2026 High School MTB Season Preview

Northern Colorado high school athletes are getting ready for the first race of the Colorado High School Mountain Bike season, with the Platte Division opening its season Sunday in Frisco.

Most of the Fort Collins area riders are part of SendTown Bike Club’s Ciclismo High School program, which has 60 athletes in the program this year, including 10 girls. Two eighth graders, Owen Grant and Max Lowe, are also part of the program but are not yet eligible to race.

Practices started in early August and have been held three days a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The group trains at Horsetooth, Lory State Park and the Wyoming Trails, giving riders a mix of terrain as they prepare for the season.

SendTown provides the structure and awesome atmosphere behind the local high school program, organizing practices, training plans, coaches, clothing and race day operations. While the kids race for their individual high schools, they function as one big Northern Colorado team. They train together, travel together and, on race day, cheer for and support each other regardless of what school is on the jersey.

The program has 11 coaches, with Andy Clark serving as Director of Sports Programs and Lora Lowe as Program Manager/Team Super Mom.

The Colorado High School Cycling League divides competition into four regions, with Northern Colorado riders competing in the Platte Division. Local riders represent Fort Collins, Fossil Ridge, Poudre and Rocky Mountain high schools. Riders who attend a school without a cycling program can race for the high school closest to their home.

The Platte Division includes 19 teams and composite programs from Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. Along with the four Fort Collins area schools, the division includes Arapahoe, Casper Composite, Cheyenne, Compass Montessori, East, Fairview, Golden, Heritage, Independent North, Laramie, Littleton, Middle Park, RMSEL, South and Spearfish Composite.

Racing is divided into freshman, sophomore, junior varsity and varsity categories for both boys and girls. Freshman, sophomore and JV races typically cover 10 to 12 miles, while varsity riders race approximately 15 to 18 miles.

The season begins this weekend with the Frisco Bay Invitational. The Platte Division races Sunday, Aug. 30.

From there, the division heads to Steamboat Springs on Sept. 12 for the Showdown in the Boat, Eagle on Sept. 27 for the Haymaker Classic and Nathrop on Oct. 10 for the Chalk Creek Stampede. The season concludes with the Colorado High School Cycling League State Championships in Glenwood Springs on Oct. 24 and 25.

The league’s opening weekend will put more than 1,500+ high school riders on courses in Frisco and Leadville.

If you’d like to suppoet SendTown either as a coach or a sponsor, you can get more information here.

YGR will have a full recap of the weekend posted next week.