Spiked

Jolene Van Vugt

1. You are a key member of the Nitro Circus team. Before we get into that, can you give us some background on yourself?
I'm a Professional Female Motocrosser, I'm been racing competitively since I was 15 throughout North America. I went to College in Canada and worked at a Motocross Magazine as an Assistant Designer for 2 years. Then realized I didn't like sitting behind a desk and starring at a computer for 8 hours a day. So I did what I had to not to do that, to just get by and with the help of my parents and a part-time Merchandising job, focused more on motocross and Nitro Circus.

2. How would you describe yourself in 1 sentence?
Always up for a challenge, with high levels of commitment and stubborn as hell!

3. What are your top 5 best assets?
Well Travis always says I'm really durable! lol, So durable, strong, caring/loving, dependable and physical, my abs.

4. Is there anything about yourself that you aren’t happy with?
I think everyone has things about them selfs they'd like to adjust a little but I'm going to keep mine to my self.

5. Where do you live?
No where really, I travel so much I'm never in one place longer than a week.

6. What does your typical day consist of?
Everyday is completely different than the last 7. You seem to have a history of being involved with some kind of sport. Can you tell us about your early years as an athlete, how old were you when you started riding MX bikes? My Dad taught me to ride when I was 11, I've been around bikes and race tracks since I was a baby as my Dad and brother both raced when I was growing up.

8. Being the youngest in a petrol fuelled family did you ever feel the pressure to be better go bigger and faster than your dad or brother?
No I, always looked up to my brother and my father and aspired to be the best I could be and make them proud.

9. What made you want to get involved?
I was at the track every weekend with my family and after years and years of watching I just wanted to give it a try.

10. Did you do any other sports?
Yes, I love snowboarding and playing hockey 11. How did the progression to FMX come about? It comes from my brother Billy, he has an FMX team up at home in Canada and i've been watching them for years, then just spending time with Travis over the years.

12. You are the only female to backflip a full size moto x bike, how did you progress to that and what made you want to try?
In August 2005 during some downtime between races me and a crew went to find Travis Pastrana’s house for a visit. Like everyone that goes to Pastrana Land, I wanted to try flipping a 110 into the foam pit because it just looked like so much fun! At first I just wanted to flip the 110 to dirt for the hell of it and was so pumped when I did, but it didn't stop there. As soon as I landed the 110 flip to dirt all I kept saying was “I wanna flip my RM125, I gonna flip it, I can totally do it.” It was all I thought about, I even had dreams about doing it! A month later Travis called me up on one of this weekends off and told me to come down and get it done. So me, my Dad and brother all headed down to Travis’s house in Maryland for the weekend with just that goal in mind. Two days to flip a full-sized dirt bike ramp to dirt and I wanted it so bad. Travis coached me through it and was there the whole time telling me when I was on and when it was horrible. I practiced all day Saturday into the pit and then completed the backflip Sunday morning ramp to dirt. I took a few hard hits first before landing it, but there was nothing that was going to stop me from doing this.

13. Can you describe what goes through your head leading up to the backflip, during the backflip and after the backflip?
I'm always nervous going into doing one, like wanting to puke and passed out nerves. Then nothing, blank. Then relief that it's over.

14. For the people out there who are new to Nitro Circus, can you summarize in 1 sentence, what the show is about?
Well we are a group of friends that love to hangout, do dumb, crazy and sometimes epic stunts together.

15. Who are the key people involved?
Cast of 6, Travis, Jim, Erik, Andy, Tommy & I 16. How did you get involved in the show? This didn't all start with a show, The Nitro Circus has been around for 7 years and we got picked up by MTV to be a tv show in the fall of 2008 after coming together with Dickhouse to do a pilot in the summer 2008. My involvement started in 2005 with learning the backflip at Travis's house in Maryland.

17. How and where can anyone get to see it?
MTV, check your local listing for times. Go can also go to MTV.com or jackassworld.com

18. What were your thoughts when you were first asked to join the crew?  
I wasn’t asked, it was something I earned over a length of time.

19. You are the only women involved, how do you feel about that? I feel right at home, they are just my friends that I hangout and have fun with. I do what I do to hang with them 'cause that's just me being me.

20. How did your friendship with Travis (Pastrana) come about?
I met Travis about 10 years ago at a large race event in the US called Loretta Lynn's Amateur National through a friend at the time that he was dating.

21. What’s the craziest stunt you’ve done with the Nitro crew?
I'd have to go with the base jumping dirt bikes into the Grand Canyon

22. What are your aims and ambitions for the rest of you career, will we get to see more of you in Europe and the UK?
I'm not sure where things will take me, I've found the greatest years of my life, had no planning, it's all day by day for me. I like it that way, just go with the flow and taking the step through new doors opening, as long as I'm doing things that make me happy and I'm moving forward I'm living with a smile. I hope we can make it out that way for sure, if not with the crew, I hope to myself sometime.

23. SPIKED has a commitment to encourage people to get involved in Extreme Sports, so regarding anyone out there who wants to get involved in a lifestyle like this, what advice would you give them?
It's a lot of hard work that doesn't happen over night, but if it's what you really want and are willing to put in the work and are up for all the challenges and hard times that come a long with it, just giver! It's worth it, if you ask me :)