robinett2 said: As a 1st timer also, I am looking for a charter service.  I see you guys are talking about services, but didn’t say what ones.  Can you give a recommendation?

I’d highly recommend Brancel ~ Great services, great price, family run.  They arrange bussing for you and your stuff from the end town to the start town on Saturday morning.  They are very skilled at finding the best camping sites.

Tony said:
We have 200 plus riders every year. We use 55 passenger luxury motor coaches for transport to and from the ride.

You should get some bigger buses.

My favorite is Porkbelly Ventures (PBV).  This will be my 4th year with PBV.  Check them out:

http://www.pkbelly.com/

ts said:

Tony said: We have 200 plus riders every year. We use 55 passenger luxury motor coaches for transport to and from the ride.

You should get some bigger buses.

I get it. no wonder busses are all booked up, 55 busses for 200 people.

 Looks like you gotta either wangle your own transportation across Iowa or choose between a three-mile run or a week of riding.

indianafrank – Yeah, that’s about the most unhelpful advice ever.

Which way are you coming from?Maybe depending on the start town, you could rent a car one way. Maybe someone else will be flying into the end town and renting a car to the start too. Another month and we will know those towns.

jwsknk – Very real possability, I might just go this way.
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Your best bet is probably to meet a charter in the start town and return there at the end of the ride.  According to the <FONT color=#35349a>RAGBRAI Charter page</FONT>, the Out of Staters offers an option to do just that.  Others may also – OOS was just the most obvious.

ts – I’m hoping to avoid this, I’ll be staying in the Rochester Minnesota area before and after the ride.

Personnaly I would skip the Minnesota Dash.  If you run in one of the first waves and leave right away you will miss the trophy awards, beer drinking, chow and good times with your buddies.

Sandaltan – Also not helpful. If I was in it to drink then why on earth would I run three miles? That’s like saying what’s the point of ragbrai if you arn’t going to stay up late and drink?

<SMALL>Assuming $400 for tent service, which is low for what I think I saw on the porkbelly site (pricing now removed), which didn’t include the standard $150 to use their charter services, that’s $75 a night to have a tent setup, and tore down for you. No offense, but at that rate they’d better be setting me up a hotel room. If they forget the andes mint no my pillow I’m going to call concierge and complain.

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Hahaha! I like the Andes Mint comment. Our support driver and his son put up my tent for me and left an Andes Mint. It melted! You don’t want to leave chocolate out in Iowa in July!

RAGBRAI is more thah a bike ride. And you don’t have to drink to enjoy it. Or stay up late. It is about people – you will meet lots of people that share your interests and you can swap stories with them about your day. Remeber, and you’ll hear this alot. It’s not a race. it’s a ride that you can do how ever you want. None of this helps with your question, of course. 

Keep posting and looking out here on the forum/ Maybe someone else will need to leave from the finish town to the start town later on Saturday and maybe you could both rent a car to leave at the start town. I am sorry Ican’t help you. Our group starts in NW Iowa with a van and we ride back to NW Iowa in our van. Not much room but it works for our small team.

Amanda – I agree, ragrbrai is an experience. I just found Sandaltan’s comment extremely hilarious.

There is beer drinking during RAGBRAI?  Why am I always to last to know?

Michrider said: There is beer drinking during RAGBRAI?  Why am I always to last to know?

Not everyone Michrider.  From some of the riding I have witnessed after a real late departure, there are some who take it intravenously.  LOL.

jjshoe said: 2) Why do they not allow your single bag to be hard sided? Seems like the best way to keep things from getting squished…..

How much stuff are you taking that you are worried about getting crushed? All my clothes recover quickly from getting crushed. Go shopping for a small tupperwear type container. Think smaller than a shoebox, maybe a little larger than a box of kleenex. Use the hard sided small box to store the things you are worried about getting crushed such as eyeglasses. head lamp, etc. Pack it and other less fragile but non crushable items in the center of your bag.

I also like the box as a nice little table in the tent. Waterproof if it leaks and easy to find stuff in the dark.

If you have ever volunteered to load a luggage truck you will realize how awful hard sided luggage is to deal with. Believe me, it will take far more abuse from frustrated baggage handlers than a soft sided duffel. That is probably the reason the hinges seem to break.

Michrider said: There is beer drinking during RAGBRAI?  Why am I always to last to know?
Ya gotta read the handbook….one of the RAGBRAI sponsors is a beer company!!!  

RIDE RIGHT

jjshoe:  Let us know how this shakes out w/photos if possible.  It would appear some participants do enjoy the chow and maybe a beer after the competition.  They have all earned those rewards I might add.

http://warriordash.com/index.php
RIDE RIGHT

Shoe. Sorry if the advice wasn’t helpful, but it might be helpful for you to know the realities of what you’re trying to do. Charters going from the end town to the start town leave on Saturday mornings, not the afternoons or evenings.You could rent a car, but have you ever tried to rent a car in a smallish town one way to another smallish town? They won’t do it in most cases.Unless you can find a single person willing to drive you several hours to the start town the evening after your run, you’re gonna be hard pressed. Sounds like you need a personal jet, sort of like the race car driver who races in Indianapolis in the morning and then races in South Carolina that evening.

Hitchhiking is still an option unless you have seen too many serial killer movies.  Lots of pickup trucks on the road in the Midwest ya know.   Was there not any advice that was helpful to you shoe??? 

RIDE RIGHT

Sandaltan said: Hitchhiking is still an option unless you have seen too many serial killer movies.  Lots of pickup trucks on the road in the Midwest ya know.   Was there not any advice that was helpful to you shoe???  RIDE RIGHT

well, there’s an idea, maybe if you shipped the bike ahead to one of the shops and picked it up in the start town.
So if i get the this right. you want to drive from Rochester to the end town, leave a car there and find a way across Iowa to the start town late Saturday. Then when the ride is over on Saturday, your car will be there to drive back to Rochester. What you are trying to avoid is leaving you car in the start town so when the ride is over, you need a ride across the state to pick it up and drive from there to Rochester. Yeah, that could be a long day.
Did something almost a bad once, rode across Wisconsin, final day was a 40-50 mile Friday. Took the shuttle from Manitiwak to Wabasha where the car was then drove back  4-5 hours to Ames. repacked Saturday morning to load the bus to go the the start of RAGBRAI.