Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is that time of year once again to start planning for how we get
our bikes to Iowa. As with last year we are again offering our service
from California. Last year we successfully carried 20 bikes round trip
from the Bay Area and Sacramento to Iowa, plus 4 bikes return only to
Sacramento. We picked up bikes in route to Iowa on Thursday and Friday
and delivered them on Saturday either in Omaha or the start town. For
the return all riders gave us their bikes in the end town and we had
them in Sacramento and the Bay Area on Monday. Riders were picking
their bikes up in the same condition they gave them to us on Monday
and Tuesday. All riders seemed well satisfied. One even wrote a very
good unsolicited recommendation on this message board. Thanks Debi!

So, if you are tired of the FedEx/USP gorillas destroying your fine
steeds at exorbitant prices with no remorse for damages or not one
speck of positive customer service, please contact me and we'll get
the job done for you. I'll share with you our plan and cost.

We promise not to gouge you, we are only covering the cost to get our
"Toy Box" camper all the way to Iowa and back while providing you with
a service you'll need anyway. Once in Iowa we are staying with and
assisting a small charter group that we've been associated with for
about ten years. We can help set you up with a basic charter service
as well as transportation to and from Omaha if you need it.

Special note... Last year one member of our group traveled from Macon,
GA and back for RAGBRAI. She used UPS. When her bike arrived at her
home she found the bike was totally smashed beyond repair. She was
lucky enough to have all purchase receipts and "before and after"
photos so she was able to get full reparations for the replacement
cost. It only took about 4 months. Another member rode BRAG the month
before RAGBRAI. She also used UPS; she never did see her bike again
until two week after BRAG. Luckily for her a Trek Rep. offered her a
free Demo Bike for her whole week in Georgia at no cost to her. Two
years ago Fed Ex lost my bike on its way to Iowa. I got lucky too. Fed
Ex found it in North West Iowa on Saturday so my charter guy went up
and retrieved it for me. Since I was alerted pre travel to the missing
bike I took another one with me on my flight. I put in a claim for a
failed shipment and the consequential damages of shipping my second
bike. It took 4 months and a threat to take them to Small Claims court
in San Jose before they gave me back all the money I'd spent. You
don't really want to use these idiots, do you?

If you're in California or anywhere along Highway 80 and you want to
avoid the consistent mishandling of these two shippers, please contact
me.

I can be reached at .

Waiting to hear from you,
-RB