RAGBRAI® TRANSPORTATION
Updates
General Company Wide Updates
RAGBRAI Transportation Service Specific
Updates for the 2024 Season
5/10/24
- All drop off locations announced for the RAGBRAI
starting town. Click
Here for more information.
5/9/24
- All locations announced for the RAGBRAI previous
town. Click
Here for more information.
1/28/24
- 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 this year's route.
In the meantime, we are 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!
12/9/23
- We now directly accept credit card payments
but will charge a 3.6% surcharge to cover credit
card processing fees. If you do not want to pay
this surcharge you may submit your payment to
us through Zelle or
check or money order instead.
11/14/23
- We will always stop at the Pork Belly Ventures
camping location first in the RAGBRAI starting
town. This is because their check in table closes
at 8:00 pm and is not open all night, while no
check in is required at the RAGBRAI main campground.
- After the end of RAGBRAI, we will only drop
you off at the Chicago parking garage if you
parked your car there during the week of RAGBRAI.
- You may omit information about your
specific personal travel and lodging plans if
you do not know it yet depending on the location
and when you register. Click
Here for more information.
- Chicago
- You may omit any of your specific personal
travel and lodging information in Chicago when you
register on an initial deposit basis. You must submit all missing
information in
Chicago to us by by 11:59 pm CST March 15th, the same deadline to submit
your remaining amount due.
- After our full price schedule is announced
all new registrations will require all
of your specific personal travel and lodging
information in Chicago.
- RAGBRAI starting, previous, and ending towns
- If
the specific locations in the RAGBRAI starting,
previous, and/or ending towns have
yet not
been announced when you register, you may omit any of your specific
personal travel and lodging information related to
that town if you do not know it yet.
- After the specific locations have been
announced in each RAGBRAI town, all new
registrations will require all specific
personal travel and lodging information related
to that town. If you had already previously
registered, we will follow up with you
to submit all of your specific personal
travel and lodging information related
to that town.
11/13/23
- We are 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!
- Web site updated with 2024 dates and information.
- Our transportation service from Chicago
to the start of RAGBRAI will occur
on Sat. July 20th, 2024.
- Our transportation service from the
end of RAGBRAI to Chicago will occur
on Sat.
July 27th, 2024.
- 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 April 1st and we will develop the specific
routes and provide more information about them
after this time.
Major Previous RAGBRAI Transportation Service Specific Updates
Chicago to the Start of
RAGBRAI
- The Chicago hotel now serves as the staging
point for all coach busses and all baggage will
only be staged and loaded there on the on the
Saturday morning before the start of RAGBRAI
regardless of which bicycle transportation service
you will
be using (standard or premium).
- We 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 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.
- One
crew now departs 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.
- 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 only accept and pre-load 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.
- 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.
End of RAGBRAI
to Chicago
- The Chicago hotel now serves
as the staging point for all coach busses and
all baggage is only
unloaded
and staged there on the Saturday evening after
the end of RAGBRAI regardless of which bicycle
transportation
service you will be using (standard or
premium). Accordingly, all
baggage is staged and loaded together in
the RAGBRAI ending town which significantly frees
up our staff to assure a faster departure time
and arrival time in Chicago.
- 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.
- 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 do not need to make
alternate transportation arrangements if you
are planning on taking these trains.
- 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 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 April 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.
Coach Bus Transportation
- In order to assure the fastest possible
departure and arrival times, all coach
busses now depart promptly after
all participants and their baggage have been
loaded and we have completed our final
head count. We no longer wait
for any bikes to be loaded for the
coach busses to depart.
Bicycle 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.
- Standard and Premium Bicycle Transportation
Services
- We now 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 let us know when you want
to pick up your bicycle in Chicago
after the end of RAGBRAI when you register
so that we can properly stage and load bikes
together
as
one
group
in the RAGBRAI ending town.
- 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 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 additional
fees for
our premium bicycle
transportation service both before
the
start of RAGBRAI and after the
end of RAGBRAI. Click Here the
prices for our Premium Bicycle Transportation
Services.
- 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.
Baggage Transportation
- 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.
Facilities and Services in Chicago
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Registration
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 for more information.
- 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.
- 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
- Before our full price schedule is announced
we will list our prices from last 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.
- 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
- Unfortunately we can no longer offer the RAGBRAI:
America's Favorite Bicycle Ride book for sale
due to supply chain issues.
- 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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