Georgia Tandem Rally bike ride returning to Dublin

The Georgia Tandem Rally is returning to Dublin.

The 24th GTR, called the largest tandem rally in the South, will be in town and riding throughout the county from May 24-26 after coming into town on May 23, said Roger Strauss, who organizes the ride with his wife, Eve Kofsky. The riders will come into town May 23.

The rides will begin around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Fairfield Inn. During the evenings, the group will be out and about in the community.

“Our average age is 65, and it’s not like we’re coming to tear up things,” Strauss said. “People can come up and ask questions about (tandem riding). This is a great cycle of tourism. Dublin didn’t have to do anything. We’ll come into town and spend money at the restaurants, buy gas and use up a lot of hotel space. It’s all good. Everybody wins. Everybody just has to share the roads with us.”

The tandem riders will bike out to Dudley on Friday before the group takes rides on Saturday to Dexter, Chester and Rentz. Sunday will be a shorter day in Dublin before the group heads out of town.

“During their stay here, they’ll be going around the county and taking off every day at Fairfield Hotel for a couple of hours,” said Miriam Lewis, executive director at Visit Dublin Georgia. “We just want to make sure everybody is aware that they will be tandem bicyclists around the county riding throughout the day. After that, they’ll be immersing themselves in what Dublin has to offer. We just want everyone to be safe and welcome them.”

Strauss is expecting people from 16 states, including Oregon and Washington.

“It amazes me every year when people register from out there for this ride,” he said. “They get on the plane and come over (to Georgia). We’ve all been doing this for such a long time. (Tandem riding) takes a lot of teamwork. Some of these people have been to every single one of our events, and this is our 24th one. Thirty-eight percent of the participants are new this year. That’s good.” 

The GTR was last here in 2012. 

“Eve and Roger came last year and did some scouting,” Lewis said. “They were picking between us and some larger city and loved what they saw. They ended up getting in touch with us here at Visit Dublin Georgia. (The GTR participants) will be staying in our hotels during those days. We have been helping them plan events. They love to come and do things at local places. (Kofsky and Strauss) visited the town a few weekends ago to go to our local restaurants and checked out our shops to see what the feel was. They have been hyping (Dublin) up.” 

And if everything goes well, Lewis hopes the participants will return to Dublin.

“If they have a good experience in that community, they’ll more than likely come back as tourists,” she said. 

Strauss and Kofsky were impressed with the improvements in downtown Dublin. 

“The historic buildings were back, and it was very nice,” Strauss said. “And you’ve added new restaurants. 

“As bicycle riders, we are looking for facilities because we have a lot of social events. And we’re looking for quiet roads where there is no traffic. Dublin happens to have both of those for the 134 that we’ll be bringing in.”