Numerous years of preparation will come to fruition this weekend for high school cyclists.

Fountain Valley School will host the Lazy B Ranch Rally high school mountain bike race Friday through Sunday as part of the Colorado High School Cycling League competition.

The event will take place at Fountain Valley’s 1,100-acre Prairie campus and will feature around 730 high school cyclists from 51 schools including a handful of riders from New Mexico.

“As the sport of mountain biking has grown in popularity, we knew we had the ideal terrain, and immediately looked for ways to optimize our location,” Geoff Harlan, Fountain Valley athletic director said in a release.

The race serves as the third of five competitions in the Colorado High School Cycling League and will feature five waves of riders: freshman boys, sophomore boys, junior varsity boys, varsity boys and girls and JV/sophomore/freshmen girls.

Varsity boys and girls competitions will be a 19.5-mile race while all others will go for 13 miles.

Planning the event began “several years ago” with Fountain Valley School, the Colorado High School Cycling League and the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation configuring the logistics of the race.

Then, in May, a middle school race, the Fountain Valley School Junior XC, served as a trial run as more than 50 competitors tested the course and provided feedback for event coordinators.

Colorado High School Cycling League currently has just shy of 100 teams and the Crystal region, the largest of the four regions and contains 30 teams, has 10 area schools that compete in races.

Coordinators hope the race will raise awareness and participation in high school cycling along the Front Range.

“With most Colorado League races occurring on the Western Slope, we are hopeful that the ease of access and exposure this race brings to mountain bike racing will lead to greater awareness and participation in the sport,” Harlan said in the release.