An annual high-speed bike race series returns to select suburbs for 10 days. Chicago Grit, formerly the Intelligentsia Cup, is a premier cycling race series held annually in Chicagoland, drawing cyclists from across the nation. Chicago-area stops include West Dundee July 19, Glen Ellyn July 20, Winfield July 21, Mundelein July 22, Lombard July 23, Brookfield July 24, Northbrook July 25, Elgin July 26, Lake Bluff July 27 and new this year, Chicago’s Fulton Market July 28.
Now in its 12th year, the largest bicycle road race series in America drew more than 5,400 entries last year. Marco Colbert is the race director and one of the co-founders of the series along with his business partner Tom Schuler. Colbert has been involved in managing bike races for more than 20 years, he said.
“We love cycling and we hope that comes through. We want to share it with everyone, and we want to give back to the sport,” he said. “Cycling represents a healthy lifestyle, an active lifestyle, and that’s important.
And it’s fun.” The series was formerly known as the Intelligentsia Cup but as Intelligentsia Coffee is no longer a title sponsor, a name change was in order. “We created this new name after a lot of thought, we thought it was a dynamic name,” he said.
“We wanted to have a short name that was punchy, so we came up with ‘Grit.’ Chicago Grit is the biggest road series in America — we measure it by the number of entries. We’re proud to be the biggest and I would say.
