DeKALB – Last weekend, Hopkins Park was home for the fifth year in a row to a cyclocross bicycle race that was part of the Chicago Cross Cup series.

“We love cyclocross and we wanted to find a way to bring people out to DeKalb,” said Tobie DePauw, manager of North Central Cyclery in DeKalb, one of the sponsors of Sunday’s event.

Cyclocross racers ride bicycles that are similar to road bikes, but with wider, knobby tires for better control on unpaved portions of the course. Races consist of many laps of a short course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles that require the bicyclist to carry his or her bicycle for short distances.