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All five chapters of the BRAG Dream Team — Augusta, Atlanta, Brunswick, Milledgeville and of course, LaGrange — will converge on Troup County March 15-17 for a weekend of cycling and fun to celebrate the organization’s 30th anniversary.

“And this year since it’s our 30th anniversary year, we’re going to start off in LaGrange, we’re going to tour the town and, do some training rides and visit some of the restaurants here and have a good time,” said Eddie Rhodes, the leader of the LaGrange chapter. “We will probably take him down to Pine Mountain and ride through the trails there also.”

Rhodes has been the leader in expanding the Dream Team’s influence in LaGrange and this weekend will serve as a fun chance to show off the city and the area around it to cyclists from across the state.

“We are looking forward to having everybody out here in LaGrange and we hope to show them all that the area has to offer,” Rhodes said. 

The Dream Team was founded in Atlanta back in 1994 and has slowly, but surely expanded across the state. Around 25-30 youth and coaches will make it out to Troup County for the 30th-anniversary ride.

“I don’t have a lot of land, but I have enough for them to pitch tents on about an acre of land and we will get up each morning and ride,” Rhodes said.

While only three of the riders, including Rhodes, are based out of Troup County, he hopes this will serve as an opportunity to grow interest in cycling in this area.

“This is a city in transition and typically when people think of this area they think of football, baseball or basketball, but not cycling. We want to change that,” Rhodes said. “My mission is to get more of the youth involved in cycling because it’s growing all across the country, and we want to grow it here too.”

The Dream Team is all about synergy and teamwork. There is no ego, no racing and no competition against each other. It is all about building each other up as they work towards a common goal.

“Talking about the Dream Team is one thing, but when you actually see it and see these young people out there riding and seeing them work together is special,” Rhodes said. 

Getting young people involved in cycling has been a lifelong passion for Rhodes. He sees the benefits that it provides in so many different facets of lift and hopes to recruit more riders beyond the two he currently has in Troup County.

“Cycling will expose them not only to education and cultural sites in the greater community, it will also allow them to grow physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally into the new leaders of the future,” Rhodes said. “We try to turn all of our rides into some kind of educational opportunity, but we also see cycling as a metaphor for life. the same way that we see a youth behave on the bicycle, we see that personalities come out and how they tackle their ups and downs on a bike can really be related to how they face their problems and issues that they may face in life. The bike is just a tool.”