On a day with record-setting heat, a mountain biker suffered a mechanical failure on the Palisade Plunge Trail, which claimed the life of a Colorado Springs cyclist four years earlier.
A mechanical breakdown threatened to strand the unidentified cyclist Monday about 10 miles from the trail’s end. Mesa County Search and Rescue (MCSAR) personnel responded and met the cyclist at a memorial shade structure erected last November by the family and friends of Jeff Higgins.
Higgins, 52, died of heat exposure and dehydration on June 11, 2022. He was found unconscious beside the trail by three other cyclists who called 9-1-1 and stayed with Higgins. But those cyclists had also run out of water and needed help.
Monday, nearby Grand Junction broke its record high temperature for the day by three degrees.
Mesa County’s rescue team reached the cyclist by driving an all-terrain vehicle up the trail to the shade structure. The cyclist was given water and time to rehydrate before those rescuers hauled that rider and broken bicycle downhill into Palisade…