June Letter
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Pork Belly Update #14---Your Essential June Letter
Dear Porkers,
Just yesterday, I spoke with a woman from Virginia, very nice, so friendly, but there was a little quaver in her voice as she told me her head was spinning with a hundred questions and details. How would she get from the Omaha airport to meet our shuttle? What time would she catch her bus to Sioux Center? Where would she find the bike she shipped to Iowa? How could her medication be kept cool all week long? What if she were unable to ride one day?
We’ve all been there. We have enough on our plates with our daily, real-life challenges. Who has time to take a course in RAGBRAI 101? Well, thanks to your June Letter, this hefty document, you don’t have to. When you sit straight up in bed and ask, “What the heck was that departure time?” or “How many duffels can I bring with PBV?” or “Do I need a bike lock?” why, you can just lie back and reassure yourself that your Essential June Letter below contains most, if not all, of the information you need in order to travel RAGBRAI with Pork Belly Ventures.
Your June Letter is your Pork Encyclopedia, Porkers. Keep it. Refer back to it. Look things up in it. This is a reference document that walks you chronologically through your week, service by service, telling you what to do and what to expect. A quick scroll through will show you what’s here and how it’s organized. The only sections that are not in chronological order are the later ones entitled “Shipping Bikes to/from RAGBRAI,” “Between Now and RAGBRAI,” and “Preparing Your Bike for Truck Transport.” If you’re not on the East/West Shuttle, skip the whole section. Nobody needs everything here, but scan the letter today, maybe even print it off, and tomorrow, pick up a highlighter and read a couple sections. Re-read as needed. It’s a lot of straight talk. It’s necessarily repetitive. In several places, we’re going to warn you not to do stupid stuff. Please don’t be offended. We’ve just seen some stupid stuff over the years.
From now on, your June Letter will be posted at www.pkbelly.com, on the left under “June Letter.” It’s easier, however, to read and understand the email version, so if you’re reading this on the web, write to us and we’ll send you the formatted version. Now, get going on the parts that are relevant to you—starting with your June Form.
YOUR JUNE FORM: Info We Need by June 20th Please login with your username and password at pkbelly.com. You’ll find the new added page of your application, labeled “June Form.” It’s time to give us your official RAGBRAI Wristband Number and your final travel information. If you’re flying or driving into Omaha, we need more info from you than if you’re using the East/West Shuttle from Clinton. If you’re on any bus transportation leg with PBV, we need to know whether you’ll be shipping a bike or bringing a boxed or unboxed bike (tandem or oversized trike or recumbent) in your car or on the plane. THANK YOU for completing your June Form right away.
NOTE: The RAGBRAI Wristband Number is a required field of your June Form. If you are purchasing a wristband on the after-market, get the six-digit number from your seller, so that you can complete the June Form.
WARNING: Last year—oh heck, every year—some people blew off their June Forms, so I had to just start setting up bus rosters without their information. Blowers-off don’t get their preferred departure because I don’t know what they prefer. If you want to be assigned to a particular Omaha departure, get that June Form completed.
If You Forgot Your Username and Password Click [here] and type in the email address you put into your application. Once you submit the address, you’ll get an email with username and password. Here’s a second way to access your application. If you have your confirmation notice, you will find a link at the top to take you straight back to your application. You can always write to tammypav@cox.net and I’ll send your link, but if everybody does that, we could have a bottleneck—ME. Please make an attempt to login.
EAST/WEST SHUTTLE, Saturday, July 21
Parking Applications: Here’s a PDF of the Long-term parking application for Clinton: http://www.clintonragbrai.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=9
About Long-Term Parking: This paragraph is taken directly from the long-term parking form published by Clinton’s host committee: “Long-term parking will be provided for RAGBRAI participants by completing and submitting the accompanying form with payment. Participants can park their vehicles in the enclosed lot at 1101 So. 2nd St., owned by Union Pacific Railroad, or at other lots in the vicinity. The fee is $45. Parking will be offered on a space available basis on July 20 and July 21 for $60. We make no guarantee of space available. These areas will be under limited surveillance and patrolled by local police.”
Note that the fee goes up at some point in July, so get it done now.
Where We’ll Be: Our charter will be located on a green space directly across the street from Clausen Company, 1219 South 2nd Street, Clinton, Iowa 52732, and very near long-term parking. In mid-July, Pork Belly Ventures will publish our own maps of all eight host towns in PDF format, showing our locations. For now, you can take a look at Clinton’s map to spot the intersection of 13th Avenue and 2nd Street. We will be in the same location on Friday, July 20th, Saturday, July 21st, and Saturday, July 28th.
Camping and Amenities in Clinton Prior to RAGBRAI: Clinton is offering camping at beautiful River View Park very near the dip site, and there’ll be entertainment at their amphitheater in the evening. The Candle Light Inn is perched right there beside the river, with tables looking out on the wide Mississippi. We recommend the Chicken George for dinner—it’s like tempura. Fast food places and other restaurants are nearby, too.
You have the opportunity to buy a breakfast and/or box lunch from the Clinton host committee, and you’ll be able to claim those items near our area before boarding your bus. You may select the breakfast or lunch on the parking application.
Hotels and Sleeping Options in Clinton Prior to RAGBRAI: Back in early May, committee members said that all Clinton hotels were full on July 20th, but you may still try, in case of cancellations. PBV does not make hotel recommendations on the east side of the state. If you don’t wish to camp, another option is to sleep in your car or contact the host town immediately for a home stay (at this point they may already be full). Note that our rental tent service is a 7-night service from Saturday through Friday, and we do not offer the rental tents in eastern Iowa on Friday night the 20th.
PBV Schedule on Friday, 7/20 Our East/West Shuttle crew, led by Steve “Swanny” Swan and Kent Stopak, will zip across Iowa Friday morning and be at our site to load bikes from about 4:00 to 7:30, a little later if necessary. They’re easy to spot—the semi-trailers are adorned with Pork Slogans. It’s a good idea to use the Friday bike-loading option if you’re the least bit concerned about running short of time on Saturday morning. On both Friday night and Saturday morning, we’ll provide handlebar tags and markers. Please label your bike with your name before handing it over. Please don’t leave your bike unattended: wait patiently with it until one of our crew can take it from you. Please don’t climb into the bed of a truck, just hand your bike up. [See section at the end of this letter on Protecting Your Bike for Truck Transport.]
We hope that our new massage therapist, Charles Cornym, will be on hand to take appointments for the week. His schedule (all of their schedules) will fill up, so take advantage of this opportunity. Martina Werner, veteran crew member and dear friend, will be in Clinton and will help out in every way.
PBV Schedule on Saturday, 7/21: The crew will be back to resume bike-loading at 6:00 a.m. Our buses will start staging at about 7:00 a.m. By mid-July, you guys will all know your bus assignment (Bus A, Bus B, etc) and you can place your bags in the compartments under your assigned bus and board. All buses roll no later than 8:00.
Allow time on Saturday morning for dropping off your bags, loading your bike, perhaps grabbing some food to take on the bus, driving to the parking lot, walking back to us, placing your bags in the compartments under a bus, and claiming a seat on your assigned bus by 7:45 at the latest. We’ll take attendance and roll at 8:00 sharp. (We hope some buses will load and roll a little earlier than 8:00.) Our coaches are restroom-equipped and very comfortable.
We’ll make a meal stop on the way and get you to Sioux Center by mid- to late afternoon. Remember to pull your bags off the bus. Our crew will direct you to the bike trucks, so you can claim your bike as it’s being unloaded. Then, head for check-in at our Front Desk.
PBV Check-in in Sioux Center for East/West Shuttle Folks: We know it’s a big rush for check-in when the e/w shuttle buses arrive. We’re working on a couple of remedies to possibly stagger arrival and shorten your wait time. Hang on for more news about this.
PBV Schedule on Saturday, 7/28: See section on the last day of RAGBRAI.
Pork Rental Tents: Our rental tent service is a seven-night service. If you rented a tent from us for the week, your rental tent will be available on Saturday night, the 21st, in Sioux Center. You may wish to bring a tent or sleep in the car on Friday night in Clinton.
Common Group Name: We assume that anyone who wants to sit next to friends on the East/West Shuttle has given us a COMMON GROUP NAME on all relevant applications so that we can seat you on the same bus for this long ride. If you sent a note saying “Put me with Jim,” we might manage that. We might not. If you and Jim have a common group name on your applications, we’ll definitely get it done.
In early July, we will send out bus rosters with seat assignments to make it easier and quicker for you to board the right bus and sit with your friends. By July, it will be too late for very many changes, but we’ll accommodate your changes if we can. Please employ your common group name NOW. Thanks!
To non-Porkers on the E/W Shuttle: We will take you directly to our Sioux Center campsite, and you should unload your stuff there and claim your bikes. Everything is located in one big area there, and although we will be busy when these buses roll into Sioux Center, please be patient with us and we’ll help you when we can. We’ll have a couple of four-wheelers and a pickup truck, and we’ll give you some assistance getting your bags to your weeklong charter or to the RAGBRAI general camping, which is only a block and a half from us.
FINDING US IN SIOUX CENTER
If you are driving to our campsite in Sioux Center, we will be in Open Space Park across from Dordt College. We are on the soccer fields next to the baseball diamonds at 12th St NE and 7th Ave NE. FYI, showers will be across 12th St on a cul de sac. We will publish a map of Sioux Center in July, showing our location in relation to the Expo and festivities—pretty darn close.
OMAHA to SIOUX CENTER
Omaha Airport Hotels In Sioux Center on Saturday, 7/21, you will be camping with PBV. If you need a room near the Omaha airport on Friday, 7/20, or Saturday, 7/28, here is a brief summary of Pork Belly Ventures designated airport hotels. Please note that at this writing in June, Candlewood Suites has been full for some time, and Holiday Inn Express has a dozen rooms available on the 20th and around thirty available on the 28th. They’ll go fast.
Holiday Inn Express, 402-505-4900:
Mention our name to reserve your king or double queen room for $119.
Hot breakfast served here (Candlewood guests will walk over for breakfast)
Swimming pool located here (Candlewood guests have access, too)
Hospitality areas available to our guests before and after RAGBRAI.
Triple-sheeting is the standard at this hotel.
Across the street from a large convenience store and Subway sandwich shop.
Reasonable weeklong airport parking and valet service provided by Budget (about $5 per day)
Free airport shuttle and Old Market shuttle provided by Budget. (Omaha’s Old Market is a great place for shopping, music, and dining on the Friday before RAGBRAI.)
Candlewood Suites, 402-342-2500, FULL as of late April:
Mention our name to reserve your king or double queen room for $119.
The site of free laundry (Holiday Inn Express guests can do laundry here too.)
Hospitality areas available to our guests before and after RAGBRAI.
Triple-sheeting is the standard at this hotel.
Across the street from a large convenience store and Subway.
Reasonable weeklong airport parking and valet service provided by Budget (about $5 per day)
Free airport shuttle and Old Market shuttle provided by Budget. (Omaha’s Old Market is a great place for shopping, music, and dining on the Friday before RAGBRAI.)
Breakfast served next door, but great little convenience store in the lobby with CHEAP everything.
If you are a guest of either hotel, we ask that you be considerate of the staff and respect the furniture and linens that belong to the hotel. If you need to work on your bike, the managers have said they can give you rags. Please don’t use their bath towels. Do any bike work outside, not on their carpet, please. We don’t mean to insult you with these reminders, but it has happened.
If you have reservations at a hotel other than Holiday Inn Express or Candlewood Suites, we suggest that you check with your hotel about using to their shuttles to and from Candlewood Suites. This is important. We will not be able to pick up or drop off at other hotels.
All Pork Belly buses will depart from and return to the Omaha airport Candlewood Suites, one-half block from Holiday Inn Express.
Airport Parking No need for an advance reservation for parking. Anyone staying at our hotels or using our shuttles may use Budget (car rental and) Airport Parking for $5 per day—less than half as expensive as other airport parking options. You may drive straight to the Candlewood Suites or Holiday Inn Express and make arrangements at their front desks for your car to be valet parked at the Budget lot just blocks away. Budget operates a fenced, patrolled, 24-hour parking facility. When you return to Omaha, Budget vans will take you to the nearby lot, and you can drive your car back to your hotel for loading. Easy.
Complete Your June Form Porkers using the Omaha/Sioux Center bus service must complete your June Forms before I can assign you to a bus at your desired departure time. See the beginning of this letter for more on completing your June Form.
Bus and Truck Loading on Saturday Morning We’ll be on the north side (the back parking lot) of the Candlewood Suites hotel. All trucks and buses will load there. Shuttles from the airport on Saturday will probably bring you right around back to our area, but if for some reason they drop you out front, walk straight in the front door, through the lobby, and out the back door to check in for your bus.
Departure Schedule and How Things Work I’ll wait a little to see how our arrival schedule is shaking out, and then I’ll be able to give you firm (fairly firm) departure times. We’re guessing an 8:00 and a 9:15 departure, and then a bus departing every hour or two until 4:30 p.m. when our last bus will roll.
As usual, I’ll send out a schedule and bus rosters for the entire day and try to minimize anyone having to wait around. To catch our last bus, try to arrive at Omaha’s Eppley Airport by at least 3:40 p.m. If you’re using a Friday night hotel, do feel free to give me your preferred Saturday departure time. If you want to get on the earliest bus, or if you want to sleep in, just let me know and I’ll try. I am usually able to meet all requests, but every year is a new ballgame.
There’s a large convenience store and a Subway sandwich shop right next door, and you’re welcome to take food and drink on board for your bus ride of about 2-1/2 hours, barring traffic slow-downs. We’ll use very comfortable coaches, restroom-equipped and air-conditioned. Your bags will go into the compartments under the bus and your bike will be loaded on a truck. [See section on Protecting Your Bike for Truck Transport, and see “Bike Transport” below.]
To Those Who Fly Into the Omaha Airport If you fly into Omaha on Friday (7/20), walk out of the airport from baggage claim, and cross to the commercial lane. Get on the next Budget van and tell them you’re bound for Holiday Inn or Candlewood Suites. It’s a short ride, and it’s free. Sleep well tonight! By about 7:00 Saturday morning, we’ll be set up outside on the north side of Candlewood Suites (the back parking lot). Come and check in for your bus.
(We suggest a trip to Omaha’s Old Market for dinner on Friday night. It’s a fun place with great food, drink, and music. Budget will shuttle guests of our hotels to the Market. Our current favorite restaurant is Nicola’s—Italian/Greek, very fresh. But we also like Upstream Brewery an awful lot. Have a great evening in Omaha.)
If you’re flying into Omaha on Saturday (7/21), our crew, wearing Pork Belly shirts and carrying pig signs, will meet you at baggage claim. They will direct you to walk out of the airport, cross to the commercial lane, and catch the first Budget van. Tell the driver you’re bound for Candlewood Suites. The drivers will carry you around back to us. When you’ve checked in with us for your bus, you can hang out in the hotel lobby (a/c and vending machines) until your departure. There’s a big convenience store (with beer) across the street from Candlewood, and also a Subway sandwich shop.
NOTE: If your plans change on Saturday, or if your flight is delayed, CALL ME. Candlewood front desk is 402/342-2500 and my (Tammy’s) cell phone number is 808/375-8921. If you don’t show, the crew will be looking for you in the terminal. Please do us the courtesy of calling. Thanks.
Bike Transport For the Omaha/Sioux Center shuttle, we’ll have a semi our first run, for bikes on the 8:00 and 9:15 departures. For the remainder of the day, we plan to use smaller 26’ straight trucks. In any case, you need to take steps to protect any unboxed bike you hand over to us for transport. [See Section entitled Protecting Your Bike for Truck Transport at the end of this letter.] We will have adequate space for both boxed and unboxed bikes, but we will not necessarily have a truck departing with every single bus. Your bus may depart an hour prior to the bike truck, in which case you will have a little time in Sioux Center to set up your tent, check in, scout around, whatever, before your bike truck rolls into camp.
NEW DES MOINES SHUTTLE
Schedule, Saturday, July 21 On Saturday, July 21, we'll have a motorcoach and a straight truck for bikes at the Ramada Tropics Resort parking lot at the Des Moines Merle Hay exit #131 on I-80. We’ll let you know if anything changes, but right now it looks like we'll load at 8:15 and depart at 9:00 for Omaha. During our brief stop in Omaha at the Candlewood Suites hotel, a bunch of new passengers will board the bus and join you for the remainder of your trip to the Pork Belly campsite in Sioux Center. We’ll get you there about mid-afternoon.
Round-trip Only We are publishing one price for round-trip Des Moines only, $250 for both legs. At the end of the week, we'll have one Clinton/Omaha bus designated for our passengers who will disembark in Des Moines at the Ramada Inn Tropics Resort at Exit #131 on I-80.
 

Des Moines Hotel Rooms and Parking You out-of-state folks may need rooms on Friday, 7/20, or on Saturday, 7/28. If you wish to make a reservation at the Ramada Inn Tropics Resort, please call 515-278-0271 and speak to Rossie in Group Sales. Your room reservation will include access to the water park. Rossie is happy to extend a 10% discount to Pork Belly Ventures clients and offer weeklong parking in their overflow lot. The hotel accepts no responsibility for cars left in the lot; however, they have never had vandalism to cars in their lots. They have camera surveillance, and the local police patrol regularly.
 

To Reserve To reserve this service, please write to tammypav@cox.net. We don’t have Des Moines tick-boxes on our application form this year, so when we receive payment, we'll confirm your reservation by email.
THE WEEK WITH PBV
What Does PBV Expect of Porkers? Be exceedingly courteous to our hard-working crew.
Be prepared for physical hardship. You have signed on for a week of biking and camping in the elements. We’ll give you extras, comforts, conveniences, and luxuries, but hey, you won’t always be 100% comfortable. Be ready to buck up.
Prepare to be patient. Take a breath and ask us for help. We can find a lost bag in a matter of minutes, so relax and let us know if something seems to be missing. RAGBRAI is defined as an event where 10,000 people slow down, smell the roses, and stand in line for just about everything. We’ll do our best to keep things moving, but kybos? You’re going to do a little waiting.
We’ll publish an entire update on the subject of COURTESY. In short, be a courteous and responsible camper. Get your bags to our truck OR be out of your rental tent by 7:00 a.m. Pick up your own trash. Yes, our crew will help in the mornings. About five of us will circulate for two hours with huge trash bags, taking your rubbish as you break camp. But it’s not okay to leave a pile of trash where you took down your tent. If you miss us when we sweep your area, do your part and place your trash in a receptacle. Be quiet after 10:00 and before 5:00 a.m. Never wake a napping PBV crew member. They work hard for about 18 hours per day, and if they’re sleeping, it’s because they need rest. Find someone who is awake to help you with a problem. Except for health emergencies, most problems that occur between 11:00 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. can wait. It’s not okay to wake a crew member because you left your phone on the charger. You’ll have to get it in the morning.
Before RAGBRAI, read your updates and do what they say. Some updates are optional reading just for fun, but some (like this one) are critical, so be an attentive reader and know what you’re doing.
The Check-In Process for Weeklong Porkers Check-in takes place at our Front Desk in Sioux Center, and we’ll do a whole separate update about it. Please be prepared to show identification at the Front Desk on Saturday. One person cannot check in for a whole group. Each individual must check in.
You must show your RAGBRAI wristband before you can put on a Pork Belly bracelet or receive your baggage tags. Pork Belly Ventures does not provide services to RAGBRAI bandits. You must be a registered RAGBRAI rider. (International Porkers, we have a different arrangement for you. See “Check-in for International Porkers” below.)
To receive our services—to load bags, to partake of Pork beverages and Pork meals, to use our massage therapists, to have our mechanics help you with your bike, to drink your fill of delicious Dunkin’ Donuts coffee every morning, and much more—you must be wearing a Pork Bracelet. At check-in we will distribute special souvenir Pork Cups for Pork beverages. Please keep track of your Pork Cup, as we will issue only one per Porker. We’ll put some bleach over at the Thingy, so you can give them a swish to get them RAGBRAI-clean.
As you check in, you will have the opportunity to purchase PBV extras, like optional meals, our mid-week laundry service, an optional hotel stay, a beverage punch card, and maybe other stuff. You’ll need cash for these items, as we don’t accept checks once the ride begins. You will receive meal tickets for each meal that is included in your weeklong support. You will receive a meal ticket for each optional meal that you purchase at Check-In. Every meal ticket is a different color, and it clearly states the night of the week you can use it. Please keep your meal tickets in a wallet or a safe, handy place. Be thinking now about where you will keep them. They are like cash and we can’t replace them. Again, they are like cash, and we can’t replace them if you lose yours.
Upon check-in, you will receive your Pork shirt, brand new design. We hope you’ll like it.
Check-in for International Porkers If you live outside the U.S., RAGBRAI will not mail your RAGBRAI wristband to you. But we’re going to let you have your Pork Wristband before you visit the Bike Expo to pick up your RAGBRAI wristband. Please write to tammypav@aol.com now, so that I can note your diplomatic immunity on your check-in form. Thanks!
Tent City Baggage Tags If you are using one of our rental tents, you will get two durable PBV baggage tags at check-in with your tent number in bold numbers on both sides of each tag. Attach the tags securely to your two bags immediately. Place your bags inside your tent on Saturday. We will be handling your bags throughout the week.
Baggage Tags for PBV Campers Using Their Own Tents If you are in the majority of Porkers who are setting up your own tent in each Pork Campsite, you will be given two business-card-sized tags at check-in, with the Pork Belly logo on one side and a space for your name and cell phone number on the other side. After check-in, go straight to our Laminating Station nearby, complete the information on the tags, and get your tags laminated by our crew. Attach these durable tags to your bags and you’re all set. In case your bag is lost (if you do a home stay, a hotel stay, or accidentally place your bags on the truck of a neighboring charter), it will be apparent to the finder that you are with our charter. The finder can call you immediately.
Your Own Baggage Tags It’s always a good idea to put your contact info on all of your bags. Make a point of putting tags with your name, address, and cell phone number on them. We’ve seen every scenario you can imagine over the years. Suffice it to say that if the bag is somehow in the wrong spot before our tags get attached or after our tags have been removed, your own identifying tag will allow people to contact you without rifling through the contents of your bag.
Extra Night in Your Rental Tent If you plan to reach Sioux Center on Friday and camp that extra night, you can pay $40 for the use of your rental tent on the eighth night. Just write to Tammypav@cox.net if this is your plan.
Trucks Roll Daily at 7:00 Sharp For those who set up their own tents, your two bags must be on our Stupidity Trailer by 7:00 a.m., when our first caravan rambles on to the next host town. (All Pork Trailers carry Pork Slogans. This one says “It’s not so much the Heat. It’s the Stupidity.”) For those renting tents from us, you must leave your two bags packed up inside your tent and be out by 7:00, because those tents are coming down. Take our word for it, we don’t wait. Gotta get our work done in five short hours. 7:00! We’ll be sending an update especially for Tent-Renters in July.
NEW Pork Maps and Other Ways to Find Us Daily Bob Rebach already has first drafts of our Host Town Maps done. In July, we will publish all eight final host-town maps in PDF format. You can download them, print, and laminate if you like. These maps will show you where our campsites are in relation to the bike routes into and out of town and other attractions in the host town. They will also give you the daily elevation profiles from Geobike.
You will also receive a laminated card at check-in, with all Pork locations listed on it.
As ever, we will post our pink signs in each host town to direct you from the biking route to our campsites. When you ride into each host town, follow the official RAGBRAI campground signs until you start seeing pink PBV arrow signs on your right hand side. We’ll post on telephone poles, stop signs, any handy place we can find, arrows pointing the way to camp.
In any host town, you can always go to RAGBRAI’s information center and check the bulletin board under “P” for directions to us. Lots of Porkers also keep an eye out for our big red-and-white striped canopies or for the big group of look-alike tents in Tent City.
YOUR BEST BET FOR FINDING US: use the daily host town map or the locations on your laminated card. As you bike into town, it’s so simple to ask a local volunteer, “Where is Cherry Hill Park, please? Am I headed in the right direction?”
Pork Belly Host Town Maps are now a feature of the Pork Belly App for smartphones, available to Android and iPhone users in App stores.
Pork Nights We have something special planned every night, Porkers, and all of our events and meals will take place between about 5:00 and 8:30 p.m. We’ll start serving most of our suppers around 5:30 or 6:00. Check the Announcement Board. For greater detail on all of our campsites and amenities, see Update #12, Our Week in the Corn. Each day, you can check our Announcement Board at the front desk for what’s happening tonight in Pork Camp—maybe what’s happening tomorrow night too. We’ll send Push Notifications to smartphone users to remind you of what’s going on. Loosely, here’s what to expect, but note that we are still fine-tuning our schedule:
Sunday: Pork Welcome Supper (turkey filet sandwich, included in support), Elders Concert
Monday: Optional Pork Chop Dinner at the lake, Elders Concert
Tuesday: Pork Loin Dinner (included), four long blocks from Three Dog Night Concert downtown
Wedsday: Optional Barbecued Brisket, Ellis Island musical comedy
Thursday: Mini-Czech festival with Czech supper (optional) Czech music, and PBV Crew Recognition
Friday: Aloha Attire for Pork Chop Picnic (included) and Team Photo Day
Check the Board First Thing Even if you’re getting our “PBV Daily” notices on your smartphone, check the boards. When you ride into camp, make a habit of checking our Announcement Boards at the Front Desk for answers to your questions, like where showers, kybos, or bike mechanics are located and what’s happening in camp tonight or tomorrow night. Then, after you read the board, and if you still have a question or need help with something, ask at our friendly front-desk.
Baggage Limit You get two bag tags, so plan on two duffels total, with tent and sleeping bag enclosed inside. Don’t strap a bunch of stuff to your bag. A bag is defined as the stuff that fits inside the zipped bag. Rule of thumb: If you can’t lift your bag above your head and count to three, it’s too heavy. Our drivers will handle those bags fourteen times—be nice and pack like a pig. Those Rubbermaid tubs will not hold up to RAGBRAI, and we’ve seen the handles tear right off of suitcases. A soft no-nonsense duffel bag is your best bet, one for camping gear and the other for clothing and toiletries. Remove any detachable straps. The clever Porker will mark his/her bags somehow—with a bright bandana or colorful tape—to make them easy to spot in our pile. It’s fine to bring camp stools or chairs if you can get one into your duffel and still lift it over your head. We’ll have several hundred stackable chairs out under our canopies, and we’ll spread blankets on the grass sometimes when there’s music. There are picnic tables in some spots. So you certainly don’t HAVE to bring your own chair or stool.
You’ll find our Suggested Packing List under Details at pkbelly.com.
No Good Stuff Hear this! No fine jewelry, good luggage, good clothes, good anything. More later about laptops and iPads, but do remember that this is a humid place, not the best habitat for your valuable electronics. RAGBRAI beats the crap out of stuff. If you like it, leave it home.
Optional Tent Rental and Daily Set-Up From noon to 7:00 a.m., enjoy your rental tent from Pork Belly Ventures. We’ll publish an email update soon with all the info on tent rental, but here are two or three important points.
You can’t enter Tent City until our crew is completely finished with their work. We aim for noon, but inclement weather and traffic problems can put a little behind—not often, but it can happen. If you or your stuff get in the way of baggage delivery, you will slow down us down, and that’s not allowed.
Wait for a GREEN LIGHT—we have this enormous traffic signal, with red, amber, and green lights, and you have to wait for that green light to enter Tent City.
Secondly, we must know the names of those who are using a tent. Just because the price for one or two occupants is the same, don’t assume that you can have a roommate without informing us. Before we draw up the tent grid with permanent tent assignments, before we print tent address cards, we must know who is using each tent. Finally, you will find out your address in Tent City when you reach Sioux Center Check-In—not beforehand. Stay tuned for more on tent rental.
PHAT Rooms We will write to PHAT Room occupants in July about the details of your stay.
Your Daily Shower On all eight days, Saturday through Saturday, weeklong Porkers wearing a Pork Bracelet are entitled to one or more showers. Our vender is adjacent to or within our campsites in every host town. You may take one fresh towel from our vender (and pay for an extra towel if you like) and return it to her on your way out the door. She provides liquid soap and shampoo in dispensers, and she runs a very tidy operation. You’re going to love this part of the Pork Infrastructure.
Lines happen on RAGBRAI, and at busy times of the day you may wait a bit for a shower. In some spots, you might be able to sit under our shade canopy and watch till the line gets shorter. In some spots, you’re better off jumping in and doing your waiting standing up.
Here’s what you can do to help with the wait situation. DO NOT WASH YOUR CLOTHING IN THE SHOWER. Our shower vender has several sinks outside, so rinse out clothes AFTER showering. Outside, she’ll have a mirror, electrical outlets, and a hair-dryer or two to lend so you can primp a little. We don’t criticize anyone who primps. It feels good to do your normal thing, but do realize that any make-up you apply will have dripped off your chin in thirty minutes.
The PBV Sag Bus A 56-passenger luxury motorcoach will carry any Pork Saggers from host town to host town, departing at 7:00 a.m. and making some kind of food stop on the way to our next Pork Camp. Could be fast food, convenience store, a supermarket deli, or maybe a sit-down situation. It’s up to the bus driver to scope out what’s available on the town-to-town route. We have re-tooled the sag bike trailer (Pass the Corn) to hold more bikes, so that we can make two runs with the SAG bus if there’s a surprising demand (this has only happened once). Just place your bags—at least your shower bag and change of clothes—under the SAG bus so you don’t have to wait for them to be unloaded when you get to camp. You CAN reserve spots on the SAG now if you’re already sure that you won’t ride on a given day. Write to tammypav@cox.net.
Dan Huelskamp is the man to see in Pork Camp about reserving your spots on the sag. His phone number will be published on our laminated Locations business card that each of you will receive at Pork Check-in. Make sure that you contact him and get your bike loaded the night before you sag.
If for some reason you make the decision to sag in the morning, get your bike to Dan or Roger well before the 7:00 a.m. departure time. Our sag TRUCK makes only one trip, even if the sag BUS makes two. So get your bike loaded well before 7:00 a.m.
It’s $25 for each host-town-to-host-town ride (includes bike transport). Porkers can load their baggage into compartments under the coach for immediate access in the next host town (you may arrive before we have baggage unloaded). The seats are cushy and you can sleep all the way. The rest of the day is yours for resting, recovering, getting a massage, whatever, but do remember that we and our crew will be engaged in morning chores until about noon. Most of our services, with the exception of showers, are not available until noon.
If you sag, claim your bike immediately on arrival in our next campsite.
Ours is a morning sag only, from host town to host town. No midday pick-up.
Electricity and Our Thingys Thanks to our Dad, the big phone-charging station, aka “The Juice Thingy,” has 260 outlets. It will always be plugged into a generator (except the last Saturday) from about noon until 10:00 p.m. The big Juice Thingy is great for phones and rechargeable lights and fans. We have a second smaller charging station for a limited number of items (cameras, iphones, ipods, etc—no room for laptops), and a crew member will be watching over them at all times. On this special charger, we have quite a few outlets, but you may have to be patient and take turns. On both chargers, please don’t leave items with us any longer than is needed to charge them, so the next guy can get some juice. At about 10:00 p.m., the big Juice Thingy gets loaded on a Penske, with its generator, so devices can continue to charge overnight. Whatever is still on a charger at 10:00 p.m. is unavailable to you till morning.
As for our other Thingys, help yourself: the Shower Thingy, a Formica table with five spigots, a mirror, and a wringer for wet bike shorts (watch your fingers on the wringer); and the Pump Thingy, an air compressor with a manifold and pressure regulator for inflating your bike tires.
[Porkers, you must NOT wake our crew and ask for electronics left on the chargers. This is completely unacceptable. Try us in the morning. Our crew needs their four or five hours of sleep per night. Thank you.]
Lost Property and How Not to Lose It You are responsible for your property, handing it to our truck-loaders, locking up your bikes overnight (see below), and keeping track of your stuff. Do things ever get lost? Sometimes, but it’s usually when somebody doesn’t follow our instructions. One of our semi-trailers is adorned with the words, “It’s not so much the HEAT. It’s the Stupidity.” That’s your trailer for baggage in the morning if you’re bringing your own tent. Don’t make the mistake of tossing your bags onto the truck of some neighboring charter. This leads to head-scratching in the afternoon. In the morning on the Stupidity, there will always be several strong crew members, and you’ll get to know them. If there’s any doubt, look for the word “Stupidity” and ask “Is this a Pork Truck?” Be sure the bag you drag into your tent is your own.
For lost items, try our lost-and-found box at the Front Desk. There is usually a separate Tent City Lost and Found, for items left inside rental tents. You might check and see if something has been turned in at the front desk, too. It may not be necessary to say this, but please know that it’s not acceptable to “go shopping” in the lost and found. We want things to get back to their rightful owners.
Here’s how to avoid losing stuff. If you sag, claim your bike immediately on arrival in our next campsite. If you leave the ride midweek, do not leave a doggone thing with us. If you spend the night elsewhere, make sure your bags are placed on a truck (or left inside your rental tent) before you go off to spend the night in your hotel, host home, or whatever. You are responsible for your property. We are not.
Bike Locks One cable lock will do for two or three bikes. Overnight, lock your bike to something stationary, or lock a few bikes together. At the very least, lock the bike to itself. Don’t take our word for it, but many people tell us it is not necessary to carry your bike lock during the day. We hear reports that you can lay your bike on the grass in a pass-through town, go eat some pancakes, and find the bike waiting for you when you come back. If you have a super expensive, high-end bike, you obviously need to think further about this.
Pork Wear Be a Proud Porker and wear Pork Apparel from this year or previous years. Wear it anytime. FYI, some of our crew will be observing “Pete Sunday” and “Aloha Friday.” On Sunday in Cherokee, we will all wear plaid shorts to look like Pete, and we’ll wear Aloha Shirts on Friday in Anamosa. Join us! If you have a spare polyester tie, wear it in Cedar Rapids. Our crew wears ugly polyester ties on Thursdays. Can’t remember why, but it has something to do with Tom McCoy.
Midweek Laundry Service Sign up by Tuesday evening and turn over your dirty duds. $15 per tall kitchen bag. Our three crews will dominate three big laudromats, handle around 650 loads of astonishingly smelly clothes and towels, fold it all, give it back clean and fragrant. Pack less and breathe better in that tent. Let us freshen you up midweek!
Please note that we’ll wash everything on Cold, dry everything on Medium. The only special request we can handle is “Don’t Dry Lycra,” in which case your bike shorts and jerseys will be placed damp into a separate bag inside your clean laundry bag. With up to 650 loads to wash, we don’t have time to go through your pockets. Your wallets, cash, chapstick, and ball-point pens will be placed in your clean bag in a little ziplock. Save your clothes from grease and stains! Empty those pockets, and enjoy the happiness of clean, fresh, folded clothes on Wednesday afternoon!
LAST DAY OF RAGBRAI
[For those who will ship bikes to and from RAGBRAI, you’ll find some info in this section and more info in the next section entitled “Shipping Bikes to/from RAGBRAI.”]
Where We’ll Be As usual, you will be routed to the Mississippi River tire-dip site at beautiful River View Park and then on through the party, and to us at a green space near Clausen Company, 1219 South 2nd Street, Clinton, Iowa 52732. It’s a flat, short ride from the dip site to us. From the edge of the festivities, it’s about a mile. You’ll have our maps, and you’ll see our signs, but if you follow the town’s signs to Long-Term Parking, that’ll get you there, too.
PLAN THIS DAY! The Omaha-bound buses of Pork Belly Ventures will depart between 2:00 and 3:30 pm (barring host-town traffic slow-downs). All Porkers on the buses returning to Omaha (or getting off in Des Moines) will check in with our front desk upon arrival at our Clinton staging area and sign up for the next available bus. Our bike trucks will depart from Clinton by 3:30 at the latest. Please plan your day.
Last year, we changed a couple of things about our last day to make everything flow a little better. It worked great, but we’re still tweaking details so that your ride ends as smoothly as it began. Do remember, however, that at virtually 70 miles, this last day of cycling is significantly longer than usual. Most of you will have chores to do when you reach us. Don’t get lost in the post-ride party and miss out on bike-shipping, showers, or miss your bus. Watch your time.
All bike-shipping containers (and your smaller shipping boxes) will be available to claim in Clinton. One or more Pork Belly crew members will help you find YOUR shipping container. We’ll have extra bike boxes for you. Our crew members will ask your name to ensure that each person claims his own container.
Two options for bike shipping are described below.
Once you reach PBV camp, do these things: 1) if you’re on our buses to Omaha, check in with our front desk and sign up for the next available departure; 2) claim your shipping label and shipping container and prepare your bike for our Omaha trucks or for shipping; 3) see your bike loaded on our truck or take it to our FedEx shipping area in our camp (see special section on Bike Shipping to and from RAGBRAI); 4) if you’re so inclined, drop a tip in the special coffee can or pickle jar designated for crew appreciation; 5) shower, eat, celebrate; 6) board your bus for departure. As you leave Anamosa on Saturday morning, remember that this to-do list is waiting for you in Clinton. Plan this day.
Shipping Bikes Home If you have ordered your shipping label online at Sendmybike.com, we will have it for you in Clinton. If you have not purchased a shipping label online, you will be able to purchase one from sendmybike.com during the week—cash only. A FedEx trailer will stage in our Clinton campsite to receive boxed bikes and other parcels that are ready to ship. As ever, we will have your flattened bike boxes, many extra cardboard bike boxes for the taking, and your hard-shell bike cases in camp at Clinton on the 28th. We’ll have tape, extra cardboard boxes, and markers. Here are the TWO OPTIONS FOR SHIPPING BIKES HOME:
The first option for shipping your bike home is to box it yourself in Clinton, affix your shipping label, and hand the package over to our crew to load onto a FedEx trailer immediately. Our bike mechanics will have some tools for your use. This option requires no additional payment and includes very little assistance from our bike mechanics, but it is a great option for those who are accustomed to working on their own bikes.
The second option for shipping your bike home allows you to turn your bike, your shipping container, and your return shipping label over to our crew. These items will be transported safely to an Omaha bike shop, where our mechanics will package your bike for shipping. This option costs an additional $40, payable in cash in Clinton. If it happens that your cardboard bike box was damaged in transit to Iowa, our guys will provide a nice undamaged one for you, no additional charge. You can expect your parcel to enter the FedEx system early in the week after RAGBRAI, no later than Tuesday, July 31st.
For a small number of people who need assistance and must package their bikes for airline travel from Omaha, our mechanics will be able to help. The price is $40, payable in cash to PBV in Clinton.
These people should contact tammypav@cox.net to let us know that you’ll be planning on this service in Clinton. AND you will need to avail yourself of this service well before 3:00 p.m.
Please see the next section entitled “Shipping Bikes to and from RAGBRAI/PBV.” Note that we assume that anyone who intends to ship a bike from our campsite will be using Sendmybike.com or will expect to pay the $25 fee for handling your bike.
NEW Shuttle to Quad Cities Airport PBV will operate our new shuttle to the Quad Cities International Airport with two departures at 1:00 and at 3:00. Bus departures on the last day of RAGBRAI always depend on host town traffic, but we have no reason to think we won’t roll on time. We still have space available on both departures, but the 3:00 is getting full. We are prepared to carry people and baggage, but at present we have had no requests to carry bikes to the QC airport. We need to know well in advance if you’ll have a bike with you.
Our bus will let all passengers off in the same place, the middle of the Departures area at the airport. From there, we trust that you can make your own way to a car rental agency, to your airport hotel, or to your departure gate.
Please recognize that these are high-stakes schedules for some people (they got a plane to catch), and consequently we will make every effort to roll on time. If a 1:00 person is slower on the bike or if you stop longer than planned, please don’t assume that we’ll have space for you on the second departure. If we do, you are welcome to it, but the limited seats will go to those who reserved them first.
Thanks to all of you for using this new service.
Trucking Bikes to Omaha We’ll have truck space for boxed and unboxed bikes going back to Omaha.
Return Bus to Omaha Buses will stage around 1:30, with staggered departures from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Place your bags under a bus and claim a seat. You’re welcome to bring snacks and drinks on the bus. Each bus will make a snack stop along the way and arrive in Omaha at Candlewood Suites between 9:00 and 10:30. Most of our crew will be driving trucks and vans across the state, but we will be at Candlewood to say goodbye. If you are staying at another hotel besides Candlewood or Holiday Inn Express, you should arrange your own transfer from Candlewood. All bags and bikes will be unloaded outside the Candlewood Suites motel on the evening of the 28th. Please don’t forget to claim your bike before heading off to your hotel or hotel room. We can’t be responsible for it.
By the way, our hotel managers are okay with some congregating and celebrating in the hotels’ hospitality areas on the night of our return. You can get beer at the convenience store right there, and then enjoy a little post-RAGBRAI celebration in air-conditioned comfort. But of course, we’ll expect you to be good guests, keep the noise down, and clean up after yourselves.
Des Moines Passengers We will designate one bus, probably the last one or the next-to-last one, for our Des Moines shuttle passengers. (You have a bus ride of three and a half hours or so.) We will designate one truck for your bikes. Your bags should be loaded last on the bus, and your bikes will be loaded last on the truck. Everybody who loads an unboxed bike will have a handlebar tag with their name on it. It’s your responsibility to make sure your handlebar tag also says “Unload in Des Moines.” We will confer with the folks at the Ramada Tropics Resort about what happens if your bikes arrive there before you do. We will take you straight to that hotel at Exit #131 on Interstate-80, on the north side of Des Moines. Thanks for using our round-trip Des Moines shuttle.
If we’re saying farewell in Clinton, remember to claim your bags before we clear out of town at 3:30. Otherwise, your duffel is sitting in the middle of a parking lot.
SHIPPING BIKES TO AND FROM RAGBRAI/PBV
Particularly for those who fly to and from Iowa, shipping bikes and luggage has become an important part of RAGBRAI. SendMyBike.com is tailor-made to help the folks with Pork Belly Ventures ship bikes and luggage directly to the first PBV campsite in Sioux Center and ship home from PBV at the end of the ride in Clinton. You’ll have the convenience of ordering shipping labels online and paying by credit card, at a price very close to FedEx retail; however, weeklong clients of Pork Belly Ventures will receive additional value for that FedEx retail price, like free storage of your shipping container during the week of RAGBRAI and/or free mechanical assistance from our mechanics. Here’s the info you need to get ready to ship.
Click here to visit Sendmybike.com. Most of those who ship a bike to RAGBRAI will also ship it home from RAGBRAI, and by clicking “Ship both to and from RAGBRAI” you’ll be able to order both of your shipping labels at once. You can order your shipping labels anytime between now and July 9th. For the two weeks prior to RAGBRAI, we will suspend online sales, but you will be able to purchase return shipping labels during the week of RAGBRAI at the Pork Belly Ventures front desk.
We hope you find it easy to scroll through the frequently asked questions (FAQs) at sendmybike.com and find the information you need. But here’s a basic explanation. You are welcome to write to petephillips@cox.net if you have additional questions.
Shipping To Iowa
Regardless of when you order your inbound shipping label (to Iowa), FedEx rules won’t allow us to mail the label to you until approximately nine days prior to your shipping date. So your label will be sent to you in the early days of July, unless you let us know you intend to ship earlier.
On or before the 13th of July, you’ll pack your bike into your box or case, affix your Sendmybike.com label, and drop off your package at the nearest FedEx Ground location. Your package will be delivered to a FedEx Ground facility near us, where we will claim it for you and deliver it to the first Pork Belly Ventures campsite in Sioux Center. When you arrive, you’ll claim your bike, and our professional bike mechanics will be working all day to provide assistance to you. Their main focus on Saturday, the 21st of July, is to help those Porkers who shipped bikes to RAGBRAI (or who flew with their bikes). You may tip the mechanics if you like, but there is no charge for their assistance on the first Saturday of RAGBRAI.
Shipping from Iowa
There are two options for shipping your bike home from RAGBRAI, explained here. In both cases, if you have ordered a return shipping label from SendMyBike.com, it will not be mailed to you. It will be available for you to claim in Clinton on July 28th at the Pork Belly Ventures campsite. If you have asked SendMyBike.com to store a box or case, you will be able to claim it at PBV as well. Extra bike boxes will also be available for your use.
The first option for shipping your bike home is to box it yourself in Clinton, affix your shipping label, and hand the package over to our crew to load onto a FedEx trailer immediately. Our bike mechanics will have some tools for your use. This option requires no additional payment and includes very little assistance from our bike mechanics, but it is a great option for those who are accustomed to working on their own bikes.
The second option allows you to turn your bike, your shipping container, and your return shipping label over to our crew. These items will be transported safely to a bike shop, where our mechanics will package your bike for shipping. This option costs an additional $40, payable in cash in Clinton. If it happens that your cardboard bike box was damaged in transit to Iowa, our guys will provide a nice undamaged one for you, no additional charge. You can expect your parcel to enter the FedEx system early in the week after RAGBRAI, no later than Tuesday, July 31st.
Note that we assume that anyone who intends to ship a bike from our campsite will be using Sendmybike.com or will expect to pay the $25 fee for handling your bike.
Go to sendmybike.com now, enter your zip code, and within a few clicks you’ll have your price.
Questions about Bike Shipping At sendmybike.com, please click on FAQs for answers to many questions about shipping a bike to us or return shipping from our campsite in Davenport. We’ll include a few FAQs here for your convenience:
By when does my bike need to arrive in Iowa? Whether you use FedEx Ground or Express, you need to ship far enough ahead that the bike will arrive on or before Thursday, July 19th.
How long will it take my bike to reach Iowa by Ground? The good news is that Iowa is in the middle of the country, so even if you're far away, the typical delivery time is three to four days. Whether you use Ground or Express, don't cut it close. It's better to let go of your bike early and miss a couple days of training than to ship too late and miss a couple days of RAGBRAI. For Ground shippers, we suggest allowing a full seven days for your bike to arrive, which means that you would ship by Thursday, July 12th, or Friday, July 13th.
How do I make sure my shipment is on time? Follow the suggested timeline above, use your FedEx tracking number to check on your shipment, and watch email for our notices of any shipping delays and for our notice of delivery when the bike has been received.
Are there ways to avoid shipping delays? Remember that most shipping problems occur when a shipping label falls off a package. (That’ll cause a problem all right.) Make sure your label is securely affixed to your bike box or luggage, and be sure to read our tips page at sendmybike.com. It’s a good idea to actually write your shipping bar code number on the box (if you’re using cardboard). We have seen this tip rescue a package from late delivery. If your package is delayed, FedEx will notify you via email, IF you entered your email address when you ordered shipping. If you have allowed our recommended two- or three-day buffer, there is an excellent chance that your package will still arrive on time.
What happens to my bike when it reaches Iowa? Your bike will be held at a FedEx facility until Thursday morning, July 19th, when it will be claimed and transported to the Pork Belly Ventures campsite in Sioux Center. Although you pay a price a little above FedEx retail, you receive special transport of your bike to your precise starting point at the beginning of RAGBRAI at no additional charge.
PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL CARE THAT YOUR NAME IS CLEARLY LEGIBLE ON THE BOX. AGAIN, PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL CARE THAT YOUR NAME IS CLEARLY LEGIBLE ON THE BOX.
Packing Your Bike for Its Trip to Iowa Whether you're flying the bike on a plane or shipping it in advance, careful packing can save your bike, particularly for those of you using cardboard shipping boxes. Keep bike parts from poking through the box by giving special attention to these areas--pad or reinforce the bottom of the box where forks can puncture it, and the sides where parts could punch through. Pad other vulnerable areas (brake levers sometimes poke through), and if there are no slots for handling the box, cut some so the FedEx handlers can grab your box. Often, we receive boxes torn open for lack of a place to grab. (Follow these directions if you're flying the bike with you.)
Cost of Flying My Bike At sendmybike.com, you can find out what your airline charges for bringing a bike on the plane.
Claims Claims can be made directly with FedEx claims department.
Weeklong Storage of Bike Containers For anybody using sendmybike.com, we’ll store your bike container for the week at no additional charge. (If it happens that your cardboard bike box was damaged in transit to Iowa, we can provide a nice undamaged one for you, no additional charge.) Bike boxes will have to be flattened, Porkers, to pack stuff tighter. Any pipe insulation or packing materials should be stored in your duffel bags or in hard-shell bike cases.
Purchase Hard-Shell Bike Cases from PBV Check out http://www.porkbellyventures.com/porkBellyVenturesHardCaseOrderForm.pdf If you’ve missed our June 15 deadline, call Pete at 712-681-2613 to see if we can still fill your order in time.
Note Your Shipping Plans on Your June Form. We need to know whether or not you’re loading a bike on our trucks bound for Sioux Center, so remember to include this info on your June Form.
BETWEEN NOW AND RAGBRAI
Your June Form Please glance back at the beginning of this letter for instructions on completing your June Form. If you’re flying or driving into Omaha, you will not be assigned to a bus departure until you have completed your June Form. Thank you.
June/July Contact with PBV It’s a good idea to email both of us: tammypav@cox.net and petephillips@cox.net. We both check email constantly, but we can get behind on phone messages. Tammy’s home phone is 712/328-0161 and cell is 808-375-8921. Pete is at 712/328-6836 (home) and 402-681-2613 (cell).
Pork Belly Ventures Cancellation Policy Before Friday, June 15th, you can still cancel part or all of your PBV services and receive a 90% refund. You can drop services or cancel entirely by phone or email, and we will send you a refund check quickly. Whenever you cancel, we'll try to find you a buyer for your wristband. To date, we have included our written cancellation policy in at least four email updates. We explain it again here. We’ll explain it again in an update entitled “Cancellation and the Creed.” The policy has been sent to each person who completed an application at our website. It is always posted at the website, under “Cancellation.” On or after the 15th of June, we make no refunds.
Pork Belly Ventures Trip Cancellation Protection If you took this option when you registered for our services, then you have extended your 90% refund period from June 15th through July 20th at 10:00 p.m. You can click on “Cancellation” at pkbelly.com to read more.
The New Pork Belly Smartphone App At this writing, 718 people have downloaded our app. If you want to do that, go to your app store and use search words “Pork Belly.” Our host-town maps, the RAGBRAI route maps, and PBV’s Daily Activities are the big features during RAGBRAI, but there’s a lot more.
Questions NOW, Please Don’t save your questions. We will only get busier over the coming weeks. RAGBRAI itself is invigorating and wonderful, but as we often say, we’d rather get a root canal than go through the two weeks prior to RAGBRAI. Make that three. Those three weeks are our toughest times for getting to your questions. If you have questions, Porkers, now is the best time to ask. Read your June Letter first, and then call or email Tammy with any questions. (Questions about bike shipping should go to Pete.)
Veterans, Help Our Virgins and Send Tips NOW Here’s my favorite tip from last year: “As soon as you smell road kill, close your mouth to avoid ingesting a fly. This is the voice of experience.” Veterans, please fire off advice for new RAGBRAIers to Tammypav@cox.net. Help our newbies learn how to train, how to pack, how to enjoy their week, how to avoid pitfalls, yadda-yadda. Humor is good! Give me your best paragraph or your Top Ten List. Send all tips by the 20th of June, please! I’ll compile them and send them out to the whole Pork World. In the meantime, we’ll be sending out the tips we got last year.
SEND PAYMENT Full payment is due now. Some folks have written to ask for special arrangements, and that’s fine. But the rest need to get it handled. Our mailing address is PBV LLC, 412 Forest Glen Drive, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503.
PBV Jerseys and Shirts---Limited Time on Combo Deal for $99 The Combo Deal of $99 for three garments (shipping is free) is only good prior to RAGBRAI. You can still order, and it’s a good idea if you really want something in your size. Click here to see Pork Apparel and download the order form: http://www.porkbellyventures.com/jersey.php.
Email Updates From here on in, it’s getting more important that you receive and read some of these updates. We have sent out thirteen so far—that’s about half of our total, so the frequency is going to increase. If you realize that you’re not getting our updates, write to petephillips@cox.net or tammypav@cox.net to get on our distribution list. Spam filters just make it impossible for some people to get them, but they’ll be posted at our website if they’re important. Especially in July, we’ll send the host town maps showing our campsite locations, bus assignments and departure times, and other important Pork info.
PREPARING/PROTECTING YOUR BIKE FOR TRUCK TRANSPORT
This info is available at our website, but we want the June Letter to be your complete guide to PBV. Here it is again.
NOTE: PORK BELLY VENTURES DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE TO BIKES THAT ARE NOT FULLY BOXED.
When transporting bikes on trucks, we've had only one mishap in over 20 years--truck contents shifted and gouged the top tube of a beautiful, completely unprotected bike. Since then, we have recommended that all Porkers fully box bikes for truck transport. If you box, we will provide tools and professional assistance in Sioux Center for getting the bike out of the box and ready to ride.
ALSO NOTE: CARBON OR COMPOSITE WHEELS CAN BE DAMAGED BY HANGING AN UNBOXED BIKE FOR TRANSPORT. If you have composite wheels, it’s your responsibility to tell us at the time of bike-loading so that we can make accommodations for you. We’d like you to contact Dave Kennedy now at dave.kennedy@cox.net and let him know about your wheels, but also bring your wheels to our attention at the time of loading.
Hanging System for Unboxed Bikes If for some reason fully boxing isn't possible for you, then here are some suggestions. At any hardware store, you can buy cheap pipe insulation to protect your frame's tubing. Tape it on the main triangle---top tube, down tube, and seat tube, forks, and chainstays. Cover your rear derailleur and other fragile components. Remove the computer or other accessories from your handlebars and frame.
Experience tells us that, in spite of our recommendation and because of limited car space, those of you on the July 21st East/West Shuttle will bring unboxed bikes to Clinton for transport on our trucks. Consequently, our semis (the big 18-wheeler trailers) will be outfitted to hang unboxed bikes in rows--they're hung by a wheel, with the opposite wheel secured to the truck floor by bungee cord. STILL, take the above precautions to protect your frame and components. We’ll have space for boxed bikes, tandems, recumbents, too, but we need to know if you’re expecting us to transport one. There’s a place to note this on your June Form.
If you fly your bike to Omaha, please do not take it out of the box until we've trucked it to Sioux Center. If you drive your bike to Omaha, you may not have car space for carrying boxed bikes. In Omaha, we'll have buses and trucks (not always semis) departing throughout the day. Though these smaller trucks will not be outfitted to hang unboxed bikes, our crew will carefully load both boxed and unboxed bikes. We urge you to take the above precautions, protecting your frame and components, if you plan to give us an unboxed bike.
For our return to Omaha at the end of RAGBRAI, we'll have a semi outfitted to hang unboxed bikes, and other trailers for boxed ones, tandems, and recumbents.
Bottom line, we'll load your bike in whatever condition you like, but if it's not in a box, we assume no responsibility for damage.
Finally, if you take our advice and use pipe insulation or other packing material, plan to store it either in your hard shell bike case or in your duffel. We can't store it loose on our trucks. All bike boxes should be flattened for weeklong storage.
Thanks for hanging on to your June Letter, Porkers, and referring to it over the coming weeks.
In the hopper for June Updates, we’ll be sending Tips from Veterans, your Pork Glossary of Terms, and hopefully at least one more “Meet the Crew” update, too, which I hope to get to next week. We’re really rolling downhill now, toward our Week in the Corn.
Until next time, we remain,
Your friends,
Tammy and Pete
Pork Belly Update #14---Your Essential June Letter
Dear Porkers,
Just yesterday, I spoke with a woman from Virginia, very nice, so friendly, but there was a little quaver in her voice as she told me her head was spinning with a hundred questions and details. How would she get from the Omaha airport to meet our shuttle? What time would she catch her bus to Sioux Center? Where would she find the bike she shipped to Iowa? How could her medication be kept cool all week long? What if she were unable to ride one day?
We’ve all been there. We have enough on our plates with our daily, real-life challenges. Who has time to take a course in RAGBRAI 101? Well, thanks to your June Letter, this hefty document, you don’t have to. When you sit straight up in bed and ask, “What the heck was that departure time?” or “How many duffels can I bring with PBV?” or “Do I need a bike lock?” why, you can just lie back and reassure yourself that your Essential June Letter below contains most, if not all, of the information you need in order to travel RAGBRAI with Pork Belly Ventures.
Your June Letter is your Pork Encyclopedia, Porkers. Keep it. Refer back to it. Look things up in it. This is a reference document that walks you chronologically through your week, service by service, telling you what to do and what to expect. A quick scroll through will show you what’s here and how it’s organized. The only sections that are not in chronological order are the later ones entitled “Shipping Bikes to/from RAGBRAI,” “Between Now and RAGBRAI,” and “Preparing Your Bike for Truck Transport.” If you’re not on the East/West Shuttle, skip the whole section. Nobody needs everything here, but scan the letter today, maybe even print it off, and tomorrow, pick up a highlighter and read a couple sections. Re-read as needed. It’s a lot of straight talk. It’s necessarily repetitive. In several places, we’re going to warn you not to do stupid stuff. Please don’t be offended. We’ve just seen some stupid stuff over the years.
From now on, your June Letter will be posted at www.pkbelly.com, on the left under “June Letter.” It’s easier, however, to read and understand the email version, so if you’re reading this on the web, write to us and we’ll send you the formatted version. Now, get going on the parts that are relevant to you—starting with your June Form.
YOUR JUNE FORM: Info We Need by June 20th Please login with your username and password at pkbelly.com. You’ll find the new added page of your application, labeled “June Form.” It’s time to give us your official RAGBRAI Wristband Number and your final travel information. If you’re flying or driving into Omaha, we need more info from you than if you’re using the East/West Shuttle from Clinton. If you’re on any bus transportation leg with PBV, we need to know whether you’ll be shipping a bike or bringing a boxed or unboxed bike (tandem or oversized trike or recumbent) in your car or on the plane. THANK YOU for completing your June Form right away.
NOTE: The RAGBRAI Wristband Number is a required field of your June Form. If you are purchasing a wristband on the after-market, get the six-digit number from your seller, so that you can complete the June Form.
WARNING: Last year—oh heck, every year—some people blew off their June Forms, so I had to just start setting up bus rosters without their information. Blowers-off don’t get their preferred departure because I don’t know what they prefer. If you want to be assigned to a particular Omaha departure, get that June Form completed.
If You Forgot Your Username and Password Click [here] and type in the email address you put into your application. Once you submit the address, you’ll get an email with username and password. Here’s a second way to access your application. If you have your confirmation notice, you will find a link at the top to take you straight back to your application. You can always write to tammypav@cox.net and I’ll send your link, but if everybody does that, we could have a bottleneck—ME. Please make an attempt to login.
EAST/WEST SHUTTLE, Saturday, July 21
Parking Applications: Here’s a PDF of the Long-term parking application for Clinton: http://www.clintonragbrai.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=9
About Long-Term Parking: This paragraph is taken directly from the long-term parking form published by Clinton’s host committee: “Long-term parking will be provided for RAGBRAI participants by completing and submitting the accompanying form with payment. Participants can park their vehicles in the enclosed lot at 1101 So. 2nd St., owned by Union Pacific Railroad, or at other lots in the vicinity. The fee is $45. Parking will be offered on a space available basis on July 20 and July 21 for $60. We make no guarantee of space available. These areas will be under limited surveillance and patrolled by local police.”
Note that the fee goes up at some point in July, so get it done now.
Where We’ll Be: Our charter will be located on a green space directly across the street from Clausen Company, 1219 South 2nd Street, Clinton, Iowa 52732, and very near long-term parking. In mid-July, Pork Belly Ventures will publish our own maps of all eight host towns in PDF format, showing our locations. For now, you can take a look at Clinton’s map to spot the intersection of 13th Avenue and 2nd Street. We will be in the same location on Friday, July 20th, Saturday, July 21st, and Saturday, July 28th.
Camping and Amenities in Clinton Prior to RAGBRAI: Clinton is offering camping at beautiful River View Park very near the dip site, and there’ll be entertainment at their amphitheater in the evening. The Candle Light Inn is perched right there beside the river, with tables looking out on the wide Mississippi. We recommend the Chicken George for dinner—it’s like tempura. Fast food places and other restaurants are nearby, too.
You have the opportunity to buy a breakfast and/or box lunch from the Clinton host committee, and you’ll be able to claim those items near our area before boarding your bus. You may select the breakfast or lunch on the parking application.
Hotels and Sleeping Options in Clinton Prior to RAGBRAI: Back in early May, committee members said that all Clinton hotels were full on July 20th, but you may still try, in case of cancellations. PBV does not make hotel recommendations on the east side of the state. If you don’t wish to camp, another option is to sleep in your car or contact the host town immediately for a home stay (at this point they may already be full). Note that our rental tent service is a 7-night service from Saturday through Friday, and we do not offer the rental tents in eastern Iowa on Friday night the 20th.
PBV Schedule on Friday, 7/20 Our East/West Shuttle crew, led by Steve “Swanny” Swan and Kent Stopak, will zip across Iowa Friday morning and be at our site to load bikes from about 4:00 to 7:30, a little later if necessary. They’re easy to spot—the semi-trailers are adorned with Pork Slogans. It’s a good idea to use the Friday bike-loading option if you’re the least bit concerned about running short of time on Saturday morning. On both Friday night and Saturday morning, we’ll provide handlebar tags and markers. Please label your bike with your name before handing it over. Please don’t leave your bike unattended: wait patiently with it until one of our crew can take it from you. Please don’t climb into the bed of a truck, just hand your bike up. [See section at the end of this letter on Protecting Your Bike for Truck Transport.]
We hope that our new massage therapist, Charles Cornym, will be on hand to take appointments for the week. His schedule (all of their schedules) will fill up, so take advantage of this opportunity. Martina Werner, veteran crew member and dear friend, will be in Clinton and will help out in every way.
PBV Schedule on Saturday, 7/21: The crew will be back to resume bike-loading at 6:00 a.m. Our buses will start staging at about 7:00 a.m. By mid-July, you guys will all know your bus assignment (Bus A, Bus B, etc) and you can place your bags in the compartments under your assigned bus and board. All buses roll no later than 8:00.
Allow time on Saturday morning for dropping off your bags, loading your bike, perhaps grabbing some food to take on the bus, driving to the parking lot, walking back to us, placing your bags in the compartments under a bus, and claiming a seat on your assigned bus by 7:45 at the latest. We’ll take attendance and roll at 8:00 sharp. (We hope some buses will load and roll a little earlier than 8:00.) Our coaches are restroom-equipped and very comfortable.
We’ll make a meal stop on the way and get you to Sioux Center by mid- to late afternoon. Remember to pull your bags off the bus. Our crew will direct you to the bike trucks, so you can claim your bike as it’s being unloaded. Then, head for check-in at our Front Desk.
PBV Check-in in Sioux Center for East/West Shuttle Folks: We know it’s a big rush for check-in when the e/w shuttle buses arrive. We’re working on a couple of remedies to possibly stagger arrival and shorten your wait time. Hang on for more news about this.
PBV Schedule on Saturday, 7/28: See section on the last day of RAGBRAI.
Pork Rental Tents: Our rental tent service is a seven-night service. If you rented a tent from us for the week, your rental tent will be available on Saturday night, the 21st, in Sioux Center. You may wish to bring a tent or sleep in the car on Friday night in Clinton.
Common Group Name: We assume that anyone who wants to sit next to friends on the East/West Shuttle has given us a COMMON GROUP NAME on all relevant applications so that we can seat you on the same bus for this long ride. If you sent a note saying “Put me with Jim,” we might manage that. We might not. If you and Jim have a common group name on your applications, we’ll definitely get it done.
In early July, we will send out bus rosters with seat assignments to make it easier and quicker for you to board the right bus and sit with your friends. By July, it will be too late for very many changes, but we’ll accommodate your changes if we can. Please employ your common group name NOW. Thanks!
To non-Porkers on the E/W Shuttle: We will take you directly to our Sioux Center campsite, and you should unload your stuff there and claim your bikes. Everything is located in one big area there, and although we will be busy when these buses roll into Sioux Center, please be patient with us and we’ll help you when we can. We’ll have a couple of four-wheelers and a pickup truck, and we’ll give you some assistance getting your bags to your weeklong charter or to the RAGBRAI general camping, which is only a block and a half from us.
FINDING US IN SIOUX CENTER
If you are driving to our campsite in Sioux Center, we will be in Open Space Park across from Dordt College. We are on the soccer fields next to the baseball diamonds at 12th St NE and 7th Ave NE. FYI, showers will be across 12th St on a cul de sac. We will publish a map of Sioux Center in July, showing our location in relation to the Expo and festivities—pretty darn close.
OMAHA to SIOUX CENTER
Omaha Airport Hotels In Sioux Center on Saturday, 7/21, you will be camping with PBV. If you need a room near the Omaha airport on Friday, 7/20, or Saturday, 7/28, here is a brief summary of Pork Belly Ventures designated airport hotels. Please note that at this writing in June, Candlewood Suites has been full for some time, and Holiday Inn Express has a dozen rooms available on the 20th and around thirty available on the 28th. They’ll go fast.
Holiday Inn Express, 402-505-4900:
Mention our name to reserve your king or double queen room for $119.
Hot breakfast served here (Candlewood guests will walk over for breakfast)
Swimming pool located here (Candlewood guests have access, too)
Hospitality areas available to our guests before and after RAGBRAI.
Triple-sheeting is the standard at this hotel.
Across the street from a large convenience store and Subway sandwich shop.
Reasonable weeklong airport parking and valet service provided by Budget (about $5 per day)
Free airport shuttle and Old Market shuttle provided by Budget. (Omaha’s Old Market is a great place for shopping, music, and dining on the Friday before RAGBRAI.)
Candlewood Suites, 402-342-2500, FULL as of late April:
Mention our name to reserve your king or double queen room for $119.
The site of free laundry (Holiday Inn Express guests can do laundry here too.)
Hospitality areas available to our guests before and after RAGBRAI.
Triple-sheeting is the standard at this hotel.
Across the street from a large convenience store and Subway.
Reasonable weeklong airport parking and valet service provided by Budget (about $5 per day)
Free airport shuttle and Old Market shuttle provided by Budget. (Omaha’s Old Market is a great place for shopping, music, and dining on the Friday before RAGBRAI.)
Breakfast served next door, but great little convenience store in the lobby with CHEAP everything.
If you are a guest of either hotel, we ask that you be considerate of the staff and respect the furniture and linens that belong to the hotel. If you need to work on your bike, the managers have said they can give you rags. Please don’t use their bath towels. Do any bike work outside, not on their carpet, please. We don’t mean to insult you with these reminders, but it has happened.
If you have reservations at a hotel other than Holiday Inn Express or Candlewood Suites, we suggest that you check with your hotel about using to their shuttles to and from Candlewood Suites. This is important. We will not be able to pick up or drop off at other hotels.
All Pork Belly buses will depart from and return to the Omaha airport Candlewood Suites, one-half block from Holiday Inn Express.
Airport Parking No need for an advance reservation for parking. Anyone staying at our hotels or using our shuttles may use Budget (car rental and) Airport Parking for $5 per day—less than half as expensive as other airport parking options. You may drive straight to the Candlewood Suites or Holiday Inn Express and make arrangements at their front desks for your car to be valet parked at the Budget lot just blocks away. Budget operates a fenced, patrolled, 24-hour parking facility. When you return to Omaha, Budget vans will take you to the nearby lot, and you can drive your car back to your hotel for loading. Easy.
Complete Your June Form Porkers using the Omaha/Sioux Center bus service must complete your June Forms before I can assign you to a bus at your desired departure time. See the beginning of this letter for more on completing your June Form.
Bus and Truck Loading on Saturday Morning We’ll be on the north side (the back parking lot) of the Candlewood Suites hotel. All trucks and buses will load there. Shuttles from the airport on Saturday will probably bring you right around back to our area, but if for some reason they drop you out front, walk straight in the front door, through the lobby, and out the back door to check in for your bus.
Departure Schedule and How Things Work I’ll wait a little to see how our arrival schedule is shaking out, and then I’ll be able to give you firm (fairly firm) departure times. We’re guessing an 8:00 and a 9:15 departure, and then a bus departing every hour or two until 4:30 p.m. when our last bus will roll.
As usual, I’ll send out a schedule and bus rosters for the entire day and try to minimize anyone having to wait around. To catch our last bus, try to arrive at Omaha’s Eppley Airport by at least 3:40 p.m. If you’re using a Friday night hotel, do feel free to give me your preferred Saturday departure time. If you want to get on the earliest bus, or if you want to sleep in, just let me know and I’ll try. I am usually able to meet all requests, but every year is a new ballgame.
There’s a large convenience store and a Subway sandwich shop right next door, and you’re welcome to take food and drink on board for your bus ride of about 2-1/2 hours, barring traffic slow-downs. We’ll use very comfortable coaches, restroom-equipped and air-conditioned. Your bags will go into the compartments under the bus and your bike will be loaded on a truck. [See section on Protecting Your Bike for Truck Transport, and see “Bike Transport” below.]
To Those Who Fly Into the Omaha Airport If you fly into Omaha on Friday (7/20), walk out of the airport from baggage claim, and cross to the commercial lane. Get on the next Budget van and tell them you’re bound for Holiday Inn or Candlewood Suites. It’s a short ride, and it’s free. Sleep well tonight! By about 7:00 Saturday morning, we’ll be set up outside on the north side of Candlewood Suites (the back parking lot). Come and check in for your bus.
(We suggest a trip to Omaha’s Old Market for dinner on Friday night. It’s a fun place with great food, drink, and music. Budget will shuttle guests of our hotels to the Market. Our current favorite restaurant is Nicola’s—Italian/Greek, very fresh. But we also like Upstream Brewery an awful lot. Have a great evening in Omaha.)
If you’re flying into Omaha on Saturday (7/21), our crew, wearing Pork Belly shirts and carrying pig signs, will meet you at baggage claim. They will direct you to walk out of the airport, cross to the commercial lane, and catch the first Budget van. Tell the driver you’re bound for Candlewood Suites. The drivers will carry you around back to us. When you’ve checked in with us for your bus, you can hang out in the hotel lobby (a/c and vending machines) until your departure. There’s a big convenience store (with beer) across the street from Candlewood, and also a Subway sandwich shop.
NOTE: If your plans change on Saturday, or if your flight is delayed, CALL ME. Candlewood front desk is 402/342-2500 and my (Tammy’s) cell phone number is 808/375-8921. If you don’t show, the crew will be looking for you in the terminal. Please do us the courtesy of calling. Thanks.
Bike Transport For the Omaha/Sioux Center shuttle, we’ll have a semi our first run, for bikes on the 8:00 and 9:15 departures. For the remainder of the day, we plan to use smaller 26’ straight trucks. In any case, you need to take steps to protect any unboxed bike you hand over to us for transport. [See Section entitled Protecting Your Bike for Truck Transport at the end of this letter.] We will have adequate space for both boxed and unboxed bikes, but we will not necessarily have a truck departing with every single bus. Your bus may depart an hour prior to the bike truck, in which case you will have a little time in Sioux Center to set up your tent, check in, scout around, whatever, before your bike truck rolls into camp.
NEW DES MOINES SHUTTLE
Schedule, Saturday, July 21 On Saturday, July 21, we'll have a motorcoach and a straight truck for bikes at the Ramada Tropics Resort parking lot at the Des Moines Merle Hay exit #131 on I-80. We’ll let you know if anything changes, but right now it looks like we'll load at 8:15 and depart at 9:00 for Omaha. During our brief stop in Omaha at the Candlewood Suites hotel, a bunch of new passengers will board the bus and join you for the remainder of your trip to the Pork Belly campsite in Sioux Center. We’ll get you there about mid-afternoon.
Round-trip Only We are publishing one price for round-trip Des Moines only, $250 for both legs. At the end of the week, we'll have one Clinton/Omaha bus designated for our passengers who will disembark in Des Moines at the Ramada Inn Tropics Resort at Exit #131 on I-80.
 

Des Moines Hotel Rooms and Parking You out-of-state folks may need rooms on Friday, 7/20, or on Saturday, 7/28. If you wish to make a reservation at the Ramada Inn Tropics Resort, please call 515-278-0271 and speak to Rossie in Group Sales. Your room reservation will include access to the water park. Rossie is happy to extend a 10% discount to Pork Belly Ventures clients and offer weeklong parking in their overflow lot. The hotel accepts no responsibility for cars left in the lot; however, they have never had vandalism to cars in their lots. They have camera surveillance, and the local police patrol regularly.
 

To Reserve To reserve this service, please write to tammypav@cox.net. We don’t have Des Moines tick-boxes on our application form this year, so when we receive payment, we'll confirm your reservation by email.
THE WEEK WITH PBV
What Does PBV Expect of Porkers? Be exceedingly courteous to our hard-working crew.
Be prepared for physical hardship. You have signed on for a week of biking and camping in the elements. We’ll give you extras, comforts, conveniences, and luxuries, but hey, you won’t always be 100% comfortable. Be ready to buck up.
Prepare to be patient. Take a breath and ask us for help. We can find a lost bag in a matter of minutes, so relax and let us know if something seems to be missing. RAGBRAI is defined as an event where 10,000 people slow down, smell the roses, and stand in line for just about everything. We’ll do our best to keep things moving, but kybos? You’re going to do a little waiting.
We’ll publish an entire update on the subject of COURTESY. In short, be a courteous and responsible camper. Get your bags to our truck OR be out of your rental tent by 7:00 a.m. Pick up your own trash. Yes, our crew will help in the mornings. About five of us will circulate for two hours with huge trash bags, taking your rubbish as you break camp. But it’s not okay to leave a pile of trash where you took down your tent. If you miss us when we sweep your area, do your part and place your trash in a receptacle. Be quiet after 10:00 and before 5:00 a.m. Never wake a napping PBV crew member. They work hard for about 18 hours per day, and if they’re sleeping, it’s because they need rest. Find someone who is awake to help you with a problem. Except for health emergencies, most problems that occur between 11:00 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. can wait. It’s not okay to wake a crew member because you left your phone on the charger. You’ll have to get it in the morning.
Before RAGBRAI, read your updates and do what they say. Some updates are optional reading just for fun, but some (like this one) are critical, so be an attentive reader and know what you’re doing.
The Check-In Process for Weeklong Porkers Check-in takes place at our Front Desk in Sioux Center, and we’ll do a whole separate update about it. Please be prepared to show identification at the Front Desk on Saturday. One person cannot check in for a whole group. Each individual must check in.
You must show your RAGBRAI wristband before you can put on a Pork Belly bracelet or receive your baggage tags. Pork Belly Ventures does not provide services to RAGBRAI bandits. You must be a registered RAGBRAI rider. (International Porkers, we have a different arrangement for you. See “Check-in for International Porkers” below.)
To receive our services—to load bags, to partake of Pork beverages and Pork meals, to use our massage therapists, to have our mechanics help you with your bike, to drink your fill of delicious Dunkin’ Donuts coffee every morning, and much more—you must be wearing a Pork Bracelet. At check-in we will distribute special souvenir Pork Cups for Pork beverages. Please keep track of your Pork Cup, as we will issue only one per Porker. We’ll put some bleach over at the Thingy, so you can give them a swish to get them RAGBRAI-clean.
As you check in, you will have the opportunity to purchase PBV extras, like optional meals, our mid-week laundry service, an optional hotel stay, a beverage punch card, and maybe other stuff. You’ll need cash for these items, as we don’t accept checks once the ride begins. You will receive meal tickets for each meal that is included in your weeklong support. You will receive a meal ticket for each optional meal that you purchase at Check-In. Every meal ticket is a different color, and it clearly states the night of the week you can use it. Please keep your meal tickets in a wallet or a safe, handy place. Be thinking now about where you will keep them. They are like cash and we can’t replace them. Again, they are like cash, and we can’t replace them if you lose yours.
Upon check-in, you will receive your Pork shirt, brand new design. We hope you’ll like it.
Check-in for International Porkers If you live outside the U.S., RAGBRAI will not mail your RAGBRAI wristband to you. But we’re going to let you have your Pork Wristband before you visit the Bike Expo to pick up your RAGBRAI wristband. Please write to tammypav@aol.com now, so that I can note your diplomatic immunity on your check-in form. Thanks!
Tent City Baggage Tags If you are using one of our rental tents, you will get two durable PBV baggage tags at check-in with your tent number in bold numbers on both sides of each tag. Attach the tags securely to your two bags immediately. Place your bags inside your tent on Saturday. We will be handling your bags throughout the week.
Baggage Tags for PBV Campers Using Their Own Tents If you are in the majority of Porkers who are setting up your own tent in each Pork Campsite, you will be given two business-card-sized tags at check-in, with the Pork Belly logo on one side and a space for your name and cell phone number on the other side. After check-in, go straight to our Laminating Station nearby, complete the information on the tags, and get your tags laminated by our crew. Attach these durable tags to your bags and you’re all set. In case your bag is lost (if you do a home stay, a hotel stay, or accidentally place your bags on the truck of a neighboring charter), it will be apparent to the finder that you are with our charter. The finder can call you immediately.
Your Own Baggage Tags It’s always a good idea to put your contact info on all of your bags. Make a point of putting tags with your name, address, and cell phone number on them. We’ve seen every scenario you can imagine over the years. Suffice it to say that if the bag is somehow in the wrong spot before our tags get attached or after our tags have been removed, your own identifying tag will allow people to contact you without rifling through the contents of your bag.
Extra Night in Your Rental Tent If you plan to reach Sioux Center on Friday and camp that extra night, you can pay $40 for the use of your rental tent on the eighth night. Just write to Tammypav@cox.net if this is your plan.
Trucks Roll Daily at 7:00 Sharp For those who set up their own tents, your two bags must be on our Stupidity Trailer by 7:00 a.m., when our first caravan rambles on to the next host town. (All Pork Trailers carry Pork Slogans. This one says “It’s not so much the Heat. It’s the Stupidity.”) For those renting tents from us, you must leave your two bags packed up inside your tent and be out by 7:00, because those tents are coming down. Take our word for it, we don’t wait. Gotta get our work done in five short hours. 7:00! We’ll be sending an update especially for Tent-Renters in July.
NEW Pork Maps and Other Ways to Find Us Daily Bob Rebach already has first drafts of our Host Town Maps done. In July, we will publish all eight final host-town maps in PDF format. You can download them, print, and laminate if you like. These maps will show you where our campsites are in relation to the bike routes into and out of town and other attractions in the host town. They will also give you the daily elevation profiles from Geobike.
You will also receive a laminated card at check-in, with all Pork locations listed on it.
As ever, we will post our pink signs in each host town to direct you from the biking route to our campsites. When you ride into each host town, follow the official RAGBRAI campground signs until you start seeing pink PBV arrow signs on your right hand side. We’ll post on telephone poles, stop signs, any handy place we can find, arrows pointing the way to camp.
In any host town, you can always go to RAGBRAI’s information center and check the bulletin board under “P” for directions to us. Lots of Porkers also keep an eye out for our big red-and-white striped canopies or for the big group of look-alike tents in Tent City.
YOUR BEST BET FOR FINDING US: use the daily host town map or the locations on your laminated card. As you bike into town, it’s so simple to ask a local volunteer, “Where is Cherry Hill Park, please? Am I headed in the right direction?”
Pork Belly Host Town Maps are now a feature of the Pork Belly App for smartphones, available to Android and iPhone users in App stores.
Pork Nights We have something special planned every night, Porkers, and all of our events and meals will take place between about 5:00 and 8:30 p.m. We’ll start serving most of our suppers around 5:30 or 6:00. Check the Announcement Board. For greater detail on all of our campsites and amenities, see Update #12, Our Week in the Corn. Each day, you can check our Announcement Board at the front desk for what’s happening tonight in Pork Camp—maybe what’s happening tomorrow night too. We’ll send Push Notifications to smartphone users to remind you of what’s going on. Loosely, here’s what to expect, but note that we are still fine-tuning our schedule:
Sunday: Pork Welcome Supper (turkey filet sandwich, included in support), Elders Concert
Monday: Optional Pork Chop Dinner at the lake, Elders Concert
Tuesday: Pork Loin Dinner (included), four long blocks from Three Dog Night Concert downtown
Wedsday: Optional Barbecued Brisket, Ellis Island musical comedy
Thursday: Mini-Czech festival with Czech supper (optional) Czech music, and PBV Crew Recognition
Friday: Aloha Attire for Pork Chop Picnic (included) and Team Photo Day
Check the Board First Thing Even if you’re getting our “PBV Daily” notices on your smartphone, check the boards. When you ride into camp, make a habit of checking our Announcement Boards at the Front Desk for answers to your questions, like where showers, kybos, or bike mechanics are located and what’s happening in camp tonight or tomorrow night. Then, after you read the board, and if you still have a question or need help with something, ask at our friendly front-desk.
Baggage Limit You get two bag tags, so plan on two duffels total, with tent and sleeping bag enclosed inside. Don’t strap a bunch of stuff to your bag. A bag is defined as the stuff that fits inside the zipped bag. Rule of thumb: If you can’t lift your bag above your head and count to three, it’s too heavy. Our drivers will handle those bags fourteen times—be nice and pack like a pig. Those Rubbermaid tubs will not hold up to RAGBRAI, and we’ve seen the handles tear right off of suitcases. A soft no-nonsense duffel bag is your best bet, one for camping gear and the other for clothing and toiletries. Remove any detachable straps. The clever Porker will mark his/her bags somehow—with a bright bandana or colorful tape—to make them easy to spot in our pile. It’s fine to bring camp stools or chairs if you can get one into your duffel and still lift it over your head. We’ll have several hundred stackable chairs out under our canopies, and we’ll spread blankets on the grass sometimes when there’s music. There are picnic tables in some spots. So you certainly don’t HAVE to bring your own chair or stool.
You’ll find our Suggested Packing List under Details at pkbelly.com.
No Good Stuff Hear this! No fine jewelry, good luggage, good clothes, good anything. More later about laptops and iPads, but do remember that this is a humid place, not the best habitat for your valuable electronics. RAGBRAI beats the crap out of stuff. If you like it, leave it home.
Optional Tent Rental and Daily Set-Up From noon to 7:00 a.m., enjoy your rental tent from Pork Belly Ventures. We’ll publish an email update soon with all the info on tent rental, but here are two or three important points.
You can’t enter Tent City until our crew is completely finished with their work. We aim for noon, but inclement weather and traffic problems can put a little behind—not often, but it can happen. If you or your stuff get in the way of baggage delivery, you will slow down us down, and that’s not allowed.
Wait for a GREEN LIGHT—we have this enormous traffic signal, with red, amber, and green lights, and you have to wait for that green light to enter Tent City.
Secondly, we must know the names of those who are using a tent. Just because the price for one or two occupants is the same, don’t assume that you can have a roommate without informing us. Before we draw up the tent grid with permanent tent assignments, before we print tent address cards, we must know who is using each tent. Finally, you will find out your address in Tent City when you reach Sioux Center Check-In—not beforehand. Stay tuned for more on tent rental.
PHAT Rooms We will write to PHAT Room occupants in July about the details of your stay.
Your Daily Shower On all eight days, Saturday through Saturday, weeklong Porkers wearing a Pork Bracelet are entitled to one or more showers. Our vender is adjacent to or within our campsites in every host town. You may take one fresh towel from our vender (and pay for an extra towel if you like) and return it to her on your way out the door. She provides liquid soap and shampoo in dispensers, and she runs a very tidy operation. You’re going to love this part of the Pork Infrastructure.
Lines happen on RAGBRAI, and at busy times of the day you may wait a bit for a shower. In some spots, you might be able to sit under our shade canopy and watch till the line gets shorter. In some spots, you’re better off jumping in and doing your waiting standing up.
Here’s what you can do to help with the wait situation. DO NOT WASH YOUR CLOTHING IN THE SHOWER. Our shower vender has several sinks outside, so rinse out clothes AFTER showering. Outside, she’ll have a mirror, electrical outlets, and a hair-dryer or two to lend so you can primp a little. We don’t criticize anyone who primps. It feels good to do your normal thing, but do realize that any make-up you apply will have dripped off your chin in thirty minutes.
The PBV Sag Bus A 56-passenger luxury motorcoach will carry any Pork Saggers from host town to host town, departing at 7:00 a.m. and making some kind of food stop on the way to our next Pork Camp. Could be fast food, convenience store, a supermarket deli, or maybe a sit-down situation. It’s up to the bus driver to scope out what’s available on the town-to-town route. We have re-tooled the sag bike trailer (Pass the Corn) to hold more bikes, so that we can make two runs with the SAG bus if there’s a surprising demand (this has only happened once). Just place your bags—at least your shower bag and change of clothes—under the SAG bus so you don’t have to wait for them to be unloaded when you get to camp. You CAN reserve spots on the SAG now if you’re already sure that you won’t ride on a given day. Write to tammypav@cox.net.
Dan Huelskamp is the man to see in Pork Camp about reserving your spots on the sag. His phone number will be published on our laminated Locations business card that each of you will receive at Pork Check-in. Make sure that you contact him and get your bike loaded the night before you sag.
If for some reason you make the decision to sag in the morning, get your bike to Dan or Roger well before the 7:00 a.m. departure time. Our sag TRUCK makes only one trip, even if the sag BUS makes two. So get your bike loaded well before 7:00 a.m.
It’s $25 for each host-town-to-host-town ride (includes bike transport). Porkers can load their baggage into compartments under the coach for immediate access in the next host town (you may arrive before we have baggage unloaded). The seats are cushy and you can sleep all the way. The rest of the day is yours for resting, recovering, getting a massage, whatever, but do remember that we and our crew will be engaged in morning chores until about noon. Most of our services, with the exception of showers, are not available until noon.
If you sag, claim your bike immediately on arrival in our next campsite.
Ours is a morning sag only, from host town to host town. No midday pick-up.
Electricity and Our Thingys Thanks to our Dad, the big phone-charging station, aka “The Juice Thingy,” has 260 outlets. It will always be plugged into a generator (except the last Saturday) from about noon until 10:00 p.m. The big Juice Thingy is great for phones and rechargeable lights and fans. We have a second smaller charging station for a limited number of items (cameras, iphones, ipods, etc—no room for laptops), and a crew member will be watching over them at all times. On this special charger, we have quite a few outlets, but you may have to be patient and take turns. On both chargers, please don’t leave items with us any longer than is needed to charge them, so the next guy can get some juice. At about 10:00 p.m., the big Juice Thingy gets loaded on a Penske, with its generator, so devices can continue to charge overnight. Whatever is still on a charger at 10:00 p.m. is unavailable to you till morning.
As for our other Thingys, help yourself: the Shower Thingy, a Formica table with five spigots, a mirror, and a wringer for wet bike shorts (watch your fingers on the wringer); and the Pump Thingy, an air compressor with a manifold and pressure regulator for inflating your bike tires.
[Porkers, you must NOT wake our crew and ask for electronics left on the chargers. This is completely unacceptable. Try us in the morning. Our crew needs their four or five hours of sleep per night. Thank you.]
Lost Property and How Not to Lose It You are responsible for your property, handing it to our truck-loaders, locking up your bikes overnight (see below), and keeping track of your stuff. Do things ever get lost? Sometimes, but it’s usually when somebody doesn’t follow our instructions. One of our semi-trailers is adorned with the words, “It’s not so much the HEAT. It’s the Stupidity.” That’s your trailer for baggage in the morning if you’re bringing your own tent. Don’t make the mistake of tossing your bags onto the truck of some neighboring charter. This leads to head-scratching in the afternoon. In the morning on the Stupidity, there will always be several strong crew members, and you’ll get to know them. If there’s any doubt, look for the word “Stupidity” and ask “Is this a Pork Truck?” Be sure the bag you drag into your tent is your own.
For lost items, try our lost-and-found box at the Front Desk. There is usually a separate Tent City Lost and Found, for items left inside rental tents. You might check and see if something has been turned in at the front desk, too. It may not be necessary to say this, but please know that it’s not acceptable to “go shopping” in the lost and found. We want things to get back to their rightful owners.
Here’s how to avoid losing stuff. If you sag, claim your bike immediately on arrival in our next campsite. If you leave the ride midweek, do not leave a doggone thing with us. If you spend the night elsewhere, make sure your bags are placed on a truck (or left inside your rental tent) before you go off to spend the night in your hotel, host home, or whatever. You are responsible for your property. We are not.
Bike Locks One cable lock will do for two or three bikes. Overnight, lock your bike to something stationary, or lock a few bikes together. At the very least, lock the bike to itself. Don’t take our word for it, but many people tell us it is not necessary to carry your bike lock during the day. We hear reports that you can lay your bike on the grass in a pass-through town, go eat some pancakes, and find the bike waiting for you when you come back. If you have a super expensive, high-end bike, you obviously need to think further about this.
Pork Wear Be a Proud Porker and wear Pork Apparel from this year or previous years. Wear it anytime. FYI, some of our crew will be observing “Pete Sunday” and “Aloha Friday.” On Sunday in Cherokee, we will all wear plaid shorts to look like Pete, and we’ll wear Aloha Shirts on Friday in Anamosa. Join us! If you have a spare polyester tie, wear it in Cedar Rapids. Our crew wears ugly polyester ties on Thursdays. Can’t remember why, but it has something to do with Tom McCoy.
Midweek Laundry Service Sign up by Tuesday evening and turn over your dirty duds. $15 per tall kitchen bag. Our three crews will dominate three big laudromats, handle around 650 loads of astonishingly smelly clothes and towels, fold it all, give it back clean and fragrant. Pack less and breathe better in that tent. Let us freshen you up midweek!
Please note that we’ll wash everything on Cold, dry everything on Medium. The only special request we can handle is “Don’t Dry Lycra,” in which case your bike shorts and jerseys will be placed damp into a separate bag inside your clean laundry bag. With up to 650 loads to wash, we don’t have time to go through your pockets. Your wallets, cash, chapstick, and ball-point pens will be placed in your clean bag in a little ziplock. Save your clothes from grease and stains! Empty those pockets, and enjoy the happiness of clean, fresh, folded clothes on Wednesday afternoon!
LAST DAY OF RAGBRAI
[For those who will ship bikes to and from RAGBRAI, you’ll find some info in this section and more info in the next section entitled “Shipping Bikes to/from RAGBRAI.”]
Where We’ll Be As usual, you will be routed to the Mississippi River tire-dip site at beautiful River View Park and then on through the party, and to us at a green space near Clausen Company, 1219 South 2nd Street, Clinton, Iowa 52732. It’s a flat, short ride from the dip site to us. From the edge of the festivities, it’s about a mile. You’ll have our maps, and you’ll see our signs, but if you follow the town’s signs to Long-Term Parking, that’ll get you there, too.
PLAN THIS DAY! The Omaha-bound buses of Pork Belly Ventures will depart between 2:00 and 3:30 pm (barring host-town traffic slow-downs). All Porkers on the buses returning to Omaha (or getting off in Des Moines) will check in with our front desk upon arrival at our Clinton staging area and sign up for the next available bus. Our bike trucks will depart from Clinton by 3:30 at the latest. Please plan your day.
Last year, we changed a couple of things about our last day to make everything flow a little better. It worked great, but we’re still tweaking details so that your ride ends as smoothly as it began. Do remember, however, that at virtually 70 miles, this last day of cycling is significantly longer than usual. Most of you will have chores to do when you reach us. Don’t get lost in the post-ride party and miss out on bike-shipping, showers, or miss your bus. Watch your time.
All bike-shipping containers (and your smaller shipping boxes) will be available to claim in Clinton. One or more Pork Belly crew members will help you find YOUR shipping container. We’ll have extra bike boxes for you. Our crew members will ask your name to ensure that each person claims his own container.
Two options for bike shipping are described below.
Once you reach PBV camp, do these things: 1) if you’re on our buses to Omaha, check in with our front desk and sign up for the next available departure; 2) claim your shipping label and shipping container and prepare your bike for our Omaha trucks or for shipping; 3) see your bike loaded on our truck or take it to our FedEx shipping area in our camp (see special section on Bike Shipping to and from RAGBRAI); 4) if you’re so inclined, drop a tip in the special coffee can or pickle jar designated for crew appreciation; 5) shower, eat, celebrate; 6) board your bus for departure. As you leave Anamosa on Saturday morning, remember that this to-do list is waiting for you in Clinton. Plan this day.
Shipping Bikes Home If you have ordered your shipping label online at Sendmybike.com, we will have it for you in Clinton. If you have not purchased a shipping label online, you will be able to purchase one from sendmybike.com during the week—cash only. A FedEx trailer will stage in our Clinton campsite to receive boxed bikes and other parcels that are ready to ship. As ever, we will have your flattened bike boxes, many extra cardboard bike boxes for the taking, and your hard-shell bike cases in camp at Clinton on the 28th. We’ll have tape, extra cardboard boxes, and markers. Here are the TWO OPTIONS FOR SHIPPING BIKES HOME:
The first option for shipping your bike home is to box it yourself in Clinton, affix your shipping label, and hand the package over to our crew to load onto a FedEx trailer immediately. Our bike mechanics will have some tools for your use. This option requires no additional payment and includes very little assistance from our bike mechanics, but it is a great option for those who are accustomed to working on their own bikes.
The second option for shipping your bike home allows you to turn your bike, your shipping container, and your return shipping label over to our crew. These items will be transported safely to an Omaha bike shop, where our mechanics will package your bike for shipping. This option costs an additional $40, payable in cash in Clinton. If it happens that your cardboard bike box was damaged in transit to Iowa, our guys will provide a nice undamaged one for you, no additional charge. You can expect your parcel to enter the FedEx system early in the week after RAGBRAI, no later than Tuesday, July 31st.
For a small number of people who need assistance and must package their bikes for airline travel from Omaha, our mechanics will be able to help. The price is $40, payable in cash to PBV in Clinton.
These people should contact tammypav@cox.net to let us know that you’ll be planning on this service in Clinton. AND you will need to avail yourself of this service well before 3:00 p.m.
Please see the next section entitled “Shipping Bikes to and from RAGBRAI/PBV.” Note that we assume that anyone who intends to ship a bike from our campsite will be using Sendmybike.com or will expect to pay the $25 fee for handling your bike.
NEW Shuttle to Quad Cities Airport PBV will operate our new shuttle to the Quad Cities International Airport with two departures at 1:00 and at 3:00. Bus departures on the last day of RAGBRAI always depend on host town traffic, but we have no reason to think we won’t roll on time. We still have space available on both departures, but the 3:00 is getting full. We are prepared to carry people and baggage, but at present we have had no requests to carry bikes to the QC airport. We need to know well in advance if you’ll have a bike with you.
Our bus will let all passengers off in the same place, the middle of the Departures area at the airport. From there, we trust that you can make your own way to a car rental agency, to your airport hotel, or to your departure gate.
Please recognize that these are high-stakes schedules for some people (they got a plane to catch), and consequently we will make every effort to roll on time. If a 1:00 person is slower on the bike or if you stop longer than planned, please don’t assume that we’ll have space for you on the second departure. If we do, you are welcome to it, but the limited seats will go to those who reserved them first.
Thanks to all of you for using this new service.
Trucking Bikes to Omaha We’ll have truck space for boxed and unboxed bikes going back to Omaha.
Return Bus to Omaha Buses will stage around 1:30, with staggered departures from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Place your bags under a bus and claim a seat. You’re welcome to bring snacks and drinks on the bus. Each bus will make a snack stop along the way and arrive in Omaha at Candlewood Suites between 9:00 and 10:30. Most of our crew will be driving trucks and vans across the state, but we will be at Candlewood to say goodbye. If you are staying at another hotel besides Candlewood or Holiday Inn Express, you should arrange your own transfer from Candlewood. All bags and bikes will be unloaded outside the Candlewood Suites motel on the evening of the 28th. Please don’t forget to claim your bike before heading off to your hotel or hotel room. We can’t be responsible for it.
By the way, our hotel managers are okay with some congregating and celebrating in the hotels’ hospitality areas on the night of our return. You can get beer at the convenience store right there, and then enjoy a little post-RAGBRAI celebration in air-conditioned comfort. But of course, we’ll expect you to be good guests, keep the noise down, and clean up after yourselves.
Des Moines Passengers We will designate one bus, probably the last one or the next-to-last one, for our Des Moines shuttle passengers. (You have a bus ride of three and a half hours or so.) We will designate one truck for your bikes. Your bags should be loaded last on the bus, and your bikes will be loaded last on the truck. Everybody who loads an unboxed bike will have a handlebar tag with their name on it. It’s your responsibility to make sure your handlebar tag also says “Unload in Des Moines.” We will confer with the folks at the Ramada Tropics Resort about what happens if your bikes arrive there before you do. We will take you straight to that hotel at Exit #131 on Interstate-80, on the north side of Des Moines. Thanks for using our round-trip Des Moines shuttle.
If we’re saying farewell in Clinton, remember to claim your bags before we clear out of town at 3:30. Otherwise, your duffel is sitting in the middle of a parking lot.
SHIPPING BIKES TO AND FROM RAGBRAI/PBV
Particularly for those who fly to and from Iowa, shipping bikes and luggage has become an important part of RAGBRAI. SendMyBike.com is tailor-made to help the folks with Pork Belly Ventures ship bikes and luggage directly to the first PBV campsite in Sioux Center and ship home from PBV at the end of the ride in Clinton. You’ll have the convenience of ordering shipping labels online and paying by credit card, at a price very close to FedEx retail; however, weeklong clients of Pork Belly Ventures will receive additional value for that FedEx retail price, like free storage of your shipping container during the week of RAGBRAI and/or free mechanical assistance from our mechanics. Here’s the info you need to get ready to ship.
Click here to visit Sendmybike.com. Most of those who ship a bike to RAGBRAI will also ship it home from RAGBRAI, and by clicking “Ship both to and from RAGBRAI” you’ll be able to order both of your shipping labels at once. You can order your shipping labels anytime between now and July 9th. For the two weeks prior to RAGBRAI, we will suspend online sales, but you will be able to purchase return shipping labels during the week of RAGBRAI at the Pork Belly Ventures front desk.
We hope you find it easy to scroll through the frequently asked questions (FAQs) at sendmybike.com and find the information you need. But here’s a basic explanation. You are welcome to write to petephillips@cox.net if you have additional questions.
Shipping To Iowa
Regardless of when you order your inbound shipping label (to Iowa), FedEx rules won’t allow us to mail the label to you until approximately nine days prior to your shipping date. So your label will be sent to you in the early days of July, unless you let us know you intend to ship earlier.
On or before the 13th of July, you’ll pack your bike into your box or case, affix your Sendmybike.com label, and drop off your package at the nearest FedEx Ground location. Your package will be delivered to a FedEx Ground facility near us, where we will claim it for you and deliver it to the first Pork Belly Ventures campsite in Sioux Center. When you arrive, you’ll claim your bike, and our professional bike mechanics will be working all day to provide assistance to you. Their main focus on Saturday, the 21st of July, is to help those Porkers who shipped bikes to RAGBRAI (or who flew with their bikes). You may tip the mechanics if you like, but there is no charge for their assistance on the first Saturday of RAGBRAI.
Shipping from Iowa
There are two options for shipping your bike home from RAGBRAI, explained here. In both cases, if you have ordered a return shipping label from SendMyBike.com, it will not be mailed to you. It will be available for you to claim in Clinton on July 28th at the Pork Belly Ventures campsite. If you have asked SendMyBike.com to store a box or case, you will be able to claim it at PBV as well. Extra bike boxes will also be available for your use.
The first option for shipping your bike home is to box it yourself in Clinton, affix your shipping label, and hand the package over to our crew to load onto a FedEx trailer immediately. Our bike mechanics will have some tools for your use. This option requires no additional payment and includes very little assistance from our bike mechanics, but it is a great option for those who are accustomed to working on their own bikes.
The second option allows you to turn your bike, your shipping container, and your return shipping label over to our crew. These items will be transported safely to a bike shop, where our mechanics will package your bike for shipping. This option costs an additional $40, payable in cash in Clinton. If it happens that your cardboard bike box was damaged in transit to Iowa, our guys will provide a nice undamaged one for you, no additional charge. You can expect your parcel to enter the FedEx system early in the week after RAGBRAI, no later than Tuesday, July 31st.
Note that we assume that anyone who intends to ship a bike from our campsite will be using Sendmybike.com or will expect to pay the $25 fee for handling your bike.
Go to sendmybike.com now, enter your zip code, and within a few clicks you’ll have your price.
Questions about Bike Shipping At sendmybike.com, please click on FAQs for answers to many questions about shipping a bike to us or return shipping from our campsite in Davenport. We’ll include a few FAQs here for your convenience:
By when does my bike need to arrive in Iowa? Whether you use FedEx Ground or Express, you need to ship far enough ahead that the bike will arrive on or before Thursday, July 19th.
How long will it take my bike to reach Iowa by Ground? The good news is that Iowa is in the middle of the country, so even if you're far away, the typical delivery time is three to four days. Whether you use Ground or Express, don't cut it close. It's better to let go of your bike early and miss a couple days of training than to ship too late and miss a couple days of RAGBRAI. For Ground shippers, we suggest allowing a full seven days for your bike to arrive, which means that you would ship by Thursday, July 12th, or Friday, July 13th.
How do I make sure my shipment is on time? Follow the suggested timeline above, use your FedEx tracking number to check on your shipment, and watch email for our notices of any shipping delays and for our notice of delivery when the bike has been received.
Are there ways to avoid shipping delays? Remember that most shipping problems occur when a shipping label falls off a package. (That’ll cause a problem all right.) Make sure your label is securely affixed to your bike box or luggage, and be sure to read our tips page at sendmybike.com. It’s a good idea to actually write your shipping bar code number on the box (if you’re using cardboard). We have seen this tip rescue a package from late delivery. If your package is delayed, FedEx will notify you via email, IF you entered your email address when you ordered shipping. If you have allowed our recommended two- or three-day buffer, there is an excellent chance that your package will still arrive on time.
What happens to my bike when it reaches Iowa? Your bike will be held at a FedEx facility until Thursday morning, July 19th, when it will be claimed and transported to the Pork Belly Ventures campsite in Sioux Center. Although you pay a price a little above FedEx retail, you receive special transport of your bike to your precise starting point at the beginning of RAGBRAI at no additional charge.
PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL CARE THAT YOUR NAME IS CLEARLY LEGIBLE ON THE BOX. AGAIN, PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL CARE THAT YOUR NAME IS CLEARLY LEGIBLE ON THE BOX.
Packing Your Bike for Its Trip to Iowa Whether you're flying the bike on a plane or shipping it in advance, careful packing can save your bike, particularly for those of you using cardboard shipping boxes. Keep bike parts from poking through the box by giving special attention to these areas--pad or reinforce the bottom of the box where forks can puncture it, and the sides where parts could punch through. Pad other vulnerable areas (brake levers sometimes poke through), and if there are no slots for handling the box, cut some so the FedEx handlers can grab your box. Often, we receive boxes torn open for lack of a place to grab. (Follow these directions if you're flying the bike with you.)
Cost of Flying My Bike At sendmybike.com, you can find out what your airline charges for bringing a bike on the plane.
Claims Claims can be made directly with FedEx claims department.
Weeklong Storage of Bike Containers For anybody using sendmybike.com, we’ll store your bike container for the week at no additional charge. (If it happens that your cardboard bike box was damaged in transit to Iowa, we can provide a nice undamaged one for you, no additional charge.) Bike boxes will have to be flattened, Porkers, to pack stuff tighter. Any pipe insulation or packing materials should be stored in your duffel bags or in hard-shell bike cases.
Purchase Hard-Shell Bike Cases from PBV Check out http://www.porkbellyventures.com/porkBellyVenturesHardCaseOrderForm.pdf If you’ve missed our June 15 deadline, call Pete at 712-681-2613 to see if we can still fill your order in time.
Note Your Shipping Plans on Your June Form. We need to know whether or not you’re loading a bike on our trucks bound for Sioux Center, so remember to include this info on your June Form.
BETWEEN NOW AND RAGBRAI
Your June Form Please glance back at the beginning of this letter for instructions on completing your June Form. If you’re flying or driving into Omaha, you will not be assigned to a bus departure until you have completed your June Form. Thank you.
June/July Contact with PBV It’s a good idea to email both of us: tammypav@cox.net and petephillips@cox.net. We both check email constantly, but we can get behind on phone messages. Tammy’s home phone is 712/328-0161 and cell is 808-375-8921. Pete is at 712/328-6836 (home) and 402-681-2613 (cell).
Pork Belly Ventures Cancellation Policy Before Friday, June 15th, you can still cancel part or all of your PBV services and receive a 90% refund. You can drop services or cancel entirely by phone or email, and we will send you a refund check quickly. Whenever you cancel, we'll try to find you a buyer for your wristband. To date, we have included our written cancellation policy in at least four email updates. We explain it again here. We’ll explain it again in an update entitled “Cancellation and the Creed.” The policy has been sent to each person who completed an application at our website. It is always posted at the website, under “Cancellation.” On or after the 15th of June, we make no refunds.
Pork Belly Ventures Trip Cancellation Protection If you took this option when you registered for our services, then you have extended your 90% refund period from June 15th through July 20th at 10:00 p.m. You can click on “Cancellation” at pkbelly.com to read more.
The New Pork Belly Smartphone App At this writing, 718 people have downloaded our app. If you want to do that, go to your app store and use search words “Pork Belly.” Our host-town maps, the RAGBRAI route maps, and PBV’s Daily Activities are the big features during RAGBRAI, but there’s a lot more.
Questions NOW, Please Don’t save your questions. We will only get busier over the coming weeks. RAGBRAI itself is invigorating and wonderful, but as we often say, we’d rather get a root canal than go through the two weeks prior to RAGBRAI. Make that three. Those three weeks are our toughest times for getting to your questions. If you have questions, Porkers, now is the best time to ask. Read your June Letter first, and then call or email Tammy with any questions. (Questions about bike shipping should go to Pete.)
Veterans, Help Our Virgins and Send Tips NOW Here’s my favorite tip from last year: “As soon as you smell road kill, close your mouth to avoid ingesting a fly. This is the voice of experience.” Veterans, please fire off advice for new RAGBRAIers to Tammypav@cox.net. Help our newbies learn how to train, how to pack, how to enjoy their week, how to avoid pitfalls, yadda-yadda. Humor is good! Give me your best paragraph or your Top Ten List. Send all tips by the 20th of June, please! I’ll compile them and send them out to the whole Pork World. In the meantime, we’ll be sending out the tips we got last year.
SEND PAYMENT Full payment is due now. Some folks have written to ask for special arrangements, and that’s fine. But the rest need to get it handled. Our mailing address is PBV LLC, 412 Forest Glen Drive, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503.
PBV Jerseys and Shirts---Limited Time on Combo Deal for $99 The Combo Deal of $99 for three garments (shipping is free) is only good prior to RAGBRAI. You can still order, and it’s a good idea if you really want something in your size. Click here to see Pork Apparel and download the order form: http://www.porkbellyventures.com/jersey.php.
Email Updates From here on in, it’s getting more important that you receive and read some of these updates. We have sent out thirteen so far—that’s about half of our total, so the frequency is going to increase. If you realize that you’re not getting our updates, write to petephillips@cox.net or tammypav@cox.net to get on our distribution list. Spam filters just make it impossible for some people to get them, but they’ll be posted at our website if they’re important. Especially in July, we’ll send the host town maps showing our campsite locations, bus assignments and departure times, and other important Pork info.
PREPARING/PROTECTING YOUR BIKE FOR TRUCK TRANSPORT
This info is available at our website, but we want the June Letter to be your complete guide to PBV. Here it is again.
NOTE: PORK BELLY VENTURES DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE TO BIKES THAT ARE NOT FULLY BOXED.
When transporting bikes on trucks, we've had only one mishap in over 20 years--truck contents shifted and gouged the top tube of a beautiful, completely unprotected bike. Since then, we have recommended that all Porkers fully box bikes for truck transport. If you box, we will provide tools and professional assistance in Sioux Center for getting the bike out of the box and ready to ride.
ALSO NOTE: CARBON OR COMPOSITE WHEELS CAN BE DAMAGED BY HANGING AN UNBOXED BIKE FOR TRANSPORT. If you have composite wheels, it’s your responsibility to tell us at the time of bike-loading so that we can make accommodations for you. We’d like you to contact Dave Kennedy now at dave.kennedy@cox.net and let him know about your wheels, but also bring your wheels to our attention at the time of loading.
Hanging System for Unboxed Bikes If for some reason fully boxing isn't possible for you, then here are some suggestions. At any hardware store, you can buy cheap pipe insulation to protect your frame's tubing. Tape it on the main triangle---top tube, down tube, and seat tube, forks, and chainstays. Cover your rear derailleur and other fragile components. Remove the computer or other accessories from your handlebars and frame.
Experience tells us that, in spite of our recommendation and because of limited car space, those of you on the July 21st East/West Shuttle will bring unboxed bikes to Clinton for transport on our trucks. Consequently, our semis (the big 18-wheeler trailers) will be outfitted to hang unboxed bikes in rows--they're hung by a wheel, with the opposite wheel secured to the truck floor by bungee cord. STILL, take the above precautions to protect your frame and components. We’ll have space for boxed bikes, tandems, recumbents, too, but we need to know if you’re expecting us to transport one. There’s a place to note this on your June Form.
If you fly your bike to Omaha, please do not take it out of the box until we've trucked it to Sioux Center. If you drive your bike to Omaha, you may not have car space for carrying boxed bikes. In Omaha, we'll have buses and trucks (not always semis) departing throughout the day. Though these smaller trucks will not be outfitted to hang unboxed bikes, our crew will carefully load both boxed and unboxed bikes. We urge you to take the above precautions, protecting your frame and components, if you plan to give us an unboxed bike.
For our return to Omaha at the end of RAGBRAI, we'll have a semi outfitted to hang unboxed bikes, and other trailers for boxed ones, tandems, and recumbents.
Bottom line, we'll load your bike in whatever condition you like, but if it's not in a box, we assume no responsibility for damage.
Finally, if you take our advice and use pipe insulation or other packing material, plan to store it either in your hard shell bike case or in your duffel. We can't store it loose on our trucks. All bike boxes should be flattened for weeklong storage.
Thanks for hanging on to your June Letter, Porkers, and referring to it over the coming weeks.
In the hopper for June Updates, we’ll be sending Tips from Veterans, your Pork Glossary of Terms, and hopefully at least one more “Meet the Crew” update, too, which I hope to get to next week. We’re really rolling downhill now, toward our Week in the Corn.
Until next time, we remain,
Your friends,
Tammy and Pete