VTBR Report: Warran Weibe

 They say, "Save the best for last", and I really feel this is the case with this entry from Kansan Warran Weibe. His report will be the final Virtual Turkey Burn Ride report for 2025. Written in the style of the Legendary Charlie Farrow, this post was a lot of fun to read through and publish here. Thank you, Warran! 

 “Next Year, Bring Pronto!”

The Most People for the Most Miles

Roll call for the 2025 Thanksgiving group ride was answered by the Crew with a variety of responses that ended in some version of “sorry not going to make it this year.” When we put together a ride, the route/mileage/departure time is loosely based on “what works for the most people to ride the most miles.”

Given that most of the Crew fits Charlie Farrow’s description of “Guyz on the List.”“Guyz that make The List are under the gun in their day-jobs and in their everyday lives…To them training “aint work,” training is a way to escape reality, to feel FREE! They don’t dread training, they look forward to training. Most of the time, they have to train at all hours of the day, super early in the morning or late night, if they are gonna “get one in.”

Gettin One In

Group rides with the Crew check all of Charlie’s boxes plus a few others like parking vehicles in the next county so people can leave in the dark, ride with the group, and drive the vehicle back to get home in time to carry on their “everyday lives.” The answer for the most people to ride the most miles for the 2025 Thanksgiving ride was local coffee shop/zero miles/6:30 a.m. In a pretty amazing turn of events almost everybody showed up.

Flyer for Gravel Worlds 2026

The biggest laugh, among many, from the coffee no ride was retelling a story from the road trip to Gravel Worlds last summer. Every year since the first Good Life Gravel Adventure the Crew from Lawrence has stayed with the same family in Lincoln. We look forward to seeing our hosts as much or more than riding our bikes. Some of the Crew are more “memorable” guests than others and when we arrived at GWs this year the first comment from our Lincoln host was “Great to see you guys again, but where’s Pronto?” Well Pronto didn’t make it to Lincoln this year, but as a testimony to Pronto’s historical “memorability multiplier” as we were pulling out to head back to Lawrence after the race the last thing we heard was “Thanks for coming, but next year, bring Pronto!”

Missing Ingredients

Gathering for coffee with the Crew filled the cup for community and encouragement but added zero miles ridden for the 2025 VTB Victory Rides.

For me, any time I get on my bike and start to pedal it is a victory to celebrate. This fall I had two wheels but was missing the bike and pedal ingredients to celebrate the victory of a ride. Lots of other victories, but none involved riding my bike.

Two Wheels, no pedals

The Podium Came Through Five Hours Ago

When I finally got back on my bike in early November after not riding for two months I was deliberately cautious and extremely slow, but riding my bike never felt better. I was looking forward to getting some miles to get ready for Mark’s VTB ride at the end of the month.

Riding this way (slow) reminded me of a race long ago when in the middle of the night a dog caused a rider to miss a turn, ride an extra mile past the turn, ride a mile parallel to the route, and then ride the extra mile back down to return to the route. When we all got back together there was a question as to whether the reroute caused by the dog would keep the rider off the podium? Out of somebody’s mouth in the dark came the response “Dude I wouldn’t worry about it, the Podium came through here five hours ago.”

Work Commute - VTB Victory Ride I

The single route I’ve ridden the most is the work commute. I know every turn, hill, treeline, and the time it takes to get to each landmark. I know the names of the dogs that chase and the name of at least one dog that bites. I also know a number of the good folks that live and farm along the route. The route is a mostly gravel road that follows a railroad track that follows a river. Typically five or less cars/pickups pass me when I’m riding and in the fall there are more deer on the road than vehicles. In years past the work commute has been at the bottom of the training list for difficulty and distance. This Thanksgiving the work commute is twice as far as I had ridden in the last few months and I was glad a buddy lives at the halfway point with a fridge and cold Cokes.

I had butterflies all week when I thought about whether I could actually finish the entire work commute. It was similar to the last week of worrying before a race you had spent months training for (minus the bike prep., clothing choices, and nutrition plan). I rolled away from work as the sun was setting, riding cautious and slow, and hoping nothing would happen that would later have to be explained to my wife under the category of “That Sure Was Stupid.”

Before I was out of town it was obvious I had no power or endurance on even the overpass over the train tracks. I was thankful the wind was at my back. The first time I looked at my watch was when I pulled into my buddy’s house at the halfway point - the time it took to go halfway was close to my FKT for the entire route. The Podium definitely came through here five hours ago! 

Had a Coke and warmed up a little, riding slow doesn’t generate as much heat as normal. Headed back out and made it to the last big hill. Usually the question is how hard do I want to go to get up the hill. The issue that night was, 'Can I make it up the hill without walking?' If I saw someone I knew putting up Christmas lights I was definitely going to stop to visit. Well I didn’t see anyone working on their Christmas lights, and I didn’t have to walk the hill, but I’m confident the time it took to get up the hill established a new SKT for this part of the work commute. 

All in all I think the relief of getting home safely with nothing stupid happening was similar to the relief you have when you finally arrive at the last convenience store five minutes before it closes in a long race.

I Didn’t Know It Was Supposed to Rain - VTB Victory Ride II

The aftermath of the Work Commute was dead legs the next day which just so happened to be Thanksgiving. So recovery consisted of doing what people do on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving kinda  overflowed into Friday, so the start time and route for Ride II was modified throughout the day until darkness and bedtime forced the matter. What was supposed to be a repeat of the work commute time and distance was revised to be a shorter route on the bike path around Lawrence with some rural roads added. Much of the bike path is away from the city lights and crosses undeveloped (for now) darkness. When you ride your bike in Kansas you’re always keeping track of the weather forecast for tempersture, wind, rain, etc.  Since I had not been riding this fall I had fallen out of the habit of closely monitoring the weather conditions.

Riding slow and cautious through the bike path darkness I notice flecks of what looked like rain sprinkles in my headlight. I thought maybe it was moisture, or fog from the nearby wetlands. In the darkness it was hard to tell if the bike path concrete was getting wet or not. I didn’t have any idea that there was a forecast for rain so I just kept riding. Note: Not knowing the forecast also meant two things: (1) I was wearing a winter coat, work pants, and mittens each with a water repellent factor of zero; and (2) my rain jacket was at home. When I leaned my bike against the traffic sign below, the sign was not wet, but the ground around it was? My headlight had water drops on the lens and for the first time it occurred to me . . . for a guy trying to ride cautious and slow, riding in the rain seemed like it could be the beginning of a story about doing something Stupid.

A Rainy Reminder to Check The Weather

 I turned off the bike path, rode even slower into town, and under the streetlights I was able to see it was definitely drizzling. As I rode past the house of one of the Crew I noticed two Amazon packages sitting on their front porch getting wet. I knew they were out of town for Thanksgiving. So, I called another one of the Crew that lived down the street and asked if I could drop off the packages so they wouldn’t get wet. Riding with one hand, two packages, in the drizzle was well inside the Stupid bullseye, but it was only two blocks and I made it without any problems. As soon as I dropped off the packages it stopped drizzling and started dumping real rain - real hard. I had about four miles of riding on the street to get home and I  was getting soaked. The good news was after four miles I could get out of the wet clothes and take a hot shower.

All in all there I got home safely but soaked to the core and now I’m back to being a regular follower of the NWS Hourly Forecast for Northeast Kansas.

I'm a Believer!

I Guess It Is Colder Than I Thought - VTB Victory Ride III

Ride III occurred the day after Ride II but before I had returned to being a regular follower of the NWS Hourly Forecast. The plan was to ride the work commute halfway, get a Coke from my buddy’s fridge and return home.

After a half mile I realized it was a lot colder than I thought. I stopped to put on my jacket hood, and zip up my coat all the way. On the way down the first long downhill (the one I had almost walked up four days before) I had to put my hand/mitten in front of my face as a windshield from the cold. I was riding straight into the wind,which was bad for the ride out, but good for the return trip.

Iced Water Bottle Hill

Near the end of the first half of the ride I stopped at the top of one of the last hills to take a break and get a drink. No water came out of the plastic water bottle so I unscrewed the lid and the bottle was half ice and half water. Now I realized it was a lot colder x 2 than I thought. Riding below 32 degrees is common if you want to ride in Kansas in the winter but riding in Kansas in the winter with plastic water bottles is not. Good thing the halfway stop for the ride has hot water and Cokes.

After a cold Coke and water bottle refill I headed back home. One thing about stopping during a winter ride and going inside a Casey’s to get warm is that when you start out riding again you are completely cold and miserable for the first mile or two. Luckily the work commute has two big warm up hills immediately after the halfway stop. As I worked my way back to town I was thinking about how I would get up the last big hill and whether anyone would be working on their Christmas lights. Surprisingly the hill was much easier this time - I think the strong tailwind was a greater factor than any improvement on my part.

All in all there it was a wake up call to get out the box of winter bicycling gear and start packing extra backup layers when riding and a “Newsflash” - Start following the NWS hourly forecast.

2025 VTB Victory Ride Totals

2025 VTB Victory Ride Total Mileage = 78 miles and every mile was a much valued victory. One VTB ride report per year is my limit. As I said last year, I have no idea how Mark has written a daily post for 20+ years.

Mark - Thanks again for helping so many people get to "Doing" and V for Victory. WW

And with this the VTBR Reports for 2025 are done and dusted! Thanks to everyone who sent in a report.