This weekend brings two great days of racing to Chicago with the Winfield criteriums. Saturday will be the twilight criterium, run on a slightly different course than Sunday’s race, which serves as the ABR national criterium championship. ABD puts on these races and they’re always well run with generous primes.

Here are brief course descriptions. I’ve never done the twilight event, but Sunday’s course is a long milelong rectangle. The backstretch is a shallow incline with a short kicker at the end. You turn left into a short descent, and then turn left again and have about 300 meters to the start/finish area. It’s not very technical, but it’s not unheard for breaks to get off on this course.

I won’t be racing, but I may go just to see whether Marek Serafin (WDT) is beatable. With a jersey on the line, my guess is “probably not.”

Both days have citizen fields, and Sunday’s even is unusual in that there’s a 5-lap citizen women’s race. This is an excellent opportunity for women to try their first race and see if it hooks them, or for women who have until now been forced to ride in the open fields.

If crits aren’t your thing and you have a place to bunk near Indy, the Indiana Race Series has a road race about 4 hours away with the St. Crispian Junior Road Race. (Don’t be thrown by the name: It’s not just for juniors.) It’s a challenging course with a nice climb close to the finish. Personally, I’ve never regretted driving so far for the IRS races that Dan Daly puts on. They’re low-key, fun and good opportunities to nab some upgrade points.

Saturday
Winfield Twilight Criterium
ABR criterium
Winfield, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 1 hour

Sunday
ABR National Criterium Championship
ABR criterium
Winfield, Ill.
Distance from Chicago: 1 hour

St. Crispian Junior Road Race
ABR road race
Nashville, Ind.
Distance from Chicago: 4 hours