Happy new year, Team!
As we’ve closed out the year and are starting a new one, I want to take a minute (maybe 7?) to reflect on the past couple years, tell you about some important things that are coming in 2026, and ask you what your favorite memories of 2025 are from BCADV rides, and what you’re most looking forward to in 2026.
2025
We started the year with three ADV 101 classes Jan-Mar:
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Comms 101
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How to pack for camping and trips
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How to fix a flat trailside
We had a monthly Moto Social aka hangout the last Tuesday of every single month.
That’s probably 25-30 hours in total spent together talking bikes, camping, gear, personal struggles and overcoming them - more than half a work week of time spent on moto stuff!
Rides
There were too many rides to count, but for me personally, my highlight this year was clearly the 8-country cross-Europe trek with @brotherpicnic and a few other BCADV-adjacent fam into Ukraine to deliver moto ambulances to special forces combat medics.
Here at home, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the weekly cadence rides with y’all because they provide something to look forward to on a regular basis. I also always dig Rich’s Big ‘Ol Best of NoCo rides because so many people show up, we ride at a chill pace, and eat a ton of food along the way. But my favorite rides of the year are all the S24O (Sub-24-hour-overnighter) camp trips - they always feel like cheating the system because you roll out at the end of the day for a mini-adventure, and the next morning get home from ADV camping mid-week and just start your morning like any other day. Such a healthy reset.
Industry Partners
Even in our infancy, we’ve seen a bunch of awesome companies want to help out the club (Green Chile, CMC, Elite, and others) - and there is a lot more of this on the way.
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All of this value and has started to snowball, and a core group of us really want to continue the momentum and give BCADV real staying power as a pillar of the moto community in our area.
What’s coming for 2026
BCADV is becoming a 501(c)(7) non-profit social club with $30 yearly dues
With everyone’s input and participation, we had a super strong year, and we’re carrying that momentum into 2026 with a bunch of upcoming ADV 101 winter classes, partner/vendor discounts, big trips, and more. **The biggest change that is coming is that we have set up BCADV as a 501(c)(7) non-profit social club, and to become a full member, you’ll be required to pay annual dues of $30 a year.
As another example, Rising Sun 4x4 club (Cruise Moab folks) have had this structure since 1981. It works for the long haul.
Why would I pay dues to be a BCADV member?
There are a few reasons:
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BCADV is bigger than any individual at this point; there’s something like 150 active people in this forum as I type this, but more importantly, we’ve easily had >100 people come on rides with us in the past two years. We want to build this into a community with staying power that is here 20 years from now. To do that, the core operation and governance of the group can’t rely on one or two people because people move, burn out, pass away, have life changes, or lose interest, and we’ve all seen clubs/groups/communities die when they’re set up this way. We can do a better job of planning and future-proofing.
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It costs a little money to run the club. I (Gino) have currently paid for everything out of my own pocket to get things off the ground, which is totally fine. That said, the $55/mo for this forum and a soon-to-be website adds up over the long haul. I paid for the NorCal BDR film when we screened that in ’24. I paid for the tables we had at Rayback Collective (and John Venmo’d me for half after the fact), among other things along the way. I’m all good with it, and while you have to do things that don’t scale when you’re building a startup, we’re at a point where members who get value out of the club can pony up the equivalent of $2.50 a month for that value.
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We’re going to have a LOT more industry discounts, partnerships, invites to events in 2026 and beyond. We already have relationships with Green Chile, CMC, Rocky Talkie, and we’ve been working on several more that we’re excited to announce later this month. The more of us who participate, the better these discounts/relationships can be for active club members. And, going forward, they will only be available to active club members (folks who have paid their measly dues for the year).
If you don’t want to become a full member, you’ll still be able to use the forum and join public rides. You won’t have access to industry discounts/partnerships, or private rides and events, etc. We simply have to carve it this way so that folks are incentivized to be engaged, and to be a genuine part of shaping the things they want to see in the world. As a group, we can provide FAR more value to folks if we’re all engaged at some minimal level. And to be frank, if someone can’t see the reason to pony up $30 a year ($2.50/mo., which is a cup of shitty gas station coffee), they probably aren’t getting value from the club to begin with. 
We now have a Board of Directors:
Because we’re a non-profit, we now have a Board, and these folks have already been super involved in getting BCADV off the ground. So it should be no surprise that Rich Strauss, John Cole, Chris Munro, and I comprise the Board. We’ll meet once per quarter to tick the boxes for the state/federal non-profit status crap, but really it’ll be an excuse to hang out. Any time there’s a “Board Meeting” we’ll invite everyone else as well. Or maybe we’ll just roll it into the Moto Socials; we’re making this up as we go and will keep it fun, and if you have input, let’s hear it.
We’re just about done setting up the new club structure, and soon we’ll get a bank account set up for the club. Then we’ll be able to collect dues. The club bank account statement will be available for all members to see; it’ll be a shoestring budget that goes to paying for the aforementioned things, but transparency is key. If there’s any funds left over at the end of each year, it’ll go to the year-end shindig like we had this year. 50 people showed up!
Here’s your incentive to become a founding member of BCADV:
For anyone who becomes a full member at the outset when we starting gather dues later this month, we’re going to be doing a run of BCADV Founding Member t-shirts (or maybe patches?) so you can gloat about your OG status to all newcomers. Patches would be minus the leather daddies and brotherrrrrrrrrring…
2026 Classes, Trips, and Rides
’26 is already starting off juicy. So far, we have planned the following stuff:
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ADV 101 classes in partnership with RevZilla in Denver from January - March. See the Events section for details.
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BCADV Baja trip in February w/Gino, Chris, and Jake Drevs (so far)
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BCADV Moab trip in March
…and that’s just Q1.
All of this stuff is purely a function of the momentum we have as a club. Your participation and energy is what is making it go, and we hope everyone sees the value of becoming a non-profit social club, and understands wanting to keep what we’re building going for as long as possible. As always, if you have questions, feedback, or ideas, this club is all of us, so let’s hear it. I’m nearly certain I didn’t cover everything.
Here’s to an awesome, safe, and adventurous 2026, y’all! This crew gave me mental health, real friendships, and some amazing adventures the past two years, and I’ll be looking to get more of that.
And lastly: what are your favorite memories from 2025 with the crew?
-G
And because this is so small scale, there’s no reason to figure out some online dues system that the club would have to pay for.
