The host hotel will be the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. The room rate is $99/night + taxes. You can reserve your room on their website with the code “TAND22A” or you can call the hotel (800-233-7505) to make your reservation.

The riding is gorgeous! Yes, there are some hills, but, hey, if you don’t have some uphills, you won’t get to enjoy those sweeping descents! 

Friday’s rides take you to nearby Boalsburg where you can visit the Penn State Military Museum, ride along Amish and Mennonite farmland and after summiting a hill, stop at the Rhoneymeade Sculpture Garden.  

 

 

 

On Saturday, we will have a group start from the hotel and head through the campus and then south. Rides will range from 30 to 65 miles. We will enjoy lunch en route. Oh, and did we mention homemade cookies at our rest stop? 

 

 

Sunday’s rides head north from the hotel to the Victorian town of Bellefonte. Bellefonte was home to seven governors – five in Pennsylvania, California and Kansas!

It’s a beautiful ride! 

 

 

The rally officially starts on Friday with the ride and the ice cream social at the Penn Stater Hotel. We will also enjoy a group lunch on the route and a banquet dinner on Saturday. We will provide a box lunch post-ride on Sunday.

PLEASE NOTE: We are requiring that everyone attending the rally be fully vaccinated for COVID.

The rally cost is $195 per person. This includes routes, two breakfasts, two lunches, ice cream social, the banquet dinner, plus more! 

Registration will open on January 22, 2022 at 9am Eastern Time and will be limited to 150 teams.

We have designed an awesome jersey for the rally!  The jerseys range from $60 to $75 and will be available sleeveless, short sleeve, long sleeve, windbreakers and jackets. We even have cycling caps! The jerseys and caps will be distributed at the rally.

The jersey ordering period has closed. There won’t be any jerseys for sale at the rally. We will be handing out the jerseys at the rally.

Great news! Due to interest in these awesome jerseys, we are reopening the jersey sale. Click here to be directed to the Voler website where you have until July 18th and jerseys will ship on August 26th. If we sell less than ten jerseys, Voler will cancel the order and make refunds. We don’t think that will happen. 

The room rate at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center is $99/night for a standard room (either two double beds or king bedded rooms), $149 for a deluxe room and $199 for a suite. These rates do not include room tax of about 11%. If you want a standard room, you can reserve it online using the code “TAND22A”. If you want a deluxe room or suite, you can call the hotel (800-233-7505) to reserve the room. The rates are effective from Wednesday, June 22nd through Monday, June 27th.

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 June 1 and June 10: 50% refund
No refunds after June 10.

As you know, ETR has both outdoor riding events and indoor events. We have received a number of questions about how the indoor part of ETR will work in light of the pandemic. While we would prefer to have all of our events outdoors, the Penn Stater is a convention hotel and just doesn’t have the space, or the staffing, to have everything outdoors. 

Here is what will be indoors:

Registration will be spread out over Thursday and Friday and will be indoors. 

Breakfasts will be in the hotel from 7am to 9am. It will be in a very large room; however, the room does not have windows. 

Friday’s ice cream social will be indoors, but you can take your ice cream to an outdoor patio. We just ask that you bring in any dishes or garbage. 

Lunch on Saturday will be outdoors at Gigi’s Southern Table along the route. It will be a buffet and we expect the buffet line to be indoors. 

Banquet Dinner on Saturday is in a ballroom. It will be a plated dinner. We will also be making announcements, giving out awards and prizes and have planned some awesome entertainment (its a secret though, so don’t ask!). We are sorry, but the hotel is not staffed or prepared to provide box dinners. If you are uncomfortable being together on Saturday night, you can always go out to dinner. We have minimums to maintain with the hotel, and cannot provide refunds for those who miss the dinner. 

Lunch on Sunday is a box lunch. You will have the opportunity to take it on the go or eat it in the hotel ballroom. 

Other precautions…While we do not have an indoor masking requirement, those who are concerned are encouraged to mask up. We also ask that everyone take a rapid Covid-19 test before you leave for the Rally and also before the Saturday night banquet. (But we won’t be checking.) If you test positive before the Banquet, please let us know and we will do our best to have your dinner delivered to your room. Please bring your own tests. Many insurance plans cover free rapid tests. In addition, you can order eight free tests from the US government. Here is a link for more information.

Thursday, June 23

• 4:00pm – 6:00pm – Registration is outside of the Executive Room. (If the weather is nice, we may do it outside.)
• If you are staying at the hotel on Thursday, note that hotel check in is at 4:00pm. Also note that the room rate does not include breakfast. The Penn Stater Hotel does serve breakfast in The Gardens Restaurant  from 7am to 10:30am.

Friday, June 24

• 9:00am – 7:00pm – Registration is outside of the Executive Room. (If the weather is nice, we may do it outside.)
• Visit the Tandems East and Evelyn Hill Cycling shop in the McKinnon Room from 1pm to 5:30pm and from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Evelyn Hill Cycling will have cycling apparel for both men and women. 
• Anytime – ride one of the Friday routes. There is no group start today. However, suggested start times to ride with others will be at 10:00am and 1:00pm. The long route starts at the hotel. The short and medium routes are a remote start at the Oak Hill Regional Park in Boalsburg.
• Guided tours at the Pennsylvania Military Museum at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm, cost $8
• Wine tasting at the Mount Nittany Vineyard and Winery. There is a tasting charge which depends on the size of the glass.
• 4:00pm – Check into hotel. Dinner is on your own. There are a lot of nice restaurants in State College, which is a short drive from the hotel. See the ETR website ETR page for a restaurant guide.
• 7:30pm – 9:00pm – Ice cream social in the Senate Suites area and outdoor Terrace West at the hotel. Dairy free sorbet will also be available. You can also pick up registration materials here.
• All evening – cash bar at the hotel lounge.

Saturday, June 25

• All day – Swap meet inside the bike storage room. Leave stuff you want to sell on a table with the price, your name and phone number.
• 7:00am to 8:30am – Breakfast is in the Presidents Hall.
• 8:30am – Meet for a group picture and ride start in the back parking lot of the hotel. Followed by a mass start.
• 9:30am to 11:00am – Rest stop for the 39 and 60 mile routes at Autumn Meadow Park. The 25 mile route will have a rest stop at Greenbriar Saybrook Park.
• 11:30am to 2:00pm – Lunch will be at Gigi’s Southern Table.
• 3:00pm to 5:30pm – Tandems East store in the McKinnon Room.
• 3:00pm – ETR Board meeting in Room 109. All are welcome.  We will have chocolate there.
• 6:30pm – Dinner at the hotel in the Presidents Hall. Bring your dinner coupon and drink coupon. Cash bar for additional drinks.
• Announcements, prizes and entertainment will follow dinner.
• All evening – Cash bar at the hotel lounge.

Sunday, June 26

• 7:00am to 8:30am – Breakfast at the hotel in the Presidents Hall.
• 8:30am – Mass start in front of the hotel.
• 11:00am – 12:30pm: Box lunch at the hotel in the Presidents Hall.
• 11:00am – Hotel checkout. You can request a late checkout at noon, but they do not guarantee that they will be able to accommodate everyone who requests one. We recommend that folks check out before Sunday’s ride and then freshen up at the showers by the pool area. You will need to hold onto your room key in order to get into the pool area showers though. 

Bike Storage is in the Executive Room 1 – 2 on the first floor of the hotel from Thursday at 6pm through Sunday at noon. Please follow signs for getting your bike into the storage room. Do not bring your bike in the front door.

**** Please return your badges so that we can reuse them. ****

There are many restaurants in the area. Since people’s tastes and dietary needs vary – and since we are a large group and need to spread out among many restaurants – we think it best to just provide a link to all of the restaurants. The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau has a great list of restaurants on their site. You can search for exactly what you want here. 

The Routes

The routes for the rally can be seen on RideWithGPS here.

Before you decide on a route, be sure to check out the hill profile. It aint flat!

Friday, June 24

• Friday’s routes take you on quiet country roads east of State College. 
• The 50 mile route starts at the Penn Stater Hotel. In addition, there is a 30 mile and 37 mile option that has a remote start at the Oak Hall Regional Park in Boalsburg.
• Points of attraction on the ride is the Pennsylvania Military Museum and the Rhoneymeade Arboretum & Sculpture Garden.
• To facilitate riding with others, recommended start times are 10:00am and 1:00pm at either location.

Saturday, June 25

• Saturday’s routes take you south and west. There will be a group photo at 8:30am followed by a ride start. Wear your ETR jersey!
• There are 25, 40 and 61 mile routes available. All leave from the hotel.
• Points of interest along the way are Beaver Stadium (home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference) and the Nittany Lion statue. Beaver Stadium is at mile 1.5 and the Nittany Lion statue is at mile 3.
• There is a rest stop for the medium and long rides are at Autumn Meadow Park. The 25 mile route will have a rest stop at Greenbriar Saybrook Park.  Home baked goodies made by rally participants will be available.

Sunday, June 26

• Sunday’s routes take you northeast to Bellefonte. Bellefonte is known for being the home to seven state governors (5 Pennsylvania, 1 California and 1 Kansas). There is a beautiful historic Bellefonte “Diamond” area that is worth a stop.  Here is an interesting article about the town.
• There are 24, 31 and 61 mile routes available and all start from the hotel. The 31 mile adds a loop through the college and the 61 adds a big loop along some beautiful quiet country roads, although you have to travel two miles on a busy road to get there.

Rules of the Road

• PA law allows cyclists to ride two abreast as long as they are not impeding traffic. Bikes must single up when a car is approaching. Three abreast is never allowed.
• Use hand signals when turning or stopping.
• Obey all traffic flow signs and signals.
• While helmets are not required by law, they are required for this event.

We know how hard it is to hear a Ride Talk at a tandem rally. But as you know, the Ride Talk is really important. So we thought it would be better to give you a Ride Note. So while we will be there at the start, maybe even with a megaphone, we will just be there to say – Get Rolling and Have Fun! 

Rules of the Road

• PA law allows cyclists to ride two abreast as long as they are not impeding traffic. Bikes must single up when a car is approaching. Three abreast is never allowed.
• Use hand signals when turning or stopping.
• Obey all traffic flow signs and signals.
• While helmets are not required by law, they are required for this event.

There are a lot of bike paths on these routes. Some just follow along roads, but many veer off to places where there are no roads. Please ride on the paths where they are shown on the routes and be respectful to other users on them. The bike paths are shown as blue on the map.

Here is a link to our Ride Overview.
Here is a link to the Routes.

Here are some important phone numbers:
Emergency: call 911
Non-emergency SAG Support: Dispatcher: Susan Nicholich: (908) 528-2050
Rally Organizers: Caren: (862) 812-8854 / Mike: (973) 879-3427
We have several people actually providing the SAG support. Susan will get in touch with the on-call people. If you can’t reach Susan, call rally organizers, Caren or Mike.

Here are our ride notes:
This is a hilly rally. Be sure to look at the elevation change in addition to the mileage before deciding on a route.

Friday Short – Remote Start – 30 miles/1332 feet
There are 2.5 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at the start/end and at mile 24.2.
Mile 6.8 there is an optional out and back to a winery that adds 1.7 miles/264 feet to the route.
 
Friday Medium – Remote Start – 37 miles/1606 feet
There are 2.5 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at the start/end, miles 20.7 and at mile 31.1.
Mile 6.8 – there is an optional out and back to a winery that adds 1.7 miles/264 feet to the route.
Mile 20.4 – Fairlawn Marketplace where you can buy water and snacks

Friday Long –  50 miles/2254 feet
There are 11.8 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at miles 8.9, 26.2 and 36.8.
Mile 5.9 – there is a very short section of bad dirt road.
Mile 7.4 – ignore the “No Outlet” sign. There is an outlet for bikes.
Mile 12.4 – there is an optional out and back to a winery that adds 1.7 miles/264 feet to the route.
Mile 26 – Fairlawn Marketplace where you can buy water and snacks

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Saturday Short – 25 miles/1312 feet
There are 8.3 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at miles 7.8, 10 and 15.7.
Mile 3.5 make sure to get on the bike path across the street.
Mile 5.0 make sure to take the left fork.
Mile 10 is the rest stop.
Mile 12.6 to 14.3 – the road was just resurfaced. Exact status* is unknown at this time.
Mile 15.7 is lunch. Lunch starts at 11:30am. Don’t get there early. You are better off hanging around the rest stop which is a shaded pavilion.
Mile 20.7 get on an easily missed bike path on your left.

Saturday Medium – 39 miles/1965 feet
There are 7.1 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at miles 7.8, 16.6 and 30.4.
Mile 3.5 make sure to get on the bike path across the street.
Mile 5.0 make sure to take the left fork.
Mile 16.6 is the rest stop.
Mile 26.2 to 29.9 and 31.9 to 33.8 – the road was just resurfaced. Exact status* is unknown at this time.
Mile 30.4 is lunch. Lunch starts at 11:30am. Don’t get there early. You are better off hanging around the rest stop which is a shaded pavilion.
Mile 35.2 get on an easily missed bike path on your left. 

Saturday Long – 61 miles/3388 feet
There are 7.1 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at miles 7.8, 16.6 and 30.4.
Mile 3.5 make sure to get on the bike path across the street.
Mile 5.0 make sure to take the left fork.
Mile 38 is the rest stop. Note that there are no services available until the rest stop.
Mile 47.5 to 51.3 and 53.3 to 55.1 – the road was just resurfaced. Exact status* is unknown at this time.
Mile 51.5 is lunch. 
Mile 56.5 get on an easily missed bike path on your left. 

* We have been assured that the roads are rideable, but there may not be lane markings, there may be some roughness where they aren’t finished and there may be construction equipment around. We will investigate when we arrive on Thursday.

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Sunday Short  – 25 miles/1711 feet
There are 0.7 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at miles 11.7 and 12.8.
As you pass through Bellefonte, explore the downtown area and visitor’s center. 

Sunday Medium – 31 miles/1949 feet
There are 2.5 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at miles 18.2 and 19.2.
As you pass through Bellefonte, explore the downtown area and visitor’s center. 

Sunday Long –  61 miles/4083 feet

There are 2.5 miles of bike paths on this route. Bathrooms are at miles 17.8 and 48.9.
As you pass through Bellefonte, explore the downtown area and visitor’s center. Note that there are no services between miles 21 and 46. Feel free to ride laps in the Hotel parking lot to get up to a metric. 

Pennsylvania Military Museum

The Pennsylvania Military Museum is a museum dedicated to the military history of Pennsylvania. It is operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and opened in 1968. The Museum is located in the village of Boalsburg. We ride right by it on Friday’s rides.

We have arranged for guided one hour tours of the museum at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm on Friday, June 24^th. The 2pm and 4pm tours will be the Museum tour. The 3pm tour is the Armor tour and takes place outdoors. You might even be able to climb into a tank! The tours are limited to the first 20 people that show up. The cost is $8/person. (Sorry, no senior discounts!)

The American Philatelic Society

The American Philatelic Society is the largest nonprofit stamp collecting foundation in the world. And it is located in nearby Bellefonte! Need we say more? Probably not. But if you are into stamp collecting, and it’s raining, check it out!

Arboretums

The Arboretum at Penn State encompasses 395 acres of gardens, greenhouses, a giant sundial and research units.  

We ride by the Rhoneymeade Arboretum on Friday’s ride. This is a nice place to stop, take a stroll among lovely sculptures and a peaceful environment.

Art Museums

Located on the Penn State campus, the Palmer Museum of Art has free admission. It is a small art museum that displays work from all over the world. They have a collection of sculptures, glasswork, pottery and paintings from the 1500s to present. They rotate their displays.

On Sunday, we ride to Bellefonte. The Bellefonte Art Museum is a small art museum that is located in the former home to a Quaker family who sheltered slaves through the Underground Railroad. There is an art exhibit that depicts the courage and suffering of the enslaved African Americans and stories about the local citizens who helped and supported them.

Farm Ag-tour

Take a self-guided driving tour to farm stores, preserved farms, wineries, local foods restaurants, and farm heritage sites. 

Farmer’s Markets

If you are interested in bringing home some fresh local produce or checking out the local crafts, there are Farmers Markets on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. See here for more information.

Hiking

Hike Mount Nittany and enjoy a beautiful bird’s eye view. The hike is 3.5 to 4.6 miles round trip, depending on which trail you take. It should take about 3 to 3.5 hours to do the whole loop. You can shorten the hike to about 1.2 miles if you start at the Mike Lynch Overlook. See here for more information.

Historic Sites

There are historic homes such as the Center Furnace Mansion Historic Site and Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum, trains in the Bellefonte Historical Railroad, museums like the Boalsburg Heritage Museum and historic areas such as the Historic Bellefonte. Take a self-guided walking tour of Bellefonte.

For those of you who are staying on Sunday, there is a free show at the Boal Barn Amphitheater at the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion from at 7-8:30pm – Acoustic Brew-Atwater Donnelly.

Penn’s Cave and Wildlife Park

Penn’s Cave and Wildlife Park is located about a half hour drive northeast of the Penn Stater Hotel. For those traveling east along Route 80, it might be a nice place to stop before heading back home on Sunday afternoon. They advertise themselves as being “America’s ONLY All-Water Cavern & Farm-Nature-Wildlife Park! We have never been there, but are intrigued.

Penn State All-Sports Museum

Photographs, memorabilia, artifacts and trophies tracing the history at Penn State Athletics, featuring 31 varsity sports are on display at this museum located at Beaver Stadium.

Shopping

If you enjoy antiquing, there are lots of shops for you. If you prefer to simply check out the local bike shop, you can visit the Bicycle Shop, Central PA’s oldest bike shop. See here for more information about shopping in the area.

Sporting Events

Take in a minor league baseball game. The State College Spikes are playing against the Trenton Thunder from June 20 – 25. See here for more information.

Theatre

For those coming early or staying after ETR, there is a play performed at the Millbrook Playhouse from June 17-26  called Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise. Ticket info is here.

Also for those arriving early, the Penn’s Woods Music Festival is going on from June 11 – 25 in University Park. There is a recital on Wednesday, June 22.

Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries

We know our crowd. There are a lot of craft distilleries, wineries, cider mills and distilleries. There is a Central PA Tasting Trail if you are interested in selecting which ones to visit. Note that our ride on Friday goes very close to the Mount Nittany Vineyard and Winery. We really enjoyed doing a wine tasting at their beautiful location. It is less than one half mile off of the Friday route, but up a bit of a hill. We think that it is worth the climb!

For more information on things to do in the area check out the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau webpage.

In addition to bars, bananas and water, we will have home made baked goodies at our Saturday rest stops. Note that we have a separate rest stop for the short ride, and the medium and long rides. There is just one rest stop per ride. 

Here are the recipes for some of the goodies that we will have on hand:

Chocolate Walnut Biscotti (Ross Benjamin)
Made Gluten-Free
Makes about three dozen

Ingredients:
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 to 3 tsp grated fresh orange peel or 1 ½ orange extract and 1 t dried orange peel
2 cups white chocolate chips

Directions:
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter, and both sugars until creamy.  Beat in egg and orange peel or extract

Gradually add flour mixture.  Stir in white chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until the edges are light brown.  Let stand for 2 minutes; remove from wire racks to cool completely.  Best cooled.

Enjoy!

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Monster Cookies (Caren and Mike Bianco)
These are gluten-free and dairy-free.
Makes about 25 humongous cookies or about 50 medium sized cookies.

Ingredients:
1 stick butter or margarine (for dairy-free) 
8 oz brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
12 oz smooth peanut butter
2 tsp baking soda
4.5 cups quick oats
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions:
Blend ingredients in order. Scoop big cookies (just about 1/4 cup each). I fit 6 cookies to a sheet. I use parchment paper. 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Cool on racks.

Thank you to all of our bakers!

This map shows where people are coming to ETR 2022 from: