Hello Anne, I am on the RAGBRAI Committee for North Iowa Touring Club Charter. We leave and return, by bus, to Mason City, Iowa, about 2 hours south of Minneapolis. The fee for our week long riders is $250, which includes bus transportation from and to Mason City and your luggage transport each day. We have riders from all over the US that ride with us. We are a small charter with various levels of RAGBRAI experience. If you are interested, you can reach out to us at nitc.ragbrai@gmail.com.
We hope to hear from you,
Joe

Hi Anne! I live in the northern suburbs. This will be my 3rd RAGBRAI. I rode in 2017 and 2018, decided to take a year off, turned into 2, and here we are! I have gone solo with the Register truck both times. It’s definitely doable and it’s an economic option. Also, you’re never truly alone on a ride like this.

I ride solo every year and prefer it. Do my own thing and not subject to the whims of others. I use the free truck which works great. There are many who do it solo. You meet and talk with neighbors around you and along the ride, so not in a total vacuum. I just like doing whatever I want in the evening (go downtown, stay by the camp, whatever) and not looking for folks during the day in the sea of people. Do not be afraid to go solo and use the free truck and save the $$. Have fun.

bmyoungberg – Just for clarification, when you mention the free truck, are you referring to the RAGBRAI semis? They aren’t exactly free ($175 for the week) They are less than other charters for sure but I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing something.

Hello Uncle Kraig,
By the “free truck” it is meant that you do not pay any additional fees to use the RAGBRAI truck after your registration fee of $175 for the week.
Good luck.

As William noted, the truck transport is included in the registration fee all riders pay. It is therefore free to use. Great value. I wouldn’t pay for someone to set up a tent that takes ten minutes to do and for free coffee or whatever in the morning. Plus you are in the middle of the action with food, showers, etc all right there.

Got it, thanks and that’s what I thought/knew. I just wanted to be clear as I think there is going to be a larger than normal number of bandits this year and to hear “free baggage truck” might be a bit appealing to bandits. All that said, I too, use the RAGBRAI truck and have no complaints with it. Get a good waterproof bag and you’ll be fine. To the original poster, do not worry about being alone, it’s impossible. You will be with 15,000 great friends, none of which you’ve happened to meet just yet. See you in July.

Uncle Craig, I hope you are not forgetting to pay your registration fees

ppayne – No, no. My fees will be paid, in fact, they already are :) Paid them in February I think. I can’t swing the whole ride so I bought multiple daily passes this year. Plus, like I said, I use the RAGBRAI semis to transport my bags. I surely wouldn’t be able to use the RAGBRAI trucks if I didn’t pay my registration. See you in July.

Hi! My friend and I live in Mpls and are doing our first RAGBRAI as well! I would love to train, he hurt his back and is nursing it so he can still do the ride! My email is yoon_mn@yahoo.com and my cell is 612-805-4603. I am in Maple Grove but go biking all over the place, I love all of the paths that we have. Let me know! Maybe we should all just get there together and figure it all out! We are looking to join a team, maybe we should just form one!
Christy