What, I hear you ask, is the GT-VTBC. That’s a fair question!

Background

The Guitar Ted Virtual Turkey Burn Challenge (GT-VTBC) is the brain child of Guitar Ted. A long time advocate of gravel riding – or as he might say, anyroad riding – Guitar Ted is based as far as I can tell in Waterloo near Cedar Falls in the rolling hills of Iowa. They have miles, and miles, and miles of rural gravel roads and each year Guitar Ted gives himself a challenge of riding off the turkey calories he’s consumed over Thanksgiving.

Actually Ted is not a Ted, but a Mark but that’s a whole other story.

As far as the turkey burn is concerned, the idea is to ride a 100 miles either in one go or over the Thanksgiving weekend. The effectiveness of the burn presumably affected by how much left over turkey is available. Mark suggested to his readers that they might want to join him virtually from wherever they are in the world and to provide further flexibility he ‘allowed’ a metric century option (100km or 62 miles).

And so, the virtual challenge was born.

Readers will know how suggestible I am. And this suggestion sounded rather novel to me. Being a Brit, I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but as chance would have it, my sister was in the US to see her son and daughter-in-law and get sight of her first grandchild for the first time over Thanksgiving. Yes, that sentence makes me feel old but also, it was sufficient excuse to try Mark’s challenge.

I understand why Thanksgiving as a holiday is not something all Americans necessarily celebrate. My take is to recognise the inherrent family and community values of the holiday and from that perspective, it’s nice to join in with something that celebrates the cycling community. Plus, it’s an opportunity to contribute a Turkey Burn Challenge report for Mark’s website and to recognise his significant gravel influence over the years.

Am I getting too gravel here? Don’t worry, I squeezed in a MTB ride as part of the weekend!

Thanksgiving Thursday

Now, rule 1 of the Moles is if it’s raining, stay in the burrow. No further explanation necessary. We probably should consider if its minus 4°C on a Thursday morning and your Turkey Burn starts with a commute to work.

MarkJ and I (yes, of course MarkJ was talked into this too!) set off at 7:30 after a week of heavy rain had culminated in a hard freeze over Wednesday night. Both of us were a bit wary of what we would find.

It was very dank and quite foggy and only just getting light. So we set out in that sort of hyper vigilant mode where you are not sure how icy it might be. Soon we started to relax a little because the surfaces were OK-ish. We didn’t let ourselves get too complacent but the sun was at least trying to burn through the mist. Once on the off-road Deepdene trails to Brockham things were looking great.

At Brockham we headed over to Betchworth, being careful on any tarmac with a hint of camber to it. The biggest problem turned out to be flooding. At the bridge on Snowerhill Road the water was across the road to a depth of several inches, causing traffic mayhem. We found a raised footpath that kept us a good metre above the road and used that but the road was impassable.

Carrying on, at Wonham Mill we found two cars abandonned in the middle of a small lake. As we took avoiding action by using the walkway past the luxury flats, an irritable homeowner came out to berate the stupidity of drivers and the waste of Fire Department resources rescuing unfortunate drivers. The night before the water had been three feet deep so wading a car through was optimistic. I just nodded along as she vented!

The evening return saw lower water levels, enough for us to get through by bike but flooding remained elsewhere – at one point we forded a 50 foot puddle with water lapping over our feet. Thank goodness for winter boots. Even so, temperatures dropped below freezing on the ride home and I was glad to get back. At least gravel bikes feel better suited to frosty road riding than a traditional road bike.

MTB for the win!

The next day, Friday is of course MTB night. Lloyd, MarkJ and myself brought the start time forward to suit Lloyd’s nurse and taxi duties for his family so we set out on a fairly standard Epsom Downs loop at 4:00pm.

This turned out much better than expected. The trails are of course muddy, but given the rain are still holding up quite well. Meanwhile, the temperature was at least above freezing (5°C) so we rolled along at a steady pace that suited all three of us.

With clear skies, it was good fun on the singletrack heading up to Leatherhead with the sky steadily darkening to black. By the time we reached Headley, we found Secret Singletrack remains over grown and in fact is impassable with a few small trees down. Much holly needs cutting back but I was starting to wonder if some of the obstacles had been deliberately placed. A wander through in daylight with secateurs might help!

We finished on Wizard’s Sleeve and while I was a long way from my fastest given the conditions, I enjoyed the flow all the way down. From there, Lloyd needed to hot foot it back home so it was a quick march back along the A24. No pub this time, although Tuesday may offer an opportunity watching JRs band…

At this point I had 57 miles banked for the Turkey Burn Challenge. MarkJ had picked up a head cold but managed to complete his last few miles on the Saturday. Lots of family demands meant I had to wait until Sunday as Mark basked in his success.

Last ditch Sunday

Unfortunately, Sunday was a wash out! More heavy showers for most of the day left me with a short two hour window late afternoon. I took full advantage. With the rain keeping temperatures in the teens (14°C at one point) and even the hint of sunshine, I headed over towards Wisley airfield.

Everything under wheel was damp but while it may have been muddy I thoroughly enjoyed my ride. The airfield is clearly not going to be a rideable option in the next few years with housing development planned so I like to enjoy it while I can. It’s a lonely spot, managing to feel remote while being only a few hundred yards from the busiest motorway in the country.

The new road bridge over to Wisley Village is excellent, featuring a wide cycle path for the likes of me. I fossicked my way across Wisley Common and saw the escarpment of the new land bridge taking shape at the other end of the civil works to widen the M25/A3 junction. It’s going to be enormous and I don’t think you will know the road is underneath you.

Eventually I picked up the Wey Navigation in deepening gloom, following it as far as Ripley before heading back toward home. I re-crossed the airfield, then made my way across Chatley Heath and then on to Downside and Bookham Common.

Back home I felt great! And very pleased to have completed the Guitar Ted Virtual Turkey Burn Challenge with 78 miles / 125km for the weekend.

Congratulations to all and any who set themself this challenge. You can read my Turkey Burn Challenge report and that of others on the Guitar Ted website.

Happy Thanksgiving!

About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.