Skyline High School's mountain bike team lost at least four practices to rain this fall and raced through delays, mud and thunder at multiple events across the Utah High School Cycling League season.

Ruby Kent, a freshman on the team, said the canceled practices made race days harder. At one early-season race, rain and thunder pushed the schedule back hours, Kent told the Skyline Horizon. Middle school riders were pulled from the event entirely, and Kent said she ended up racing at 3 p.m. instead of her usual 11 a.m. start.

Kent estimated four practices, possibly more, were scrapped because trails were too torn up to ride.

"It makes it really muddy and then when bikers go on it, it like creates this like rigid thing and it's not easy to ride on," Kent said.

One practice ride with her father and brother turned into a mud bath when rain hit mid-descent. "I got mud all over myself and my brother came back and he was drenched in mud," she said.

James Sturm, a Skyline junior, described a different side of the disruptions. At race venues, he said, riders huddled together waiting out storms.

"Everyone hunkered down in the tents, trying to stay away from the elements, trying to stay warm and not get soaked," Sturm said.

Still, Sturm said the team handled the conditions well. He recalled a race at Beaver Mountain where rain started mid-ride and left him soaked and caked in mud by the finish.

"It was a great race. It was so fun. I had a great time," Sturm said.

The state championship for the Utah High School Cycling League took place Oct. 23-24 in St. George, according to race result listings. Individual results for Skyline riders were not available.

The sport also carries a steep price tag. In an October article in the Skyline Horizon about rising sports costs, senior mountain biker Leah Keller said her family was surprised by equipment expenses. "My mom thought when we first got into biking, she thought a $1,000 bike was ridiculously expensive, but that's actually so cheap," Keller said. "It's easy to find $10,000+ bikes."

The Utah High School Cycling League, run by Executive Director Jason Munns out of American Fork, organizes the statewide high school racing program. Skyline competes in Region 2, which held races at Snowbasin, Beaver Mountain, Moab and Vernal before the state championship.