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Downer's Grove Revisited Part 1.

Ever since I was a wee little junior and lived 30-minutes away, I have been going to the crit at Downers Grove, IL. Back in the early days it was just a 4-corner crit, a handful of racers and even fewer spectators. Today it is a two day event on a one-mile eight-corner masterpiece attracting hundreds of racers, thousands of spectators, and a huge vendor area.

In 1993 (off the top of my head) Downers Grove played host to the USPRO criterium championships. I was floored when for the first time got to see the likes of Alexi Greywall, Ron Kieffle, Davis Phinny, and many other pro cyclists that I only read about in Winning, Bicycling, and any other publication from that era actually race right in front of me. (Pre interwebs! No Cyclingnews.com/Velonews.com/MCF.net) It was awesome. I remember watching the pro race thinking "holy shit they hauling ass!" What amazed me more was they continued to haul ass for 100k (62 miles), and at that time my longest road race ever wasn't that long. I could not fathom doing a 62 mile criterium!

I moved away from my beloved Downers Grove crit to Minnesota in 1997. Back then, as far as I know, nobody in the MN cycling community had even heard of the Downers Grove race and I was kind of bummed out. That didn't stop me from making my annual August trip to my homeland.

Part 2: What happened to Downers Grove in 2000.

- P

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