GTR 2025 Pre-Tour: Go Dogs!

Athens, GA is one of our favorite cities and was the host city for the GTR Pre-Tour this year.

What could be better than three days of riding, fun, eating and drinking in the Classic City? I cannot think of anything. It was our largest pre-tour ever…because it was also the last one and we didn’t want to disappoint anyone. We were 39 couples all out to have a great time!

Our first party of the week was on Monday night. All of the teams arrived for packet pick-up and meet & greet at the Springhill Suites in Athens.

Registration
Registration helpers: Earle, Laura and Britt

The weather was threatening, but ultimately we got all three rides in and didn’t get rained on.

Our enthusiastic group is ready for the first ride!
Roger addresses the riders…
…and the riders try to stay awake during Roger’s words of wisdom!

Tuesday night was what we like to call a “Tandem Takeover” of the Creature Comforts brewery! They knew we were coming and they were prepared!

You can probably tell by the smiling faces that a good time was had by all who attended. Beer does that.

Eve visits with The Campbells, Kings, Cox, Benjamin & Pribyl
About 66 years of GTR attendance at this table! Bolands, Knechts, and Livingoods!
L. Michelle & Jeff, Biskners and Dunlaps
An overview of our space in the tap room. Summers and Franks are in the foreground.

The highlight of Day 2’s ride was the Firefly trail. Some of you may recall the 20th Georgia Tandem Rally (held in Athens in 2018) when we cleaned out our attic of twenty years of leftover “extra” SWAG. We all put money in a donation jar and GTR donated money to the construction of this trail. It was a thrill to bring GTR riders back to Athens to enjoy the completed parts of the trail.

A great start to the trail, still many miles to go.
On the famous trestle with the Campbells and Burketts.
Our tandem.

The “Murmur Trestle” is pretty well known because it’s the back cover of REM’s 1983 Murmur album. It was in disrepair and falling apart even when it was photographed for the album 43 years ago. It was all ripped out for the construction of the trail, but a new bridge was built to look like the famous original. Take a look.

The original train trestle
Trestle built for Firefly

Our next “Tandem Takeover” was on Wednesday night and we took in the panorama of Athens at the HyBar. It was a beautiful evening and the drinks were flowing five stories up.

Morrisons and McCabes toast the evening.
Roger is showing off his “This Is It” shirt. Thanks, L. Michelle.

Our final ride in Athens took us through the UGA campus, past Sanford Stadium and ultimately, back to the Firefly Trail, with a stop in Winterville.

Parade Pace through the campus.
Sanford Stadium, home of the Georgia Bulldogs
We continue past the stadium and on to a bucolic route.

We return to the hotel on the Firefly trail. It’s a safer and “easier” way back up to Athens.

Winterville train depot (hopefully it becomes a welcome center/rest stop).
“Scenic” store stop before the end of the ride.
Another look at the Firefly trail as we end the ride.
We all liked this Firefly sculpture. It was difficult to snap a photo as we passed by.

With the pre-tour over, everyone packed up, checked out and drove on to Covington to meet 60 more couples and begin the GTR weekend.

Next Up – We meet the rest of the gang in our host city of Covington!

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