VTXL: a history

Early Spring 2020:
I exchanged conversations with bikepacking philosopher, Joe Cruz, posing the question if he knew of an “official” route that spans the north-to-south height of Vermont. Similar to my favorite paved route, the 200-on-100, which is a 200 mile ride entirely on Vermont’s Route 100 that spans from Canadian border to Massachusetts border, I was in search of a gravelier version.

The initial answer was sorry, no Ted… but the wheels were clearly turning, because just a few days later Joe presented the first draft of this route. We continued to tweak and ultimately ended up with a course that’s exactly 300 miles on the nose, featuring something in the arena of 32,000 feet of climbing depending on your GPS, and more than 90% gravel roads. The majority of the route is traditional, well-maintained gravel roads that cobweb every corner of the state, but the route also has a healthy spattering of class IV — that is, roads that are a bit more ancient and unmaintained; passageways where “road” seems like a generous use of the word. Basically class IV is not where you’d want to take your minivan, whereas a raised 4x4 would likely be the preferred vehicle of choice. Or mountain bike.

I fumbled through a few different iterations of the name. Early into understanding that the world was going to shut down indefinitely courtesy of the Covid pandemic, I started the DIYGravel series, which saw nearly 40,000 people take on the challenge to ride their own rides amid a cancelled season. So the initial name was DIYGravelDK, back when the race now called Unbound had the abbreviations DK. Another name soon after was DIYGravel Ad Astra, that’s a truncated Latin expression of Ad Astra Per Aspera, which translates to “To the stars through difficulties”. In short, making the most of a crummy situation. Bah humbug Covid.

May 30, 2020:
I set off and establish the first and therefore OKT, only known time, on this route. We make a video, and in a slow and steady way, it catches on like wildfire. As it turns out, I ride a 310 mile ride courtesy of a superfluous out and back to wash my bike and get water right around mile 60. I actually rode it pretty darn quickly (especially in hindsight) averaging 15.0mph! The 2 hours of restful, non-moving time helped the speed, but didn’t help the overall time as I was shy of 24 total hours. A reminder that an FKT is based on overall time, start to finish, not just moving time.

2021:
Riders start passing through the full route. Occasionally in one full-send, much more often in 3-7 day trips, earning it the title of a bikepacking route. In doing so it also streamlines its name to VTXL and earns entry into official’dom thanks to Bikepacking.com.

June 23, 2022:
New Englander and marathon mountain bike distance champion, Jake Inger sets the new standard. Riding self-supported, his 21:51:31 is downright staggering, cutting nearly 1 hour off my time. His moving time was 20:44:11.

October 2023:
I got a couple friends together and actually multi-day bikepacked it over 3.5 days. 10 out of 10, would recommend! This ride is simply spectacular.

August 2025:
I don’t know if Mathieu Bélanger-Barrette calls himself a “professional cyclist”, but he’s been paid to ride a bike quickly for a decade or more, so that’s a pro in my book! He took a swing at the record and made some mighty fine media about it too. Mathieu fell juuuust short of the overall FKT, still held by Jake, but he logged the fastest supported ride with 22:00:16. Perhaps better yet, his moving time was the quickest to date, 20:32:23.

(T)editor’s note: I consider going after the record in late August 2025, but I’m thwarted by Canadian wild fires where we have week after week of AQI > 150 as well as stifling heat. As the clock ticks along and days go by, I figure the window has closed for the year, because by the time we flip the calendar to September, daylight is getting scarce and mornings are downright brisk.

September 9, 2025:
By some miracle, the the ad astra stars align (that is, picture perfect — albeit frigid overnight — weather, single digit AQI, childcare and a loving wife, a videographer, and a completed to-do list) and I set off around 9pm. For anyone who’s made it this far into this blog entry, I’ll write a separate recap of the ride itself, but I set the new overall fastest time with a 21:13:33 (and fastest known moving time, for whatever that’s worth, of 20:22:48).

But for now, you can see my very brief IG summary…

Part 2: read the full story here!