How far would you go for a donut?
Posted: Tuesday, Sep 4th, 2012BY: Billy Stit
The
Flandreau Bakery and Coffee Bar has arguably the best donuts around
so it makes sense that people from all over the region drive their
cars to the downtown Flandreau bakery shop.
With as many
options as the bakery offers, it suits a plethora of different people
and their tastes so 40 miles round trip probably doesn’t seem that
far to enjoy a tasty treat.
Not even by bicycle.
Mary
Tolle and Jan Froehlich ride their bikes every Thursday from Nunda to
Flandreau, a 40-mile roundtrip, in order to satisfy their taste buds
with a quick donut and Diet Coke.
For your average
twenty-year-old avid biker, 40 miles a day seems like a decent
workout, but both Tolle and Froehlich have a little more life
experience.
“Mary is officially retired, and I just decided
to quit,” Froehlich said jokingly about their age.
Even
though the two of them are retired, the two of them ride their bikes
everyday during the summer. The usual Thursday route includes hopping
on the Nunda Oil road proceeded by a nice southward jaunt towards
Flandreau.
It is not the only route they take but have
decided it’s probably the best- and safest. “Sometimes our route
gets determined by farm dogs. Some of those guys are like small
horses,” said Tolle.
They don’t just monopolize Flandreau
– they make occasional trips elsewhere in the area. “We also like
to go to the McDonald’s in Madison. A lot more people think we are
crazy there though,” Tolle laughed as they hopped back on their
bikes after their treat.
Tolle is the more seasoned bike
rider, while Froehlich is more of a runner. Tolle lives in Brookings
and usually rides her bike from there to Nunda to pick up Froehlich
and then finishes the ride to Flandreau. Lately however, she has
resorted to driving to Nunda because they recently chip sealed the
road.
Being retired from work doesn’t mean that they have
retired from competition. Tolle participates in the Tour de Kota and
Froehlich runs in many races. The two of them both participated in
the RAGBRAI race in July, which is a bicycle tour across Iowa.
As
for the future, well, plan on seeing them every Thursday at the
Flandreau Bakery. We will see if even the snow can stop them because
Father Time doesn’t seem to affect them one bit.
