• » The O’Fallon Grand Prix is billing itself as our state road race. Illinois Cycling Association president Steve Hansen says the ICA will announce its full slate of state championships soon. I’ve not done O’Fallon, but its 2009 course featured 1,000 feet of elevation and nearly that many turns in each of its 22-mile laps. This will make for a busy weekend: The next day Wisconsin holds its own state championships with the popular Spring Prairie Road Race. (Tower Racing, which did excellent work organizing our state road races for the past two years, tells me it will not be putting on a race this year.)

• » The 2009 ICA Awards banquet is scheduled for Saturday, March 13, at Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale. USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson and former national road champion Tom Schuler of Tour of America’s Dairyland are scheduled to appear.

• » The South Chicago Wheelmen’s Tuesday Criterium Series in Matteson is a local institution, and for more than 15 years a cornerstone of that institution has been official Mark Dorinson. (Mike Kelly (South Chicago Wheelmen) notes that Dorinson is “the one that drove the beat up grey Omni, the one that often forgot his whistle and started a race by saying ‘Tweet.’") Dorinson is retiring from his Matteson duties, and he will be missed.

• » The Giro d’Grafton joins the USA Crit series this year. That should attract extra firepower to the Tour of America’s Dairyland, and I hope that means both men and women.

• » This month’s Gapers Block Crit Series sold out both men’s heats. Ten spots in each race, however, are reserved for day-of registrations. First come, first served.

• » Val Brostrom (Bouledogue Tout Noir) is programming races at the Northbrook Velodrome this season and tells me she’s looking at Aug. 21-22 for a weekend of state championships, rather than spreading events over several weeks.

• » Cyclocross in the winter Olympics?

• » This year’s masters national championships in Louisville, Ky., may be your last chance to take part in a nearby championship for a few years: Bend, Ore., gobbled them up, too.

• » A Chicago Web developer has designed a fantasy cycling game.

• » Enjoy the latest Leland Kermesse poetry. Online registration opens Monday.

• » Registration is open for the Tour of America’s Dairyland. Ten-race passes run $270, or $414 for the 11 P/1/2 races. Individual races are $30-$50 each.

• » The Illinois Cycling Association is having a leadership conference for clubs and promoters March 7.

• » The Allvoi Cup track series is set to announce dates of July 23-25.

• » Kristen Meshberg (Flatlandia) has already started racing and has a new blog with all the details.

• » Some new info for the April 17 Leland Kermesse. Longer laps, more gravel. Online registration opens March 1.

• » Good news for women: The Tour of America’s Dairyland has added a 3/4 field for you.

• » Hmm. USA Cycling now lists location for the national criterium championships as “TBD.”

• » The Illinois Cycling Association meets Satruday in Lisle.

• » Vision Quest is holding an indoor time trial in Highland Park on March 6, joining ABD’s indoor trials in the Mid America Time Trial Series.

Tour of America’s Dairyland today released its 2010 schedule.

As had been rumored, the series does not return to the Blue Mounds course that last year tested the limits of the word “epic.” There will be only two road races, with the Greenbush course featuring a significant climb at the end of each lap. The rest of the series will be criteriums, including the popular Downer Avenue course in Milwaukee and starting with a Thursday elite-only criterium in Shorewood, Wis.

No word yet on fields or prizes.

Excellent news from up north: The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board has renewed its title sponsorship of the Tour of America’s Dairyland, the 11-day series that made its debut this year as an expansion of the Midwest Cycling Series. No information on schedule or venues, but the series is tentatively slated for another 11-day run, June 17-27.

Wisconsin turned on the heat this week with heat indices well above 100 at the Tour of America’s Dairyland. The conditions may have taken more of a toll at Tuesday’s Fond du Lac Road Race than the notorious climbs of the Blue Mounds course.

Keeping her cool, however, was Chicago’s Devon Haskell (Team BH USA), who won out of small breaks at both Fond du Lac and at Friday’s Greenbush Road Race. She’s just a few points out of the top overall spot. Meanwhile, Jessi Prinner (ABD) sits in 5th, and Jeannie Zuhajek (Team Mack) has several top 10’s to her name.

Full results.

Fond du Lac Road Race reports
Devon Haskell (Team BH USA; W-P/1/2/3): “I think we were all a little intimidated by the sizzling sun.”

James Pradun (GDVC; 3): “Today was the second hardest day of my life.”

Kristin Wentworth (Team Kenda; W-P/1/2/3): “The last two laps I felt like my head was in the clouds.”

Fond du Lac Road Race photos
Extreme Photography
John Wilke

Fond du Lac Criterium reports
James Pradun (GDVC; 3): “It doesn’t help that I’m now battling some saddle sores.”

Fond du Lac Criterium photos
Extreme Photography

Sheboygan reports
Avi Neurohr (Chicago Cuttin’ Crew; 4/5, 30+ 4/5): “Some ‘sconnie ladies were screaming ‘Cuttin’ Crew’ and the announcer mangled my name 17 different ways.”

James Pradun (GDVC; 3): “Coming into the final turn, miraculously no one crashed.”

Sheboygan photos
Extreme Photography
John Wilke

Greenbush reports
Seth Meyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; P/1/2): “I promised myself to do nothing stupid or crazy aggressive.”

James Pradun (GDVC; 3): “We slaughtered the field in the process.”

Greenbush photos
Extreme Photography
John Wilke

It’s hard to believe we’re barely a week out of arm warmers and it’s already state championship time.

The fight for Illinois honors returns to Peoria on Sunday with the Proctor Cycling Classic. It’s a fun eight-corner course with wide, smooth roads and a short kicker right before Turn 8.

Open the legs up Saturday with The Downer Classic in Milwaukee, a longtime popular Superweek criterium that this year is also part of the Tour of America’s Dairyland.

Saturday
ToAD: The Downer Classic
USCF criterium
Milwaukee, Wis.
Distance from Chicago: 1.5 hours

Sunday
Proctor Cycling Classic (state criterium championships)
USCF criterium
Peoria, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 3 hours
Previous wrap-ups: 2007, 2008

ToAD: Carl Zach Cycling Classic
USCF criterium
Waukesha, Wis.
Distance from Chicago: 2 hours

I haven’t seen any of the action firsthand, but perusing the results, it appears that in both size and caliber, the fields at the Tour of Dairyland are down half a notch from what we typically find at rival summer series Superweek. I’m surprised at how few Illinois riders are heading north, and outside of the elite races, there are hardly any national or international riders. That’s too bad: All reports are that the races have been run very well, and turnout hasn’t stopped the racing from being fast -- and at times downright furious.

• » Blue Mounds lived up to its billing as a ridiculously hard, hilly course with a long, steep final stretch. Of the 88 P/1/2’s who started, only 26 finished. In 12th place, Will Nowak (Alderfer Bergen) was the top Chicago-area rider. Other fields saw similar attrition and detonation. Devon Haskell (Team BH USA) had a great day, making the break and getting 2nd in the women’s P/1/2/3. A large group of 3’s hit the final climb, and Jacques Cartier (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) outclimbed all but one to get 2nd.  Jake Teitelbaum (Spidermonkey Cycling) also hit the podium, getting 3rd in the 4/5’s.

• » WDT-Allvoi hasn’t gotten a win yet but has done very well in the 3’s. Waylon Janowiak placed 5th at Blue Mounds and got 2nd at the Giro d’Grafton. Then on Sunday, Ricardo Otero and Chris Gola went 2-3 in Manitowoc.

• » It was a good weekend for the juniors: Chazz Martin (IS Corps) won the 4/5’s races at both Grafton and Manitowoc, and Jessi Prinner (ABD) finished 4th in Manitowoc.

• » Haskell wore the women’s leader’s jersey Sunday, but she got pipped in the field sprint to lose it for the time being. She ends the weekend tied in first overall, sandwiched between two Verducci/Breakaway riders. Prinner sits in 4th, while Janowiak holds 3rd in the 3’s.

• » Veteran Steve Tilford (Tradewind Energy/Trek Stores) documents a contentious sprint and subsequent exchange of words between himself and Frank Pipp (Bissell) at Saturday’s Giro d’Grafton. The two of them went 2-3 Sunday and are now a tight 1-2 at the top of the men’s overall.

Monday is a rest day. Racing continues Tuesday with the Fond du Lac Road Race.

Full results.

Blue Mounds race reports
Jacques Cartier (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): “I tried to ride within myself and give a couple more efforts but it was a no-go to win.”

Tamara Fraser (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; W-P/1/2/3): “I gutted it out to the last climb, swallowed my last gel, and then tried to remember to make circles instead of squares.”

Avi Neurohr (Chicago Cuttin’ Crew; 4/5): “We hit the hill and hell begins in earnest.”

Andy Powell (Project 5; 3): “For some reason, on that last climb of the lap, I had a horrible time turning over the pedals.”

James Pradun (GDVC; 3): “Pinnacle was a huge attack that split the 21 guys in half again.”

Jake Teitelbaum (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4/5): “The rest of the race is fear of being caught by the guy behind me and hope of catching the two guys in front of me.”

Steve Tilford (Tradewind Energy/Trek Stores; P/1/2): “The remainder of the finishers came in one at a time. Pretty epic. Pretty much a death march.”

Blue Mounds photos
Extreme Photography
John Wilke

Waterloo reports
James Pradun (GDVC; 3): “Two riders came in flying on my left side with clearly not enough room, as the road quickly narrowed.”

Waterloo photos
Extreme Photography
John Wilke

Giro d’Grafton reports
Derek Laan (Panther/RGF; P/1/2): “It is definitely a tougher field up here than we would have faced at Tour of Ohio.”

Chris Padfield (Team Get a Grip Cycles; 3): “About a half hour into the race I started to unravel due to the heat.”

James Pradun (GDVC; 3): “I’m just being a pansy and not suffering.”

Steve Tilford (Tradewind Energy/Trek Stores; P/1/2): “he was slamming me and everyone else into the far left curb.  He was nearly T-boning me, trying to squeeze into a hole that wasn’t there.”

Giro d’Grafton photos
Extreme Photography
John Wilke

Manitowoc reports
Derek Laan (Panger/RGF; P/1/2): “We were all really stoked to finally produce a few top 10 results and score a little bit of money.”

Steve Tilford (Tradewind Energy/Trek Stores; P/1/2): “Leaving the podium for the last time, I slipped on the aluminum steps and twisted my knee and scuffed up my shin. Bike racing is a dangerous sport.”

Manitowoc photos
John Wilke

The Illinois Cup comes back into play this weekend with two local criteriums.

Saturday is the Cobb Park Criterium, hosted by the South Chicago Wheelmen in Kankakee. It’s a flat, triangle-shape course along the Kankakee River. Online registration closes tonight, and the SCW asks that you contribute to its food drive by bringing items off this list.

Sunday’s Fox River Grove Cycling Challenge made my list of top 10 races. It’s a course as fun to watch as it is to ride, and I hope that this year it gets the turnout it deserves. I checked the course Sunday morning, and promoter Robert DiSilvestro was already out there hanging up streamers at the start/finish.

The infamous climb starts not far from the start. It will take 45-60 seconds, depending on your legs, too long for most of us to tackle out of the saddle, so sit as long as you can. The steepest pitch is at the bottom. You need to approach the turn in your small ring and one of your bigger cogs -- better to spin for a bit than to be overgeared and risk a shifting mishap. Halfway up it becomes a series of shallower stairsteps.

The pavement at the top of the descent is choppy but nothing to alter your line over. After that it’s smooth, fast sailing all the way to the bottom. If you’re gapped over the top, it’s possible to hammer down the hill to regain contact, but do it quick, because if you don’t get any recovery before it’s time to climb again, your next gap is going to be even bigger.

The finish line is about 150 meters from the final corner. Winners will be either sprinting out of that corner or, more likely, zipping up and performing an elaborate post-up.

Meanwhile, the Tour of America’s Dairyland will be in full swing up in Wisconsin. Saturday features the popular Giro d’Grafton, with a twilight P/1/2 race at 7 p.m. It’s a technical course with a bit of a climb, while Sunday’s Maritime Bay Classic in Manitowoc, Wis., is on a fast, flat, 1-kilometer rectangle.

Saturday
Cobb Park Criterium
USCF criterium
Kankakee, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 1 hour
Previous wrap-ups: 2008, 2009

ToAD: Giro d’Grafton
USCF criterium
Grafton, Wis.
Distance from Chicago: 2 hours
Previous wrap-ups: 2008, 2009

Sunday
Fox River Grove Cycling Challenge
USCF criterium
Fox River Grove, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 2 hours
Previous wrap-ups: 2008, 2009

ToAD: Maritime Bay Classic
UCF criterium
Manitowoc, Wis.
Distance from Chicago: 3 hours

The Tour of America’s Dairyland announced today that it is adding a third road race, on Thursday, June 18. The Blue Mounds Race to the Future will take place on a 22-mile loop that has been proposed for the 2016 Olympics. This has some serious climbing, including what appears to be a three-mile slog that climbs about 750 feet at the end of each lap, with an average 8 percent pitch in the last mile.

Today’s announcement also included news that the Trek-Livestrong U23 team will be participating in the series.

• » The Great Dane Velo Club of Madison has named its spring races after Greg Bednorski, a Cat 1 member who was killed in a cycling accident in September.

• » June’s Midwest Cycling Series has a new sponsor, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and with it a new name: Tour of America’s Dairyland.

• » The Illinois Cycling Association has more information about its team membership drive.

• » Speaking of the ICA, Steve Hansen (North Branch) made a fun discovery when zooming in on Elk Grove Village in Google Maps. Anyone have an idea which field it is?

• » Women, you have until Saturday to register for the Half Acre Kevin’s Crit Series and get $35 back in Tati Cycles credit.

• » Burnham Racing has secured discounted rooms close to its Spring Super Criterium. This could be handy for anyone going to the 7:30 a.m. beginners clinic, highly recommended for new racers.

• » Now that we’re racing again, don’t forget to offer or seek carpooling via the Ride Board. Let’s get through this recession together!

• » “Tears of joy is permitted only if from Italian descent.”

• » The Chicago Tribune takes a look at our favorite cycling cause, World Bike Relief.

• » A Spring Lake woman was sentenced to four years for the hit-and-run that killed a cyclist near Kenosha, Wis., last year.

• » The Illinois Cycling Association has finalized its Illinois Cup schedule, including a poster for your cubicle.

• » The ICA’s next officials clinic is Saturday, March 21.

• » The Midwest Cycling Series has updated its schedule, adding races in Waterloo, Wis., and Waukesha, Wis., although there’s no indication whether these are criteriums or road races. Two dates remain to be announced. Prize tables are also available. Note that race winners will receive daily jerseys.

• » Hulu has the Cyclism.

The Midwest Cycling Series, an 11-day, 10-race evolution of the formerly two-day Wisconsin Cycling Series, this morning announced four of the Wisconsin venues for its June 10-28 event: Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Manitowoc and the fabled Downer Avenue course in Milwaukee. All four have been locations for Superweek races, and many consider Downer Avenue to be Superweek’s crown jewel.

The MCS also announced that Jack Hirt (Velo Trocadero) will be executive director.

The implications are unclear.  Does this preclude the sites from being Superweek races, too? And will the Midwest Cycling Series expand to Illinois?

What’s not unclear is whether this is a shot across Superweek’s bow. Not only is it a shot across the bow, but it’s a grappling hook over the rail and a smart rap on the captain’s quarters. Indeed, take a look at the five bullet points the MCS promises riders: 1. Full range of fields; 2. Large purses; 3. Affordable entries; 4. On-time races; 5. Full support of the Wisconsin Cycling Association and USAC. Whether MCS can follow through on these promises remains to be seen, but these points seem crafted to address complaints riders have had with Superweek.

Twice in the past hour people have e-mailed me to tell me they’d heard that Superweek was no more. This is the first I’ve heard that rumor and my inclination is to discount it. Superweek certainly faced some difficulties in 2008, but in August, Breakaway Event Productions had already announced 2009 dates that included one extra day of racing.

I’ve solicited more information from both series. I’ll update this post as there is more information to report.

UPDATE: Breakaway Event Productions’ Andy Garrison writes to confirm that Superweek is still on for 2009, and that Downer Avenue is still scheduled for Saturday, July 25. He points out that the other Wisconsin sites named today haven’t been part of Superweek for several years. He says Superweek has focused on sites closer to Milwaukee and Chicago that he says draw more riders and spectators.

“We will continue to provide the highest quality racing as in the past,” Garrison says. “We will continue to improve things and make them better. We wish the Midwest races the best, and feel that if they do well it will enhance cycling for all of us.”