Northstar's Sticks and Stones DH Race with Trail Head Racing

Sticks and Stones, not only the start of a very true and relevant nursery rhyme, but also race number three of Northstar’s DH series. By the end of the weekend, THR had been referred to as Team Hurt Racing, as the Stadium Jump ended up breaking Michael Cofield’s arm and giving Ashton Smith 13 stitches while loose dusty turns caused the separation of Keith Morelan’s shoulder. The list of healthy THR riders had been cut in half.While these riders may be out for now, they are already preparing for a strong comeback to finish out the season!

This past weekend, Pro/CAT 1 riders raced down the rocky, extremely dusty, and gnarly trail that is Sticks and Stones while CAT 2 and 3 riders rode upper Sticks to the newly renovated high speed  Speed Control and Pho Dogg. Upper Sticks and Stones has a long sprint right out of the gate into slalom-esque turns with some chunder in between. Once riders cross Flameout, they dive into some tight turns, launch the Moss Drop, and navigate more super dusty turns. After a wooden berm, the Cat 2 and 3 riders split off towards Speed Control while the Pro and Cat 1 riders head across the ski run towards the meat of Sticks and Stones.

After descending the rock-fall, riders must push through multiple rock gardens, rock filled turns, and many bomb holes before crossing the last fire road to the man-made rock garden, the Daytona Berms, and finally the Stadium Jump sprint to finish.

This ruthless, long, and extremely physical course saw only 1 time under 5 minutes, provided by Ryan Condrashoff.

Ryan Condrashoff: 4:54.87

Parker Robinson: 5:00.88

Brandon Bohl: 5:03.92

Adrienne Evans: 6:34.27

Shanna Carlen: 6:55.96

Warren Kniss: 5:17.71

Hudson Tognetti: 5:18.43

Matt Brady: 5:29.29

Sean Simonson has raced every race in Northstar's DH series this year on his 3 wheeled arm powered bike, and continues to amaze and inspire everyone.

You can follow the team on Instagram @trailheadracing, on their blog at trailheadracing.tumblr.com, or here on VitalMTB: TrailHeadRacing. Huge thanks to Specialized, ALittle4ALot.com, Industry 9 components, SRAM, Troy Lee Designs, Five.Ten, and of course Trail Head Cyclery! See ya at the next Northstar DH race on Karpiel, August 10th!