ETR 2025 – Devens, MA – August 8-10

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. Please note that this tour is already sold out, but you can join the wait list.

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.

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 on Saturday and Sunday, lunch on Saturday, the Saturday dinner banquet, routes, SAG support and more. The actual cost will be firmed up soon.

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.

Rally Jersey

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.

Hotel Info

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.

We believe that you will have a 48 hour cancellation policy with regards to your hotel rooms.

Please let us know if you have any trouble accessing the room block!

These room blocks and rates are available until July 8, 2025. You are responsible for making your own hotel reservations.

Weekend Agenda

The weekend activities will take place in the 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 check in, rally breakfasts, the Tandems East Room, bike storage, the ETR Board meeting, the ice cream social on Friday and the dinner on Saturday.

Friday –

Hotel check in is at 3pm. If you would like a late checkout, please arrange for it when you check in. The hotels do not guarantee late check outs and they may even charge something for this privilege. (Sorry about that! We don’t make the rules.)

Pick up your name tags and other Registration materials at the Common Center between 9am and 6pm.

If you have one, wear your Tandem Club jerseys!

The rally begins on Friday with a number of rides that leave from the Common Center. Recognizing that folks arrive at different times, we will offer group ride starts at 10am and 1pm. But feel free to go out whenever you want.

Dinner on Friday is on your own. We show a list of local restaurants in the Restaurant tab.

After dinner, enjoy the Ice Cream Social between 7pm and 9:30pm.

Saturday –

Breakfast is at the Common Center from 7am to 9am. Even if you are not staying at one of the hotels, your rally registration includes breakfast.

Wear your ETR jerseys! We will do a group photo before our ride start.

Assemble by the Common Center at 8:45am for a group photo followed by the mass start is at 9am. We offer a number of ride lengths, but they all stop at a rest stop by the covered bridge in Pepperell and have a lunch at the 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.

Post-ride, do some shopping at the Tandems East booth, shop at the swap meet (you can bring your own stuff to sell or give away) and join us from 4pm to 5pm for our annual ETR Board Meeting (location TBD). There will be treats at the Board Meeting!

Dinner will be at the Common Center beginning at 6:30pm. There will be a cash bar.

Sunday –

Breakfast is at the Common Center from 7am to 9am. Even if you are not staying at one of the hotels, your rally registration includes breakfast.

Wear your favorite prior ETR jersey!

We will have a mass start at 9am.

Hotel checkout is at noon. There may be some late check out times available. Be sure to ask when you check in.

Our rally ends after you return from your ride on Sunday! We are not offering a box lunch, however, there are plenty of places to grab lunch in the area.

Area Restaurants

Restaurants – Breakfast & lunch (all located within 5 minutes from hotel. These are useful if you are coming in early or staying extra days.)

Marty’s – small café next to hotels on Jackson Rd, closed Sundays

Bandolero’s – Mexican, next to hotels

Ruby’s Donuts – the name says it all, the place to go for donuts (3 minutes from hotel)

Karyn’s Kitchen – local sit-down with full breakfast & lunch menu (3 minutes)

Tiny’s Diner – popular classic New England diner

Pleasant Café – in the nearby town of Ayer

Markoh’s on Main – in Ayer. Good bar food, often has low-key music Thursday or Friday

Pizza Bella Devens – short walk from hotels

Devens Pizza and Deli – (3 minutes from hotel)

Parthenon Pizza, Verona’s Pizza, Cottage Pizza, all in Ayer

Shirley House of Pizza – Shirley village

Subway – in Ayer center

McDonald’s, Wendy’s – 5 minutes from hotel, go out Barnum Rd.

Restaurants – Dinner (all located within 5 minutes from hotel unless otherwise noted)

Woo Jung – Korean. Authentic

Osawa – Asian. Best Sushi for many miles around; reservations needed on Friday

Siam Pepper – Thai. In nearby, Harvard. Low key family run, inexpensive good quality

Bull Run – Traditional American. Good atmosphere in a 1700’s tavern building, music on Friday, Reservations recommended; ETR lunch is here on Saturday (10 minutes)

Lucia’s Tavola – Italian. Upscale good quality, reservations recommended

Gibbett Hill Grill – Country American. Upscale good quality & atmosphere, local sourced menu, Reservations recommended (15 minutes from hotel)

Forge & Vine – Upscale tavern, good quality plus bar food (15 minutes)

Filho’s Cucina – Full menu mainly Italian, buy wine in attached wine shop and bring it in; very limited seating (inside & out) but neat little place (15 minutes)

Mural in the Bull Run Restaurant

Route Info

We plan to add all of the routes about one month prior to the rally. There will be rides of varying lengths from 20 miles to 60+ miles. The routes will be provided via RideWithGPS and you will be able to navigate the using your phone, or you can download the routes onto your favorite bike GPS device.

Note that we WILL NOT be printing cue sheets. You will be able to print them from RideWithGPS yourself prior to the rally. Instructions will be provided.

Ride Notes

We will be providing ride notes closer to the Rally date.

Things to Do in the Area

This is a very historic area of New England. Lots of really old stuff… Here are a few ideas of things to do in the area if you have time…

Fort Devens Museum – you could spend a few hours here, particularly if you are interested in military history. It is also very close to the hotels. Note that it is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The Butterfly Place – Butterfly garden. (25 minutes away)

Fruitlands Museum – Art museum with beautiful views. (15 minutes away)

Visit Concord Massachusetts – the Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord Museum, de Cordova Sculpture Park and Garden, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Walden Pond State Reservation. Note that at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, you can visit Authors Ridge where you will find the graves of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and others.

Rest Stop Recipes

Will be populated after the rally.

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 $15 handling fee per person
Cancellation between June 1 and July 25: 50% refund
No refunds after July 25

Note that you will also need to cancel your hotel reservation. We believe that you will be able to cancel your hotel reservation up to 48 hours before the rally without penalty.

We will be including more information as we get closer to the rally, including route information and jersey orders.

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