Gage, don’t worry about the rain too much it comes and goes sometimes just a brief shower and sometimes a super ‘let’s hide thunderstorm’ but nothing like the rain,drizzle you get in Seattle.  In 1999 my sister and bro-in-law from Seattle decided to ride and my bro-in-law said he didn’t mind the miles, didn’t mind the hills or wind but just get rid of the humidity.  That year the heat index for a few days was up around 115F, still considered the hardest RAGBRAI ever because of the heat.  So the rain in Iowa can be warm or it can be cold, that is why you see riders with rain jacket tucked where ever on their bikes or bodies, but for many the thought is do you get wet from the rain and not wear a jacket until you stop and need to take the chill off or do you sweat from wearing a jacket in the rain?  And quite often if it does rain  and the sun comes out you will dry off in a short time. About your tent, bring a few garbage bags to put your wet tent in while it is transported to the next overnight town and then hope you get in early enough to put the tent up in the sun to dry it out, in Iowa anything that isn’t dry by 6pm ain’t going to dry overnight.  Oh, every morning your tent will be wet from the dew if it hasn’t rained.

Thanks Just.  When your sister did it, do you know how they got to the starting point and how they transported their bikes. Again thanks for the reply.

They flew in and chartered with PBV, Pork Belly Ventures, considered by many to be the fanciest charter on the ride if not the most expensive on the ride.  One service they provide, for a fee of course, is to let you use one of their tents and they take it down and put it up in every overnight town for you, saves you the hassle of bringing a tent. Watch the forum because there will always be comments about how to ship your bike and to use a charter or not.  Your registration fee allows you to have your gear hauled on the Registers truck so this is about the cheapest way to go, not the most elloquent but doable.

Is it an open bed truck? Or the tents and baggages covered in the truck??

getaclueblue said: Is it an open bed truck? Or the tents and baggages covered in the truck??

They are regular semi trailers that are enclosed (probably aluminum bodies) so no rain can get to any baggage.  I’ve never had a problem in my  earlier years on RAG with anything getting wet when in the semi trailers.

Thank You.  Anybody that did it this year can you tell me how often it rained and was it mostly at night or during the day’s.  Thanks

Just Krusin said: They flew in and chartered with PBV, Pork Belly Ventures, considered by many to be the fanciest charter on the ride if not the most expensive on the ride.  One service they provide, for a fee of course, is to let you use one of their tents and they take it down and put it up in every overnight town for you, saves you the hassle of bringing a tent. Watch the forum because there will always be comments about how to ship your bike and to use a charter or not.  Your registration fee allows you to have your gear hauled on the Registers truck so this is about the cheapest way to go, not the most elloquent but doable.

PBV is the best charter on RAGBRAI! They transport bikes & bags in enclosed tractor trailers.  If you travel from the East side of USA, they will bus you from the end town to the start town prior to the ride. Tent rental rocks! I did it this year! I left my 2 bags inside the tent in the AM.  When I arrived at the overnight town, I discovered that the PBV magic gnomes had put up my tent and place my 2 bags inside my tent! You can’t go wrong with PBV! Want more info? 

http://www.pkbelly.com/

Brief shower in Glenwood saturday afternoon even though the tornado siren sounded we didn’t see any type of severe weather from where we were. Very short shower in Boone during the am while we ate breakfast (8:30 -9:00) a couple more very brief showere near Mitchilville. barely got the road wet.
we missed the heavy rains, Dubuque got 10-15 inches the night we were in Grinnell so heavy storms are possible.

Thanks all.  Just trying to do some fact finding.  Thinking hard about doing this next year but not to big on the rain.  I am in it enough here in Washington to know i don’t like it.  I would assume there that things dry quickly and that the rain is just in passing. Correct?

gageplate said: Thanks all.  Just trying to do some fact finding.  Thinking hard about doing this next year but not to big on the rain.  I am in it enough here in Washington to know i don’t like it.  I would assume there that things dry quickly and that the rain is just in passing. Correct?

Hah. In the humidity nothing dried quickly. I think there only two days I was able to dry things…Tuesday in Boone and Wednesday in Altoona. I had to sag into Boone so I had the time dry things all afternoon and our camp in Altoona was the driest spot in Iowa as far as I’m concerned.

Thanks Stat.  That’s the info.  i was looking for.  Do you think you would do it again? If your bags are moving, be sure to supply pictures with the next post :)