March Meeting Minutes

March Meeting Minutes

Time: 3/26/2026 at 8pm on Zoom

Attendees: James Thompson, Erin Haskell, Tory Trzyna, Alisa Mertens, Todd Backes, Drew Scott

Topics:

• NFBC Collaboration
  • We will collaborate with the NFBC for the third year.  We will lead a few Sunday rides, including both Strava Segment rides and the July 4th weekend Allegany Fondo.  We sent out a poll to members last week about which Tuesday or Wednesday weeknight ride would be the preference.  Although (of those who voted) Tuesday slightly won out, Buffalo Bicycling Club officers were talking with bike shop sponsor North Star who also do a Tuesday northtowns ride.  We will point our members to that weeknight ride on Tuesdays and respond to the NFBC to collaborate on Wednesday Nights.  (The Wednesday night NFBC north location also has better ride logistics for those riding to and from the city).
• Update on USAC races
  • We are in need of a experienced member to be an assistant race director for the Freedom Run Road Race on June 14th.  These will include day-of responsibilities such as coordinating the venue setup, explaining instructions to security and police, doing podiums and prizes, and answering racer questions.   This person cannot also be racing that day.
  • We will submit the DOT permit for Freedom Run, now having received the final confirmation this week from one of the entities we needed for our permit (town, state police, venue, etc)
  • We will reach out to Beaver Island to begin logistic preparation for both the skills clinic and the State TTT, both of which need park approval
  • We will reach out to confirm security guards for the races that need them this year (Freedom Run, TTT, Marilla, Corfu x2)
• USAC Skills Clinic
  • We are working on having a USAC sanctioned skills clinic, courtesy of Buffalo Bicycling Club sponsor Plan2Peak Coach Peter Cummings.  We are finalizing a date to have it at Beaver Island.  Drew Scott will be asking experienced members to be assistant instructors on the day.  This is a great opportunity for newer riders to learn essential skills around cornering, braking, riding in a pack, learning racing lingo, and simulating race tactics.  Being USAC sanctioned, Cat 4 riders can receive up to 3 points towards their upgrade for completing all clinic components.  We will roll this out on Bikereg soon!
• Mentorship rollout
  • We will be rolling out the new mentorship recruitment form in the next week.  Since 2021, we’ve had this program as a way for new members to be paired up with an experienced member to have someone to ride with, answer questions on how to get into racing, what you need to be successful, racing logistics, etc.  We’ve had lots of members come into the club through this program and are still racing with us!
  • If you are an experienced member, please sign up to be a mentor!  Remember, in order for your club points to count towards the series standings, you will need to volunteer with the club in some fashion, and being a mentor is one of them!  (in addition to scoring club races, in-race mentoring for Sunday series, and volunteering at USAC race venues)
• Group workouts for April
  • our first Group Workout is on the schedule for Sunday April 19th at Jon Siuta’s house in Niagara County.  It will start from his house and go over to the Lockport hill for a hill repeat workout.  We will add group workouts for each month at the start of the month.
• Mini Skills Workshops
  • We will be putting our first two mini skills workshops for the first two Thursday Fireball races.  These will be facilitated by Drew Scott and other instructors and will take place before the Fireball B race to go over skills like cornering, pacelining, braking, and other crit-specific racing skills.  These are open to group ride members as well, who may stay after to race the Fireball itself if they upgrade to full Rookie membership afterwards to continue our racing series.
• Jersey updates
  • The new Jakroo store is nearly complete!  Please give a big round of applause to Tory Trzyna who handled the store logistics and worked with the company on the jersey design!  We will announce the store opening in the next week or so.  We will then have the store open for approximately two weeks to get a buildup of orders so members can qualify for bulk pricing rates the more orders come in.  Jakroo will then design and ship to your house.  It’s not just a new jersey, but everything!  Shorts, skinsuit, thermals, tights, arm and leg warmers, vests, hats, etc.  You can get fully kitted out!