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Tour de Donuts Rides Through San Diego

By Quynhanh Do

| Tuesday, Jun 2, 2009 | Updated 10:56 AM PST

Ryon Graf

Tour de Donuts champion, Alex Jarman on the left, races towards the finish line on Mount Soledad.

Sweaty bodies, bikes, and donuts…it was the UCSD cycling team’s annual tradition dubbed the Tour de Donuts put on every year after the end of the collegiate season. Riders from the UCSD cycling team, triathlon team, and local cycling community met Sunday morning outside the university bike shop to participate in this unique event.

With their bikes, helmets and empty stomachs intact, roughly 40 riders rode a 40-50 mile designated bike course with 4 stages and raced up a hill climb time trial for the finale. The catch? They had to eat as many donuts as possible at each stage without puking. Why? Every donut eaten by the rider earns him time bonuses for the final uphill race, but puking costs each rider half his points.

The pace was a neutral friendly one, with riders stopping at 4 donut shops throughout San Diego. Riders had to wait until all the participants arrived at each stage before eating and had only 15 minutes to eat as much as they could.

“You can get a crazy sugar spike and feel pretty crazy if you eat too many donuts at the first stop and might die right off, so you want to pace yourself,” said UCSD cyclist Alex Jarman.

The Tour de Donuts ended with a steep climb up Hillside Drive on Mount Soledad. Jarman, who races for the local Swami’s team, readily snatched the coveted Tour de Donuts jersey with 18 donuts consumed. The top five were given gift certificates to Krispy Kreme.

And the rest of the riders? They probably all got really bad stomach pains. Over the entire tour, the riders ate nearly 300 donuts.

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