BBC 2023 Calendar Announcement!

Hello BBC Members,

The 2023 racing season is quickly coming upon us, and I wanted to introduce our full 2023 event calendar!  Everything you need can be found here: https://www.buffalobicyclingclub.com/events/

Here are some of the changes for 2023:

1) We’re substantially increasing our group ride offerings!  Group rides are a great way to get to know your fellow BBC members and learn new skills.  We’re offering 12 BBC-led group rides between April and September.  We have a team of dedicated ride leaders under the direction of club education director, Frank Grillo, and we’ll offer A, B, and C groups to cover a range of average speeds so many people can ride with us!  Our goal is for both new members and previous BBC members who still ride to join all of us on these group rides.

2) We have 8 Sunday Series Club Races on tap for the yearly club points series.  We’ve streamlined our offerings based on our membership survey and course locations.  We’ve taken off Rice Hill (my personal favorite) because of its low rating and historically low attendance, as well as most of the courses out in the Pembroke/Corfu area because they are farther away from where most members live and ride.  Our Sunday Series this year comprises 2x Grand Island Fireball, 2x Hunter’s Creek, Marilla, Shero, Langford, and the Grand Island Time Trial for a mix of flat, rolling, and hilly courses.  Your best 6 count towards the overall standings!

3) We’re including a version of separate scoring in our Sunday Series Club Races for Master’s Men 50+ and Women’s A and B fields this year because our Master’s riders spoke up on our survey that many would do more club races with separate scoring.  While we’re not entirely going for a scored-separately approach, we’re going to take the points you earn in the A field and put them onto a separate leaderboard for the end of the year!  I.e. if you get 5th place in the A field as a Master’s, your 5th place points go onto the Master’s list.  Same for Women in the A field and Women in the B field.

4) Our USA Cycling sanctioned races are revamping this year!  Hamburg RR and Freedom Run Winery Road Race are intact, and Freedom Run also serves as the club championship race.  Returning for its second year and now as a standalone event is the Marilla Spring Classic on April 30th.  You said Marilla was your top rated BBC course on our survey, so we’re putting it on as our season opener!  And finally we’re offering a brand new criterium on a new course around Resurgence Brewing Company on Ohio St in Buffalo on May 21!  We’re planning on this being a very spectator-friendly event with the finish line right in front of the building!

5) We’re marking a return of the Club vs Club race against our friends from Rochester’s Genessee Valley Cycling Club for the first time since 2015!  Held on the BBC Corfu course right in between Buffalo and Rochester, we’ll all be working as a team as BBC members to get the most points against everyone from GVCC!

6) Stay tuned for skills clinics- we’ll be hosting a few during the year too!

How do I sign up?

Membership will open officially on March 1st.  At that time, you can choose your membership option, sign up to marshal one or more events (You get $40 every time you marshal!), and log into the BBC Verge Clothing Store.  The membership and store link will be in your email on that day.  Or find membership here and the Verge Store here

Our Verge Clothing store will be offering 25% off on everything you order between March 1 and March 15, so place your yearly order early to take advantage of the offer!

Looking forward to a great 2023 season!
Thanks

James Thompson

President, Buffalo Bicycling Club

[email protected]