My source with the city tells me that there are only five spots left in the Chicago Criterium’s masters 4/5 field.

There remain 60 spots in the 4’s (125 capacity) and 150 spots in the 3’s (200 capacity).

Register here.

Only five spots remain in the Chicago Criterium Cat 5’s. Both Cat 5 heats of the Chicago Criterium have reached capacity. Other fields may still register.

Online registration is now available for Downers Grove and for your Chicago Criterium. Cat 5’s will want to register as soon as possible, especially for Chicago, which has only two heats.

Look who submitted a flier to USA Cycling!

We could guesstimate race lengths from the schedule that was released earlier this month, but this gives us more specifics. Check out those purses for the women -- nearly twice as much as is up grabs at the otherwise generous Tour of Elk Grove. And with that weekend's Tour de Toona scaled back to a single $15,000 criterium, perhaps the $25,000 purse for P/1/2's will be enough to lure the better domestic teams to this non-NRC extravaganza. Heck, we all know Astana won't be busy that weekend. Let Levi ride!

(Race lengths are in minutes plus laps.)

A reader writes:
Is it necessary to pre-register for races? Do they all tend to fill up?

Two related trends bode well for our sport: More and more races are providing online pre-registration, and more and more races are reaching capacity, especially in the Cat 5’s. (USA Cycling limits Cat 5 fields to 50 riders, and Cat 4/5 fields to 75.)

The risk of pre-registering is that it may rain, or something may come up to conflict with the race and you’ll be on the hook for your $25. (Curse those loved ones with the gall to wed at the height of racing season!) Promoters usually don’t often provide refunds, and few will go through the hassle of transferring registration to your teammates.

But the risk is worth it if it’s a race you have your heart set on and there’s a possibility it will fill. Alas, I know of no women’s races to have filled up, nor P/1/2’s or 3’s, but the Tour of Elk Grove, Downers Grove and the Chicago Criterium are all local races where we can expect the Cat 5 and Cat 4 fields to fill. Last the local Superweek races filled their 4/5 fields, starting with Evanston, and Wisconsin’s Spring Prairie Road Race has in the past filled its 4/5 fields.

Finally, Hillsboro-Roubaix will fill up the quickest of any race, as we discovered this year, and Snake Alley is a race for which it’s essential to pre-register, not because it will fill up but because start position is so crucial.

For most other races, however, one can safely count on registering on the day of, but you never know: Even this year’s Spring Super Criterium, an untested race two hours from the city with no money on the line, filled several of its fields, to its promoters’ credit. Better to be safe than to drive 100 miles to be a spectator.

The Chicago Criterium has announced its schedule and it looks fantastic.

Race lengths and detailed prize lists aren't out yet but I expect to have them soon. The total prize purse is $40,000, with $25,000 going to the P/1/2 race. Racing starts bright and early at 7 a.m. with two Cat 5 races. Women get two races, 4's and 1/2/3's. Men's 3's and 4's are separated, and there are two masters races, 4/5's and 1/2/3's. Race order is mixed up a bit, too, with 3's going off at 9:30 and the 4's racing as the immediate undercard to the main event.

Volunteers are also being sought for the July 27 event. Send e-mail to . The race is being managed by the Mayor's Office of Special Events and Special Events Management, which also promotes Downers Grove and the Tour of Elk Grove.

• » Ron Cook (Project 5 Racing) dug up some Sun-Times coverage from the 1987 Citi-Circuit, a weekend of criteriums in Downers Grove, Evanston and downtown Chicago.  Total purse for the weekend was $75,000, which back then was quite a bit of scratch. Downers Grove was on the same course we know today, and Evanston was similar to last year’s Evanston Grand Prix. The Chicago course was located near the spot of this year’s Chicago Criterium, but instead of ducking down to Michigan Avenue it included two 180-degree turns on Columbus, not unlike the Tour of Elk Grove course. Note also the snarky lede from reporter Kevin Williams, now a track sprinter for Alberto’s: “Memo to racers: Don’t fall asleep out there, as these aren’t the most exciting courses in the world.” This from a man who has spent most of his cycling life turning left.

• » There’s no sound more beautiful than an exciting race being called in Italian. “Un attacco! Un attacco! Vittoria storica! Eroica!”

• » Run a red -- allegedly -- go to jail. Welcome to the new Chicago. Elsewhere, the Lake County Sheriff’s Department recently had a word with the Judson Ride after it rolled through a stop sign on Everett, and this week the Glencoe police stopped a Met Cycling rider for going through a red light, with “no traffic and sleet falling from the sky at about 6:15 a.m.”

• » Coincidentally, a new study finds that 96 percent of Chicago drivers exceed the speed limit by 5 mph or more. CBF notes that when cars strike pedestrians at 40 mph, the victims stand a 20 percent chance of survival.

• » Psyche yourself up for Hillsboro with this trailer for an upcoming Paris-Roubaix documentary. ("Every day when I wake up, I see myself winning it.” Poor George. I know the feeling.)

• » The popular Turin ride resumes tonight at 5:30. It doesn’t move to 6 until Memorial Day, and lights are recommended during March.

Jason Mindeman (Vitaminwater-Trek) tips me to the Chicago Criterium Web site, which has posted a map of the course: North from Buckingham Fountain on Columbus, left onto Jackson above the Metra tracks, a downhill left onto Michigan Avenue -- Michigan Avenue! -- then a whoopsy-daisy up and over Congress Plaza and back onto Michigan, a left uphill onto Balbo and finally a left back onto Columbus.

Here’s a Map My Ride profile of the 1.1-mile course. This will be a fun, technical course and will feature one of the most beautiful landscapes on our calendar: the lake on one side, the Michigan Avenue streetwall on another and Grant Park in between.

Racing will start at 8 a.m. on Sunday, July 27. I’m told to expect a full day of full-length amateur races in addition to the main pro race, with generous purses to boot. Stay tuned for more information. You now have four months to practice your screaming-fast left turns.

Go ahead and file those time-off requests at work, as International Cycling has posted dates for the 2008 Superweek: July 11-27.

The third weekend conflicts with the announced date of the inaugural Chicago Criterium. No other details are available yet, including whether the series will be returning to new hosts Blue Island and Evanston. Both were among the highlights of 2007, so here’s hoping it does.

USA Cycling announced the 2008 National Racing Calendar today. Notable departures include the Tour of Elk Grove, Downers Grove and Superweek. The inaugural Chicago Criterium failed to make the cut, too, a disappointment but not surprising given that it’s an unknown quantity and falls on the last day of the Tour de ‘Toona.

The closest NRC racing to Chicago will be the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota, the Priority Health Grand Cycling Classic in Grand Rapids, Mich., and, for the women, the Tour de Leelanau in Traverse City, Mich.

According to the announcement, Downers Grove was dropped “primarily because of the advantage given to clubs and teams with a greater number of American riders on their rosters.” I’m not enough of an NRC wonk to understand what that means or predict the implications. Is this just meant to discourage another Canadian or Australian from winning? Is it that embarrassing for the Stars and Stripes to go to second place?

This morning I spoke with Anne Davis with the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. She and the rest of City Hall are swamped with the upcoming Taste of Chicago and other festivals, so there are still many details to be worked out regarding next year’s Chicago Criterium. However, she did confirm that there will be amateur racing. How long and in which categories will depend on how long the city allows streets to be closed. Keep in mind that even with streets shut down all day, promoters must either cut races extremely short (Elk Grove, Downers Grove) or limit the number of fields (Superweek).

She couldn’t release the course other than to say that it will be in Grant Park, but from what another source as told me, I can tell you it’s going to be challenging, fun and picturesque. (UPDATE: I defied doctor’s orders and rode it this morning, my first ride in almost a month. It’s even better in person than on paper. This could be the best race Chicago has seen since Jane Byrne beat Michael Bilandic.)

Davis is as excited about the race as we are, and she says the city’s goal is to make it an annual event and a national draw. Here’s hoping it lasts longer than previous efforts, both here and elsewhere.

The city this morning announced the inaugural Chicago Criterium, to be held in Grant Park July 27, 2008, and featuring “national and international cycling teams,” no doubt part of the mayor’s effort to establish the city’s Olympic credibility. (There were rumors of a major race on Memorial Day weekend this year, but it never came together.)

I had dinner with a CBF employee last night and she was stubbornly tight-lipped about the announcement. I’m going to try to flesh out some more details: Will it be on the National Race Calendar? Will it be part of Superweek? What exactly will the course be? Will there be amateur races?

And who will be the first to tell the city that “inaugural” has only one “n” about the missing apostrophe in the headline that it needs to hire a highly paid copy editor cum cycling consultant?

In any case, this could be a lot of fun. Spectators? A grandstand? Jumbotron? At a cycling race? Crazy!

(Thanks, Jason!)