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Question
and Answer
- Why should we use your
charter?
- What are the different
options for the charter?
- This is my first
RAGBRAI experience, what do I do?
- What happens once we
arrive at Dubuque before the ride?
- Can I join you if I
park in Sioux City for the week?
- What happens during
the week?
- What happens when we
finish the ride?
- What do we do if we
are joining you for camping for the week?
- How do you transport
our bikes?
- What should I pack and
is there a baggage limit?
- Who are your helpers
during the week?
- What other optional
services do you provide?
- What is your daily
towel service?
- Why do you charge more
for a recumbent bicycle?
- Do we have a
way to charge electronics during the week?
- How do we find food
and entertainment during the week?
- How do I find a
shower?
- Do you assist us
in acquiring a RAGBRAI wristband?
- Can I bring my own
vehicle during the week?
- How do I ship my bike?
- What about tipping?
- What about refunds?
To make your RAGBRAI experience more
enjoyable!
The trip across the state is on
air conditioned charter buses and your bikes are transported by a
professional bike packing company with over 25 years of
experience. Bikes do not require any
disassembly and are protected with heavy packing blankets.
We organize the
buses so that if you are signed up as a group you are on the same bus as
your group members. We have a registration table in Dubuque for
easy check in. Each bus has a bus host who plays movies and
assists with any questions you may have. We provide complimentary
beverages on the buses.
For those of you that stay with us
for camping we go out to all the overnight towns ahead of time to
select preferred campsites. In
the majority of cases this is away from the main group of 5,000 riders
but close enough if you want to spend some time in the main
campground.
Once arriving at our campsite after
biking you will have your luggage waiting for you along with canopies
set up for you to relax in. This
area will have numerous coolers stocked with a wide range of cold
beverages. There will also be
papers available that describe what is happening in town.
A generator will be set up for those
of you that need to charge an electronic device and we will have a bulletin
board with information and maps of the town that you are spending the
night in.
We try to locate all of our campsites
within a few blocks of a shower facility.
Our staff has several years
experience with running the charter and are available to assist
you. We limit the number of
campers we charter to keep the group size manageable.
Our goal is to help make the ride an
enjoyable and memorable experience for you.
Option 1 ($260 - SOLD OUT):
Charter transportation along with daily
baggage service. This provides bus and bike transportation from
Dubuque to Sioux City on July 24th and daily baggage
service for the week. The bus ride will include movies and free
beverages. With the daily baggage service we will provide the
following items:
- A separate camping area when available
- Do everything possible to keep your
luggage dry in case of rain
- Canopies with chairs to relax in
- Drinks including water, sports drink,
pop, and an assortment of beer
- Flashlights and bike pumps
- Itinerary of the evenings activities for
each town
- Limited sag service
Option 2 ($140): Transportation for you, your
bags, and bike, from Dubuque to Sioux City on July
24. On the bus we will have movies and free drinks.
Option 3 ($130 - SOLD OUT): Daily baggage service along with
the camping for the week. No bus ride from Dubuque to
Sioux City. The daily luggage service will include the items
listed under Option 1.
By joining us you can make your trip
easier. Just follow these steps:
- Register with RAGBRAI for the ride.
- Sign up with Brancel Charters by filling
out an application and paying by check or credit card.
- Get a week long parking pass from Dubuque.
This will be available at the Dubuque website.
- Drive to Dubuque and join us, and
we will help you out the rest of the week.
You will park your car at the RAGBRAI
designated parking area and then find Brancel Charters. We will
notify you in our letter sent out in early July of our distinguishing
features so you can easily find us. Dubuque will have camping, food, showers and week-long parking. The parking
will be available near the charter departure site.
Dubuque website
link
You drop your bike off with us on Friday
from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM. Then Saturday morning you drop
off your bags at one of our air conditioned busses and get ready for a
relaxing ride across Iowa.
The busses will leave at 8:15 AM. The ride will go by quick
as you will watch movies, talk with other passengers and enjoy
complimentary beverages.
Once we arrive at Sioux City in
mid afternoon we will unload your bikes and we will set up our camp
site for the night. There will be an expo going on and the
RAGBRAI opening ceremonies.
Yes! You can join us for camping
during the week (Option 3.) There are other charters that can provide
you a ride back to Sioux City
if needed. You can get a parking
pass for the week by going to Sioux City website, when it is
available.
Each morning you will load your
luggage on our truck to be transported to the next town. You can
then take your time riding to the next city. When you arrive at
the end city for the day we will have signs up as you enter the city
pointing you to the location of our camp site for the night.
Once you arrive at the camp site, we
will have canopies set up for you along with cold drinks in a
cooler. The drinks will be there for a small fee. We will
also have bike pumps and flashlights available. We will provide
limited sag service for passengers that need it. In case of rain
we will do everything possible to keep your bags dry during the day. We will also provide
carts to help you transport your luggage to your camp site. (Sore
muscles appreciate assistance with even the shortest distance.)
We will have a separate camping area
in the cities that provide this. In other cases we will be with
the larger RAGBRAI group. In the times we are with the larger
group we will still have a roped off area for us to camp in. This
is common for all the charters. In the past four years, we were
only with the main RAGBRAI group on one night.
RAGBRAI provides a list of activities
going on in each city and eating places. We will pick you up a
copy of that so you can plan your activities for the rest of the day.
Each city has several places set up
for showers whether they are high schools, parks, gyms or car
washes. We have never had a problem finding a shower facility and
will make sure you have access to showers.
You will locate Brancel Charters just
like a normal day by following our signs and pick up your luggage to
start a successful trip back home.
In July we will provide you with our
camping location in Sioux City. If necessary, contact
Sioux City for week long parking information (after it is available.)
Sioux City website link
We use a professional moving company
that has over 25 years experience in transporting bikes with excellent
results. They transport bikes
each year for the two bike Wisconsin
bike rides. Each bike will be
protected by a heavy packing blanket. We do not require you to
disassemble your bike, if you would prefer to do so that is okay
too.
Well you should definitely bring your
bike! Bring along your normal biking gear and camping
items. A few items you might forget but are nice to have are an
extra tube and a patch kit, sunscreen, rain jacket, two bottle cages
for your bike, a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag and
earplugs. You will also need cash to buy food and drinks along
your daily ride. You can usually find an ATM machine in most
towns.
We do not have a baggage limit as we
would prefer you bring two small to medium sized duffel bags than one
large, heavy bag. If you are
using the Register’s baggage truck (option 2 with us), you are
allowed one bag to which you may strap your tent.
Debbie and Bob rode RAGBRAI in 2002
and decided to start a charter. We are both active in Ironman
triathlons and other crazy endeavors. Although our passion is
RAGBRAI, Debbie has a job in insurance and Bob is a full time
entrepreneur.
Nicole, Bob's 18 year old daughter,
will be a bus host and support during the week. She is busy with
her senior year of high school and will be going to Colorado State
University in the fall. She is trying to get in
all 50 States and is currently at 43.
Also joining us during the week will
be Uncle Tom, a math teacher, and his son Tim. Tim is currently 19
and attends the University of Minnesota. Tom will be willing to assist
on any math related problems people run into like how much easier is it
to bike with the wind at your back. Debbie's parents John and
Linda and brother Joe assist with the first weekend and John joined us
for the entire week in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Other helpers are Bob's nephew, Ryan,
Nicole's friend Vanessa, Tim’s friend's Charlie and Robert, Bob's
relative Jill, and a former charter passenger Jillian from Georgia.
We have a mid week laundry service
where you turn in some clothes on Tuesday night of the ride and we
return them to you on Wednesday. This helps if you need to have
bike shorts or jerseys done during the middle of the week. The
cost of this is $15 and includes a complimentary bag.
We offer a dinner at our campsite one
night. Last year it was a Pig Roast with sides and a desert.
You can purchase this at check in for $10.
We also offer morning coffee for $1.50 per day with
refills and have
a massage therapist on site for those that would like this service.
The morning coffee we get from Hyvee Stores in Iowa when available.
Last year there was coffee available every day. We do this instead
of making our own because to make our own we would have to start a
generator at 4:00 in the morning which would not be good for people
trying to sleep!
If you add up all of our optional services (towels,
mid week laundry, dinner at our campsite, and morning coffee your total will be $165.
The cost of showers in the overnight cities will cost you an extra $35. This is well below
others that package these services. With us you get to tailor it
to your needs and not pay for what you won't use.
This is an optional service where we provide
a towel and then wash and dry it for you each day. This option is $15
for the week. The towel service
is limited to the first 200 people that pay for the service due to laundromat constraints. We will
post “sold out” on our application form when this option is
no longer available.
The recumbent is more difficult to
pack and takes up more room than a standard bike.
Yes.
We have a generator available during the daylight hours to
charge cell phones, ipods, and other small electronics. We set it up so there are 70 outlets
available for people to use.
This is discussed under
the Selecting a Charter tab on the website.
Back to Top
Each overnight town
sets up several locations that have showers. As we are traveling through each
overnight town to select campsites one of our main goals is to get
within a few blocks of a shower location. We post maps of each town on our
bulletin board that show the locations of showers in that city. Please keep in mind that shower
locations have and can change up to the day before RAGBRAI arrives in
town. The average cost of a shower on RAGBRAI is $5.
Most shower facilities have towels but some do run out on occassion.
Each person that uses our charter needs to
send in an application to RAGBRAI for their wristband.
In case someone does not get selected in the
lottery we may be able to assist them in finding a wristband. We sometimes have people that are
signed up with us that need to cancel and we pair them up with someone
that is looking for a wristband.
The wristband transfer then takes place between the two parties,
we are no longer involved.
You must still transfer the
liability waiver with RAGBRAI.
No. One of the purposes of a charter is to help limit the number
of vehicles in the overnight towns. The towns allocate space for
parking for each charter according to the number of vehicles we say we
will bring. Remember, the towns have shuttles and many of them are
small enough to walk to food and entertainment -- or you can even
bike!
RAGBRAI publishes information about bike shipping in the booklet
you will receive in May.
Tipping is common in service and travel industries. Any tips we receive will be divided
among our college bound teens. As
in other situations tipping is not required or expected but if you wish to
show your appreciation to our young crew we encourage you to do
so.
What
about refunds?
We will provide a full refund to those passengers who are not
selected in the RAGBRAI wristband lottery if we are notified before May
31st.
We will provide refunds to our passengers, less a 10%
cancellation fee, through June 30th.
From July 1 to July 15 we will provide a refund, less a 25%
cancellation fee, only if we are able to fill the spot.
July 16 and after we have a no refund and no transfer policy.
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