Our 1st Tandem Rally Since The Covid Pandemic Began

Since starting this separate “Travels” blog I’ve not included our tandem cycling rallies since we typically don’t to a lot of tourist things at these events: we go there to cycle for a few days, enjoy the scenery, take in some meals at local restaurants and then go right back home. And, well, they’re covered in both my Weekly Journals on my “Riding Two Up” blog as well as in my tandem-cycling specific blog, “The TandemGeek’s Blog”.

So, yes, in some respects I’ve applied a double-standard since I have included two of our more recent motorcycle rally trips in the Travel Blog. However, those and two other motorcycle rallies WERE our Vacations Get-Away’s for the past two-years following our last, honest-to-goodness travels when we took a Cruise in the Caribbean in early October 2019.

However, this particular tandem rally was very special, in that it was the FIRST tandem rally we’ve attended since tandem rallies in general and all of our true vacation travels came to a halt in March of 2020 with the Coronavirus outbreak and SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. So, consider this what will hopefully be a watershed event where we can once again begin to resume travel or at least begin attend tandem rallies in places where we can add some vacation/tourist-type activities instead of just enjoying the cycling aspect of those trips.

Summary:

On Thursday, August 26th through Sunday, August 29th, we visited Tifton, Georgia, along with some 22 other tandem teams for our first “tandem rally” since the Southern Tandem Rally at Greenwood, South Carolina, back in September 2019. And, for those who enjoy the “Bottom Line Up Front” it was a very different, but wonderful tandem rally experience and one we dearly-needed after tandem rallies came to a halt in March 2020 due to Covid. A HUGE thank you to our hosts, Roger Strauss & Eve Kofsky, for doing their always exceptional job of planning, organizing and executing a first class cycling event.

Setting Expectations & Our Experience:

Mind you, this was not your typical Georgia Tandem Rally experience, it was a “now for something completely different” in the spirt of Monty Python that offered up three days of riding where 65% of the riding would be on unpaved, rural farm community dirt roads with light but steady climbing and some soft-sand to deal with. And, our hosts were quite transparent and forthright about the terrain and equipment needed for it in their event announcement, to wit, “Although some of our riding is on paved roads, we highly recommend a gravel or MTB tandem with at least 35mm tires with gravel or dirt tread. Don’t bring your road bike with 28mm tires. You will be miserable.”

In terms of the off-the-bike activities, once again… this was not your typical Georgia Tandem Rally. This was a one-off, unique event targeted towards a smaller, sub-group of tandem teams who attend rallies and who also had embraced riding off-road or all-road / gravel grinding tandem cycling, noting the latter is where there has been a lot of growth over the past few years, especially in places like Florida, Virginia, Texas and other places with forest service roads or unpaved rails-to-trails resources that cyclists have come to enjoy as an alternative to sharing paved, busy roads with vehicle traffic.

The smaller number of guests lent itself nicely to smaller, spread-out on-your-own social activities, such as the outdoor rally check-in and social at the hotel’s garden lounge adjacent to the hotel’s indoor lounge, full bar and restaurant. It was low-key and with just 22 fully-vaccinated teams attending the event, right-sized if you will, all things considered. Moreover, there were no catered lunches or a Saturday banquet, but guests were provided with lists of well-regarded, locally-owned restaurants, information from the Tifton Board of Tourism on local attractions and information on when and where they could choose to meet with other folks attending the tandem rally if they felt comfortable, once again being mindful being immunized was a pre-requirement for attending the rally.

We personally logged 78-miles on the Friday and Saturday rides, before having to skip Sunday’s 25-mile ride due to a family obligation at noon back near home that necessitated our departure at 7:00am on Sunday morning. Our riding experience was exceptional, but then again, we’ve done a lot of off-road tandem cycling in the past, and made a point of making sure we’d have the “right type” of tandem for the planned rides, as did most of the folks whom we rode with on Friday and Saturday.

Our off-the-bike experiences were equally enjoyable and ranged from having a very good dinner from the hotel’s kitchen on Thursday evening, to sharing really good meals with long-time friends attending the rally at Tifton’s own Mi-Lady’s Bakery, 41 and Main, Expresso 41 and Pit Stop BBQ. Our additional “social engagement opportunities” at breakfast, following each day’s ride, cocktail hours and after dinner in the hotel’s lobby were also wonderful, as we were able to spend time visiting with many of the folks who came to the rally, but… again, in the large lobby areas with multiple indoor and outdoor seating areas where everyone was able to spread out while still being able to talk and, yes, some folks were perfectly fine either choosing to wear or not wear masks when so moved by the circumstances and company.

Details:

Getting Ready for the Rally

We dutifully followed our hosts instructions regarding the “type” of tandem we’d need to enjoy the “Dirty GTR” and borrowed a 29″ wheeled Fandango DC-9 all-road / off-road demo tandem from MTB Tandems fitted with 27.5″ wheels and 27.5″ x 3.00″ Plus size Schwalbe Rocket Ron tires. This came after we experimented with riding on some local dirt and gravel roads aboard our 26″ wheeled, 2002 Ventana El Conquistador off-road, full-suspension tandem and found it not as well-suited to that type of riding as it was technical single track in years gone by.

The Fandango DC-9’s maiden ride with Debbie and a shake-down / test ride followed on the Sunday before we needed to head off to Dirty GTR and, thankfully, the Fandango DC-9 more than exceeded our expectations on that test ride. After fabricating a pair of fixtures so I could more easily and securely transport the Fandango DC-9 in our truck, we were about as ready as we’d ever be for the rally in Tifton.

More details regarding our pre-Dirty GTR tandem testing, the Fandango DC-9 and my homemade fixtures are covered in other, recent blog entries, which anyone who has an interest can find at these links:

Giving the Ventana Off-Road Tandem One More Try…. (August 6th)
Gravel Grinding & Ice Cream… (August 15th)
Off-Road Tandems: Perhaps We’re About To Open a New Chapter! (August 24th)
Fabricating a Transportation Fixture for Off-Road Tandems (August 24th)

As for “the other stuff” that is always entailed in getting ready for tandem rally, we were definitely out-of-practice when it came to getting our cycling gear together for a multi-day, away from home cycling event. Thankfully, our past three month’s attendance at Georgia Tandem Club (aka, PEACHES) rides and our two recent “gravel grinding” test rides had been of immeasurable help since we’d had to dust off some of our pre-departure clothing and equipment packing skills and needed to download GPS routes and upload those to our antique, 2008-vintage Garmin Edge 705s. Even our short trips down to the Silver Comet Trail for personal tandem rides that required me to do things like remembering my helmet, grabbing the correct cycling shoes with the right cleats for the tandem we were riding, taking along towels, tools, etc. This rally would be somewhat unique in that we’d also need to take along our vintage Camelbak hydration packs and I also felt compelled to do a quick check on the Covid numbers for Tift County, if only so we’d not be caught off guard if the rules and restrictions, never mind healthcare facility accessibility were different from what we were experiencing here at home in Cobb County.

The Trip Down, Hotel and Rally Check-In

After making some last minute adjustments to my tandem transportation fixtures and washing-off the month of dirt that had accumulated on my truck, we headed off for Tifton at 12:15pm with a GPS-estimated ETA of 3:53pm, which suggested we’d encounter some level of traffic getting out of Cobb County and through Atlanta on I-75. We found traffic was moderate and we made a single stop two and a half hours and 160-miles into the 209-mile drive for a “bio break” and to fuel up the fuel truck so we’d be set for the drive back on home Sunday.

We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm, checked in and headed to our room to get unpacked and settled-in. After that we spent some time in the lobby chatting with other folks as they showed-up for the tandem rally and checked-in to the hotel. We ended up having dinner at the hotel and then moved to the outdoor lounge for the 8:00pm rally-check-in and social where we spent about an hour or so catching up with old friends and meeting a few new ones.

Friday: Day 1 of the Dirty GTR in Tifton, Georgia

The alarm went off at 6:15am, we were dressed in our cycling clothes and in the lobby having breakfast a little before 7:00am. It was actually a very good breakfast, cooked to order, and there were perhaps 8 couples from the rally having breakfast while we were there. That’s not a bad thing since we were able to be served rather quickly by the one young man waiting tables: like all businesses, they’re short staffed.

After finishing breakfast and returning to our room, I filled our Camelbak hydration packs with ice and water, put a Protein bar in each pack and filled a water bottle with PowerAid before we gabbed our respective cycling gear bags, made our way to the truck. We left the hotel at 8:00am in route to the remote start at the the Union Grove Church parking lot some 8-miles and 10 minutes away, just South of Tifton in Eldorado, Georgia.

We saw most of the folks were already there when we arrived. It didn’t take me long to get the Fandango DC-9 and wheels out of the truck, the wheels installed noting we were perhaps only one of two tandems running the 27.5 x 3.00″ Schwalbe Rocket Ron tires, the second one being on another Fandango DC-9 being ridded by friends. There were several tandems riding on 29″ tires that were perhaps 2.25″ to 2.50″ wide, but a few tandems with what I’d call ‘narrow’ tires where folks didn’t heed the ride organizer’s comments, i.e. “Although some of our riding is on paved roads, we highly recommend a gravel or MTB tandem with at least 35mm tires with gravel or dirt tread. Don’t bring your road bike with 28mm tires. You will be miserable.”

Regardless, after an entertaining and informative riders meeting and posing for a Drone-Camera overhead group photo, we headed-off on the 35-mile route (16.7 paved / 17 unpaved), not wanting to push it too hard on the first of two-days of riding.

Quite a few tandems left the parking lot ahead of us on the paved roads, but we worked our way towards the front aided by those meaty, nearly 29″ tall Rocket Ron tires that rolled well on asphalt, such that there were only a handful of tandems ahead of us when we hit the first stretch of dirt road. As expected, some of the tandems with narrow tires struggled with the softer dirt and sandy-patches of road we’d encounter where the county had to deal with wash-outs.

It didn’t take too much time on the first dirt road for us to put a fairly big gap of at least 1/4 a mile on the next group of riders, including several of our long-time tandem rally friends. In fact, once we hit a long, paved section of the route we saw we’d been rolling along at 15.5 mph and dropped it down to about 6-8mph so we could let the others catch back up to us before we hit the next segment of dirt road. Now, I will note, we were clearly not the strongest team at the rally, but were able to create the gap on a section of road with quite a few sandy and soft dirt patches that created a bit of a challenge for anyone with narrow tires that also tied-up the following tandems, while our tandem’s big tires rolled over and through everything with relative ease: the Fandango DC-9 with the 27.5 x 3.00 tires is VERY adaptable to a wide variety of unpaved road conditions.

The subsequent un-paved road segments were in far-better shape than the first segment and, by the time we reached the turn where the 35-mile and 44-mile routes split off in different directions, we decided to go ahead and follow the rest of our friends on the longer, 44-mile route. While there were a few times when we questioned our decision, we were ultimately pleased with how well we rode and how much we enjoyed being out with other tandem enthusiasts at a well-planned event and on dirt roads of all things with a fantastic “demo” tandem perfectly suited to the event that fit us like a fine leather glove.

We made one “official” and much-needed store stop around 22-miles and then another impromptu “get off the bike for a few minutes” stop around 36-miles where I took a photo of us standing in the shade by the side of the road. Our riding companions — all but two of them — stopped just a mile or so behind us according to the two teams who pressed on ahead without a stop and passed us as we were standing in the shade along side the road, and it wasn’t long before the residual group was back together. We finished up the last 8 miles, picking up one or two teams including our hosts and friends, from the 35-mile route after the two routes merged back together. It was just a great day on the bike, no if’s, and’s or but’s about it. We’re definitely enjoying the non-paved road rides far more than we thought and are already looking ahead to where else we could go to pursue additional rides to justify the acquisition of a Fandango DC-9.

After everyone from our group and most of our immediate friends made it back to the Union Grove Church parking lot and got their tandems put-up, we headed back to downtown Tifton where quite a few of us gathered at Mi-Lady’s Bakery for lunch, and it was wonderful! The staff was pleasant and efficient, the wait for food orders wasn’t long, the food was delicious and plentiful, and the bakery treats were all sinfully delicious. Definitely a place for anyone passing through Tifton to check-out, so long as it’s not the weekend… as they’re closed on Saturdays & Sundays.

Following lunch we headed back to the hotel where we laid out our sweat-drenched cycling clothes in the room to see if they might dry and then grabbed showers before relaxing a bit ahead of the late afternoon “social hour” at 5:00pm.

We had a good time during the social hour where Debbie had a really great discussion with another couple from Atlanta. I spent some time bragging-on the Fandango DC-9 we were riding to a really strong team who brought an older road tandem with only 32mm tires to the ride. We’ll try to connect with them at tomorrow’s ride start so they can take the Fandango DC-9 demo we’re riding for a spin in the parking lot just to get a feel for it. I also spent a good amount of time chatting with long-time friends from Florida, and that was very enjoyable: they’re a great couple who we’ve ridden with at dozens of tandem rallies.

It was getting on towards 6:00pm when our small group of friends headed back to downtown Tifton for dinner at “41 and Main Street” a local-owned restaurant that got good reviews. All four couples ended up ordering what turned out to be wonderful salads and personal-pan pizza’s for dinner, and it’s just what we needed. We were back at the hotel by 8:30pm where we chatted with some of the other folks from the rally before retiring to our hotel room for the night just before 9:00pm.

Saturday: Day 2 of the Dirty GTR in Tifton, Georgia

After getting ourselves up, having a breakfast we filled-up our Camelbaks, etc, and made the 14-minute drive over to the remote ride start in Omega, Georgia. As on Friday, it didn’t take me long to get the Fandango DC-9 and wheels out of the truck and put together: my transportation fixture and wheel caddie/bike stand have worked really well. We arrived early enough that we were able to offer up the Fandango DC-9 to the couple we were talking with at last night’s happy hour for the aforementioned ride around the parking lot. They took us up on the offer and seemed to be quite happy with how well the bike handled, having even played in some grassy areas and bounced-over a parking stone or two. They confessed they’d been playing on MTB Tandems website and “spec’ing out” a Fandango, so there’s at least a 50/50 chance they may be adding one to their bicycle fleet after this weekend’s experience as they really seem interested in doing more off-road tandem riding in the future.

As we got ourselves ready for today’s ride the big question was, do we want to do the 34-mile short route or the 44-mile longer route? We decided we’d wait until we reached the 14-mile store stop to make that decision, by which time we’d know how felt after yesterday’s 44-mile ride and also have a better idea what the weather might do. There was a chance of showers as early as 11:00am, with strong storms expected around 1:00pm, but as flakey as the weather’s been, it wasn’t a stretch to think it might start raining more heavily earlier in the day and the last thing we wanted to do was end up slogging back to the start on rain-soaked Georgia clay roads with the consistency of peanut butter.

After the rider’s meeting and another group drone photo, we headed out and were feeling pretty good, but definitely had tired legs from yesterday’s 44-mile ride. However, as we approached the 1st store stop at 14-miles we were thinking we’d be OK with the 44-miles if we took it easy. And, while the other couples we were riding with said they’d be taking it easy too, we knew better: they were just too competitive and strong to back-it-down. So, we let the two of the teams head off on the 44-mile route and checked in with our friends as to their ride plans and they were thinking 44-miles, but truly at a somewhat more social pace. As we headed-off we didn’t go 1/2 a mile before coming to a stop sign and noting the skies, the feeling of the air, and the building wind made us rethink our plans as it definitely felt like rain might come-in before we’d finish the 44-mile route. A quick check of the weather on a smart phone by one of our friends confirmed “rain” was now likely by 11:00pm back in the city of Omega where we started our ride. And, with that, we made a snap decision to be glad we got in a good ride of 34-miles, instead of taking a risk of getting caught out in the rain on the 44-mile route.

The 34-mile route turned out to be a good choice. It was at least as many miles of dirt roads, with a few less paved route miles and the terrain was as enjoyable, yet still as challenging as we needed. In fact, we stopped for a few moments at 22-miles — which would have been only the 1/2-way point for the 44-mile route — and all agreed, we were just fine being 12-miles from the finish instead of 22-miles away. And, if anyone was feeling like they short-changed themselves, they could always ride 5-miles out and back on the first part of today’s ride to collect the other 10-miles.

As we rode the final 12-miles it became fairly obvious we may have enjoyed the first part of the ride a bit more because it was on roads with a gentle, downward slope as we spent the last 5-miles on slightly uphill grades that really wore us down, Debbie and me more-so than our friends. But, sure enough, about the time we had our bicycles packed-up in our vehicles, a gentle shower passed through the area. It wasn’t bad, but hey…. we technically achieved our goal of beating ‘the rain” on the ride! Regardless, it was another great day of playing in the dirt, a very different riding experience we really enjoyed especially since we were able to share it with friends who we’ve known and love spending time with regardless of what and where we’re riding. The following are some photos of the typical scenery we enjoyed on Friday & Saturday taken by our friends and Dirty GTR hosts & organizers….

From the ride start/finish, we headed back to Tifton, Georgia, where we gathered at the former small gas station converted into a burger and coffee joint called “Expresso 41” on U.S. route 41 for lunch. It was a very neat “joint” with a funky décor, a hip menu and great food. It wasn’t fast-food by any stretch, but we had a really good time sitting around with our friends once again just enjoying the moment and good times with good friends. We’d definitely recommend it to anyone passing through Tifton looking for another unique dining experience.

We passed on joining our friends for dessert at Dairy Queen and upon getting back to the hotel we joined some of the folks who we’d been riding with over the past two days in the small, fireplace lounge in the hotel lobby. While we were sitting there chatting a fairly strong thunderstorm passed through and we were all thankful we weren’t out riding in THAT! After about an hour Debbie headed back to the room to see if housekeeping had come by — and they had — and grabbed a shower, etc., while I continued to visit with folks in the lobby and talk tandems and tandeming… some of my favorite subjects and were reminded of how small a world it is based on mutual acquaintances who came up in the discussions.

After grabbing a shower and returning to the lobby, we joined our now “usual group of friends” for this weekend at the Pit Stop Bar-B-Que for dinner: it was a mere 5-minutes from the hotel. We arrived ahead of our friends and secured a table for eight so when they arrived they immediately joined-us… and we received prompt service, had our respective dinners. It was great fun and good food with great friends: what more could you want! We were on a roll for our first tandem rally in nearly two years!

We returned to the hotel and after visiting with some other folks who we ran into in the hotel lobby, we retired to our room for the night, being mindful we needed to be up and going even earlier than we would if we were riding our tandem as we’d be skipping the ride and heading back home at 7:00am as we had a family commitment back at home around noon.

Sunday: The Drive Home

We had ourselves packed, the truck loaded and were saying our goodbye’s to the friends we found in the hotel lobby having breakfast shortly before 7:00am when we jumped in the truck and began the 2-hour and 50-minute drive back home. We encountered light traffic and were at home by 9:50am, 10 minutes earlier than predicted.

Later in the day we started to see comments and photos from Sunday’s 25-mile ride from the hotel at the Dirty GTR and we really wish we could have been there for that final ride. Despite yesterday’s rain, it seems like the roads were in good shape, the sun was out, the scenery was lovely, there was a nice stop along the route and a good time was had by all.