MIAMI COUNTY – Bicycle wheels are round. Doughnuts are round. Seems like a perfect combination.
More than 1,800 cyclists from 22 states made their way around the Public Square – also round – to kick off the famous Tour De Donut ride in Troy.
The Tour de Donut is a bicycle event in which participants’ “ability to eat doughnuts is just as important as their ability to ride their bicycle.”
The race was held in Darke County in the area of Arcanum, but event coordinators moved the bike ride to Troy for its 11th annual race.
According to the participant list on its website, 1,883 riders flocked to Troy to log in the miles and chow down on doughnuts for the event.
Gary and Sue Olander traveled from Columbus to ride in the Tour de Donut, and they admitted the doughnuts were the draw for the couple.
“It was something different. Something I’ve never done before so what the heck,” Sue said. The couple waited their turn to funnel into the starting line to begin their ride. Gary was participating in the “Mini” 15-mile ride and Sue, who rides 100 miles a week, was riding in the “Full” 32-mile race.
The couple stayed in Tipp City Friday night and planned on attending the Waco Air Museum’s Fly-In to take a bi-plane ride following Saturday’s race.
“We don’t plan on eating a lot of doughnuts, but we’ll see. It’ll be an interesting bike ride,” Sue said. The couple found the race through their bike club in Columbus.
During the timed bicycle event, riders visit doughnut stops along the course. The stops included the Miami County Park District’s Garbry Big Woods Reserve and the Elizabeth Township facility.
For each doughnut the rider ate (and kept down), five minutes was deducted from their ride time. The Glazer, a special doughnut stop, returned by popular demand. Each doughnut eaten at this stop is worth a 10-minute deduction in ride time. The Troy Music Boosters’ strawberry doughnut, made famous by the Troy Strawberry Festival, was chosen as this year’s Glazer doughnut.
Locals James Kirkland, 40, and Darrin Dunaway, 47, both of Troy, said they were looking forward to the finish line well before the crossed the starting line Saturday morning.
“We rode to Mulligans one time together. That was about the extent of our training,” Kirkland share. The pair signed up to ride in the 32-mile “Full” race.
“We plan on have a few beverages after the race,” Dunaway added. “You got to have something to look forward to afterwards.”
A report of an injured 30 year-old female cyclist who collided with another biker was reported around 9 a.m. in the area of Cathcart Road and Troy-Urbana Road. The cyclist injured her shoulder and sustained road rash from the incident.
