BUTLER TWP — At 5 years old, Angelina Palermo taught herself how to ride a bike.

Nine years later, she’s pretty good at racing on one.

Palermo, 14, won the women’s beginner-sport class of the Month of Mud mountain bike racing series in October. This is the first year the Butler High freshman competed in the event.

Her cousin, Ryanne Palermo, won the expert women’s class.

The Month of Mud is a series of five races in Western Pennsylvania which are either cross country, cyclocross or time trials that employ mountain bikes.

Palermo won three of the races and finished second in another. There were at least 10 competitors in each race.

“It was kind of a surprise,” she said. “My dad said I had a chance to do pretty good in that series if I entered it. I never really believed him.”

She does now.

Ron Palermo bought his first mountain bike in the late 1980s to help him train for motorcycle racing. He competed in motorcycle races on the national level from 1988 through 2000.

“I made some money at it,” he said. “There was a time I was as good at that sport as anybody in Pennsylvania.”

Palermo and his wife, Cheryl, began riding bikes as a means of staying in shape. When daughter Angelina was 3, “I had a seat in front of my bike so she could ride with me,” Ron Palermo said.

Eventually, Angelina taught herself to ride.

“I went to my babysitter’s house every day during the summer and they had bicycles there,” she said. “I was around those bikes all day, so I taught myself to ride.

“Yeah, I fell a few times. ... I was always a daredevil child. That type of thing never bothered me.”

The Palermos got Angelina her own bike at age 9, but they didn’t take her with them on their long rides.

She wondered why before finally asking her mother two years later.

“I didn’t know she even liked it,” her father said.

Now she loves it.

Each year, the Palmeros participate in the Seven Springs 24 Hour Champion Challenge mountain bike race, which runs from noon Saturday to noon Sunday on Labor Day weekend.

Angelina and a partner compete in the Big Bear 2X12 duo team relay in West Virginia, with each person riding two 12-mile laps. They placed third in the coed class this year.

A bicycle shop in Verona sponsors Angelina.

“Our family competes, but we still like to keep it fun,” the elder Palermo said. “Angelina and I will be competing in some adult triathlons and Xterra triathlons in the coming months.”

Xterra triathlons are off-road events that include a lake swim, mountain bike ride and cross country run. They also plan to compete in the MS 150, a 150-mile road ride from Moraine State Park to Lake Erie.

“I want to keep doing this,” she said. “Once I get good enough, I’ll move up to the women’s expert division. I’m probably two years away from that yet.

“I’m beating girls and women who are older than me now. That’s kind of fun.”