Dominate Tour Da Yoop, Eh with the Trek Domane
Have you ever run a marathon? If not, what about a 5k? What did you wear on your feet? Leather dress shoes? High heels? Insulated winter boots?
Of course not. You wore running shoes. Anything else would be ridiculous.
I’m James Studinger, founder of Tour Da Yoop, Eh and creator of Chasing Plaid challenge. Today we are talking about bikes. There are lots of bikes out there. I’ll tell you which style bike works best for rides like ours.
Riding 100 miles on your bike is difficult. I’ll never forget my first time. I rode with a buddy from Bloomfield Hills to Port Sanilac Michigan. I hit the wall hard at mile 80. Complete shutdown. We stopped at a gas station, and I ate every ice cream sandwich they had. It got me another 20 miles to the destination. But I was done. And didn’t feel like doing anything athletic for days.
You learn something after each one. But even if you have mastered your physical condition, fuel, hydration, pace… all that is wasted if you are on the wrong equipment.
Tour Da Yoop, Eh is a ten-day 1,200 mile loop around the perimeter of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The route is 96% pavement. The pavement has many surface conditions. There are hills and there are flats. whether you are riding one day or all ten. You need a bike that dominates those conditions and allows you to get the most out of you.
In my opinion, Trek Domane is that bike.
Here’s what to look for on a bike for this event.
Road Bike with Endurance Geometry.
Disk brakes which allow for varying tire sizes.
Wider tires, 32-38mm.
Tubeless tires – you’ll have less flats and use lower air pressure.
Compliance features - smoother ride, but don’t use shocks or added weight.
The road bike industry has seen huge changes over the past few years. Let’s break down what we’ve learned doing TDY, and how the bike industry has evolved.
I bought a used Trek Domane in 2018 for my first ride around the Yoop. That was forever ago in bike technology. But I rode that bike for the past 6 years. The Domane uses a compliance method they call IsoSpeed. It allows for movement in the seat post, gliding over imperfect surfaces. Compared to my first triathlon bike, the ride on the Domane was a huge improvement. I made it even better by using a HED wheel set, allowing for 25mm tires with 85 PSI. I added a Whisky carbon fiber flared handlebar. Extra padded bar tape. Finished it off with a proper fitting and maxed out my bike’s performance and versatility.
After each of the above improvements I noticed incremental improvement in speed and comfort. I finished my rides happier, less fatigued, and more ready for the next day. Century rides were no longer a monumental feat. Far from the complete meltdown of my first 100 miler to Port Sanilac.
Since the first TDY in 2018 I’ve ridden long distances with hundreds of people. I can look at a group of bikers, and based on their bikes, can say which ones will work harder, be slower, more fatigued and worn out by the end of the ride. They are in good enough shape, but they are trying to run a marathon in winter boots. That’s not easy.
In 2020 a new rider entered the Hall of Plaid. He rode his bike from Troy Michigan to the Upper Peninsula. That’s about 300 miles. He carried all his gear necessary for the 10-day TDY. Including a tent. He rode the entire 1,200 miles like a boss. We carried his gear around the Yoop for him. And when we finished and drove our cars back home, he packed his gear on his bike and rode back down to Troy. It was crazy awesome.
We were all impressed with his mental and physical proficiency. But we were bewildered by his bike. He built his bike using a long frame on 40mm tires. Everyone else was riding 23mm or at most 25mm tires. The front hub charged his cell phone as he rode. To top it off, he had full fenders. He became affectionately known as “Fender Dave”.
Dave was ahead of the biking industry and taught us about the benefits of wider tires. I always thought the skinner and more pumped up the tire, the faster you would go. Dave said this wasn’t true. And he proved it to each of us every day. He rode with any group he wanted, and he finished the day with a much less taxed body than the rest of us.
Sure enough, in the past couple of years the industry realized the same thing that Dave showed. Wider is better. In 2022 my son Owen decided to tackle the 1,200-mile challenge. We bought him a Domane. Much newer than mine. Disc brakes and 32mm tires. The first distance ride I did with Owen was in the Upper Peninsula. 90 miles including 16 miles of gravel. As much as I enjoy my old Domane, the improvements on his modern bike were phenomenal. More gearing propelled him up the hills, smoother ride, and when the pavement turned to gravel, he literally left me in the dust. My tire marks showed a challenging swerving pattern while I followed his straight-line path hoping to see him around the next bend.
Not only are the 32mm tires capable of tackling adverse surfaces, but the disc brakes and tire clearance on the Domane allow for swapping out gravel tires up to 38mm.
I grew up in the 80s. The Lamborghini Countach was the sports car of dreams. I’ve never driven one, but I’ve heard horror stories, if you can fit into the cockpit and dare to drive it. For people with bad backs, you might never be the same again. They weren’t driven much. Just look at the miles on any Countach that’s 40 years old. Today’s sports cars are much more comfortable. And, incredibly faster.
If you want to get the most out of what you are capable of, look at your equipment. If you are buying a bike to maximize events like TDY, buy a road bike, like the Domane, that is built for distance pavement with the versatility to tackle adverse conditions. Be sure that your bike is made for the road, and capable of gravel. Not the other way around.
My new Domane has 32mm tires, tubeless, internal gear storage, disc brakes, lower gearing for the hills, top tube mounts, and a power meter. I’ll be in as good of shape as I was last year. But I’ll ride faster with less fatigue than I did before.
Owen will still beat me to the top of the hill. I may have leveled the playing field with bike technology, but he still has that 33-year age gap. Hopefully I close the gap a bit.
If you are shopping for a new bike, ride mostly paved, some gravel, and cover lots of miles - look at the Domane, or a bike that has Domane’s features.
Tour Da Yoop, Eh is a 10-day, 1,200-mile biking challenge in the U.P. of Michigan. Join us for all 10 or tackle a couple days each year. When you get all 10 sections finished you earn the right to be in Hall of Plaid.
We always start the last Friday of July in Manistique, making the clockwise back loop back to Manistique 10 days later. Hope to ride in the U.P. with you!
James -