October 8, 2025 Board Meeting

Randonneurs USA Board of Director Minutes

October 8, 2025

 

  1. Call to order: The meeting on October 8, 2025 was called to order at 8:01 p.m. Eastern time, over Zoom. The following members were present.
    1. Dawn Piech
    2. John Lee Ellis
    3. Bill Bryant
    4. Charlie Martin
    5. Chris Argo
    6. Gardner Duvall
    7. Dave Thompson
       
  2. The minutes of the September 2025 Board meeting were approved.
     
  3. The prior Board email votes approving RUSA’s general liability insurance and the Regions’ 2026 calendars were confirmed.
     
  4. The Treasurer submitted a written report for October. Dave confirmed that he had reviewed back-up information.
     
  5. Gardner reported that the Financial Audit Committee received the October Treasurer’s Report before the Board meeting, and made no comment about it.
     
  6. A late-submitted ACP SR series was discussed.
     
  7. The 2026 budget was discussed. The following changes from 2025 were approved:
    1. permanent fee will be $0.00.
    2. advertising and promotion budget will be set at $12,000.00.
    3. Projected membership income will be increased by $3,500.00.
    4. $3,500.00 is budgeted to reimburse RBAs for new memberships.
       
  8. Chris made the RBA-L report. New RBAs in Long Island, Boston, and Indiana were monitored by Chris for their first events. Eastern Pennsylvania transitions to its new RBA January 1, 2026. The Sioux Falls region may go dark in 2026. Chris has also lost contact with two RBAs, who each submitted calendars for 2026. Chris reported on an email from the Chicagoland RBA regarding the perceived impact of the Rando Scout award on inter-regional collaboration, specifically in regards to a Chicago-Indiana-Chicago event. Charlie and other board members explained the logistics behind this specific event related to routes, ownership of routes, and the potential impact on the Rando Scout award.
     
  9. A written Web Team report was submitted. Charlie asked for reporting requirements for the new Ultra Distance Awards. RUSA.org no longer displays gender designations, with the possible exception of certain static pages that cannot be changed with a global revision. Certain corruptions in the results database were fixed. With the completion of the last domestic 1200k of 2025, American Randonneur Challenge awards are being finalized.
     
  10. Charlie led a discussion about recording climbing results in 2026 on the following proposals. The amount of climbing estimated for a brevet, Populaire, or team event route will be the climbing stated by RWGPS for that route; RWGPS activity tracks created when the route is ridden will not be used. It will now be required for climbing data to be assigned to event routes in order for RBAs to submit results. A RWGPS track can be supplied at the time of results submission, which will take a snapshot of the RWGPS climbing figure. In order for teams to get climbing credit for a team event, their as-ridden route has to be submitted with their results. When submitting results, permanent riders will have the option to submit downward deviations from RWGPS climbing based on free-routing choices, as currently occurs with gravel credit. These proposals will be emailed to Board members for an anticipated e-vote prior to the November Board meeting.
     
  11. Dawn reported on the upcoming edition of Between Controls, and on the statistics for uptake of the September edition, which were: 3643 sent, 80% open rate, 10% click rate, Total unsubscribed: 0, Total Click Through: 432. Dawn will have a call in December with the Between Controls review team of 5 to formally meet in person and also talk about improvements/suggestions/ideas on Between Controls in 2026.
     
  12. Gardner provided a report from the Awards Review Committee. In response to proposed tiers for climbing awards, Charlie asked to amass 2026 climbing data before establishing award tiers. A new proposal for an Ultra award for 10 domestic grand randonnees resulted in a request that the ARC do a strategic review of the existing and proposed awards for domestic grand randonnees.
     
  13. Dawn for the Marketing Committee reported that the store for the Pedal Industries RUSA gear bags is open. She reported on Mike Sturgill organizing a Rouleur week. The Committee wants to develop a survey of RBAs regarding marketing and RUSA exposure at bike expos. A 2025 volunteer patch is in development. The Committee is recruiting a chair and/or co-chairs, since the Marketing Chairperson stepped down in fall 2024. A draft of a marketing charter has been completed and shared with both the BOD and Marketing committee. Additionally, she has a scheduled call on November 2nd with the Marketing team to regroup.
     
  14. Nominations for the 2025 Board elections are being made, and nominees are being asked if they are willing to stand for the election.
     
  15. The next meetings are scheduled for November 12, and December 10, 2025.
     
  16. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 Eastern time, without objection.