a stretch of road that's not covered on the rollout or the 8.1 mile course.

Whitnall Park (Wednesday, July 23) This is a gorgeous course. It’s in the same botanical garden as April’s Whitnall Park Criterium, but the course is longer (2.3 miles) and in the opposite direction. Nominally it is a road race, but it's a closed course and feels more like a crit. The finish is uphill following a sharp left turn, and the line will come at you sooner than you think. The winner will make this turn no farther back than 10th, and a good leadout will deposit its rider at the hill’s base. Late-race fliers have worked here, too.

Downer Avenue (Saturday, July 26) Lower categories don't always get a chance to race this course, so this year should be special. And if the racing doesn't work out, there will be a Belgian beer festival in which to drown sorrows. This is a nice bookend to the fan-friendly Beverly as tens of thousands of spectators will line up along this technical, triangular course in Milwaukee.

I'll be busy racing but will provide highlight reports as best I can. I'll also be aggregating all the race reports that I can. If there's a blog or report archive I should know about, including out-of-town guests, let me know.

I missed a great result in my early round-up of the masters time trial national championships. Pictured above is Winnetka's Leigh Thompson (Vision Quest), whose 58:15 38km was almost a minute better than 2nd place among women 45-49.

A weekend of criteriums didn't yield any new champions for for Chicago, but in Sunday's men's 35-39 race, Michael Heagney (PYOC) and Ed Amstutz (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) were part of a break that lapped the field. They finished 3rd and 7th respectively.

Has everyone plotted out their sick days yet? Superweek race fees go up $5 per race after Monday, so it may behoove you to register now. Consult this page for complete schedule information (here for P/1/2 men).

Lake Barrington's Wayne Simon (Verdigris) followed up his time trial silver by winning Tuesday's road race in the men's 50-54 national championshp.

Aurora's Tom Doughty (Amgen/Giant) also had a good day, getting 5th in the men's 55-59, with teammates placing 1st and 3rd. Road races conclude today with criteriums starting tomorrow.

Pip me once, shame on you. Pip me twice, shame on me?

That's what Ricardo Otero (Team Mack) may be thinking this week. At Saturday's Elm Grove Criterium he lost the masters 3/4 sprint to David Greenblatt (Brazen Dropouts) -- for the second week in a row. And once again we have photographic evidence of how slim the margin was. Full results.

ABR holds its state championships Sunday with the Wood Dale Criterium. The course is in the industrial park that hosted the masters and juniors criteriums over Memorial Day weekend. Note that a previous flier listed only a P/1/2/3 race, but there will indeed be a separate race for 3's.

In Wisconsin we get one of our last road races of the year with the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater road race. It's a new course this year so I can't comment much, but the area is thick with rolling hills, and it appears there is at least one challenging climb on each of the 5.5-mile laps.

Saturday UWW Road Race USCF road race Palmyra, Wis. Distance from Chicago: 2 hours

Sunday Wood Dale Criterium ABR criterium Wood Dale, Ill. Distance from Chicago: .5 hours

Masters national championships kicked off yesterday in Louisville, Ky., with three Chicago earning silver medals in the time trial. Wayne Simon (Verdigris) placed 2nd in the men's 50-54, Tom Doughty (Amgen/Giant Masters) in the men's 55-59 and Debbie Dust (Kenda Tire) in the women's 35-39.

The racing continues with road races through Thursday and criteriums over the weekend.

A lot of Chicago riders picked up some new laundry Sunday at the state criterium championships in Peoria.

I was pleased to see championships go to two of our newer, scrappier teams. In the women's 4's race, Brynn Schwaba (Chicago Cuttin' Crew) got on the good side of an early split. After her two break mates had a mishap, she was able to ride home solo for the win. Also going solo was -- surprise, surprise -- Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus). He attacked with six laps to go in the men's 4's, and the field was never able to commit to a chase until it was too late. He dipped into his suitcase of courage, his carry-on of mettle and finally his portmanteau of pluck to barely hang on in dramatic fashion. With several unfamiliar teams in the 3's pack, including squads from Iowa, Missouri and even Texas, nobody was given a long leash, and the pace stayed hot the entire race. With a few laps to go, Vitaminwater-Trek started firing off fliers like artillery shells ahead of a beach landing. None held, but they wore down and stretched the field, thus setting up Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek) for a narrow sprint win over junior John Tomlinson (XXX Racing-AthletiCo). Despite last week's blunder, Smith again raised his arm before the line, but this time he held on (photo above). Many races this year have come down to Devon Haskell (Team Get a Grip Cycles) and Kristen Meshberg (Flatlandia) at the finish line, but I was astonished to see the women's P/1/2 race reduced to them at the start line. Despite a $1,000 purse that paid 10 deep, Haskell and Meshberg were the only Illinois residents coming to play in Peoria. They quickly took their leave from the other 1/2's and the 3's and stayed together until the final corner, where Haskell took a lead and held it all the way to the line to add to her collection of championship jerseys. Meshberg would have to wait until the afternoon to get her victory, this time in the women's 35+. Kyle Jacobson (IS Corp) made an audacious move in the P/1/2 race, getting a 20-second gap within the first two laps. He dropped his Bissell companion but kept plugging away by himself. Within a few laps later four others had joined him, including teammate Matt Busche, and it wasn't long before their lead grew to an insurmountable minute and a half. Jeff Schroetlin (ABD/Geargrinder) was the only Illinois resident in this bunch so he had a lock on the championship, but it was Busche who made a move on the final backstretch and took the race. Meanwhile, Scott Pearson (Comcast/Higher Gear) once again was able to slip away from the field to finish in 6th overall, 2nd in the state. Other local champs: James Bird (IS Corp) in the boys 15-18, Kaleb Koch (Smart Cycling) in the boys 10-14, Dani Witt (ABD) in the girls 10-14, Andy Kerr (Village Cyclesport) in the 50+, Voytek Glinkowski (WDT-Allvoi) in the 30+ 4/5's, Jessi Prinner (ABD) in the women's 3's and girls 15-18, and Kathleen Corbett in the women's 55+. Full results.

Photos Steve Daggs Fick's Photos Matt Smith: P/1/2, 4, 3 Snapshots by Stacy XXX Racing-AthletiCo

Race reports Erik Didriksen (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 5): "While sliding across the pavement (whee) I somehow kept my hands on the bars and managed to make myself as small as possible so I wouldn’t be run over."

Nick Gierman (Vitaminwater-Trek; 4): "I could have sworn Chris was behind me. I never saw him come up to the front. "

Tim Henry (Project 5; 3): "JD and I were cutting the corners elbow to elbow with speed north of 30 mph, just flowing through the field. It was just flawless: the power, the fluidity. This race was perfect: fast, aggressive but safe."

Seth Meyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; P/1/2): "It wasn’t that awful I-feel-my-muscle-fiber-being-torn-to-shreds pain, but just a slow, general, embarrassing I’m-running-out-of-steam kind of thing."

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): "I could complain about how strong I felt but didn't really apply myself, HTFU, and sling my own pair around with a counter-attack into that wind, but I won't."

Chris Padfield (Team Pegasus; 4): "I struggled to keep my anaerobic eyes open and kept coasting through the hay bales that separated turns one and five, pulled over, got off my bike and collapsed into a mess of heavy breathing, the clouds, and disbelief."

Rob Raguet-Schofield (Wild Card Racing; 5): "It kind of sucked to watch the leaders pull farther ahead of me each lap, but at the same time it was a bit of relief to not have to worry about other riders in the turns."

Brynn Schwaba (Chicago Cuttin' Crew; W-4): "A couple of crashes at the last few turns caused the tactics in place to not go as well as we hoped but, hey, that’s what happens sometimes."

Mike Shea (Spider Monkey Cycling; 4): "Less than 100 meters after the finish he fumbled off his bike and sat on the curb, spent."

Matt Smith (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): "John Tomlinson (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) was moving very very fast, and I inched my way even with him, then inched my way ahead of him."

Bob Willems (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): "Do I have enough in the tank? Is that headwind too much to go? Can I really commit to this?"