This update is especially for those

prior to RAGBRAI.

Fortunately for us and for YOU, we have found a partner in Clinton, just next door to our staging area in Clinton Park! Whether you plan to shuttle on Friday or Saturday, our friends at Prince of Peace School have something nice for you!

RAGBRAI would not exist without the friendly towns willing to host it and local organizations ready to serve riders. We make it our mission to partner with all kinds of wonderful organizations for their benefit and YOURS. Our friends at Prince of Peace School in Clinton will use whatever funds they raise with Pork Belly Ventures for the athletic programs of the school. This is a K-12 school serving only 200 students--so let's do our part to help the kids play ball!

Here is your chance to sleep in air-conditioning and eat a hearty breakfast right on site, across the street from where bikes will be loaded and buses will board! Whether you're shuttling on Friday or on Saturday morning, you can take their box lunch or brunch on the coach with you. For your convenience, you can claim your box lunch on Friday or brunch on Saturday morning in Clinton Park! You don't even have to walk to the school for these generous meals! Our hosts at Prince of Peace Catholic School can offer the following services on site:

All of these wonderful services can be reserved on your Pork Belly Ventures application. We activated these options a couple days ago, and folks are already ordering! Last time at a church in Keokuk, many Saturday riders took ALL of these options! Why not?!

Anyone on our shuttle is most welcome to use these services and support Prince of Peace. Indoor sleepers are welcome, so long as you plan to hit the hay early and be courteous to our hosts and your fellow sleepers. (You don't need to be with PBV on Weeklong Support to take advantage of these opportunities in Clinton before RAGBRAI.)

If you only want to login once, friends, please wait for the June Letter. We hope to publish it tomorrow (or as soon as we can). You can login one time, select your Clinton services from Prince of Peace, and then complete your June Form (with your official RAGBRAI number, shuttle departure preference, and information about your bicycle to be transported on the shuttle).

Or Login NOW to reserve Clinton Services, and login again soon, on receipt of the June Letter, to complete your June Form and record your departure preference!

While the sit-down breakfast will be served inside the school gym, you can also enter the gym, ask for your breakfast to go, and take it with you on the bus!

The box lunch and box brunch, on the other hand, will be delivered to you in Clinton Park, right where our bikes will be loaded and buses will be staging for departure. Please allow ample time to claim your meals before boarding.

At Clinton Park, you may also camp, if you have your own tent. This small park is large enough for our E/W Shuttle campers on Friday night, July 23rd.

(Remember, please, that rental tents are not available in Clinton. They will be set up in LeMars, and you may use our Friday shuttle and pay an additional $40 to use your tent on July 23rd.)

Inside Prince of Peace School, there are many small sleeping spaces, in classroom after classroom. We'll pay attention to numbers, but we believe there is ample space for everyone who would like to make a $15 donation for the privilege of rolling out your bedroll in a nice air-conditioned space, right at the long-term parking site.

Talk about a simple plan for Saturday morning... 1) wake up and smell the coffee, the casserole, the pancakes and syrup; 2) enjoy your hot breakfast, and 3) step across the street to board your coach!

TURN IN EARLY: If you're planning on going out and staying out past 10:00 p.m., please make other arrangements. Indoor sleeping is for folks who turn in early. (See Late-Arrivals, next couple topics.)

If you can't help arriving late to Clinton, you can go ahead and login and reserve the indoor sleeping on your applications... but then, only if you're arriving after 10:00 pm, please write to Sara@pkbelly.com. Give her the names of those in your party who will sleep inside and your approximate time of arrival, please. We will try to assign you to a separate classroom, perhaps with other late-arrivers. Check in with the Prince of Peace volunteer at the front door, and be as quiet as you can as you settle in.

with Pork Belly Ventures

Login to your Pork Belly Ventures application, add the desired services/meals to your application, and make your payment by check in the mail (payable to PBV, 412 Forest Glen Drive, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503) or pay by credit card. Remember that you'll incur a fee for the convenience of using your card--so mailing a check is better! If you mail a check, do it before July 3.

On the home page at pkbelly.com, the LOGIN tab is in the upper righthand corner. Click on LOGIN and enter your username and password. When you have accessed your application, you can click the blue EDIT button across from your name, and then select additional services offered in Clinton. See the NEW category of services, entitled "Clinton Services."

You must be using the E/W Shuttle of PBV in order to take advantage of these services.

Originally, Clinton sent a notice that VIP Parking would not be open until 2:00 p.m on Friday. It will actually be open at 11:00 a.m.

Watch for more info, please, in our June Letter. We are aiming to give you the hours of the shuttle and complete info about our schedule in Clinton on July 23 and 24.

We offer five different departures on the East/West Shuttle.

On Friday morning, our crew will begin loading bikes at around 11:00 am and continue until about 7:00 p.m. Whether you're shuttling to LeMars on Friday or on Saturday morning, you're welcome to get the bikes loaded on Friday. At about 7:00 p.m., our crew will knock off for dinner and sleep.

On Saturday morning, they'll resume bike loading at about 6:00 a.m. Please don't be casual about arriving in time to drop your belongings at Clinton Park, drive to your parking area, park your vehicle, shuttle back to us, claim your meals, load your bike and bags. You should accomplish all of this well before your departure time. Get an early start and allow plenty of time for parking (a little congestion is normal), claiming any meals you purchased, and boarding your coach.

Soon, we'll ask for your preferred departure day and time, and we'll publish bus rosters for you in advance of RAGBRAI. You'll be able to check your bus assignments and those of your friends. Remember: Friends need a common group name in order to be together. If you select the same departure and have an identical common group name on your applications, we'll get you assigned to the same coach!

It's time! The second link below will explain your two choices--

Please read Update #8 for maps and more info, but note that pricing has gone up since we published, and it will continue to go up at the beginning of each month. Reserve before July 1 to beat the next price increase.

PBV Update #8 with outdated parking prices is here

(the Update #8 parking link has expired, so use the one below):

Reserve parking in Clinton right here:

For those planning on the Friday Shuttle and who are with PBV for the week of RAGBRAI, we can offer you a hotel stay on Friday night in LeMars. We have about a dozen double-queen rooms left at the Holiday Inn Express, two miles from camp, pricing below. After check-in at Cleveland Park in LeMars, we will be able to transfer you to the hotel. After you've checked out, we CAN transfer you and your bags back to camp--BUT we need to transfer you between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. After that, we'll be busy checking in our Saturday arrivals. From camp, you can find your own way to downtown LeMars and the bike expo, just six blocks away.

These prices include the room fee, the 12% tax, your hotel breakfast on Saturday morning, and your transfers from PBV (we cannot transfer bikes--they should be locked in camp).

And for the same prices, we have only one or two rooms left on Saturday in LeMars.

TO RESERVE: write to Sara@pkbelly.com.

We remind you once more that RAGBRAI is only possible because of welcoming towns like Clinton and hospitable folks like our friends at Prince of Peace! Please support them!

Thanks for reading, Porkers. We'll have the June Letter out to you tomorrow (or as soon as we can), and more and more good news as we roll toward July 23rd! Until then, we remain,

Your friends,

Our East/West Shuttle, end to start town, Clinton to LeMars, July 23 and 24

If you plan to use our East/West Shuttle, give some thought to whether you'd like to travel across the state on Friday afternoon (extra night of camping in LeMars) or on Saturday morning (one night of camping in LeMars). Those who shuttle on Friday will get settled in our LeMars campsite on Friday night, will check in for Weeklong Support on Friday night, and will have more time to spend at the huge RAGBRAI Bike Expo on Saturday.

DO NOT EMAIL YOUR DEPARTURE PREFERENCE, PLEASE.