Hank DeFord
Kate Rizzo racing in Snowmass last season.
In Leadville this weekend, The Palisade Mountain Bike Team came face to face with some insane weather.
“The day started out okay cause the storms in the mountains come in later in the afternoon,” says Kate Rizzo, a Palisade senior who’s a Legacy rider, which means she has ridden all four years of her high school career. “The sophomore boys race went great but after that, the weather started, it started to Hail super hard during my last lap of the race,” Rizzo says. During the JV boys race it started to rain super hard so they had to stop them after their first lap for safety. “They still sent the sophomore and JV girls out but had to stop the race as soon as they hit the first hill because of the intense rain,”. The freshmen had to only race one lap because of how severe the weather was. The race officials sent the sophomore girls back out for a one lap race because their other race got cut short. “By that time it was raining and hailing, they finished soaked and covered in mud,” said Rizzo.
The course is an intense high-altitude 6.2 mile loop with 620 feet of elevation gain per lap. The elevation of the course is above 10,000 feet. Usually the freshmen, sophomore, and JV boys and girls races do 2 laps and the varsity races do 3. But of course the weather got in the way this time. Palisade had 7 racers, Kate Rizzo (placed 8th in Varsity Girls), Siena Newton (4th in JV girls), Rowan Ferguson (8th in JV boys), Sofia Reitz (22nd in JV girls), Indica Dobbins (26th in JV girls), Lucas Preslan (80th in JV boys), and Liam Preslan (69th in freshmen boys). Overall the team preformed amazing and is back to training for their next race in Glenwood Springs September 9th and 10th.