We hope you're half as excited as we are to be planning for RAGBRAI, and we're delighted to bring you news of long-term parking a few days before May 1!

This special update goes out ONLY to those who are already signed up for our East/West Shuttle. Our contacts in Clinton, the 2021 RAGBRAI end town, have kindly given us a little advance notice, allowing Pork Belly Ventures riders a chance to sign up for either the VIP Parking near the Mississippi River where you'll dip your front tire or their "Primary" Parking (grassy areas between Liberty and Comanche Avenues).

Please remember that we'll provide you with a more thorough description of our operation in our June Letter, but here's how it works and where things will be located in Clinton.

Pork Belly Ventures will stage at Clinton Park (marked in red on the map at right) before and after RAGBRAI, on July 23/24 and July 31. This is our location for...

Clinton's VIP Parking (for $100) is located within the campus of their riverside park--see the map below. The advantage of this parking option is that it's fenced and that it's convenient after RAGBRAI for dipping your tire, loading your bicycle, and driving to us for your luggage, shower, etc.

Clinton's Primary Parking (for $65) is located in grassy areas between Liberty Avenue and Comanche Avenue (Hwy 30). These streets are indicated in yellow on the map above. Those who take this option would dip their tires at the end of RAGBRAI, ride to their car in Primary Parking, load their bicycles, and drive to us in Clinton Park for their luggage, shower, etc.

When you go the parking link below, you'll find a precise definition of the Primary Parking location.

Prior to RAGBRAI, Clinton will run shuttles from these parking areas to our staging area at Clinton Park. The hours of their shuttle are not yet known.

If this is your first rodeo, we want to provide a little more explanation for you about how things work. We know it can be hard to imagine that first time! You can always feel free to call us with questions, too.

Sometimes our staging area is located at long-term parking. But from time to time---and this is one of those times---we stage in a different area, and so the end town will offer a shuttle from their parking location/s to our staging area. Clinton has an excellent plan for their parking locations and their shuttle!

In advance of RAGBRAI, we'll collect your departure preference and publish rosters so that everyone on the East/West Shuttle knows to which bus he/she has been assigned.

Upon arrival in Clinton, our riders using our East/West Shuttle will drive straight to our staging area and drop off their bikes and bags. Then one person can drive to the parking area (either VIP or Primary), park their vehicle, and catch the Clinton shuttle back to us for bike loading and to check-in for your shuttle departure. Naturally, we suggest that you allow plenty of time to take care of these chores. Arrive in Clinton well in advance of your assigned departure time.

We know you'll be thinking about the schedule as you plan, so we're including an abbreviated schedule here. Bear in mind that you'll ride the coach about five and a half hours to the start town of LeMars. Here's when everything's happening in Clinton Park...

Friday, 7/23, Bike-Loading: 11:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Friday, 7/23, Approx Departure Times: 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Saturday, 7/24, Bike-Loading: 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Saturday, 7/24, Approx Departure Times: 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 a.m.

(You can be thinking and talking to friends about your preferred departure day and time. We will ask you for your preference in June. No need to write to us about that now.)

We will provide more detail about the schedule of everything (including Clinton's shuttle, etc) later on. The important thing now is to take advantage of this opportunity to reserve your parking.

For Pork Belly Ventures riders only, Clinton has provided this link and password:

Password: PorkBelly2021!

We wish we could announce everything at once, friends, but please know that we're working on the following:

We're very hopeful to have good news for you about these options soon, AND a way to sign up for them on your PBV application!

We know that many of you are ready to tell us your preferred shuttle departure day and time now, but hold that thought, please. We'll collect this info from you in June.

Our June Letter is a complete travel guidebook for those with PBV on RAGBRAI! In it, we'll explain things chronologically and answer every question we can think of. And we will solicit information from you about the bike you'll bring to RAGBRAI, your shuttle departure preference, and your RAGBRAI wristband number.

We will be back on your screens a few times between now and June. At present, we are booking entertainment, talking to caterers, lining up food vendors, and arranging bike-shipping--all for the best week of the year. Please take advantage of early parking, and stand by for more Pork News as it happens!