January Meeting Notes
Happy New Year BMMC!
🥳New Members 🥳-
Howard announced our new members Frank Laru, Paul & Jill Wallaby.
Guests - Lina & Jon Bowers, Leah & Don Roche, Lisa Ruggiero & Frank Caruso, Ken Hubert, Paul Wollebe, and Chris Gray.
At the height of our membership we had 185 members. This club - OUR CLUB - is the premier riding club in Arizona. Howard Schnitz handed out referral cards and challenged each member to work on handing them out and bringing at least one new/perspective member to join us.
Ron & Vicki Smalls Award - Given out to an outstanding member who is a HUGE supporter of the club for over 20 years. He has helped with ride hosting, safety talks, and so much more. He has moved from 2 to 3 wheels and we are just thrilled to honor Mr. Tom Clements.
📚Review of Last Month📚- We handed out the ride calendar at the December meeting, if you have questions please let us know. The dates of rides are there so please plan ahead and join us.
A reflection on BMMC - friends, family, and unity. Lets remember that for 2026 and have an amazing year!
Ride Captains Meeting- Chuck Biehn gave a nice update on the meeting. We spoke about riding slowly when we start rides, enter freeways, etc. to avoid the yo-yo and make sure that the riders are together. If you see riding that concerns you, please point that out to your ride captains. We all need to also be mindful that we make mistakes from time to time as well. Ride Captains may speak to you about this should something come up. Please be kind to them as they are coming from a good place. We spoke about future training for Ride Captains, which they take at least once every 3 years.
Ride Captains will be stating the rules before rides and gathering waivers from any guest on the ride. Please remind your guests if you bring one that they will need to sign one in order to ride with the group.
Riders Guide - please read or re-read the riders guide. There is great information in there and we all should be aware and remind ourselves.
Cars on rides - a lot of us do this from time to time. If you do, you are not a part of the group and you should not maintain the 2 second rule. Keep distance like you would if you are driving you car.
Accident scene management training was taken by several club members and Mike Calantropio is looking in to it again. If you are interested in taking this, please stay tuned as we are working to find a date and time to hold this.
On December 6th, we had 87 people at the meeting. The Christmas party that evening was great with 80 attendees. A BMMC thank you to Jim Boomer for photographing the evening. The night was wonderful, delicious dinner and decadent desserts. Thaddeus Rose got us all on the dance floor to work off the great food. John Robbey was honored with member of the year. A HUGE thank you to Tanya Sarkisian and Carleen Bobronski for all their hard work. Thank you also to Wendy Dickerman for the assist.
We had a great ride on December 21st - the Frosty Balls ride to the river bottom. We started out with a sweet treat, then a nice safer
🕦Up & Coming🕦- We started a new tradition for 2026 and will start each meeting with the pledge of allegiance. Thank you for Phil & Leslie Jensen for donating the flag. Also thank you to Gina & Leslie for holding it for today’s meeting
Breakfast meeting today, dinner social on the 14th, and the Tortilla Flats ride on January 17th hosted by Gina Monk. It will be a nice twisty ride and then lunch at the flats. After lunch, Mike Calantropio is leading a ride to the Commemorative Air Force base down in Mesa. This part is not club sponsored, but if you are interested let if know. There is a cost to enter $20 adults, $15 senior/child.
February - On Feb 21st we have the Dwarf car museum and we need a host for that ride, Wayne Winslow will help.
March - On March 21st we have our annual poker run, please stay tuned for details. We need more volunteers to help out at tables, etc. Please reach out to Wendy if you would like to help.
Some changes for future rides - Watch out for changes to the April ride to Prescott/Chino to April 24th instead.
Premier Ride - Kathi Dennis gave an update on the premier ride to Utah was set for August, then moved to Sept and back to August. We took a show of hands to see what members felt - Aug or Sept. We are staying 2 nights at the East Zion Resort in Utah and they have some fun accommodations. Cabins, Resort rooms, treehouse, mirror houses, yurts, and much more. We will also head over to Zion and staying at Ruby’s Best Western as well. The dates are Aug 19-22. We are working to put together a cowboy dinner on Friday night. Once more information comes out if you have questions, please let us know.
⚠️Safety⚠️ - David Slepak advised us on safety - this month Tires!You should check your tire pressure before EVERY ride. The rubber is key to a safe ride. He showed us a Fumpa, made in Australia. It is a key chain chargeable tire pressure gauge. Please always keep one on your bike. Bonus points for carrying a tire pump in your bike. He showed us his Air Moto which you can just screw on an fill up your tire. Double bonus for a stop and go which is a tire plugging kit on your bike.
Do you know how long it takes for a motorcycle tire to warm up? It is 5 - 30 minutes in regular weather, colder weather even longer. Tires that are not warm do not have good grip.
After the meeting David also gave a demo on tires. Thanks David!
Member highlights - over 26 years = Jim & Jacque O’hara. Over 20 years, Matt & Lucy Alagna, John & Dawn Barnett, Gerry & Jennifer Russell, Pam Donner, Sam & Katherine Levitin, Mike Calantropio, Phil & Leslie Jenson, Mike Viola, Lynne Whitcomb and Alan Wagener, Ed & Jeanette Graham, Chuck Knight, Gene & Jeannie Adee, Tom & Pam Clements, Todd & Peggy Gerber, Robert Martinez, Richard Grubenhoff.
That is 22% of our membership with over 20 years.
💵 Financials 💵- Tom Dennis gave an update on financials and will be doing this at each meeting going forward. We ended the 2025 year positive which is great and we are sitting in a good spot for 2026.
Reminder - Waivers, drivers license, insurance, etc are due. Please hand/send them to Tom Dennis.
💃WOW!! 💃- Don’t forget the wow meeting is on the last Thursday of the month. This month it will be on the 29th, please stay tuned for details.
🎊 Birthdays 🎈- Matt Alagna, James Combs, Roger Flansberg, Ed Sarkisian, Michael Skeen, Linda Benkowski, Candy Blair, Wendy Dickerman, Jennifer Sarnoski, and Tom Morse.
💵50/50 Winners 💵- 2 winners of $240 each! Margo & Mark Boster, and Shanna Lettin & Doug McDowell.
Ride safe everyone!