The Chicago Cyclocross Cup will celebrate its season with a buffet banquet this Sunday, Feb. 10, at 4 p.m. at E.J.’s Place, 10027 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie. All participants are welcome. RSVP requested.

USA Cycling's new rulebook has some interesting changes to the upgrade requirements on the road.

Racers still need 20 points to upgrade to Cat 3 and 25 points to upgrade to Cat 2, but the points now vary based on size of field and criterium vs. road race. Furthermore, the points are now standardized across categories.

Let's look at the requirements to become a Cat 3. Previously all races awarded 7-5-4-3-2-1 points to the top 6 finishers, regardless of the size of the field. In 2008 points will go five deep (5-4-3-2-1) for criteriums of 21-50 riders and seven deep (8-6-5-4-3-2-1) for road races of the same size. For bigger races, more points are available. For smaller, fewer.

With fewer points available for criteriums, this could make it harder for 4's to upgrade, given the dearth of road races close to Chicago, but I expect many 4's will continue to upgrade based on a combination of top 10's and the discretion of our wise and benevolent technical director.

The same tables apply to 3's upgrading to Cat 2. Of note is that the points warranting an automatic upgrade are now 40, down from 60. Sandbaggers, you're on notice.

Requirements to upgrade from 5 to 4 remain the same: 10 mass-start races.

Similar adjustments have been made to the cyclocross guidelines, which have lowered the bar for entering the 3's: One need only "experience" 5 races (not necessarily finish?) or score seven points. I think this will be good for the Chicago Cyclocross Cup, which this season saw more than 80 riders line up for 4's races but only 20 for the 3's. Ben Popper (Killjoy), who first brought my attention to these changes, disagrees.

One other major change in the cyclocross guidelines, emphasis mine: "If the road and XC categories do not correspond to the same CX category, then the higher one will be used." This means Cat 3 roadies can skip the Cat 4 cross races altogether. (That clicking sound you hear is me applying for my upgrade.)

I missed a few other strong results from local riders at this weekend’s cyclocross national championships. Debbie Pielet (Alberto’s) finished 6th in the women’s 50-54, and Wayne Simon (Verdigris) got 8th in the men’s 50-54. (Thanks, Barry!)

And if you have a strong stomach, check out this video of the head-on crash that took out defending champion Ryan Trebon (Kona).

Some more race reports are now online:

Aspen Gorry (University of Chicago): “The temperatures rose later in the day turning the course into a mix of soupy mud and grass and causing ice to rain down from the trees that it had been covering.”

Devon Haskell (Team Get a Grip Cycles): “It’s tough riding your bike when the course grabs your wheels and throws you every which way.  People went down all over the place.”

Holly Klug (Killjoy): “The woman who ended up winning our race came all the way from the left side across to the right completely out of control, taking me completely out.”

Plenty of Chicago racers had good seasons in 2007, but none dominated a field quite like Devon Haskell (Team Get a Grip Cycles). In just her second year of competition, Haskell cruised to victory in each of the six races of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup, where she raced women’s 1/2/3, including Sunday’s state championship at Montrose Harbor. She also invaded our neighboring states, winning the state championship races in Indiana and Wisconsin.

The 26-year-old had a memorable road season as well. Racing for the University of Chicago, where she is pursuing a PhD in economics, she finished 3rd in the Division II women’s road race national championship and 6th in the criterium. That earned her a spot on the Ryan Collegiate All-Stars, a women’s squad that competed against the nation’s best professional women at June’s Nature Valley Grand Prix.

This weekend Haskell tackles the next level with the national cyclocross championships in Kansas City, where she’ll slog through the cold and mud not just once but twice. Even though she was busy getting ready for that and writing a big paper for school, she spared a few minutes this week to talk about her season and cycling’s many dividends.

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Chicago Cyclocross Cup standings have been updated ahead of Sunday’s finale at Montrose Harbor.

Barring catastrophe, overalls are pretty much locked up, with Luca Lenzi (Vision Quest) and Devon Haskell (Get a Grip Cycles) sitting pretty atop their respective fields. One remaining showdown is in the 4’s, where professional triathlete Brad Zoller (Unattached) and Aspen Gorry (UCVC) are separated by a mere 15 points. (Gorry no doubt pines for the 10 points he lost at Lansing when officials relegated him for riding off-course in the final sprint.)

Even if the series are settled, state championship jerseys are on the line, so expect fierce competition all day. Make sure your cowbell ringing and heckling are just as merciless.