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Dear Porkers,
First, a word from Charles Darwin to the first-timers
among you, our RAGBRAI virgins. "I love fools'
experiments," Darwin once said. "I am always making
them." You, too, are about to make a fool's experiment
that may change your life. Regardless of what you've
been imagining from afar, know that during your week in the
corn, you'll work harder, eat more heartily, enjoy more
fellowship, sleep more deeply, apply more sunscreen, walk
further to the toilet, take in more sensory data, shower more
publicly, and feel a greater sense of gratitude and
contentment than you have in all your years to date. You
will lower your expectations to new depths, so that no matter
what happens, you're having an absolute blast. At the
end of RAGBRAI, when you return to whence you came, a friend
will notice the glow that surrounds you and ask, "What
happened to you back there?" You'll gaze past his
shoulder at some ethereal cornfield of your imagination and
murmur, "I learned how to live like a pig."
We'll all learn it again, even if we learned it last
year. Soon, we will publish the Pork Belly Creed, which
is your oath to learn it well. But for now, this is your
June Letter, the Pork Belly Bible, your [almost] comprehensive
guide to what to know and do before, during, and after
RAGBRAI. AN ESSENTIAL PART OF LIVING LIKE PIGS IS
READING YOUR JUNE LETTER, and we've tried to structure it so
that you can recognize what's relevant to you and skip what
isn't. It's so important to us that you read this
letter, Porkers, that we will make it available at
www.pkbelly.com so that you can read it over anytime prior to
RAGBRAI. When we send email updates, we sometimes have
delivery problems out there on your end; bounces, spam
filters, and full mailboxes keep you from getting
things. So if you have Pork Fellows coming with you, do
some checking among yourselves and make sure everybody gets
this letter or knows that it's available at our website.
For handy reference, you may wish to save this email to your
hard drive, print it, and carry it to Iowa. Read and
heed, let us know if you have questions, and settle into the
Pork groove well before you come to Iowa. Living like
pigs is one thing; looking like fools is another. Read
your June Letter to avoid embarrassing yourself. Here we
go!
SPECIAL NOTE
TO VETERANS: to
you veterans who are pretty familiar with these contents,
please notice some significant changes. Bike shipping
has changed, so take a look under the special section entitled
"Shipping Your Bike to and from RAGBRAI/PBV." This year,
we will issue Pork Wristbands, Pork Bag Tags, and Pork Cups,
so see that topic under "The Week with PBV."
EAST/WEST SHUTTLE
On the 18th
and 19th, everything in Le Claire is located in one
area: parking, camping, food, and bus-staging
areas. Go to the Le Claire Iowa Welcome Center above the
Mississippi River at Le Claire
. At the Le Claire website, you can download a good
map. If you haven't done it, download your parking form
and get your fee sent in Le Claire
long-term parking form. Our e/w crew, headed by Dave
Kennedy and Martina Werner, will be available to load bikes on
Friday evening, the 18th, from about 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., a
little longer if necessary. They won't be tough to
spot: they're the ones with two semi-trailers outfitted
for hanging unboxed bikes. It's a good idea to use the
Friday night 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, and please label your bike with
your name before handing it over. Please don't leave
your bike unattended: wait with it until one of our crew can
take it from you. Please don't climb into the bed of the
truck, just hand your bike up. [See section on
Protecting Your Bike for Truck
Transport.]
On Saturday
morning, June 19th, bike loading resumes at 6:00 a.m. In
early July, we will send out bus rosters with seat assignments
to make it easier and quicker for you to claim seats and for
our crew to do roll call. Buses will stage by 7:30 and
depart promptly at 8:00. Even though everything is
located pretty much together, allow time for dropping off your
stuff, parking your car, loading your bike, getting breakfast,
placing your bags in the compartments under a bus, and
claiming a seat on your assigned bus by 7:45. We roll at
8:00 sharp. Our coaches are restroom-equipped and very
comfortable. You'll make a meal stop and arrive Missouri
Valley by about 2:00 p.m.
OMAHA to MISSOURI
VALLEY
Omaha Airport
Hotels This section is for those of you gathering on
Iowa's west coast. If you don't yet have a reservation,
here is a brief summary of the airport hotels to
try.
La Quinta Inn and Suites: we have
large blocks on 7/18 and 7/26, but they're full on both days
except for a few suites at $149 on the 18th only.
However, rooms sometimes open up, and you could get
lucky! This is still the most convenient hotel for
Porkers, because all of our buses will depart from and return
to La Quinta. So give them a try at 712-347-6595 and
mention Pork Belly Ventures for our discounted rate of $99.00
per night.
Holiday Inn Express, across
the street from La Quinta. Full on the 26th, several
rooms available on the 18th. But again, you can hope for
a cancellation and try. That phone number is
402-505-4900. Mention our name for the rate of $109.
Country Inn & Suites, within walking
distance of La Quinta. We have a small block on the
26th, a few still available at this writing. $99.
Dial 800-456-4000 and ask for the "RAGBRAI" rooms at Country
Inn & Suites in Carter Lake, Iowa. Yes, Carter Lake
is on the Nebraska side of the river.
Sleep Inn,
402-342-2525. We don't have a block, but it's also close
to La Quinta, within view. At this writing, they have
rooms available on Friday, the 18th, and Saturday, the
26th.
Super 8 Motel, 712-347-5588. No PBV
block, further from La Quinta, but closer to the
airport. Their computers are down at this writing, but
you can try them.
Many hotels in the downtown Omaha
have airport shuttles. You might check online for the
Marriott Courtyard, Hampton Inn, and Embassy Suites.
The Omaha Airport La Quinta Inn and
Suites is our primary hotel. All PBV buses will
depart from La Quinta on Saturday, the 19th, and all PBV buses
will return to La Quinta on Saturday evening, the
26th. If you are at a hotel other than La Quinta,
we suggest that you check with them about access to their
shuttles for help to and from La Quinta. Also, if you
are not spending at least one night at La Quinta, you will
need to make your own arrangements for parking a car in the
airport area. Most hotels have parking options
available.
La Quinta Weeklong
Parking If you are staying at least one night
at La Quinta, here is your long-term parking option, which
should be arranged by you at the hotel's front
desk.
1) Parking at Stewart's
Airport Parking outside for $3.25 per night-valet available
from hotel.
2) Parking at Stewart's
Airport Parking inside for $4.25 per night-valet available
from hotel.
Hotel management assures us that these
options are relatively secure. The Stewart's lots are
patrolled enclosed and patrolled regularly. Note that the
hotel will not allow weeklong parking onsite this year, so
please ALLOW TIME TO ARRANGE PARKING at the front desk before
boarding your bus. Be on time.
Bus
Transportation from Omaha to Missouri Valley
Many of you have already provided your arrival info. If
you haven't or if things have changed, I, Tammy, need info by
June 18th. At the end of this letter, you'll find a list
of questions you should answer in an email to Tammypav@aol.com . Even if you can
only send part of the information now, please do. NO
NEED TO RE-SEND IT if you already have. Rather than log
in at pkbelly.com, you can simply email me with your arrival
information. See the questions at the end of this email,
and answer as many as you can by June 18th.
Until I
have most of this information, I won't establish firm bus
departure times, but here's how it looks right now.
We'll probably have two 9:00ish buses on Saturday morning,
July 19th, and a couple of mid-morning departures, too.
After that, it all depends on arrivals, and we'll send the
buses north as they fill (I'll try to minimize waiting
around). Our last bus rolls for Missouri Valley at 4:30 p.m.,
so try to arrive at La Quinta at least by 3:30. As
usual, I'll be sending out rosters by email later this month,
especially for those on morning buses, so you'll know to what
bus you are assigned.
Your bags 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, pg. XX.] You're welcome to take food and
drink on the buses, and there's a convenience store and a
Subway near La Quinta and Holiday Inn. We use very
comfortable coaches, restroom-equipped and air-conditioned-a
short ride to Mo Valley and our campsite, very near the Bike
Expo.
At the Omaha Airport
If you fly into Omaha on Friday (7/18), catch the free
shuttle to your hotel. By about 7:30 Saturday morning,
we'll be set up outside on the shady west side of La
Quinta. If you're flying into Omaha on Saturday
(7/19), our crew, wearing Pork shirts and carrying pig signs,
will meet you at baggage claim or on the sidewalk outside the
airport terminal. During busy times, we hope to have
crew inside and outside the airport to direct you. Our
vehicles (vans, cars, pickups), using the commercial vehicle
lane, will have pink pig signs in the windows. Watch for
our crew, so they can get you to La Quinta as quickly as
possible. If you have a short waiting period for your
bus, you can hang out in the hotel lobby (a/c, tv, and vending
machines).
NOTE: If your plans change on
Saturday, or if your flight is delayed, CALL
ME. La Quinta front desk is 712/347-6595
and my cell phone number is 808/375-8921. If you don't
show, the crew will be searching for you, going back to the
terminal again and again. Please do us the courtesy of
calling. Thanks.
THE WEEK WITH
PBV
What Does PBV Expect
of You? Handle. Deal. Roll with
it. That's what it means to Live Like a Pig. It
means that you can go so low on your expectations that you'll
not only never be disappointed, but you'll laugh off stuff on
RAGBRAI that might annoy the heck out of you in real life.
Pigs turn a hard day's ride into a good story. When a
friend could use a belly laugh, they can sense it, and they're
always courteous to the PBV crew, the hardest working people
on this entire ride. They enjoy themselves, even if
they're keeping their voice to a whisper before 5:00 a.m. and
after 10:00 p.m. Contrary to popular opinion, pigs are
clean. They hand their trash to our picker-uppers every
morning as they break camp, and if the picker-uppers aren't in
their neighborhood, they throw their rubbish in the bin
themselves, because PBV leaves every campsite at least as
clean as we found it. In short, tune in to your
contented inner pig, enjoy the landscapes and people of Iowa,
and let this crazy week wash over you like mud.
Pork Wristbands, Baggage Tags, and Pork
Cups This year, you'll each claim your Pork Wristband
and Baggage Tags, two per person, from our front desk on
arrival in Missouri Valley. We'll make it easy and
remind you again in an update, but 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. As you know, we'll be serving Boulevard by the
keg, and each of you will get a special Pork Cup. This
is partly our attempt at going a little more green, to avoid
putting so many plastic cups into the trash, and it's partly
an attempt to make sure we are serving only those in our
group. Boulevard-lovers, please keep track of your Pork
Cups. Wash them up over at the Thingy, which is not clean
really, but RAGBRAI-clean.
Trucks Roll Daily at 7:00 Sharp All
bags must be on our trucks by 7:00 a.m., when our first
caravan rambles on to the next host town. Even those of
you renting tents must abandon them by 7:00, because those
tents are coming down! Take our word for it, we don't
wait. RAGBRAI is a land-grab, and we have to lay claim
to our campsite down the road. 7:00!
How
to Find Us Each Day Like last year, we'll be
sending directions to each of you by email for our campsites
during the week of RAGBRAI, and we predict that a lot of you
will laminate them and carry them on the bike, a good
idea! Still, we will also post our pink pig signs
daily. 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. As a last resort (or a first
one), 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.
Pork Nights Ho, boy, we got
some good stuff planned, and we've had lots of great responses
from you guys to our recent update about our week together,
an Iowa Sampler of Americana
experiences. We'll start with a delicious
church supper in Harlan, provided by the
folks of Immanuel Lutheran Church-then our evening ice-breaker
party featuring The Blue Band of RAGBRAI
fame. Other festivities on the calendar: a
Little League Exhibition Game in Jefferson, a couple
of Back-of-the-Truck Cocktail Parties
(something in the blender, Don't-Waste-My-Time Bloody Marys,
rum-and-something). Next, our Magic Wednesday
Night, with a delicious, optional Chop
Dinner prepared by Matt, the famous Son of the famous
Pork Chop Man, and musical entertainment from The
Elders, the most arse-kickin' Irish band this side of
the Atlantic!! We'll have a quiet night or two. Pour a
cold Boulevard, pull up a chair, lie back in the grass and
check out the fireflies. Thursday is our
traditional Sizzle, a leisurely PBV cook-out.
We'll get the coals hot, and buy a selection of meats for the
grill. We'll provide a couple of side dishes and furnish
plates, forks and all the rest. Rex, Harvey, Mike, and
the boys will help you spread out your grub on our monster
grills. On Friday, we're working on a couple of
surprises for you, which we won't spoil. Expect
a fine Pork Farewell at the Tipton Fairgrounds.
We want you to have a good time exploring your RAGBRAI host
towns and supporting their food and drink venders, but please
know that the events you attend with us benefit them too, as
we will pay vender fees and purchase food and supplies locally
wherever we go. RAGBRAI is all about our
hosts!
Check the Board First
Thing When you ride into camp, make a habit of
checking our Announcement Board for useful info, like where
showers and kybos are located, what's happening in camp
tonight, and whether or not Mick is available (he usually
is). If you still have a question or need help with
something, ask our friendly front-desk staff: Martina,
Lori, Kim, and Karen.
Baggage
Limit You get two bag tags, so
plan on two duffels total, with tent and sleeping bag enclosed
inside. 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 empathetic
and pack like a pig! We're buying even more
chairs. Please don't bring any camping furniture or
coolers. Those Rubbermaid tubs don't hold up so well,
nor do structured suitcases. A soft duffel bag is your
best bet, and you might slip the tent and sleeping bag into an
inexpensive nylon bag. 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.
No Good
Stuff RAGBRAI beats the heck out of
stuff. No jewelry, good luggage, good clothes, good
anything. Don't bring a laptop, and in fact, think about
the value of your expensive electronics and consider leaving
them behind. Bottom line: if you like it, leave it
home.
Optional Tent Rental and Daily
Set-Up If you signed up for a tent, expect a
special update from us before too long. For now,
remember that you'll check in at our front desk in Missouri
Valley to learn your address in Tent City. We'll put a
note inside your tent in Missouri Valley, so do read that
reminder of what we expect from you regarding the care of our
tents. For those of you on the tent waiting list, we
still have more than a month to go, and we'll let you know if
a tent becomes
available.
Sagging You
need to be prepared to ride the whole dang thing. We'll
have a few passenger seats for infirm or injured
Porkers. Can't carry you for days in a row, sorry.
Official sag vehicles do roam up and down the
route.
The Juice Thingy and Other
Thingys The huge phone-charging station that
Dad built last year has over a hundred outlets. It will
be plugged into a generator every day (except the last
Saturday) until 10:00 p.m. The big charger is great for
phones and rechargeable lights and fans, but you probably
shouldn't plug in any expensive electronic items where they
aren't under constantly watchful eyes. So we're setting up a
special 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 definitely WON'T have a hundred
outlets. More like a dozen, so you'll have to be patient
and take turns. We'll figure out some secure way of checking
the expensive items in and out. 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. Claim
everything from both chargers by 10:00 p.m. Whatever is
still on a charger at 10:00 p.m. will be locked up till
morning. As for other Thingys, Pete can't leave that Shower
Thingy alone, and he's tweaking it a little more for this
year's parade of public Pork bathers. He's also building
that Pump Thingy, an air compressor with a manifold and
pressure regulator to make inflating your bike tires easier
and quicker. Who knows what other Thingy-blueprints are
taking shape in his head!
Lost
Property If you leave the ride early, don't
leave anything with us. Be sure the bag you drag into
your tent is your own. Overnight, tuck your bike into
your tent, lock it to something stationary, or lock a few
bikes together. Don't make the mistake of tossing
your bags onto the truck of some neighboring charter--- this
leads to head-scratching in the afternoon. We'll always
have crew, wearing crew shirts, on the trucks, and you'll get
to know them. If in doubt, ask "Is this a Pork
Truck?" Try our lost-and-found box at the very end of
the equipment truck (you can reach it without climbing on the
truck). You might see if something has been turned in at the
front desk. And finally, if you do bring expensive
electronic devices to Iowa, there will be a special, secure
charging station available; however, we are not responsible
for anything you plug in at the big Juice Thingy or anything
you give us to plug in at the special Juice Thingy. You
are responsible for your property. We are
not.
Pork Pride Days Most
RAGBRAI teams select a day to wear team jerseys and/or
t-shirts. We do laundry mid-week, so Pork Pride Days
will be the first and last days of the week, Sunday and
Saturday. Be a Proud Porker! (More to come on
laundry, shirts, and jerseys.)
Description of
Weeklong Support This is in our invitation
letter, so in the interest of succinctness, we didn't include
it here. Take a look at our website for what is included
in our weeklong support, or most of it anyway. We've
added some stuff, and we think you'll be pleasantly surprised
in
July.
JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH
FOUNDATION
Ever since our niece Sara
was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, we have tried to do all we
can for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This
is a conscientious and efficient charity, and contributions go
straight to research. We offer some fun ways for you to
help. All or a portion of the proceeds from the
following efforts will go to JDRF.
Cookies for a Cure Our
sister Lori and her friends and neighbors are baking up a
storm. While they last, her big, wonderful cookies
will be available at the front desk. When you come into
camp depleted or with low blood sugar, treat yourself to
a Cookie for a Cure.
Midweek Laundry
Service Last year we dominated two big laudromats,
handled around 400 disgusting loads of sweaty clothes and
stinky towels, and gave it all back neatly folded and freshly
fragrant. Sign up by Tuesday evening to have your wash
done on Wednesday. You can sign up at La Quinta on
Saturday, if you like. $15 per tall kitchen bag, and
you're helping a good cause! (By the way, you can mark
your laundry tag with something like "Don't Dry Lycra," and
we'll put the clean, damp cycling clothes in a separate bag
for you.)
Silent Auction We'll have
the coolest, most desirable items we can come up with for the
auction. The hotel rooms we've reserved on the route are
a big hit. Yes, the winner could leave that tent on the
truck and have his/her own private bathroom, with flushing
porcelain toilet. A television! A bed! Pork
Limo service to and from. We'll probably offer
champagne/massage packages, art by an Iowa artist, free tent
service from PBV in 2009, and more. Bid at our Silent
Auction and help
JDRF.
LAST DAY OF
RAGBRAI
When You Hit Le
Claire On the final day, you will follow the maps,
directions, and signs to us as usual. We will be at the
Iowa Welcome Center, near the long term parking, just like we
were at the beginning of the week. You may want to come
straight to us, or you might take part in the tradition of
dipping your front tire in the Mighty Mississippi.
There'll be a big, tempting party at the river, so exercise
self-control, please. Keep your clothes on and don't get
too crazy yet. First, ride on over to our staging area
near the Welcome Center where you'll finish up a few final
chores before celebrating.
Once you reach PBV camp, do
these things in order of priority, and do them by 3:00 at the
latest: 1) if you're on our buses to Omaha, check in
with our front desk girls so we know you are in from the road;
2) prepare your bike for our truck 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 designated for crew appreciation; 5)
shower, eat, dance, drink; 6) board a bus by 3:15 so we can
roll at 3:30. When you leave Tipton on Saturday morning,
remember that this to-do list is waiting for you in Le
Claire. Plan your day so that you have time for
everything.
Shipping Bikes
Home Please see the special section entitled
"Shipping Bikes to and from RAGBRAI/PBV." We will
publish a special update about shipping within the next week,
with all details. For now, you should know that RAGBRAI
has decided to use FedEx for shipping, as Pork Belly Ventures
did last year, so we are participating in their bike-shipping
plan, with some special arrangements for the members of
PBV. Their and our FedEx contact has arranged for
RAGBRAIers to ship bikes home for a flat rate of $40.
Yes, $40. In addition to the FedEx station near the
tire-dipping site on the river, RAGBRAI has arranged a second
shipping station at our campsite. 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 Le
Claire on the 26th. Our bike mechanics will help you get
bikes ready to ship until about 2:30 on Saturday, the
26th. You should get the bike-boxing process as far
along as possible, and then take it over to the PBV bike guys
for final assistance. (Expect an update from our
mechanics in July.) For details about the pre-paid
flat-rate stickers from FedEx and about insuring your bike
during transport, please see the special section entitled
"Shipping Bikes to and from RAGBRAI/PBV."
Return Bus to Omaha Buses will
stage at 3:00 and roll at 3:30. Place your bags under a
bus and claim a seat. You're welcome to bring snacks and
drinks on the bus. We'll make a snack stop along the way
and arrive in Omaha at La Quinta Inn and Suites by 11:00 p.m.,
give or take. Most of our crew will be driving trucks
and vans across the state, but we will be at La Quinta to say
goodbye. If you are staying at another hotel, you should
arrange the transfer with their shuttle. All bags and
bikes will be unloaded at La Quinta on the evening of the
26th. Please don't forget to claim your bike before
heading off to your hotel or hotel room---we can't be
responsible for it.
If we're
saying farewell in Le Clair, remember to claim your
bags before we take off at 3:30. Otherwise, your duffel
is sitting in the middle of a parking
lot.
SHIPPING BIKES TO AND FROM
RAGBRAI/PBV
We will publish a more complete
special update about shipping within the next
week.
FedEx, To and From
RAGBRAI has decided to use FedEx for shipping, as Pork Belly
Ventures did last year, so we are throwing our support their
way and participating in their bike-shipping plan, with
special arrangements for the members of PBV. If you are
shipping to PBV prior to RAGBRAI or from PBV at the end of
RAGBRAI, FedEx is your shipper.
Dates and
Address for Shipping To Iowa Although all other
RAGBRAIers will ship to an address in Grimes, Iowa, Porkers
will ship to a separate FedEx location in our hometown,
Council Bluffs, Iowa. Your shipped bikes will be stored
in a secure commercial building rather than a residence-safer,
we believe. FedEx will accept the bikes between Monday, Jul
14th, and Friday, July 18th, but we strongly suggest that you
allow at least a one-day buffer and plan for your bike to
arrive no later than Thursday, July 17th. Each
individual will be able to track his/her bike and know when it
has arrived. Pork Belly Ventures will pick up all PBV
bikes on Friday, the 18th, and transport them for you to our
Missouri Valley campsite, where they will be waiting for
you.
NEW Address for Shipping to PBV in Council
Bluffs:
Pork Belly Ventures/RAGBRAI
[Rider's
Name]
4406 South 19th Street
Council Bluffs, IA
51501
(It's not necessary to put any note on
the box about assembly, as your bikes will be taken to
Missouri Valley in their shipping
boxes.)
Flat-Rate Shipping from Le
Claire To avoid having bike-shippers in Le
Claire stand in long lines as they have in the past, FedEx
flat-rate labels will be available for $40 at the Expo and all
week at the FedEx booth in each host town. See our
complete upcoming email for further information about the flat
rate labels, the flat-rate oversize label, shipping insurance,
and other details. Lots of people from FedEx, from
RAGBRAI, and from a third-party insurance provider are working
hard on this, but they're still a few days away from having
all the details worked out.
Insuring
Your Bike During Shipping Again, we're just a
few days away. An insurance provider is working on a
simple two-tiered price structure for bikes shipped to or from
RABRAI. Hang on.
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. Keep bike parts from poking through the bottom of
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 your hubs 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.)
Once More, Please. What Are
Your Shipping Plans? Whether or not you indicated
earlier that you would be shipping, we'll need to ask you
again about your plans. You may want to wait a few more
days until we send you complete details on bike shipping and
insuring your bike. Thanks for your patience with this
part of our June Letter, Porkers. We have been trying to
gather this info, but there are several parties involved, and
it's taking a while. We didn't want to delay your June
Letter any further. We hope this information is useful
to you for now, but we'll get you further details as soon as
we
can.
BETWEEN NOW AND
RAGBRAI
Summer Contact with
PBV Tammy's permanent Iowa home phone number is now
712/328-0161, and although we may visit
Honolulu in the RAGBRAI off-season, you can toss my Honolulu
home number. Pete is at 712/328-6836.
SEND PAYMENT Call or email if
you're one of a handful who haven't. Our mailing address
is PBV LLC, 412 Forest Glen Drive, Council Bluffs, Iowa
51503. Either of us can tell you the balance
due. PBV Jerseys, T-Shirts, and Hooded
Sweatshirts Thanks to those of you who have ordered
Pork Apparel, and we have turned in those orders to our
suppliers. We'll ship soon, so if you haven't sent
payment, please do. You can email us to find out your
balance due. These "Pass the Corn" jerseys are really
fun. We won't have our extras for
long. Special Note on Hooded
Sweatshirts We weren't happy with the weight
and quality of the sweatshirt with the side pockets, so we
ditched that one and bought a much nicer, heavier, better
desert-washed one in a lighter green color called "Palm" with
the typical muff-pocket on the front. Then we had to
make a very slight change to the artwork on the front because
of the muff-pocket. If you bought a sweatshirt and you
don't like our changes, keep it clean, bring it back, and
we'll refund you. We only have about a dozen available
for sale. Email
Updates As ever, if you or your friend finds that
you're not getting our updates, write to petephillips@cox.net to get on our
database. Especially in July, we want to be able to
reach you with directions, Omaha bus departure times, and
other Pork matters. Pork Belly Ventures' Cancellation Policy
Prior to this Wednesday, June 18th, if you
cancel all or part of the services or merchandise you have
reserved with Pork Belly Ventures, we will refund all but 10%
of the value of those services and the merchandise you have
reserved. On or after June 18th, we will make no
refund. We may be able to help you sell your wristband,
though. See next question.
You and Only
You Can Use Your PBV Spot Your registration
with Pork Belly Ventures is not transferable. Don't buy
your spot on our charter from anyone but us. If you see us
offered on e-Bay or on some bulletin board, don't bid.
We won't honor the
purchase.
PREPARING/PROTECTING
YOUR BIKE FOR TRUCK TRANSPORT
Yes, we
already sent this in email Update #12, but we want the June
Letter to be as close as possible to your complete guide to
PBV. Here it is again.
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 Missouri Valley
for getting the bike out of the box and ready to
ride.
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 19th East/West Shuttle will bring unboxed bikes to
Le Claire for transport on our trucks. Consequently, our two
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. In our Ryder or Penske trucks, we'll have
space for boxed bikes, tandems, recumbents, etc.
If you
fly your bike to Omaha, please do not take it out of the box
until we've trucked it to Missouri Valley. 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 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.
At the end of RAGBRAI, we'll have a semi
outfitted to hang unboxed bikes, and smaller trucks 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.
We've kept you reading a long time,
Porkers, and usually at this point, we would introduce you to
our crew members and family. We have a bigger crew than
ever, and some of the youngest members of our family are now
old enough to work at least part of the week! So how
about we save "Meet Our Crew" for another update. Again,
please hang onto your June Letter and refer to it as you
prepare for your trip to Iowa.
This thing you're doing
in July? You might not realize that a fool's experiment
can become a big part of your evolution. "It is not the
strongest of the species that survives," Darwin said, "nor the
most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most
adaptable to change." And that's the thing about living
like pigs. We often say that RAGBRAI wrings out the best
in everyone. But it wrings us out a little differently
every year. Living like a pig this July may give you a
steeper hill to climb, a bumpier mile to cover, a new reason
to laugh at yourself. As pigs, we just keep
evolving. Into what, you may ask. Better
pigs.
Until then, we remain your
friends,
Tammy (Phillips)
Pavich
Pete Phillips
712/328-0161
712/328-6836
tammypav@aol.com
petephillips@cox.net
FINAL INFO FOR PBV, DUE 6/18 IF
POSSIBLE
Include your first and last name,
please and answer any of the following questions that apply to
you and that you have not answered already in your Pork Belly
registration. Email your info to tammypav@aol.com .
For
everyone:
o What is your
RAGBRAI Wristband Number?
For those meeting us in
Omaha:
o Flying or
driving?
o What day will you
arrive in Omaha, Friday or Saturday, the 18th or
19th?
o If you arrive Saturday,
what time do you arrive?
o
Airline and flight number, if
applicable.
o Which Omaha hotel
on which nights, if applicable.
To those who will
present an unboxed bike to be loaded on our
trucks:
o Is your bike a
tandem, recumbent, or odd-sized? Something other than a
road bike or hybrid?
To those who want PBV to store
a box during the week:
o
Is it a hard-shell bike case or a flattened cardboard bike
box?
If you need to wait on the information below,
please send the rest now.
For those shipping bikes
to/from FedEx/PBV:
o How
many bikes do you plan to ship to the Council Bluffs
FedEx?
o What day will it
arrive-7/14, 7/15, 7/16, 7/17, or
7/18?
o Do you plan to ship
bikes home from our campsite in Le
Claire?
o Is your bike a
tandem, a recumbent, or oversized? Is it just a
normal-sized bike?
Anything else we should know
about you? Call or write us a note.
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