Pork Belly Plans for RAGBRAI 2024 Registration

November 7, 2023

Happy November, Friends!

It's been a lovely fall, during which we have caught up at home, spent time with our families, enjoyed some travels, and hired some new year-round employees.

Last month, along with all RAGBRAI Charters, we visited RAGBRAI HQ in Des Moines for a very informative charter meeting. After visiting with our fellow charter operators and our RAGBRAI friends, we're inclined to think that next year's ride attendance will be smaller than RAGBRAI 50, but probably larger than RAGBRAI 49, which is to say that our favorite cycling event seems to continue growing in popularity even after its giant 50th Birthday Party this past July.

ABOVE: We snapped this one at RAGBRAI HQ in October!

BELOW: The 2023 RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party,

just before the stuff hit the fan.

During the off-season, Pork Belly Ventures has received a steady stream of inquiries from first-timers and long-timers, asking about the process for PBV registration. Of course, we've been pondering this question since January 28th of this year, when we opened registration and promptly sold out. In fact, the volume of simultaneous payments crashed the credit-card processor. This sudden sell-out was a new problem for us, and it may have been a one-time thing. But just in case, we hope we've found a better way.

The RAGBRAI season needs to begin earlier than usual for Pork Belly Ventures, and in this update, we intend to share with you how we're planning the registration process. We want to give you some time to talk with your friends and fellow riders, to make your plans, and also to ask questions.

But first...

SOME DARN

GOOD NEWS!

RAGBRAI XI Logo and Story

We can't improve on this story, so we will just quote what RAGBRAI published last month about how they arrived at this year's lovely logo...

"As riders rode across the state in 2023, on one of the hottest rides on record, Iowans opened their yards, garden hoses, shade trees, porches, rocking chairs, homes, and hearts to the almost 30,000 registered riders.

"Just outside of Ames, a homeowner’s shade tree quickly grew into a place for riders from Washington State to rest their heads. Her garden hose a refuge from the piercing summer heat and their shared meal an offering that turned complete strangers into lifelong friends. The homeowner isquoted as saying, 'I am grateful this year’s bikers were looking for a shade tree! And for me – they now provide the warmth of their friendship.'”

It's really not any kind of exaggeration or overstatement to say that RAGBRAI changes lives. It will change yours, too.

We have enough RAGBRAI shirts to clothe a small town, and yet, wow, we really want one of these. Or maybe two.

https://store.venturesendurance.com/collections/ragbrai

BBB Adventures Tells Our Story

in a Two-Part Video Series!

We are so grateful to long-time Porkers Brently and Marybeth Cooper of BBB Adventures on YouTube for creating two fun and very professional videos. Due to an injury, their RAGBRAI 50 became more of a documentary-filming adventure than a cycling adventure. Among the topics covered by these intrepid reporters was a behind-the-scenes look at the daily work of the Pork Belly Ventures crew, a topic that stretched into two 40+-minute installments.

ABOVE: One of the ladies from St. John Lutheran Church

prepares for riders to wake up and smell the coffee.

St. John volunteers earned $10K by partnering with

Pork Belly Ventures on lunch and breakfast vending.

Funds will be used to replace the sanctuary floor.

BELOW: Brently hops into Chino's cab

for the drive from Carroll to Ames.

Beginning on Tuesday morning in Carroll, Brently and Marybeth began filming before the sun came up, talking with our coffee-master, our breakfast vendor, our baggage loaders, and others on our team. Then Marybeth and Brently each jumped into the cab of a semi and interviewed our drivers on the way to Ames, where they continued to document tent set-up, food vendors, the shower operation, and much more throughout the day.

We at PBV have disappointed many a filmmaker in our time, because we barely have a moment to stand still for an interview. But Brently and Marybeth were "embedded," so to speak, and they did a lovely job with a-day-in-the-life of Pork Belly Ventures.

BELOW: Our favorite filmmakers worked through the day on Tuesday, right up to our 6:00 PM supper from HyVee, a pasta bar with breadsticks, veggies, salad, and dessert!

Here is Part 1 about PBV on RAGBRAI 50, departing Carroll:

BBB Adventures, PBV Video, Part 1

And here is Part 2 about PBV on RAGBRAI 50, setting up in Ames:

BBB Adventures, PBV Video, Part 2

We believe these videos may account for an uptick in the number of inquiries we're getting about PBV in general and also our PHAT Room availability on RAGBRAI. We must clarify here, before you watch Part 2, that there is a 3- to 4-year wait for our PHAT Rooms on RAGBRAI, and there's little or no chance for getting one in 2024 unless you asked to be on the list back in 2018. Sorry about that.

Once again, our warmest thanks to Brently and Marybeth, who have been with us for ten years and whose cheerful presence in camp we would not want to do without!

CHANGES in the REGISTRATION

PROCESS of PORK BELLY VENTURES

And now for our main topic, we hope to provide you with a timeline and a brand new process for registration this year. And first, here are some important things to bear in mind:

If you're part of a group, your GROUP NAME on your PBV application has never been more important than it is this year.
If you are not part of a group, it will be important for you to leave the group-name field blank.
Pork Belly Ventures will not accept as many riders as we did in 2023. Naturally, we wanted to be good partners with our RAGBRAI friends during the jumbo, epic 50th Anniversary ride. Most charters were bigger than they usually like to be, and we were no exception. But now we plan to return to our normal capacity, similar to 2022.
PBV pricing of Weeklong Support and the Rental Tent Service will be announced on December ~~15th~~ 20th.
Pricing of PBV Shuttles can't be determined without the route, so we'll price and publish our shuttles on January 27th or 28th of 2024.
It is important to accept or decline our cancellation protection on your initial application for services. If you accept, your deposit will be 15%, and if you decline, your deposit will be 10% of the total value of the services you have reserved.
Scroll to the end of this update for a link to more info, including our Cancellation Policy and Our Protection.
Our registration system requires that the initial deposit be paid by credit card, but then the remainder of your balance can be paid by mailing a check, if you prefer (or you can login and pay with your card).
In the event of a lottery, we will accept our normal number of Weeklong riders and non-riders, along with some partal-week riders.
If you only need a shuttle, then simply wait for our update on January 27th. You can sign up for any shuttle (before RAGBRAI or after RAGBRAI) anytime after January 27th, regardless of whether our Weeklong Support and Rental-Tent Service have sold out. Our shuttles do not tend to sell out.

Timeline for Registration, and the

Possibility of a Lottery for High-Demand Services

For our entire 30-year history, we have opened for registration on the evening of the RAGBRAI route announcement. The 2024 timeline for registration for PBV Weeklong Support and our Rental Tent Service will come a few weeks earlier this year, and it may involve a lottery to avoid the issues that occurred last year. Naturally, our website developer is hard at work to help us accomplish a different and better registration process. Here's how we think it's going to work:

November:

On November 15th, RAGBRAI registration opens, but PBV registration will not open until mid-December.
Throughout November, we are happy to answer questions about our services to help you prepare for the registration period.

December:

RAGBRAI registration remains open.
PBV will continue to answer questions, explain how our charter works, and help you make your plans.
Around December ~~15th~~ 20th, PBV will publish our 2024 RAGBRAI Invitation Letter, with pricing of our Weeklong Support and the Rental Tent Service. Shuttle services will be described in the Invitation Letter, but shuttle pricing will not be included. Shuttles cannot be selected or reserved until January 27th or 28th, when the new route will be announced.
From ~~mid-December to about January 7~~ December 20 to January 10, anyone may complete an application for only our Weeklong Support or for our Support and the Rental Tent Service. Everyone who applies will provide credit card info; however, payments will not be processed until later, and only if you are confirmed for services.
By entering your credit-card information, you will be committing to your non-refundable 10% or 15% deposit, though it will be processed a little later.
If the tent service is a deal-breaker for you, you will be able to tick a box, in which case we will know that if you don't get our tent service, you are no longer interested in using our support on RAGBRAI.

January:

RAGBRAI registration remains open.
After January 7 10, PBV will close registration and determine whether a lottery is needed or whether we can accommodate everyone who has applied.
In the event of a lottery, we will draw names. If a name drawn is part of a group, then we will select that group. This is why the group name is so important. You may not come back to us later and ask to be part of a group that was selected.
There is no advantage to being in a large group, a small group, or to being an individual without a group affiliation. We will select from each category in an equitable way.
In the event of a lottery, we will select more riders than we plan to serve, knowing that cancellations will eventually bring us to a number of riders that we and our crew can serve well. (In other words, we will select what we think is the maximum number, given cancellations.)
Whether or not a lottery is needed, when we know who is on our support (and who has secured rental tents) for RAGBRAI 2024, we will process a number of payments each day, taking only the 10% or 15% deposit, and send confirmation emails to those riders. We did this last year over about four days time, in order to keep from overwhelming the credit card processor or triggering a fraud alert. We think it will take less than a week this year.
If there are riders who have not been accommodated, we plan for our website to maintain the necessary waiting list.
If you do end up on a PBV waiting list, you should consider other options, simply because there's a strong possibility that we will not have room for you late in the season (this year was a prime example), and your chances of arranging other support are much better in January than in June or July.
If you do not sign up during the three-week window and come to us later, we may be able to give you wait-list status, behind others who registered within the window, ~~December 15 to January 7~~ December 20 to January 10. But again, we don't think our wait list is a good strategy for finding support on RAGBRAI.
We hope this whole process will be complete well before the RAGBRAI route announcement.

January 27-28

By this time, everyone who applied with PBV will either have a confirmation email or will have been notified that they are on a waiting list.
Pork Belly Ventures will have a booth at the big Bike Expo in Des Moines, and we'll be visiting with folks all day.
The RAGBRAI Route will be announced on the evening of January 27th.
A day or so after the route is announced, Pork Belly Ventures will open registration for our shuttles. We operate shuttles before, during, and after RAGBRAI. Please don't be concerned, as our shuttles do not typically sell out, and certainly not in January, February, March, or April. Or at least they never have. 😳

March 1

RAGBRAI registration price increase (there may be other increases during the season)

May 15

RAGBRAI registration closes.
PBV requires full payment on all applications.

MORE INFO about PBV Services, Last Year's Pricing, Our Cancellation Policy and Cancellation Protection

Some of you are looking at a first RAGBRAI or at your first time with Pork Belly Ventures, and we know you may need a little familiarization with our services, our vibe, and our policies. We have quickly created an excerpt from last year's invitation letter, just for your reference during this interim period between now and December ~~15th~~ 20th, when a new invitation letter will be published. Here's the link...

Excerpt, 2023 Invitation, with 2023 Services/Pricing/More!

Please click on the link above and scroll to the end for a thorough explanation of our Cancellation Protection.

Once again, this is new for us, friends. Usually we build up to the RAGBRAI route announcement and then our season begins in late January. We want to avoid the mad rush and worry that occurred last year, so we're inviting questions now and planning to open up for applications on December ~~15th~~ 20th. The window closes on January ~~7th~~ 10th. If a lottery is necessary, we'll work as fast as we can to get those confirmation emails out to our 2024 riders.

New friends and old friends, we sincerely hope a lottery will not be needed, and that we can accept everyone who applies during that three-week window! Thank you for your interest in and support of our RAGBRAI charter, and please let us know your questions!

All our best wishes,

Tammy and Pete

Pork Belly Ventures LLC

Tammy: 808-375-8921 c, tammy@pkbelly.com

Pete: 402-681-2613 c, pete@pkbelly.com

pkbelly.com