Be inspired by Jorgen Pirrung’s VTXL Ride for pediatric cancer
Ciao a Tutti!
Despite turning the clocks back, the light hours of the day are quickly dwindling- inviting earlier dinners and cozying up to the fireplace. Here in Abruzzo the trails are showing evidence of frost- fossilizing tracks from previous elk and cingiallie (wild boar) passersby. The mountaintops are also glistening a titillating white!
Today we would like to highlight Jorgen Pirrung’saccount of the VTXL- A 300 mile gravel ride that traverses the entire state of Vermont from the Canadian border to Massachusetts.
Ryan has had the privilege of coaching Jorgen for several years as he was a member of the Frost Mountain Ski Club in Ripton, VT. Stories like these are very touching to coaches as it’s incredibly rewarding to see athletes continuing to pursue sport on their own motivations and for the most relevant of causes.
“My name is Jorgen Pirrung, I am 15 years old and I live in Ripton, a small mountain town in Vermont. I run cross country and track but my first love is Nordic skiing. I train with Mansfield Nordic Club”..
“ I have had a many years long dream of completing the VTXL ride and then this past August my little brother, Anders, who has Down Syndrome, was diagnosed with Leukemia. This was a big motivator and I thought it was the perfect time to combine my desire to complete this long ride with a way to raise money for pediatric cancer research at UVM where he is receiving his treatment. I set out on the 300 mile ride that includes over 30,000 ft of elevation gain on a Thursday morning with the goal of completing it in 4 days. The route is a mixture of hard-packed and loose gravel roads, class four roads that are disguised more like trails and some single track.
I was able to complete it in four days and I was on the bike for around nine hours each day covering between 75-85 miles a day until the final day which thankfully was shorter.
The first day I got on my bike at the Canadian border and started up a long steep hill that spanned about a mile. The rest of that day featured many class four roads and lots of climbing. I finished the day in Danville with sore, tired legs.”
“I woke up on day two and rode 15 miles with my aunt and uncle. I felt slower and had a hard time staying on pace to complete 80 miles (my goal for the day). There was much more climbing than the first day which was a surprise and to add to that I got chased by some scary looking dogs four separate times. I ended up pushing myself, riding in the dark for an hour and finished around 7:30pm in Sharon, VT.”
“On the third day, the elevation was pretty consistent and the weather had begun to warm up. I was still feeling slow but I made it half way to Stratton faster than I expected. From that half way point, there was a bit of climbing I had to do before I could stop for the day. I finished the climb and rode down into Londonderry and only had 3 miles of trail to ride to get to Stratton. It was pitch black out by the time I made it to that 3 mile stretch of trail which made the riding much more difficult. I stopped for the night in Stratton anxiously awaiting the long climb I had the next day up and over Stratton Mountain.
The final day started with a 20 mile slog up and over the mountain. I was worried about this section but it went surprisingly well. I made it up and over and into Arlington much quicker than I expected. I had high hopes that the last section of the ride would be the easiest but the climbing continued and the last mile of the ride was all uphill. I sat against the granite post that separates MA and VT for a few minutes to rest my legs and then went home to finish my homework and to gear up for the state meet the following weekend.
I have raised almost $6,000 and I am hoping to keep the momentum going so that the oncologists at UVM can keep advancing their research.”
