Tips for RAGBRAI vendors

Thinking of setting up a roadside stand for RAGBRAI? After doing RAGBRAI 2009, here are a few thoughts from a rider's perspective on selling stuff for RAGBRAI:

1. Stands located on the right hand side of the road are best. Stands that are on the left-hand side of the road are less appealing because the left side of the road is the "fast lane", so the cyclist has to cross in front of other bikers to exit on the left.
2. Stands located at the bottom of a hill are less attractive because cyclists will be flying down the hill, and it's dangerous to brake hard, as you risk getting rear-ended.
3. Personally, I don't think it's fun or profitable to sell bottled water for $1. I think most cyclists would prefer an opportunity to refill their own water bottles than have to deal with an extra empty water bottle. Free water in a water cooler (see picture to the right) would be more attractive -- get people to stop for free tap water, and sell them bananas, power bars, gatorade, etc.
4. Cyclists prefer blacktop or concrete to gravel. You won't get many people to stop if you have deep gravel or large rocky gravel in your driveway.
5. RAGBRAI means "waiting in line", waiting for food, waiting for bathrooms, etc. A vendor stand is more attractive if there are portapotties available, and even more attractive if I can see the length of the line on the portapotties from the road. So if you're going to get portapotties, make them visible.
6. When you ride, you have a breeze, so stopping usually means getting hotter and sweatier. A vendor stand in the shade is more appealing.
7. It might rain on your RAGBRAI day. Vendors I wished for (but didn't see) for rainy days include: a vendor selling use of dry towels, a vendor doing a "bike wash", a vendor selling inexpensive, dry socks.
8. Especially for breakfast (around 5:30-7:00 AM), seems like there would be an opportunity for "delivery vendors" who deliver food to campsites in the morning in overnight towns. You might even be able to work out some sort of arrangement with bike charter services so that they will mention to their riders that a vendor will be coming at such and such time with breakfast, cost will be X. Most riders eat a light breakfast, so something small and inexpensive (like breakfast burritos) would be appropriate.
9. A word about advertising. Several vendors pitched their stand as a non-profit fundraiser, and put up roadside signs (help send our band to hawaii, our cheerleaders to state, etc). Nothing wrong with a fundraiser, of course, but I think it's more effective (you'll attract more customers) if you list your products/services, and have a sign at the point of sale that informs customers that all proceeds will fund the band's hawaii fund, etc. As mentioned above, use inexpensive "loss leaders" like free water or coffee to get people to stop and buy other stuff.
10. If you can, you'll want to make accomodations for bicycle parking. Many road bikes do not have kick stands. One common technique is to string a rope between two anchors (like trees) at handlebar height, and cyclists hook their handlebars or brake levers over the ropes. Be sure the rope is tight, and doesn't stretch a lot when supporting the weight of bicycles.