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Tent Rental Information for 2026
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Thanks for being a resident of Tent City!
All of those who put the tent service on their applications are receiving this update. We ask you to please share it with your tent mate, if you have one.
This is a seven-day service, from Saturday night in Onawa to Friday night in Dyersville. We won't set up rental tents in Dubuque on Friday 7/17 (or on Saturday, 7/25), but if you arrive a day early in Onawa on 7/17, you can use your rental tent for $50 on the Friday before RAGBRAI. This option can be selected on your Detail Form. (Many of you have taken care of this, and thank you!)
Upon check-in in Onawa, you will learn your location in Tent City. If you're using a PBV rental tent, please read this update from start to finish, and check out the little video, too.
NOTE: Our team is getting ready to start the tent grid so we can submit all bag tags and tent address cards for printing. Please go into your account and verify that tent mates and group names are present and accurate, if applicable. If you have any tent mate or group name changes, the deadline for you to make these updates is July 1. After that, we cannot make changes in the tent grid.
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Availability
The tent service is sold out with a waiting list. We're getting some cancellations, and Kay is reaching out to people in order on the waiting list to offer tents as they become available. If you're receiving this email, you currently have Tent Rental services.
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Group Names
Remember our many pleas for common group names for any friends who wanted to be together? If you didn't use a common group name, you will likely be separated from your friends in Tent City--BUT, you can let each other know your addresses and easily visit one another.
This is the last opportunity to edit your group name on your registration. Please ensure that the group name amongst your teammates is exactly the same, as variations can be missed. For example, "The Porkers" is different than "Porkers". We try our best to catch these variations, but cannot guarantee we will catch all discrepancies in names. If you don't heed our advice, please don't make a fuss at check-in. Believe it or not, people have.
Each campsite is different and it is not uncommon for there to be breaks in the tent grid. When assigning the grid, we try very hard to strategically place groups to limit the impact of this - though, this is not a guarantee. Thus, please anticipate that it a possibility there could be a break in the grid that affects your group on one or two nights.
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Who's in your Tent?
We must know who and how many people are using a tent.
Please don't be casual about this. Your name and your tentmate's name should be on the application. Those bags (and only those bags) will delivered to your tent address each day.
If three people are sharing a tent, there is a fee of $100 for moving two additional bags throughout the week. We don't recommend three to a tent (unless one is a small child), and we're not aware that anyone is planning on three occupants. These are advertised as a 4-person tent, but are more like a 2-person tent when counting duffels.
All tent mates must be signed up for PBV Weeklong Support. You may not have guests stay in your rental tent unless they are signed up for our support. No exceptions.
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Finding Your Tent
Your position on the tent grid will be the same every day. If you're in tent #151, you'll be in that tent all week.
We'll make it as easy as possible to find your tent each day, but each campsite is different and it is not uncommon for there to be breaks in the tent grid. Also, a lower-numbered tent does not pose a benefit over a higher-numbered tent. Some nights, your tent number will be closer to some services and farther from others.
We will have "feather flags" tall flags that will orient you to Tent City and help you locate your part of town. In the afternoon, we will post them at intervals along the edge of Tent City.
The location of Tent City will always be on the Campground Orientation Board at our front desk. (And it's easy to spot.)
The following few paragraphs are very important, as are the Rules of Tent City below:
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Baggage Limit
Each tent occupant gets two bags, each of which you should be able to lift above your head, fully packed. Everything you bring must be zipped INSIDE those two bags. Please do not strap furniture, coolers, or small bags to your big duffel and call it all one bag.
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Tent City Hours
No Access to Tents (or your Bags) from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM. This is especially important in 2026, with so many short days!
If you arrive in camp at noon, we still need time to complete our morning chores. We hope to be finished by 1:00, but even if we run behind schedule, we expect you to wait patiently for the tent grid to be finished and checked.
Do not enter the grid.
Do not lay your bike down near the grid.
Until the grid is completely ready, do not open your bags and spread out your stuff and block the rows between tents.
We do not expect our crew to work around you or your stuff. So even if your normal arrival time in camp is 11:00 AM, we have put you into Tent City in good faith that you know the rules and are willing to let our crew finish their work before enjoying your rental tent. This year, we have several shorter cycling days, and more of you may be in camp before noon. Please go check out downtown, or have a seat at a distance and watch the crew finish their work. Our lunch vendors will be ready for you as early as possible.
Our process is ordered and designed for speed. Our crew will be pulling baggage from tents at 7:00 and loading it in order, by row, so that it can be unloaded by row in the next town. If your bags aren't available to us at 7:00, the whole thing slows down.
Before 7:00 a.m., all bikes and occupants must be out and away from the tent grid.
Of course, you may linger in our site after 7:00, finish your coffee, grab something from the breakfast vendor, air up your tires, but by 7:00 AM we need your bags packed up, and we need every tent occupant out of the rental tents and away from that area. Thanks for your help with this!
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Week's End
At the end of the week in Dubuque, your bags will be laid out on the grass or sidewalk like everyone else's bags. We will not clip off our tent baggage tags (the ones with your tent numbers on them). Your tent number will be on the bags, to help you find them. It's a good idea to put your own tags on them and/or mark your bags in some unique way that helps you recognize them. People use spray paint, colored tape, bright cloth tied to a handle. For a smooth last day, find a way to make your bags easy to spot.
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In Summary - The Rules of Tent City
- On Saturday in Onawa, check in and claim your TWO baggage tags per person at the PBV Front Desk. *If you have fewer bags than your tent address card indicates, tell the front desk crew, please. Otherwise, the crew could be looking for non-existent baggage.
- Veterans, please be sure to clip off last year's baggage tags--this can cause wrong deliveries of your bags. It has created a great deal of needless work for our crew. Clip last year's tags before RAGBRAI!
- In the morning, do not leave anything unpacked in your tent. Pack ALL of your belongings into both bags.
- Between 6:00 and 7:00 AM daily, expect our crew members to move through Tent City, pulling tent stakes quietly.
- Be Courteous in your neighborhood. Be quiet before 5:30 AM and after 9:00 PM We know many of you are neighboring near friends, and you're all on vacation, but when others are trying to sleep, you must use your lowest whisper or save it for morning. Sound carries much further than you think, and everyone has a little different sleep schedule.
- You MUST vacate your tent by 7:00 AM sharp.
- We ask our riders to have their bags completely packed (check for items in side pockets and hanging lights/fans), trash out of the tents (including leaves, paper scraps, etc.), and bags brought to the door of their tent so our crew can grab these quickly and efficiently. Please zip your doors and rain flies before leaving camp only if it is raining or may soon rain.
- On your kybo run at night, as you leave your tent, think about how you'll find it again without disturbing other tenters. Don't shine your flashlight or headlight directly on the tents of others. Shine it on the ground to keep from tripping over stakes, cords, etc. (Tip: some people leave a dim light on inside their tent, to make it easier to spot upon their return.)
- Report any damaged tent at the Front Desk. We'll bring our repair kit over immediately and patch things up.
- NO BEVERAGES EXCEPT BOTTLED WATER IN OUR TENTS. It's just too easy to spill. No soda, beer, Gatorade. Overnight, use a water bottle with a cap. Obviously, no smoking in the rental tents.
- NO BIKES IN OUR TENTS. We've had requests from tent-renters that we NOT allow it, because of bike grease in the tents.
- In case of a thunderstorm or high winds, lay your bike down on the ground. Don't let it fall against a tent.
- Before 7:00 AM and after 1:00 PM each day, please enjoy your Rental Tent and Baggage Service from Pork Belly Ventures.
Thank YOU!
The strong PBV Tent Crew
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Before you go - a few reminders!
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Account Balances
Just a friendly reminder that your account balances were due in full by May 15th. You may pay your balance via credit card by logging into your pkbelly.com account. If you'd like to save the credit card processing fees, you can mail us a check, but since they are past due please let us know if you'll be doing this. As of today, we will begin removing accounts with no payments beyond the deposit, so if you have an outstanding balance please help us out and write to us with your intentions at info@pkbelly.com. Thanks!
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The Detail Form
The Detail Form collects some simple but important info that we need in order to better serve you! This is important, friends, and we appreciate you reading these instructions carefully and completing your form ASAP so we can make sure that shuttle assignments and meal options are properly accounted for. We asked to have these completed by June 15th - as shuttle assignments and catering information is being compiled it's a critical source of information. EVERYONE who uses any services of Pork Belly Ventures - even if it's only a shuttle - should complete at least some of the form. Depending on what services you are using, some questions may not apply, and that's fine. You can read more about the Detail Form, including complete instructions, here.
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Cancellation Deadlines & Process
We remind you of our Cancellation Policy and Refund Deadline, so that there's no misunderstanding. June 15th was the last day to cancel and get a 90% refund, for any reason, if you did not choose the cancellation protection. From here on out, we don't make any refunds, unless you took our cancellation protection when you initially registered. If so - then you have extended your 90% refund to Wednesday, July 15th at 10:00 PM CST. If you have our protection and cancel by email by 10:00 PM on July 15th, we will make a 90% refund by check (mailed to you after RAGBRAI). After July 15th at 10:00 PM, we're sorry, we cannot make any refunds in any instances.
If you need to cancel services: Please send us an email!
Simply write to us at info@pkbelly.com. If you're due a refund, you can include your mailing address in the text of the email. An email establishes the date of your cancellation. It makes it possible for us to look you up by name, or if the name is very common, we can look you up by email address. And it allows us to copy members of our team on the reply and keep everyone in the loop. We are scouting and traveling to other events between now and RAGBRAI, and we don't promise that we will receive voice messages. Email is the way to cancel some or all services on your registration.
Do not go into your registration form and remove all services, please. This complicates the process on our end, causing us to search for confirmation emails and reconstruct your registration to determine whether a refund is due and the amount. Simply write us an email, and we'll take it from there.
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