ROCK ISLAND, ILL.–The Pella Bike Racing team headed east to race over the long Memorial Day weekend. The weekend marks the biggest race weekend in Iowa and includes competition from all over the Midwest.

Steve Reynolds began the weekend earlier than his teammates at Friday’s Burlington Road Race with a seventh place finish in the standings. Reynolds followed up the road race with a very challenging and competitive Snake Alley race on Saturday unfortunately resulting in a DNF.

Doug Klahsen and Jacob Oyen joined Reynolds for Sunday’s Melon City Criterium. The challenging course, which had high speeds and included a speed bump, saw over 62 competitors in the category four race. After 14 laps of hard racing with the peloton all together, Oyen led his teammates through the finish placing 14th. Reynolds placed 18th and Klahsen 29th.

The team completed the challenging weekend at the Quad Cities Criterium. The flat and fast hour glass course saw high speeds and challenging competition. Lee Current joined Klahsen and Reynolds in the Masters 30+ 4/5 race. The race proved challenging, with a late three man break going away. While the chase was fruitless, Reynolds used it to his advantage to place sixth overall earning a small but rewarding paycheck. Current and Klahsen finished 13th and 14th.

After completing the masters race, Reynolds joined Oyen in the category four race. The exceptionally large field consisted of almost 70 competitors and saw only 42 finishers because of the high pace. Reynolds’ exceptional fitness in his second race of the day was demonstrated by a 12th place finish while Oyen was shuffled farther back in 24th.

The racing in Iowa takes a natural break for the next few weeks and allows racers to recover from a long weekend of challenging racing. The team looks towards the Hummer Hammer Criterium as their next in-state race.