Tour de Donut Memories

When I start thinking back on old bicycling memories, there's one thing that stands out: Tour de Donut. If it isn't obvious, it is a spoof on the Tour de France. The ride's artwork included the Eiffel Tower, bicyclists and a large donut with a bite.

When dad retired he took up bicycling--in a big way. I don't recall exactly how dad was introduced to the Tour de Donut but we all got a kick out of the silliness of the competition which has totally changed by now from how it was in the beginning. Anyway, dad asked me and my oldest sister to ride with him in 2002. My younger sister said we needed a logo for our team. I agreed and told her what I wanted: Kokopelli riding a bike. She said she didn't know how to draw that. So I pulled out my palm pilot and quickly sketched what I wanted. I don't recall how exactly we got my sketch from my palm pilot transferred to her PC because networking just wasn't the same back then--the palm pilot had no network capabilities at that time.

Anyway, we got the image to her PC and used her (relatively) new digitizing software to create an embroidery file which she then stitched on our jerseys with her embroidery machine.

The Tour de Donut bears some mention. If you've never heard of it, it is a bike race that was created by McDonnell Douglas' bicycling club and held in Staunton, IL. There are multiple stops during the ride where Jubelt's Bakery glazed donuts are offered up. For each donut eaten, five minutes is taken off your time. I recall one of the years dad brought home a big box of donuts that were leftover from the race.

Dad decided one year that he was going to win that race. The route map is published ahead of time so he started riding the route to determine his time and compared that to previous years' results. Then he calculated how many donuts he would need to eat to win the race--I want to say it was 17 donuts, regardless, he ate one extra just to be sure. And he won the race that year. As you might guess, dad's craving for donuts was very, very satiated. Mom complained that he didn't bring home a box to which he replied that he didn't want another donut for at least a month.

Dad (and the whole family) was very proud that he had won the race--so much so that it was his choice of "outfit" to be buried in.