Sequim to host Northwest Tandem Rally Saturday, Sunday

By Michael Dashiell • May 24, 2023 1:30 am
Photo courtesy of Eber family Paula and Anya Eber cycle over the Alps. The Eber family, who were featured in a Traveler’s Journal in March, will detail their 14,931-kilometer, around-the-world fundraiser adventure on tandem bicycles at the Northwest Tandem Rally on Sunday, May 28, in Sequim. Photo courtesy of Eber family / Paula and Anya Eber cycle over the Alps. The Eber family, who were featured in a Traveler’s Journal in March, will detail their 14,931-kilometer, around-the-world fundraiser adventure on tandem bicycles at the orthwest Tandem Rally on Sunday, May 28, in Sequim.
Photo courtesy of Eber family Paula and Anya Eber cycle over the Alps. The Eber family, who were featured in a Traveler’s Journal in March, will detail their 14,931-kilometer, around-the-world fundraiser adventure on tandem bicycles at the Northwest Tandem Rally on Sunday, May 28, in Sequim. Photo courtesy of Eber family / Paula and Anya Eber cycle over the Alps. The Eber family, who were featured in a Traveler’s Journal in March, will detail their 14,931-kilometer, around-the-world fundraiser adventure on tandem bicycles at the orthwest Tandem Rally on Sunday, May 28, in Sequim.

Two by two, the Northwest Tandem Rally is headed to Sequim this weekend.

Since 1986, Northwest Tandem Rally has been bringing together tandem bicycle enthusiasts once a year to promote bicycle tourism, camaraderie, and to raise funds for bicycle infrastructure and awareness.

Drawing hundreds of tandem bicycle teams from around the nation, the rally is hosted in a new Pacific Northwest venue each year, hosted by a local organizing committee. In 2023, Sequim is the event’s rally location.

The event, a fundraiser for the Olympic Discovery Trail, is set for Memorial Day weekend, May 27-28, and is organized by Peninsula Trails Coalition (PTC) — a local non-profit 501(c)3 that works on the construction, maintenance and advocacy of the Olympic Discovery Trail. The PTC is putting on the event in partnership with Peninsula Adventure Sports and the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The Sequim rally will include two days of supported cycling routes in short, medium and long distances. Rest stops along the routes will have water and snacks. There are more than 500 participants signed up, meaning more than 250 tandem bicycles will be visible about the area.

Public participation

Each day there there will be a vendor expo and beer garden at Carrie Blake Community Park in the bandshell area, 506 N. Blake Ave., between 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The public is invited to come and spend time at the event.

Admission to the vendor expo is free, while beer garden proceeds will go to the Olympic Discovery Trail.

Also open to the public are these events:

• 2-4 p.m. Saturday, May 27: Live music from Ranger and the Rearrangers, at The James Center for Performing Arts bandshell (free)

• 4-5 p.m. Sunday, May 28: Slideshow talk from Paula and Lorenz Eber from Bike 4 Breath, who will describe their 14,931-kilometer, around-the-world adventure on tandem bicycles with two children, raising $65,000 for asthma research and clean air.

• 2-4 p.m., both days: Try out a tandem bicycle. Visit the Co-Motion Cycles tent at the vendor expo to get an orientation and instructions, and take a bike for a loop around the park.

The Peninsula Trails Coalition is seeking general volunteers for the event. Those interested in helping out are encouraged to visit the volunteer sign up page at runsignup.com/Race/Volunteer/WA/Sequim/NorthwestTandemRally2023.

Also needed are one or two groups or nonprofits to host a rest stop along the bike route. A donation will be given to the group or non-profit for their efforts.

For more information, email event coordinator Lorrie Mittmann at lorrie@peninsulaadventuresports.com.

For more about the Northwest Tandem Rally, visit nwtr.org. For more about the Sequim event, visit nwtr2023.com.

Sponsor support

The event’s main sponsor is Rodriguez Cycles in Seattle, a company making hand-built tandem bicycles for 50 years and sponsoring the event in honor of their 50th anniversary.

Local sponsors include Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, The Lodge at Sherwood Village, Hurricane Coffee, Rainshadow Coffee, Sunny Farms, Broken Spoke, That Takes the Cake, Fifth Avenue and Sherwood Assisted Living.

This isn’t the first time that the North Olympic Peninsula has hosted the Northwest Tandem Rally: a local bicycle club hosted the rally in Port Angeles in 2000.