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