Jolene Van Vugt is a professional motocross racer, the first woman to back-flip a dirt bike and a member of the MTV reality stunt show Nitro Circus.
While those first two are easily explained to the average person, describing what the Nitro Circus is to those not familiar with the show is more challenging.
However, Nitro Circus star and extreme sports legend Travis Pastrana sums up what he, Jolene and the rest of the show’s cast of thrill seekers do each week during a preview for the show’s second season which premiers on MTV Canada on Thursday, Aug. 27. “We are doing the same thing we do everyday, we’re trying not to die.”
As for the 28-year-old Londoner, Jolene says she has found herself living the life she never dreamed of.
“It’s pretty cool, there’s nothing I can complain about. It’s the stupidest, most fun, epic, gnarly thing I could ever be a part of. And it is definitely the coolest,” Jolene says during an interview from Utah where she was filming the final episode of the show’s second season. “It’s the most way cool of jobs. I never thought I would be where I am today. I had been racing since I was young; that was always a part of my life. But I graduated high school, went to prom, went to college, did all the normal things. Got a job at a magazine. I thought when I was 18 I would be married by 22, had a kid at 23, maybe another one a few years after that. But I’m 28 now, maybe this isn’t how my life was suppose to go, but doors just kept opening up and I went with them.”
One of those doors led Jolene to the first season of Nitro Circus. The show filmed 12 episodes that first season in locations across the United States and beyond. One particularly exhausting eight-day period saw the Nitro Circus crew filming in Panama, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.
“We were exhausted. We were constantly filming, if we weren’t on a bus or a plane, we were filming. For a reality show, well it’s not your typical reality show about filming celebrities doing everyday things,” Jolene says. “We are slammed, mashed, crashed all the time. I don’t think we were prepared for how rough it got season one. The first season a stunt would come up and everyone would just all do it. We had to suck it up, get past the pain. I’ve had broken bones before, multiple injuries, but when you are racing you usually have time to recover. We have to shoot so much in such a short period of time. So I spend a lot of time at the chiropractor and use a lot of ice.” Londoner
At 11, she began to pester her dad to teacher her to ride.
“At first he was hesitant, he did not want to teach me. He said ‘no’ and it took a lot of convincing. Finally, he gave in, ” she said. “I used to go to the track and just hang out and play in the dirt. There were not a lot of girls riding then. “
He may have been hesitant at the time but today, Bill Van Vugt, owner of the tool-and-die shop Tubend Machine and Tool, is nothing but proud.
“She has achieved a lot, It is great that she is living her dream, ” said Bill, 64, who still spends weekends racing dirt bikes. “She knows what she is doing, but it is risky and dangerous. She does more freestyle than racing. “
Nitro Circus features a group of men, and Jolene, riding their motocross bikes and performing all kinds of stunts, including jumping out of planes—at one point without a parachute—a demolition derby driving massive recreational vehicles, and body-sliding down hills into pools of water—wiping out into trees and rocks along the way, to name just a little of the fun.
The stunts include riding on the back of a motorcycle into the Grand Canyon with a parachute.
“I love skydiving—it is so much fun, ” she laughed. “Whenever we are on set and we have a jump, I get very excited. “
Among her achievements, she cites helping create a women’s series for motocross riding as among those she’s most proud.
She was crowned the first women’s national Canadian champion in 2006 and finished second in 2007 and third in 2008.
“I won that the first year I was able to compete—it was very important to me. “
She was the first Women’s Canadian Motocross National Champion, was the first female to back-flip a full-size dirt bike, holder of multiple Guinness world records, is featured in several motocross DVDs and holds multiple Ontario provincial championships. London Free Press
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