Press and Media Center

Richmond Bike Course Twice the Fun at XTERRA East Championship June 12

The XTERRA East Championship bike course in Richmond, Virginia has long been praised by competitors as being one of the most fun, and technical, tracks on the entire circuit despite being smack dab in the middle of a major metropolitan city.

“The forest trails are very technical and makes you feel like you’re out in the middle of nowhere but you’re in the middle of a big city and that’s really quite amazing," explained Conrad "the Caveman" Stoltz (pictured right), who has won five of the last six races in Richmond.  "Plus, everywhere on the course there are crowds of people watching certain obstacles and cheering and encouraging you on, and that makes this race special.”

Make that twice as special as XTERRA is doing two laps of a revised bike course this year to address concerns about both the length of the course and the time it took to navigate it in recent years.

Stoltz smoked the bike course in 52 minutes last June and his winning time was 1:46:28.  By comparison, in 2007 the Caveman turned in a 1:10:39 split on the bike and a 2:05:47 winning time.

"There have been fantastic improvements to the trails over the years, particularly in Forest Hills Park, so the bike course that was put together and created 12 years ago has simply become polished, which has affected the routing and distance," said XTERRA course manager Chris Appleton.  "The work and dedication by Nathan Burrell from James River Park and other local trail building enthusiasts has really created a great trail system that is cohesive and fun to ride. The rough and crude trails of years past are long gone and we simply needed to add distance to the bike course."

Here, Appleton describes the changes in more detail, and you can click on the link below to view the new course map.

"We are going to do two 10-mile loops this year for the championship race.  The biggest change is rather than crossing the James River on the footbridge under the Lee Highway Bridge and riding around Belle Isle, the bike will now take the southbound on ramp to the top of the Lee Bridge.  We will have the entire shoulder lane, which is wide enough for a few bikes to ride side-by-side, coned off.  Once on the other side of the James we'll ride the normal XTERRA course on Buttermilk Trail and Forest Hills across Boulevard Bridge and back on the north trail.  We will do the entire course Clockwise, including the section of Buttermilk between 22nd. St. and 42nd. St. and Forest Hill Park. SPORT riders will do one entire lap, including the Forest Hill Park section. This is good news for SPORT racers. Their race was also getting very short in time and Forest Hill Park will give them three more miles of single track which hasn't been part of their course in previous years. The run remains the same for Championship, but SPORT will now incorporate the legendary "Dry Way" crossing of the James river rather than run back on top of Lee Bridge.  Adding the dryway to the SPORT run will also be a new experience for them."