As I enter my 8th year on the Executive Board - 3 of them as Vice President and 5 as President... I want to reflect and also look forward to the future.

Reflecting: the club is smaller than it was 10 years ago - but more focussed on our unique style of riding - helping people progress in their cycling skills, navigating the streets of NYC, making new friends and majoring on sites to see and great places to eat in the city - but also to get out of town and enjoy rides at a faster pace and longer distance. Also, the board is made up of 11 executives elected by the club, a growing number of "members at large" who can observe and learn how the board operates before deciding whether or not to take on a specific role, and our council of appointed positions. If you'd like to get involved - talk to anyone on the board and consider becoming member at large - you attend as many board meetings as you can and decide... no major commitment - and most roles are shared so the time commitment can be manageable.

When I first took on communications in 2014, the board has evolved into a really fun and effective team. Looking back - we still have a very good thing, and are starting to market ourselves better and hope to be growing again asap.

Looking to the present - we are still reeling from the loss of a number of long time club members - two in particular were very well known and gone too soon: Alfredo Garcia and Peter Morales. The club was active in their funerals and will be doing things still being determined to honor their memories. If you have any ideas - please email board@5bbc.org. If you click on the donate button at the top of the web site, you will see a fund for each. Details of what we will be doing will be shared once they are known.

Looking forward, my goal in this term of service, similar to my goal for last year, is to find people who could take my role or join the board in some capacity and continue the path the club has been on for many years now, where the board works very effectively and positively as a team to do the business of running the club.

I know of at least two people who are ready for my role  - but we'll see if they feel ready to step forward in the fall. Otherwise, I will be happy to serve one more year until my term limit hits.

I want to point out something very positive that gives me hope of a larger council of volunteers who help the club get more done. We had started with an outside social media marketing firm - their productivity for the cost - is well worth it. But they really did not know cycling or the club - so a number of people rightly criticized their early work. And they iterated and are getting better and better with ongoing feedback. The better news is - four of the most vocal critics have joined our marketing team - sharing the load - and helping us get better and better at how we market the club and hopefully get more people to join us! Thank you to those folk - you know who you are - and I am truly grateful for how we took a lemon and made some very sweet lemonade thanks to you! We also have two photographers available to help us curate more of our own content for social media and our facebook pages... if you are interested in being part of our marketing - please consider telling your story and letting us post it to social media - all you need is to answer a short questionnaire and provide two of your favorite pics and we will take it from there. Please email communications@5bbc.org to let us know.

I would like to further improve the state of club management. It is great right now - but, we need to develop future board members now, give them time to grow into roles, while we all work to maintain our identity as New York's Friendliest Bike Club.

I hope to see you on a ride soon! And perhaps a few more of you, on the board :) 

Allan