RAGBRAI® TRANSPORTATION
Updates
General Company Wide Updates
RAGBRAI Transportation Service Specific
Updates for the 2023 Season
6/4/16
- All locations announced for the RAGBRAI previous
and ending towns.
- Click
Here for more information about the
previous stopping town locations
- If you are using Pork
Belly Ventures during the week of
RAGBRAI you should still use them
to transport your baggage from the
previous town to th ending town and
DO NOT give us your baggage there
since we will both be set up at the
same location in the RAGBRAI ending
town anyways. Doing so will save
us a significant amount of work and
time departing the previous town,
ultimately helping to ensure a timely
departure from the ending town.
- If you are not using the
RAGBRAI baggage truck or Pork Belly
Ventures to transport your baggage
during the week of RAGBRAI we will
still be set up at Pork Belly Ventures
in the previous town to accept baggage
from you.
- Click
Here for more information about the
ending town locations.
- Supported routes in the RAGBRAI
ending town posted! Click
Here for
more information.
5/26/23
- We
are no longer accepting new registrations for
one way transportation due
to the limited number of seats
remaining. Click
Here to be added to
our waiting list.
- ROUND
TRIP TRANSPORTATION
IS STILL OPEN AND AVAILABLE!!!
5/9/23
- The price of parking in Davenport during the
week of RAGBRAI has been announced and we have
updated the comparative rates to
driving
yourself. Click
Here for more information.
4/6/23
- We will stop at the Pork Belly Ventures camping
location first in the RAGBRAI staring town since
their check in table closes at 8:00 pm and is not
open
all
night.
4/4/23
- Specific RAGBRAI Starting Town locations
announced including satellite imagery overlays
and GPS route dataset files. Click
Here for more information.
3/14/23
- Bicycle Transportation Services
- We will have two separate bicycle moving
crews transporting bicycles as part of our
new "standard" and "premium" bicycle
transportation services both before the start
and after the end of RAGBRAI.
- You must now let us know when you want
to pick up your bicycle in Chicago after
the end of RAGBRAI so that we can properly
stage and load bikes together as one group
in the RAGBRAI ending town.
- Click
Here for more information about our
bicycle transportation services.
- Standard Bicycle Transportation Service
- For our standard bicycle transportation
service you will drop off your bike with
us on the Friday before the start of
RAGBRAI as part of our pre-event bicycle
drop off service and pick it up on
the Sunday or Monday after the end of
RAGBRAI as part of our post-event bicycle
pick up service
at the Goose Island Brewery in Chicago.
- We strongly, strongly prefer that you
use our standard bicycle transportation
service. Doing so helps assure a much,
much quicker departure time for everyone
by significantly shifting and spreading
out the time it takes to check you in
and prepare and load your bicycle which
helps to assure timely arrival and departure
times, minimizes staff wear and tear,
and allows significantly more time to
overcome any problems that might come
up on the road. Accordingly, our standard
bicycle transportation services is included
with all registrations and there will
not be any additional fee.
- We can no longer accept any baggage
as part of our standard bicycle transportation
service in order to maximize space for
bicycles in our bicycle moving trucks.
Instead, all baggage must be transported
in the compartments underneath the coach
busses.
- Before the start of RAGBRAI
- If you drop off your bike with
us at our pre-event bicycle drop
off service on Friday it will be
waiting for you ready to pick up
immediately when you arrive at the
RAGBRAI starting town! This is because
after we finish loading all the bikes
we received that day one bicycle
moving crew will drive through the
night to the RAGBRAI starting town.
After they arrive there they will
unload all of the bikes onto our
bike racks at your desired drop off
location as appropriate and they
will be waiting there for you when
the coach busses arrive from Chicago!
- Bicycles will not be
stored overnight at Goose Island
Brewery any more before the
start of RAGBRAI.
- Click
Here for more information
about our standard bicycle transportation
service pre-event bicycle drop off
on the Friday before the start of
RAGBRAI
- After the end of RAGBRAI
- After our premium bicycle transportation
service crew has departed the RAGBRAI
ending town we will continue to load
all remaining bikes
as well as our equipment and supplies.
We will then drive through the night,
arrive back in Chicago early Sunday
morning, and unload all of the bikes
the Goose
Island Brewery where they will be
waiting for you to pick up on Sunday
or Monday.
- Click
Here for more information
about our standard bicycle transportation
service post-event bicycle pick
up on the Sunday or Monday after
the end of RAGBRAI
- Premium Bicycle Transportation Service
- For our premium bicycle transportation
service,
you can drop off your bike
with us on the Saturday morning before
the
start of RAGBRAI and/or pick it up on
the Saturday evening after the end of
RAGBRAI at the same staging location as
the coach busses at the Chicago hotel.
- You will almost definitely
need to wait for your bicycle to arrive
after the coach busses do since our bicycle
moving trucks travel much slower than
the coach busses and also must stop much
more frequently to get fuel.
- Because of the significant overall
logistic benefits our standard bicycle
transportation service provides, there
will be an additional fee for
our premium bicycle transportation service
of $15.00 before the start of RAGBRAI
and $35.00 after the end of RAGBRAI.
- Even if you are staying at the
Chicago hotel, you will still need
to register
and pay extra for our premium bicycle
transportation service to have your
bicycle loaded and/or unloaded there.
Otherwise you can still drop it off
and/or
pick
it up yourself as part of our standard
bicycle transportation service at
the Goose Brewery.
- There
will not be any additional fees
for our premium bicycle transportation
service for postponed participants
from 2020, but we would still REALLY
appreciate
it if you could use our standard
bicycle
transportation service instead!
- Before the start of RAGBRAI
- You must drop off your bicycle
with us
at the Chicago hotel at 6:30 am
Saturday morning in order to give
us enough time to get you checked
in and your bike loaded onto our
bicycle moving truck.
- The only way to definitely avoid
waiting for your bicycle to arrive
and be able to pick it up immediately
when you arrive at the RAGBRAI starting
town is to drop it off with us as
part of our standard bicycle transportation
service pre-event drop off on the
Friday before the start of RAGBRAI.
- Click
Here for more information
about our premium bicycle transportation
service on the Saturday morning
before the start of RAGBRAI.
- After the end of RAGBRAI
- Our premium bicycle transportation
service will depart the RAGBRAI ending
town first and drop off bicycles
at the Chicago hotel that Saturday
evening.
We will give priority to loading
all the bikes that are part of this
service
to make sure they arrive in Chicago
as soon as possible on Saturday evening.
You should register for this service
if you need your bicycle back in
Chicago
on Saturday evening such as if you
have a flight or train ride out of
Chicago
early Sunday morning.
- The Chicago hotel
has significantly more amenities
nearby and will be a much nicer
place to wait for your bicycle to
arrive on Saturday evening than the
area around
the Goose
Island Brewery.
- Click
Here for more information
about our premium bicycle transportation
service on the Saturday evening
after the end of RAGBRAI.
- Coach Busses
- In order to assure the fastest possible
departure and arrival times, all coach
busses will now
depart promptly after all participants
and their baggage have been loaded and
we have completed
our final head count. We will no longer
wait for any bikes to be loaded
as part of our premium bicycle transportation
service for the coach busses to depart.
- The Chicago hotel will now serve as the
staging point for all coach busses.
- All baggage will be staged and loaded/unloaded
only at the Chicago
hotel on the Saturday morning before
the start
of RAGBRAI and on the Saturday evening
after the end of RAGBRAI regardless of
which bicycle transportation service
you will
be
using (standard or premium). We
will no longer
load or unload any people or
baggage
at the Goose Island
Brewery at any time - we
will only load and
unload bicycles there as part of
our standard
bicycle transportation service.
- We will no longer
need to separately
pick up any bicycles at the Chicago
hotel
on the Saturday
morning before the start
of RAGBRAI which significantly frees
up our
staff and vehicles to assure a faster departure
time from
Chicago and arrival time
in the RAGBRAI starting town.
- In the RAGBRAI ending town all baggage
will be staged and loaded together and
we won't need to segregate any baggage
which significantly frees
up
our staff to assure a faster
departure
time
and arrival time in Chicago.
- Click
Here for more information about
people and baggage transportation services.
- Long term parking in Chicago during the week
of RAGBRAI
- Before the start of RAGBRAI:
- You will need to park your car
at the parking garage then and come
back over to the Chicago hotel on
your own before our arrival deadline
time of 8:00 am.
- We will no longer separately
pick up your bike ourselves directly
at the parking garage.
- If you are using our premium
bicycle transportation service
on the Saturday morning before
the start of RAGBRAI you will need
to drop off your bicycle with us
at the Chicago hotel at 6:30 am
before parking your car.
- For security we recommend transporting
your baggage with you from the
parking garage back to the Chicago
hotel and not leaving it with us
at the Chicago hotel until it is
loaded directly onto a coach bus
because our staff will not be able
to watch it.
- Doing so significantly frees
up our staff and vehicles to assure
a faster departure time from Chicago.
- Click
Here for more
information about long term parking
in Chicago before the start of
RAGBRAI.
- After the end of RAGBRAI:
- We will still drop off you (but
not your bike or baggage) at the
parking garage as our first stop
on our way into Chicago. You will
then need to pick up your car and
drive over to the Chicago hotel.
- We will no longer drop off your
bike or baggage directly at the
parking garage. You will need to
pick up your baggage and bicycle
(if applicable) if you are doing
the premium bicycle transportation
service at the Chicago hotel.
- Doing so allows us a significantly
faster departure time from the
end of RAGBRAI because we won't
need to segregate any bikes and
baggage to be dropped off at the
parking garage. It also allows
a faster arrival time in Chicago
because we also won't need to drop
off any bikes or baggage at the
parking garage.
- Click
Here for more
information about long term parking
in Chicago after the end of
RAGBRAI.
- Prices and registration
- Full registration for our 2023 RAGBRAI
Transportation Service is now open! Click
Here to register.
- Paper registration form posted. Click
Here for more information.
- Our full
price schedule has been announced and all
new participants must now pay the full
registration amount (initial deposits are
no longer being accepted). Click
Here for our full price schedule.
- We are now accepting the remaining amounts
due for participants who had initially registered
on an initial deposit basis through our online
registration form. Click
Here for more information.
3/9/23
- Due to a significant number of operational
changes we are working on implementing we have
extended the deadline until March 31st, 2023
(only for 2023) for
- Participants who previously registered
on an initial deposit basis who decide
- TO PARTICIPATE to remit their remaining
balance due to us
- NOT TO PARTICIPATE to request a
refund
- Reduced pricing and guaranteed seat availability
for postponed 2020 participants.
1/29/23
- RAGBRAI route announced! Starting, Overnight,
and Ending Town History updated. Click
Here for more information.
- We have updated the comparative rates to driving
yourself. Click Here for more information.
- We will announce our full pricing schedule
after we have received quotes back from our coach
bus companies for the 2023 route.
1/19/23
- If you register using a paper registration
form:
- You
can now submit your payment through Zelle.
- We no longer have incoming
fax service so you can't send us
a copy of your
completed form this way any more.
11/15/22
- We are now accepting registrations
on an initial deposit basis before our full price
schedule is announced so you can be guaranteed
a spot on our transportation service and guarantee
your personal plans as appropriate. Click
Here to register!
- After our full price schedule is announced,
all participants who registered on an initial
deposit basis must also provide additional
information about their
Personal Travel and Lodging plans. Click
Here for more information.
- One crew
will now depart Chicago on the Friday evening
after our standard bicycle transportation service
pre-event drop off, transporting
all the bikes we received that day. If you
drop off
your
bike
with us on
Friday your bike will be waiting for you ready
to pick up immediately when you arrive at the
RAGBRAI starting town! Click
Here for more information.
- We now have a Post-Event
Bicycle Pick Up as part of our standard
bicycle transportation service staging point
at the the Goose Island Brewery in Chicago
where you can pick up your bicycle on the Sunday
or
Monday after the
end
of RAGBRAI! Click
Here for more information.
- We will
be offering registration discounts to participants
who
drop off their bikes in Chicago on Friday instead
of Saturday morning before the start of RAGBRAI
in Chicago,
and pick them up in Chicago on Sunday or Monday
instead of Saturday
evening after the end of RAGBRAI as part of our
standard bicycle transportation service. Click
Here for more information.
11/14/22
- Web site updated with 2023 dates and information.
- Our transportation service from Chicago
to the start of RAGBRAI will occur
on Sat. July 22nd, 2023.
- Our transportation service from the
end of RAGBRAI to Chicago will occur
on Sat.
July 29th, 2023.
- Registration deadlines updated. Click
Here for more information.
- Information about the specific locations in
the starting and ending towns updated to general
information. The RAGBRAI starting and ending
towns will inform us of these specific locations
around May 1st and we will develop the specific
routes and provide more information about them
after this time.
- We have added "e-bike" as an additional
option for the type of bike you will
be transporting.
There will be an additional $30.00 fee to transport e-bikes each way. This is
because e-bikes
generally
require special
handling and care since they are are typically heavier and/or take up more room
in our vehicles than standard upright bicycles
and therefore cannot
be transported on any outside roof racks
and must be transported inside a support vehicle.
- The fee for bicycles that require special handling
and care (recumbents, e-bikes, tandems, etc.)
has increased $5.00 to
$30.00 each way.
- The late registration fee has increased by
$5.00 from $25.00 to $30.00 each way.
- Unfortunately we can no longer offer the RAGBRAI:
America's Favorite Bicycle Ride book for sale
due to supply chain issues.
- The price of all merchandise items has increased:
- The price of Bicycle Illinois jerseys has
increased by $10.00 from $79.99 to $89.99
ea.
- The price of Bicycle
Illinois water bottles
has increased by $2.00 from $9.99 to $11.99
ea.
- The price of Bicycle Illinois Baseball
Hats has increased by $2.00 from $15.99 to
$17.99 ea.
- The price of Extra Bicycle
Illinois has
increased by $2.00 from $14.99 to $16.99
ea.
- The additional price of oversized
t-shirts (size XXL and XXXL) are still
$2.00 extra.
- The price of Bicycle
Illinois Polo Shirts
has increased by $2.00 from $23.99 to $25.99
ea.
- The additional price of oversized
polo shirts (size XXL and XXXL) has
increased by $0.50 from $2.50 to $3.00
extra.
Major Previous RAGBRAI Transportation Service Specific Updates Arrival In and Departure From Chicago
- Due to previous conflicts with Lollapalooza we
have changed our supported hotel to the Crowne
Plaza Chicago West Loop from the Congress Plaza
Hotel. Click
Here for more information.
- The arrival deadline time in Chicago before
the start of RAGBRAI is now 8:00 am (30 minutes
later)
in order to better accomodate participants
arriving on several Metra train lines.
- We now offer a free pre-event
bicycle drop off service in Chicago on the
Friday before the start of RAGBRAI as part of
our standard bicycle transportation service! Click
Here for more information.
- We will only
be accepting and pre-loading bicycles
onto our moving trucks on
the Friday before the start of RAGBRAI
and no longer also on Thursday.
- We can now accept any bicycles
that require special handling and care
(recumbents, e-bikes, tandems, etc.)
- This opportunity is now available to
all participants and no longer limited
to the first 26 people.
- Our
standard bicycle
transportation service staging point will still
be at the Goose Island Brewery in
Chicago.
- The Goose Island Brewery
is still easily amenable to the CTA L Green
and Pink line trains
but is
further
from the downtown Metra train stations. If you
will be travelling using Metra, it may be significantly
easier and faster to travel from the Metra train
station to the standard
bicycle transportation service staging point
at the Goose Island Brewery using a CTA L
train or taxicab instead of walking
the
entire
way
with your
bike
and/or
baggage.
We also strongly recommend dropping off your
bicycle and baggage before the start of RAGBRAI
as part of our Pre-Event Bicycle
Drop
Off
Service and
picking up your bicycle after
the end of RAGBRAI as part of our Post-Event
Bicycle Pick Up
Service to make
your
commute even easier.
- Click
Here for more
information about walking and
travelling using
a CTA L train of taxicab from
the Metra Train Stations to
the standard
bicycle transportation service staging point
at the Goose Island Brewery.
- Click
Here for more
information our standard bicycle
transportation service pre-event
bicycle drop off on the Friday
before RAGBRAI.
- Click
Here for more information
our standard bicycle
transportation service post-event
bicycle pick up on the Sunday or Monday
after the end of RAGBRAI.
Parking in Chicago
- If you are planning on parking your car
in Chicago long term you should purchase
your parking reservation online before
you arrive. Doing this is actually less expensive
than the posted rates at the garage
and significantly
helps assure a timely departure from
Chicago. Click
Here for more information.
- If you want to pay directly at the Chicago
parking garage, the kiosk there now automatically
calculates and charges you the total amount
owed after you leave based on the ticket
you received when you entered. It no longer
only issues tickets for the current day one
at a time. You no longer need to purchase
enough single day tickets that total to the
correct amount due for the total amount of
time you will leave your car parked there
in advance or leave all the tickets clearly
displayed on your dashboard so the garage
staff knows you have paid. Click
Here for more information.
- Sadly, the Live Grit
triathlon shop went out of business and we
are no longer able to use them as a transportation
staging point or bike shop in Chicago.
- The Metra Electric
District (MED) trains to 93rd St. and
Blue Island now departs downtown after
our
latest possible actual arrival time in Chicago
after the end of RAGBRAI. You will not need
to make alternate transportation arrangements
if you were planning on taking these trains.
- We will determine the order in which we load
bicycles in Chicago depending on what makes
the most sense based on where our drop off locations
in the RAGBRAI starting town end up being.
Bicycle and Baggage Transportation
- We now use two separate different colored
identification tags to quickly and easily identify
and properly
stage and load bikes to be delivered
to the different drop off locations at the start
of RAGBRAI and the different drop off times and
locations in Chicago after the end of RAGBRAI.
We do not require you to put
identification tags on your baggage or yourself. Click
Here for more information.
- Not including carry on items, the size of each
participant's baggage must be limited to 5 square
feet so all baggage can fit in the baggage compartments
underneath the coach bus. Click
Here for more information.
- We will load
all baggage going to the same drop off location
in the RAGBRAI starting town as one group in
separate bus compartments so that we can quickly
and easily
unload them
together. We will also have signs posted on each
coach bus baggage compartment door so you know
the appropriate place to stow your baggage and
these signs will also be color coded to match
the color of the identification tags on your
bicycle. Click
Here for more information.
Travel Times
- The duration of our mid-route stop and lunch
from Chicago to the start of RAGBRAI has increased
to one hour from 45 minutes. Click
Here for more information.
- All actual and estimated travel times of the
coach busses have been updated based on previous
experience. Click
Here for more information about
the travel time from Chicago to the start of
RAGBRAI. Click
Here for more information about
the travel time from the end of RAGBRAI to Chicago.
- We will now list the actual and estimated travel
times of the premium bicycle transportation service
based on previous
experience.
Departure from the RAGBRAI Ending Town
- We now have baggage
pick up locations on the Saturday morning
in the previous stopping
town before the RAGBRAI ending town at both the
RAGBRAI baggage truck and also the Pork Belly
Ventures camping location. Depending on your
personal plans it may be much, much easier for
you to deliver
your baggage to us at one of those locations
rather than transporting it yourself in the ending
town, particularly if our transportation staging
point at the end of RAGBRAI is significantly
far away from the RAGBRAI main baggage drop off
or
Pork
Belly
Ventures. Click
Here for more information.
- We will no longer indicate our route to our
transportation staging point in the RAGBRAI ending
town by using painted road markings designated
with "BI" directly on the road. You
will need to rely on our paper cue sheet(s) and
map and/or the downloaded GPS routes instead.
- We will arrive in the RAGBRAI ending town as
early as possible so you have a secure, dry
place to leave your bicycle and baggage and also
to prevent us
from rushing to quickly load everyone's
bicycles and baggage all at the same time. We
will inform
you of our planned arrival time in
the ending town after May 1st.
- The .pdf file of the cue sheet and map of the
route from the RAGBRAI ending location and dip
site to our transportation staging point in the
RAGBRAI ending town will be posted on the bicycleillinois.com
home page and our RAGBRAI transportation service
home page for you to download onto your smartphone
in case your paper copy gets lost or destroyed
during the week of RAGBRAI.
Registration
- Registration for RAGBRAI is now based
on a first-come, first-served basis and
no longer
utilizes a lottery system. Accordingly, we now
accept registrations on an initial deposit basis
before the RAGBRAI route and our full price schedule
is announced. This way you can be guaranteed
a spot on our transportation service immediately
after you initially register for RAGBRAI itself
and guarantee your personal plans as appropriate.
Click
Here for more information.
- Click
Here for the price schedule
for our initial deposits.
- In order to assure that we receive all
of your information and payment in a timely
manner due to laspes in mail service all
registrations using initial deposits (both
before and after our full pricing schedule
is announced) must be done online.
- Regardless of when we announce our final
pricing schedule, March 15th will be the
deadline for previously registered participants
who decide
- TO PARTICIPATE to remit their
remaining balance due to us
- DECIDE NOT TO PARTICIPATE to request
a refund
- If (and only if) you had originally registered
for our RAGBRAI Transportation Service
in 2020 and have not already re-registered
for one of our events, we will honor the
original rates for our RAGBRAI Transportation
Service from 2020 for you and also guarantee
you a seat until
11:59 pm CST March 15th every year until
you use your credit amount through a special,
additional access code for online registration.
After 12:00 am CST on March 16th, you can
still use your credit amount to register,
but you will need to pay the difference
between the rates from 2020 and the current
year. Click
Here for more information.
- No refunds will be issued in the event we
are unable to run an event due to circumstances
beyond our control. These circumstances include
but are not limited to disasters (natural and/or
manmade), pandemics, war, acts of terrorism,
government regulations, strikes, civil disorder,
curtailment of transportation facilities, or
acts of God. (Force Majure)
- Only online registration will be available
after regular registration closes four weeks
before the start of RAGBRAI in order to assure
that we receive all of your information and payment
in a timely manner due to laspes in mail service. Click
Here for more information.
- In order to maintain a current accurate list
of available seats and assure that we receive
all of your information and payment in a timely
manner due to laspes in mail service all registrations
must now be done online:
- After regular registration closes
- Once only ten seats remain on either
bus
- We have listed our prices from the previous
year for reference so you can get an estimate
of
what our prices will be for the current year
before
the RAGBRAI starting and ending towns are announced
and plan your budget. Click
Here for more information.
- WE
NO LONGER ISSUE ANY REFUNDS AT ANY TIME FOR
ANY REASON. If you do not
participate and would like a refund you
MUST purchase an individual travel insurance
plan, which will reimburse you
according to the plan coverage. Click
Here for more information about
our refund policy.
Other Event Services
- We are extremely excited to announce that we have
now partnered with Pork Belly Ventures to provide
charter services during the week of RAGBRAI. Click
Here for more information.
- We are sad to announce that Bubba will no longer
be offering his charter services during the
week of RAGBRAI at all any more. We wish Bubba
and
his crew all the best in their future endeavors,
and appreciate their support through all
the years. Best of luck to you guys!!!!!!
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