A bit of Europe rolls into Downers Grove

The best in European sports comes to Downers Grove this weekend.

It's called a criterium - a multiple-lap bicycle race throughcity streets. Though a few such events are staged in the UnitedStates, Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times Grand Prix and U.S. Pro CriteriumChampionship represents the most significant cycling competition everto come to Chicago.

Criteriums in Europe are civic celebrations as well as athleticevents, and that's what Sunday's day-long festivities promises to be.There's no admission charge, but plenty to capture your attention.

The focal point will be the series of races around afigure-eight course. About 1,000 riders of all ages and abilitieswill compete before those in the last race - 100 kilometers, for theU.S. Pro Championship - demonstrate what real cycling is all about.

A criterium can be likened to the Indianapolis 500 auto race;the winner is the first to complete all the laps. But cycling ismore complicated than auto racing.

Cycling is a team sport, with each team trying to get one ofits individuals to the finish line first. The team concept was nevermore clearly evident than at last year's Sun-Times race, when RobertoGaggioli of Coors Light felt he was the victim of blocking strategiescoming off the last turn that enabled Tommy Matush of 7-Eleven towin. Matush now rides for Spago, a team sponsored by a Californiarestaurant.

Four tactics will come into play Sunday: Break away and block. The main body of the riders in a criteriumform the peloton. A set number of teammates (usually one-to-three)will attempt to leave the peloton while their remaining teammatesattempt to move to the front of the peloton to slow down the rest ofthe field. The riders who attempt to leave the peloton areattackers. The others are blockers. If the break works properly,the attackers gain a substantial lead on the field. Repeated attack. A solo rider will attack hard, forcing the fieldto catch him. When they do, another teammate will attack and theprocess will begin again. The team that tries this hopes allriders on the other teams will get too tired to maintain the chase. Lead out. A teammate will attempt to "pull" another rider close tothe finish by attacking and then maintaining a top speed as long aspossible. The rider following the attacker will then come around hisfatigued teammate, utilizing the speed he built up to reach - for avery short distance - an even higher speed on the finishing sprint. Solo. A very strong, or very foolish, racer will attempt to leavethe other racers behind with an attack not coordinated with histeammates' efforts. Sometimes it works; usually it doesn't. Itworked for Bob Mathis in winning the 1986 and 1987 Illinois StateCriterium Championships - the predecessor to this week's expandedevent.

Cycling has a jargon all its own. A "bonk" is like "`hitting the wall" for marathon runners. You runcompletely out of energy. "Hammering" is riding hard. "Honking" is standing up whilepedaling. "Squirrelly" is an unstable or nervous rider. A rider performs a "hook" when he moves his back wheel against thefront wheel of a following bike. "Drafting" is riding in a slipstream, or pocket of moving air,created by the rider in front of you. If you draft successfully, youmaintain speed with less effort. A prime (pronounced "preem") is a race within the race, where aprize is given to the rider who crosses the prime line first.

Race director Ken Carl expects about 70 riders in the U.S. ProCriterium. He hopes they will turn plenty of others on to a sportthat has plenty of room to grow in America.

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