Venmo your $50 annual membership fee (via QLR code above) and: please identify your mailing address, and if you are a 2024 Mug Club member, identify your mug number.
Please also note: For 2024, subscription memberships will be free to active/engaged/participating SBCA athletes/representatives who are under the age of 21.
o We are also mindful that times are pretty tough right now for some folks. If there is anyone who really would like to be a subscribed SBCA member, but for whom the subscription fee is an undue burden at this time, please reach out reach out to Neil (neilchanter@stronglaw.com) to visit with him about this in confidence. (A private-benefactor/club-supporter has agreed to help folks who might need some help on this issue, provided that the athlete is committed to being a super active SBCA member/representative.
3) 2024 subscriber benefits:
Your $50 subscription gets you:
i. An SBCA membership card (if you don’t have one already), and with that, the 10% discount on food at SBC, and 10% off Beer-To-Go from the To-Go Fridge at SBC too.
ii. A $25 SBC gift card.
iii. And you get another $25 SBC gift card, if you either renew or join the Mugclub.
iv. Yes – your math is correct there. In short – as soon as you use your mug club mug once – you will have essentially made money/won, and will increasingly continue to do so, every time thereafter that you use your mug.
v. No, this is not a scam. It really is as simple as it reads.
vi. Why the hell would we do that?
SBCA’s mission is to facilitate active and engaged SBCA members enjoying/sharing: 1) endurance sports of their own; 2) endurance sports/results/achievements of your fellow SBCA team members; and 3) SBC. Pretty much in equal measure .
vii. Seriously though – if it seems too good to be true? Fear not – there are caveats. In return, we want:
You engaged in endurance sports and/or otherwise engaged in helping the SBCA Club and/or the Community Bike-Shop;
You to celebrate that fact^^^, with SBC and/or Ty Iechyd Da logos (in any form – kit, product, swag, glassware - whatever) on your socials (FB, IG, and Strava);
You to follow the SBCA Code of Conduct found on the club website; and
Finally – actually, that’s it - like seriously – that’s all we’re asking.
Other SBCA subscriber benefits:
Weekly/celebratory pints for subscriber members to toast/celebrate SBCA members’ athletic achievements: whether it’s:
ii. winning (think here the likes of Toby Dogwiler, Missy Belk, Nicole Flemming, Amanda Tolliver, Rachel Baker, Steve Kastner, Judge Sifferman, Max Rinehart, Cooper Johnson, Steven Belcher, Trevor Croley, etc, etc);
iii. personal athletic achievements/milestones/PR’s (DKXL, Ultra PR’s (distance and/or time), Judge Hendrickson representing the USA at World’s, Gary Shaw’s ongoing quest for a 100 Miler in every state, Samantha Hoffman podiuming at the Beer Mile Worlds, etc, etc); and/or
iv. random stuff that old men seem somewhat prone to do in the late-summer/early-fall (such as Trans MO, 3 States, Everesting, 1200k, 600k, 300k, Sub4, etc, etc) and everything in between.
v. 10% off at A&B Cycle.
vi. Beers provided for races, where SBCA athletes will be racing/volunteering.
vii. Beers provided for weekly events including TuNR, TNR and TNRun.
Have an idea for a weekly event, you want us to help promote/support? Reach out. We might be able to and we might be able provide beers for that too.
4) Where does your membership fee go?
• Pursuant to the annual meeting last year, 2023’s membership fees have, so far, gone towards:
i. boosting SBCA posts/events/causes(think community bike shop there);
ii. paying for those super nice SBCA membership cards (with the discounts on the back) that Zeb made for us all; and
ii. pretty much nothing else, yet……..
iv. of all the subscriptions collected in 2023, roughly $2,000 still sits in the SBCA Venmo account.
So who has been paying for all the complimentary/free-beers weekly, and all the beers we send to events/rides/runs, and for the Summer and upcoming Holiday SBCA socials? A combination of SBC (aka Chris/me) and our SBCA sponsors (Active Life Chiro, Larson Law, State Bank, etc.). Thanks to those sponsors for their support, and you’re welcome.
What are we going to do in the future with ongoing subscription funds collected?
i. At the annual meeting, it was decided that we as a club are going to try to do a better job of promoting the club and it’s benefits, and to go full-gas on promoting our cornerstone/flagship events, those being:
• Tour De Brew – is going back to the original model of all the breweries we can get in our parking lot at SBC, games, bands, food, a bottomless tasting glass, etc, etc after the ride. A small tasting glass will get you a free sample at the all the participating breweries along the route – but the real full on party will be in the parking lot with all the breweries there too.
• Prefer the completely self-sufficient, ride as you want, stay as long as you want, drink whatever you want, free Tour De Brew model of the past few years? Me too – so we’ll be coming up with some excuses to do that version throughout the year – two of which are already on the event calendar/page. Jan 6 and Feb 3.
• Beer Cup Summer Series – this is also going to be much more heavily promoted, with a friendlier ride/race/segment format to encourage participation by all sorts of riders.
• Beer Miles (Spring and Halloween) – these are also going to be heavily promoted, with direct targeting on a new/student demographic. These should be 100 runners deep and we’re gonna try and crack this conundrum this year.
• The Leaky Glass Ultra that SBCA member, Gary Shaw puts on each year.
ii. To do so – and to better promote SBCA and SBCA membership overall - we’re looking into contracting/hiring someone who actually knows wtf they are doing to help us effectively promote such things on SBCA’s socials.
iii. Have an idea for another SBCA flagship event you want to put on? Let us know, it might make the list.
5) Otherwise – there will be more of what we’ve been doing for 12 years for the local endurance sports community. ( Analysis of our team FB page shows that just with prior FB events alone – SBCA has put on 1,527 events, locally since 2012).
6) Free memberships will also continue for those folks who want to remain on the Weekly Newsletter mailer and who want to continue to enjoy any of our events, which have for our 12 year history always been open to everyone, and (with the exception of the first Tour de Brew and the Beer Miles (for obvious reasons)), entirely FREE.
7) The Club is also committing to changing kit manufacturers for 2025 – to a high end A++ manufacturer – that while sadly being expensive – certainly much more so than Pactimo – will provide us with kits that we will want to wear all the time, hopefully.
8) The 2024 Pactimo kit store will be open in late January, for new/renewing SBCA members to stock up on SBC cycling, running and triathlon gear for the year.
Once the surveys are sent out and collated, we’ll report findings and we can incorporate that feedback into our 2024 annual meeting discussion on the paid-subscriptions-or-not-paid-subscriptions debate.
9) And so – here we go – Year 12. #fortheloveofsport