BBC December/January Meeting Minutes

Meeting Time: Thursday January 8th at 7pm on Zoom

Attendees: James Thompson, Erin Haskell, Tory Trzyna, Todd Backes, Rich Scaduto, Frank Grillo, Earl Cantwell, Tyler Collins

Topics

New Club Jersey

• The jersey and marketing subcommittee (Erin, Tory, Todd, Rich, James) have been working on a deep dive of jersey designs, led by Erin and Tory.  Erin compiled a photo album of most of the previous club jersey designs over the last few decades, including patterns and colors, as well as an overview of types of jersey designs that are popular with cycling jersey companies and pro teams.  This was presented at the meeting tonight.  It gave an overview of different design philosophies, such as color wash, geometric design, mondrian, freeform graffiti, and faux pro.
• Over the last week, the BBC Instagram account has been putting out informal surveys on which types of designs members and community members like.  There was a strong preference of the voters for the Canyon-SRAM style “color wash” design.  This was followed by a “geometric design” preference like what is currently on Lidl-Trek.  This was followed by a more traditional/classic cycling designs like what is currently on Ineos Grenadiers or a design like the Mondrian.
• Group discussed that the design should appeal to newer and younger cyclists, which the color wash theme does.  Group looked at different kinds of the color wash themes, including new jerseys from teams FDJ-Suez and Human Powered Health to give inspiration for the club’s traditional colors of red, white, blue, and yellow and how different patterns will mesh.  Patterning is important because some colors only show up well together in certain orders.
• Group decided that “Buffalo Bicycling Club” will appear on the jersey.  There was an initial push to have it say “Buffalo Bicycling” for a fresh look, but group agreed that the full name it is congruent with our historical identity and current social media accounts.  “BBC” will not appear on the jersey.  “Established 1973” might.
• Sponsorship and bike shops
  • It was discussed a month ago that we might put 2026 sponsors on the jersey, but we have decided for logistical reasons that we will not.  Erin will be crafting our 2026 sponsorship deck, which outlines what we provide to our sponsors and what we ask in return.  For sponsors with storefronts, particularly bike shops, the BBC will provide a jersey for the shop window as well as QR codes and flyers to purchase the jersey from the Jakroo team store and to sign up for a “group ride/workout” membership for free.  This will be a major sponsorship outreach theme as discussed in the November meeting.  Our partner bike shops can help promote the club by having our jersey and information in the shop.  The shops benefit by showing potential new members what they can do with their road bike purchase if they are interested in going fast, and so customers will continue to purchase consumables and upgrades after they join.
• Jersey next steps
  • Erin and Tory will work with Jakroo on the “color wash” design.  We get some amount of design assistance for free during the process and may pay a design fee for subsequent designs.  The group will have a final vote of a couple different designs.  Our goal is to have a design ready by February so members can order by March.  There is an approximately a 3 week turnaround time for Jakroo orders.
  • Erin will work on our club’s sponsorship deck for 2026, which outlines what we provide to our sponsors and what we ask in return.  The jersey in the shop window will be an addition to our prior year offerings for applicable sponsors.

Riding and Racing Calendar

• The calendar committee will meet in January to present to the group in the next club meeting at the end of January.  The calendar committee will be working on: number of club races, number of “pizza and podium” club races, which race(s) will be counted for this year’s club championship, and which group rides we want to partner with and promote.  The club championship jersey this year will be won at a club race and not as part of a USAC race.  As a refresher, the BBC will be promoting two sanctioned races this year, Freedom Run Winery Road Race on June 14th, and the NY State Team Time Trial on July 12th.

Updates on the Club’s 501c3

• The club is well underway to reestablishing its 501c3 status.  Rich filed the paperwork to reinstate it and received affirmative mail correspondence, with the tax exempt paperwork now having been sent to the IRS for confirmation.  With the reestablishing of this, in future years, the club may be able to source larger sponsors or organizations for help.