Tour de Donut 2012
Arcanum, OhioSeptember 7-9, 2012
I don’t know about you but a bike race that combines a
32-mile jaunt through scenic western Ohio countryside and eating giant glazed
donuts sounds like an absurdly amusing way to spend a day! When I heard about the Tour de Donut from
Jason, a high school/biking friend of mine, I was so in- I mean, biking and donuts are two
of my favorite things! I convinced my
sister Jo, my main sidekick in all crazy active endeavors, to join me and we
made a weekend of it.
The atmosphere on race day was charged. The weather was dismal, crowds of bikers jammed together at the beginning of the race and we witnessed some close calls and one collision with pretty harsh injuries. But the weather cleared, the pack thinned out and the ride, at least to me, became a calm and leisurely journey along rural roads through beautiful farm land around Arcanum, Ohio. I don’t aspire to win any of these events- I’m in it to experience them at my own pace. I chatted with a lot of fun people including fellow Warrior Dashers, a pair of teens completing the whole ride on little BMX bikes and a dad that was doing a tandem ride with his young son.
The atmosphere on race day was charged. The weather was dismal, crowds of bikers jammed together at the beginning of the race and we witnessed some close calls and one collision with pretty harsh injuries. But the weather cleared, the pack thinned out and the ride, at least to me, became a calm and leisurely journey along rural roads through beautiful farm land around Arcanum, Ohio. I don’t aspire to win any of these events- I’m in it to experience them at my own pace. I chatted with a lot of fun people including fellow Warrior Dashers, a pair of teens completing the whole ride on little BMX bikes and a dad that was doing a tandem ride with his young son.
The object of the race is to achieve a final race time not only by pedaling your heart out but also by eating donuts at two designated donut stops along the race route. For each glazed donut consumed (and kept down), five minutes is deducted from the final time. The more donuts you eat, the better your final race result. But, you still have to ride many more miles on a stomach full of heavy gooey doughness so strategy is the key. Those were some giant, puffy, delectable donuts! Total donut tally: Heather-3, Joanna-2. If only we’d been able to stuff down 12 donuts and earned coveted and prestigious spots in the Dozen Club.
As it turns out, Joanna had never had Skyline Chili- we
stopped there for lunch and enjoyed tiny chili dogs and Greek Salad, then headed
back to our hotel, the Drury Inn & Suites Dayton North. My experience with Drury Inn has always been
good and this property was no different.
After soothing our achy muscles in the hotel hot tub we decided to drive
south to the Miamisburg Mound, a burial mound likely built by the Adena Culture
around 1000 BCE. Our directions weren’t
the best and we were aimlessly driving in the general vicinity of the mound
when we saw it- that is a seriously big mound!
It is like you expect it to be big but are still shocked by just how
large it really is. We marched our way
up the steps to the top, took in the view and then headed back into town for
dinner at El Toro, a Mexican restaurant within walking distance of our
hotel. All I remember was ordering a
Cadillac Margarita- that was a seriously big drink! We just relaxed for the rest of the night and
got an early start toward home the next morning. We were a little tired and sore but we’d
earned one of the coolest event t-shirts ever and shared memories of our very
first bike race- the Tour de Donut 2012!
After soothing our achy muscles in the hotel hot tub we decided to drive
south to the Miamisburg Mound, a burial mound likely built by the Adena Culture
around 1000 BCE. Our directions weren’t
the best and we were aimlessly driving in the general vicinity of the mound
when we saw it- that is a seriously big mound!
It is like you expect it to be big but are still shocked by just how
large it really is. We marched our way
up the steps to the top, took in the view and then headed back into town for
dinner at El Toro, a Mexican restaurant within walking distance of our
hotel. All I remember was ordering a
Cadillac Margarita- that was a seriously big drink! We just relaxed for the rest of the night and
got an early start toward home the next morning. We were a little tired and sore but we’d
earned one of the coolest event t-shirts ever and shared memories of our very
first bike race- the Tour de Donut 2012!
(*Donut photo taken by Gretchen Miller- Thanks!)
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