It’s July, which means school is out, the sun is bright and temperatures are hot. And in Brookfield, it means a full day of professional bicycle racing is just over the horizon.
The third annual Cycle Brookfield Criterium, part of the 10-day Chicago Grit series across Chicagoland, is coming to town on Wednesday, July 23.
“The biggest change that we’re going through is, first and foremost, the course change. Due to the construction that’s on Grand Boulevard, currently still underway, the previous course that we used in the two years prior … was no longer available to us,” Chris Valadez, the president of Cycle Brookfield, told the Landmark.
That new course will have racers start in front of Irish Times and head southwest on Burlington Boulevard before making a sharp turn east onto Southview Avenue, heading north on Grove Avenue and completing a lap.
Valadez said there was a chance Brookfield could have been out of the running to host the race in future years if they weren’t able to find a new route. The work on Grand Boulevard, which started in the spring, is set to last through August.
“When we were first selected to come on board in 2023 in the first version of this race, Burr Ridge was hot on the heels to accept it. Burr Ridge really wanted the bid; they saw the value in bringing a criterium race to their city,” he said. “Brookfield ultimately won the bid, primarily because we had a good business district that the route could go through. We had an activated bike community already. We had an advocacy group, that being Cycle Brookfield. All of the elements to run a really good criterium race were there, so that’s what made it very attractive to Chicago Grit.”
He said the new route led to the creation of a “more condensed” expo area for spectators and vendors to gather. In the past, the route along Grand Boulevard had two natural places to gather: by the Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Library at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and downtown at the corner of Prairie Avenue, which both featured tight turns.
This year, the expo will sit within the course along the block of Prairie Avenue between Burlington and Southview avenues.
“Everyone entering the course on Prairie, which is the main access point — Prairie north of the tracks or Prairie south of Southview from Ogden Avenue — if you’re entering the course, parking along there, you’re basically going to be flooded directly into the expo area first,” Valadez said. “Hopefully, everyone who comes comes hungry, comes thirsty, because we’re going to have some of the big hitter food trucks, Imperial Oak. Everyone’s going to be stationed out there.”
Despite the benefits, Valadez said the new course was not Cycle Brookfield’s first option.
“We initially looked at some courses actually going around Eight Corners,” he said. “We went through about five or six different variations of different items like that. Ultimately, with the south course that we found, we decided as a group that this was the single best course we could provide without shutting down a ton of artery streets that run into different traffic things.”
On top of traffic concerns, he said the group had to consider “a checklist of about 50 items” that make for a good criterium course. Running through a commercial district with businesses to activate is at the top of the list, alongside considerations for spectator viewing and the aesthetics of the area.
Valadez said he’s heard feedback from residents and business owners alike wishing for the return of the old course, which brought a lot of foot traffic to the stores and restaurants along Grand Boulevard, but he hopes the new route will bring more business to Irish Times and Phil’s Sports Bar and be exciting for the cyclists.
“It’s going to be different for the racers, but I think they’re going to enjoy it. Burlington is newly paved. It’s fast, it’s fresh, and we make a really sharp turn onto Southview, which is going to challenge the racers,” he said.
This year’s criterium will also feature a partnership with SRAM, a Chicago-based bicycle component vendor and one of Chicago Grit’s main sponsors, to bring pro cyclists from the Miami Blazers and L39ION (pronounced “legion”) of LA teams, which SRAM also sponsors, to Brookfield for a meet and greet and autograph signing.
“Come with the same enthusiasm and excitement as before. We have the community ride at 6:15; please register for that. Every year, Chicago Grit is continually impressed with how much Brookfield shows up,” Valadez said. “Seeing people that I know, kids and families that I’ve seen out on our slow rolls, come out and enjoy the thing that Cycle Brookfield has been able to provide — for me, it brings the biggest smile to my face.”
