Hi all,

Below are the general minutes from last week's board meeting. Sorry this took so long; I'm in the middle of a move and work's been crazy. Nothing's been held back, beyond info that's not relevant to all members (who's using which credit card to pay for X - that kind of thing). Let me know if you like the format or have any questions.

Best,

Richard

1. Let’s talk about goals

• Membership engagement will be the board’s main focus for 2023 – attracting new members and retaining current ones.

• What does this mean for you? More club rides and team events, more frequent communication, and partnering further with Hilltop.

• Alex and Patrick are also working on initiatives that will help attract new Kissena members.

2. Kit Orders

• Let’s get that fresh kit! There’s a team kit order up right now – so get prepped for the months ahead.

• We’ll work on establishing a quarterly cadence.

3. Membership Dues

• They’re coming up! Dues will be $150. Keep a lookout in your Email.

4. End of Year Party

• Unfortunately, the end of year 2022 party was canceled.  Covid surge made the gathering a bit risky and there was low registration as a result.

5. Hey, Pumpkin-heads!

• We’re looking into a new helmet order, but it’s complicated. Orange isn’t a widely available color and Hilltop doesn’t sell Kask.  Patrick’s exploring alternative options – including aligning with another shop just for helmets.

StephenAschkenes said:

The board is going to discuss during our next mtg some options to help celebrate this milestone for the club! We will also ensure that you get refunded for the party that didn't happen last year. Stay tuned!

Hi all,

The board met this Monday, May 1. Check out the summary below to catch up on the latest news and updates coming to KCC:

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Put the train in training

• Get your Metro North tickets ready! Stephen is looking to schedule a few rides from CT to NYC. Keep your eyes peeled on the forum and slack for dates and details.

Chip off the ol’ fork

• In case you missed it, Tom Mains is offering 31% off of timing chips for Kissena members registering to race via BikeReg. That brings the price down from $75 to $51.50. Use the code “KissenaTimingChip” to qualify. Having issues? Reach out to Tom Mains via slack or the forum for assistance.

New supplier for cycling kit. No, we’re not kitting you.

• Based on a recent kit survey, and a quality test between potential suppliers, we will transition from Champ Sys to Le Col.

• Le Col offers several advantages:

• We have a great POC: Charlie Issendorf, former Kissena member and pro-racer, is their national head of sales. 

• Made in Italy: Le Col kit is a high quality but reasonably priced product. 

• Well established: Le Col sponsors a large number of teams, including BORA-hansgrohe, and have excellent customer support.

• This decision was made by a unanimous vote among board members (with one member absent).

• We will likely have one last order from Champ Sys this year, so members can stock up on their favorite items.

• The transition to Le Col will take a few months. There will likely be some back and forth on design to make sure the look of our kit is consistent and on brand.  

• It’s our goal to have our first Le Col order ready by the end of summer - just in time for CX season (or general fall road riding). 

• We’ll keep you in the loop as we get closer to our first Le Col order.

New friends

• We have a couple new members who will be introducing themselves on the forum. Be sure to say hello and help make them feel welcome.

Let’s get social

• With the weather improving, we’ll look to have more informal social gatherings: post-ride pizza, happy hours, pro-race viewings and more. Stay tuned for details.

1. Just because we are testing out Le Col does not mean we cannot place orders with ChampSys in the future. We still have an account open with them and they still have our art. Placing a once a year order with them is something we have discussed as a board. We just need to be mindful of the minimum order quantities so can't have orders open with multiple stores all the time.
2. In the survey we sent out to members, 94% of members said quality was the single most important aspect when considering purchases. Second most important was a tie between price and Broad selection of options. Additionally, when reviewing many of the ChampSys orders in the past, a large majority of folks were not purchasing the cheapest items from Champ Sys. They were almost always upgrading to the more premium lines which cost more than you mentioned.
3. Im not sure where you got your prices from but I am attaching the pricing guide for 2023 custom orders. On top of this, KCC will get a 10% discount on the entire order. As you can see, the offer a wide variety.

• Clothing Order- hitting your inbox this week, keep an eye out!

• Development:
• Training Camp
• Race calendar updated!
• Tactics Talk: 
• Talking to Ride Brooklyn about using space for the meeting
• Timing: Likely end of February/March
• JP will be leading
• Basecamp: 
• Discussed Alex making a highlight post about basecamp; board consensus was we don’t want to step on Tim and Kathy’s feet
• Midweek DevRides return!! Be on the lookout for Alex’s email! 
• Safe Sport! Everyone on the board is required to be certified, but members are encouraged too!

• Membership/Recruitment

• Board agreed that dues for 2024 will be $125
• Membership Renewal Emails are being sent soon, keep your eyes open!!
• Recruitment needs to be more active this year
• Board discussed opening the club up more to junior rider
  
• Things to consider: liability, consents from parents, safe sport certifications
  
• New Member Rides
• Discussed the need to publicize the rides more on socials
  
• Trying to tie into shop rides and publicize through them as well

• Pubic Relations,
• Prospect Park Riding Protocol reviewed
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/18kc6Be5rreSwfSSpK_PS-R61V2KRkHwPESmHKy2ehyQ/edit?usp=sharing
• Goal is to sign a pledge that we will abide by these rules and get other clubs to co-sign with us

• Sponsorship:
• Update about kick off event at Ride Brooklyn
• Looking at dates for the end of February/beginning of March (waiting for feedback from the shop)
• Options for canopy/tent: 
• Pat has checked a few companies and options available for less than $1,000.00. Getting more info from Pedal Industries (they do canopies/tents, bags, shirts, all sorts of swag)
• PT Sponsor? Alex has a lead on a sponsor. Discussing more offline with Patrick to see the viability

• Treasurer:
• Meeting with Chase on Wednesday to set up new bank account
• Before next meeting: providing breakdown of 2023 expenses/budget

• Tech
• The site needs to be updated with current info and sponsors; Niall to go through and update. If there is anything specific someone notices, shoot Niall a DM

Membership/Recruitment

·       Renewal email is out- please re-up as soon as possible!

·       Looking into dates for new member rides (we’re going to do park rides then GWB rides)

·       We’re talking to Ride Brooklyn about running some shop rides starting in the spring 

Sponsorship

·       Ride Brooklyn event went well - thank to all who came by!

·       Look at doing group gravel rides out of the Bedford shop when the weather warms up

·       Getting Banner/Tent order together and looking into artwork

·       Contacted Tom about setting up a tent/banner at races.

Training/Development

·       Tactics talk on Thursday March 7 at Ride Brooklyn. Come out and let’s talk turkey (and by turkey, we mean racing!)

·       Wednesday ride series to start 3/20

·       Track day was great – bikes were ridden, lead outs were done and fun was had. Let’s do more!

Communication

·       Quarterly newsletter coming your way by end of month

Tech

·       Looking into way to automate a response to initial inquiry so that we don’t have interest sitting around and not being actioned

Clothing

·       Charlie pinged us to try and get us to switch to Verge (pricing and selection seems in line with CS.  They also offer no minimums, always-open store, and 3-4 week turnaround). Keeping an eye on it for the future, but no change in the immediate future

Finance

·       Looking into NY unclaimed funds site to see if we’re rich (we’re always rich in spirit and friendship)

Other

·       Likely going to open April board meeting to full club (will pre-solicit questions and post the agenda before for everyone to see)

·       Safe Sports certifications

·       Bottles and extra kit- we have a lot leftover and are figuring out the best way to use them

·       Facebook access is back!

Races

·       Registration Desk volunteers- First park race for L&C is Sunday March 10th. Please sign up to race for free and represent the club!

·       Keep pushing promotion pre and post race!

Membership/Recruitment

·        New member ride last Sunday was a success- 2 new members showed up despite freezing temps

·       34 members are re-upped for 2024

·       Board reaching out to active members who still haven’t paid

·       Next new member ride to be schedule in the next couple of weeks

Sponsorship

·       Giant bike order is open! Check the forum/slack/emails for more details on pricing, financing and ordering (next order won’t be until the fall so if you’re in the market, now is the time)

·       Ride Brooklyn shop ride up to Piermont coming up. Exact date to be hammered down

·       Jerseys for owners/managers of Ride Brooklyn as a thank you

·       Helmets order coming. 3 possible options are Poc Ventral (~$300), Kask Protone Icon (~$300) or Abus (~$200)

·       Confirming with Tom if team tent/Banner is okay (Dave following up)

Training/Development

·       Training series is kicking off- weekly rides in both Central Park (Tuesday mornings let by Lennart) and Prospect Park (Wednesday mornings led by Alex) have started up

·       Bump drill and skills day is being set up for Saturday April 13th

·       Calendar being updated as races are added to Bike Reg

Communication

·       Volume 2 of the Newsletter – coming end of June

·       Blog: discussed pursing a formal blog and the challenges of maintaining a blog presence (needing an editor, generating content, etc.)

        o   Sub-committee to be formed. Lennart, Nial, Alex, Andrew J. signed up so far

Tech

·       Automate response to new member inquiries. Nial will follow up with Joe

·       Add link to suggestion survey in the forum (Greg will transfer to a Wufuh form)

Clothing

·       Alex has a bunch of old jerseys with outdated sponsors- will be sold at discount or given to members as reward for volunteering

·       Charlie is at Verge and reached out to see if we would be interested in switching. John M volunteered to lead sub-committee to explore the possibility

Finance

·       Paypal balance is $6,883

·       Paypal debit card squared away, all transactions running through this now

·       45 members required to “break even”

Other

·       Board meetings open to members going forward

Races

·       Ask Tom if he can include a blurb about riding with the club in his pre-race email

·       Create a QR code for the registration table so Cat 5 members can scan and get more info about the club

Open Questions

·      Adding an attack/race simulation ride on weekends (designated regroup points, chase efforts, etc.) on a specific date