MUSCATINE – For many cyclists across eastern Iowa, Memorial Day weekend bike races have become both a fun tradition as well as a way to meet up with fellow riders and old friends. Some had hoped 2021 would bring these races back, but that's not the case.
Representatives from the four Memorial Day races — Burlington’s Friday Night Fever and Snake Alley Criterium, Muscatine’s Melon City Criterium and Davenport’s Kwik Star Criterium — that all Memorial Day Weekend bike races would be postponed until May 2022.
“Since I’ve been the race director for the Melon City Criterium for many many years, it’s disheartening that we can’t have it this year,” said Greg Harper, owner of Harper's Cycling & Fitness. “But the weekend organizers all talked it over and we decided that this year is still too unknown… With things still not completely back to normal, we just felt that we had to be proactive.”
Organizers said in a news release they had hoped they would be in a better position than they were in 2020 — a position that would allow them to safely gather and hold these races — but that's not the case.