The 51st Eastern Tandem Rally will be held in Devens, Massachusetts from Friday, August 8 to Sunday, August 10, 2025. While there have been ten ETRs in Massachusetts, this is the first time that the rally will be held in or around Devens.
Devens, Massachusetts is located about 40 miles northwest of Boston, Devens is an interesting town. It was an army base until 1996. Since the army base closed, it is the newest “town” in Massachusetts. There has been a lot of development in the area in the past 25 years, including building two hotels, a conference center, new homes, golf courses and a business park. There is a military museum at the former Fort. The riding around Devens is on quiet roads that are extra quiet on weekends. We will be able to have ride starts from the hotels each day.
We chose this area for the 2025 rally because of it’s beautiful quiet roads and charming towns with quaint town centers and historic homes. Many of the roads have tree cover, providing shade on hot summer days. During the rally, you will even have the opportunity to go to Harvard – that is, the nearby township of Harvard! And for those of you who like a challenge, on Friday, we offer the option to climb Wachusett Mountain. If you are not into mountain challenges, we offer a ride on the Nashua Rail Trail, also on Friday.
Our company, Adventures in Tandem, will be hosting a five night pre-tour that starts in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and ends in Nashua, New Hampshire on August 8th. You can then ride or drive to the rally. See here for more information.
Spend a few extra days after the rally and explore the wider area. There is a lot of history, including Lexington and Concord – where the Revolutionary War began.
The Hotels – There are two hotels within walking distance of each other, with a large conference center in between. We have reserved a block of rooms at the
SpringHill Suites and at the more upscale,
Hilton Garden Inn. The room blocks will be in place until July 8, 2025. We have also blocked rooms for Thursday and Sunday.
The rally room rate at the SpringHill Suites is $179/night plus taxes (currently 11.7%). (The Thursday and Sunday night rates are also $179/night, and include a breakfast buffet at the hotel.) The hotel is a short walk to the Common Center where the rally meals and activities will be. You can reserve your room at the SpringHill Suites
here.
The more upscale, Hilton Garden Inn offers a rally room rate of $199/night plus taxes and is a five minute (1/10th mile) walk from the Common Center. While both hotels have indoor pools, the Hilton also has a hot tub. Saturday and Sunday’s breakfast is included with the rally. Breakfast is not included in the rate for Thursday or Sunday night’s stays (Friday and Monday’s breakfasts). You can reserve your room at the Hilton Garden Inn
here.
These room blocks and rates are available until July 8, 2025. You are responsible for making your own hotel reservations.
The Common Center – The Common Center is located between the two hotels – slightly closer to the SpringHill Suites. It is where we will have registration, rally breakfasts, Tandems East Room, bike storage, the ETR Board meeting, the ice cream social on Friday and the dinner on Saturday.
Saturday’s mid-ride luncheon will be at
The Bull Run, a restaurant with roots dating back to the 1740’s where it was a way station on the stagecoach route between Boston and Albany.
The Jersey –
It’s been a couple of years since we had an Eastern Tandem Rally jersey. We love bright jerseys that are really visible on the roads. We are excited to share the jersey design for the rally:
Ordering information for the jersey will be available as we get closer to the rally.
Expected Cost and Registration – We expect that the per person cost for the rally will be about $200, not including hotel rooms. This includes breakfasts, lunch on Saturday, the Saturday banquet, routes, SAG support and more. The actual cost will be firmed up over time.
We plan to open up registration in January, 2025. The rally is capped at 175 teams. If you are on the ETR mailing list, you will get a notice before and again when the rally opens. If you are not on the mailing list, but would like to hear when the rally opens, you can join the mailing list
here.
We will be including more information as we get closer to the rally, including route information, jersey orders, restaurants, points of interest and schedules.
In the meantime, save the date! And if you have any questions, please reach out to us at easterntandemrally@gmail.com.
Your 2025 rally hosts, Caren and Mike Bianco
The following is all a work in progress and mostly not populated with information.
Rally Cost
The rally cost is $XXX per person. This includes routes, two breakfasts, two lunches, ice cream social, the banquet dinner, plus more!
Registration will open on XXXXXXXX at 9am Eastern Time and will be limited to XXX teams.
Cancellation Policy
We understand that plans change (although we’ll be heartbroken not to have you at our rally!).
If you need to cancel attendance at ETR please notify us at the easterntandemrally@gmail.com as soon as you can. Be sure you get a confirmation that we have received your cancellation.
Cancellation prior to June 1: 100% refund minus a $10 handling fee per person.
Cancellation between XXXXXXXX and XXXXX: 50% refund
No refunds after XXXXXXXX.
Rest Stop Recipes
Will be populated after the rally.
We chose this area for the 2025 rally because of it’s beautiful quiet roads and charming towns with quaint town centers and historic homes. Many of the roads have tree cover, providing shade on hot summer days. During the rally, you will even have the opportunity to go to Harvard – that is, the nearby township of Harvard! And for those of you who like a challenge, on Friday, we offer the option to climb Wachusett Mountain. If you are not into mountain challenges, we offer a ride on the Nashua Rail Trail, also on Friday. 
The Hotels – There are two hotels within walking distance of each other, with a large conference center in between. We have reserved a block of rooms at the SpringHill Suites and at the more upscale, Hilton Garden Inn. The room blocks will be in place until July 8, 2025. We have also blocked rooms for Thursday and Sunday.
Saturday’s mid-ride luncheon will be at The Bull Run, a restaurant with roots dating back to the 1740’s where it was a way station on the stagecoach route between Boston and Albany. 
We plan to open up registration in January, 2025. The rally is capped at 175 teams. If you are on the ETR mailing list, you will get a notice before and again when the rally opens. If you are not on the mailing list, but would like to hear when the rally opens, you can join the mailing list here.