Just got an e-mail from Steve to say that tomorrows event has been cancelled due to bad weather. I’ll keep you posted with re-schedule info…
Month: July 2009
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TickerTape Sponsorship!
TickerTape (our monthly timed DH event) now has a main sponsor; Transition Bikes !
Keith from Transition Bikes (UK) first heard about the club from Neil Cousins and Helen Cox at Bike Radar Live, so Neil put Keith in contact with me who was keen to know more. After riding the trails and chatting about the club Keith seemed stoked and keen to get involved.
Transition Bikes will be supporting the BCC TickerTape by providing prizes including components and T-shirts at every event for the next year!
We’ll be re-launching the events on Sunday 30th August with a special Bumper TickerTape! We’ll have hotdogs, home made cakes and drinks along with special Transition prizes, and excitingly; Transition Bikes owners Kyle Young and Kevin Menard will also be there along with Sam Burkhardt to lay down some times on the new (full length) spoons! There’ll also be a couple of prototype bikes and plenty of trickery to have a nose at along with the great atmosphere of TickerTape we all know and love.
This is pretty massive news, and will mean that there’s even more reason to come along and give it some beans!
Check back soon for full event details!
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leave no trace
Over the past month there has been a lot going on at the allotment; plenty of planning, building and riding, but worryingly there has also been a lot of litter.
Now surely I don’t need to explain why this is a bad thing, or why it puts a real downer on an otherwise beautiful place, do I?
Please don’t litter
Please do take home all your rubbish
and if you find any when you’re there please pop it in your bag/pocket and take it home to throw away.
Thank you.
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Many hands…
Bath BMX track is a local gem; great track, great people and a great way to spend a Friday evening.
Steve, the man behind it all, has organised a day of much needed track pampering this Saturday 1st August, starting at 09:00.
The council are providing materials and plant along with a few able bodies, so why not pop along for a few hours and lend a hand. Bring a rake, shovel or brush but leave the full face at home: the track will be closed all day for maintenance.
Remember: you reap what you sow.
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Good just got better…
For over a year we’ve run the ‘BCC Weekender’ every month. The format was simple, a whole weekend of BCC goodness; Dig Day on Saturday, and TickerTape (our timed DH event) on Sunday. Lush.
The events have been a real success; new trails being built, existing trails getting plenty of TLC and everyone enjoying riding against the clock on our fully taped DH courses.
The only problem has been getting people to both events. While the idea of a whole weekend on MTB trail building and riding sounds great, the reality is that people often found it hard to commit to both days meaning they had to choose, and no one likes a catch 22.
So we’ve decided to change the format, making it the BCC Split Weekender. Essentially every two weeks we’ll run either a Dig Day or TickerTape, alternating between the two. This way we’ll also be able to vary the day we hold each so that people who have weekend commitments can make each once in a while.
Don’t worry; the format of each will remain the same; Dig Day’s boasting tea, coffee, cake and biscuits along with plenty of trail building, and TickerTape with it’s relaxed atmosphere, banter and great trails – We’re just making them more accessible so that everybody can join in the fun!
We’ll be sending out reminders to all our members and affiliates via e-mail, and will publish the event dates on the website in good time. Our website calender is broken right now though, but will be fixed real soon…
…So in the mean time, here are the next two dates:
Sunday 16th August 2009 – Dig Day, 09:00 – 17:00, Stay as long as you like, any and all help is greatly appreciated! Plenty of refreshments, (See the Trail Development Plan for current trail plans)
Sunday 30th August 2009 – TickerTape, 10:00-15:00, no pressure, relaxed DH timing event, taped course, spot prizes, full face helmets only (if being timed), other trails open all day.
See you there!
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Summer fun…
We’re hoping that Chris doesn’t expect style points at the next TickerTape; manual to bar-spin drop is something none of us fancy contending with!
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Time flies…
After all that effort it was pretty special to ride the new lower section of Spoons this evening.
As with any new trail, the first run is one filled with mixed emotions; high expectation and anxiety being pretty standard, and releif and exhileration being the desirable outcome.
Spoons delivered.
It’s flowy, fast and keeps you on your toes. Plenty of off camber, some cheeky roots and a healthy dose of virgin top soil keep you drifting sideways with a massive grin on your face.
Adding a further 15-20 seconds onto the track length and creating at least two more ‘field splitting’ corners the new bottom section (name TBC) will make tickertape events even more interesting. What’s more; BBMS will get to benefit too with a tickertape only link up making it almost 1 minute long.
All this in 7 days, time flies when you’re having fun!
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Longleat, WI: 12/07/09
For many gravity athletes the prospect of tackling the fast, rooty corners of Spoons in the wet was too much, but not for one-time Tickertape Champion Andrew Denham who rampaged to the win with a sub 33 second run that obliterated his challengers.
The run was made especially impressive by the introduction of a huge new raised rock garden (‘Boobs’) built the previous day, with the determined labour of Josh and Ben being key to it’s construction (along with the vision of Neil “One Run” Cousins).
Ben – a Sutton Veny native – also excelled against the clock with his determination and continual improvements (only challenged by Burv) winning him the coveted ‘Beans’ award (and an Eastpak wallet). Unfortunately for Josh he did not find Spoons as easy – his near slick tyres and unconventional set up hindering him in technical sections, but not from going large of every jump at every opportunity.
Several riders set times early then left, confident their times would put them on the podium, sadly for both “Waterproof” Dave and ‘Big Bird’ this wasn’t to be.
Another competitor was SouthernDownhill.com owner (and prize donator)’Straight Line’ Lewis whose disgust at being unable to challenge for the win led to him only revealing a couple of his race times.
Meanwhile while some riders were aiming for speed, others were aiming for style – Simon with his 180 degree high speed skids, Nigel with his (circa 1999) Rocket Parts gloves and Daniel who received copies of Fastlane mag for being a pinner, not to mention having his own pit crew and media team.
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Building good trails is simple;
Step 1. Plan
Step 2. Work hard
Step 3. Eat jelly sweets
It’s been a productive week; thanks to some careful consideration, 21 man hours of hard graft and some pick ‘n’ mix we now have an entirely new bottom section to ‘Spoons’ almost doubling its length.
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Stolen Bikes
There was a break in at TT cycles in the early hours of Friday 17/07/09.
The theives kicked in the supposedly ‘break in proof’ plate glass door and seemed to know what they were after.
Please could everyone keep a look out for the following 2009 lapierre’s:
froggy 318 small
spicy 316 46cm
spicy 516 46cm
x-control 410 46cm
technic 500 46 & 51cmAll stolen from tt cycles bradford on avon (bath/bristol area).
Any info would be great!
Email: info@ttcycles.co.uk
Or ring Mark on 01225 867187