Black Canon Collective

Month: June 2010

  • Crash bang wallop

    Yesterday Geraint decided to test out the skills of our freshly trained Ride Leaders by crashing and breaking himself a bit. What he didn’t realise was that one of our newest members and first time Tuesday Night Rider was a Doctor. No need to flex any AVPU muscles then…

    Big thanks go to Mark Vose for his help and for actually having a triangular bandage!

    Anyway, here’s Geraints take on what happened:

    Me and my big mouth…no sooner had I said the words ‘airborne’ and ‘faceplant’ to describe my mountain bike riding style, than I tried to jump a log and went headlong into a course of events which includes, paramedic, A&E, sling and pain! Clavicle broken in two places, MTB off the menu for 6 weeks! Sorry to stuff up the best bit of singletrack on the ride, the sling from the RUH isn’t much different from trail side first aid. Got my beer in at 12.30 when we got back, but that shirt will have to go….

  • Stolen bike!

    A friend of mine has had his bike stolen (above) from a house in Melksham the other night, it is a custom made Curtis hardtail frame with fox 36 forks with custom sprung internals.

    Please keep an eye out for it, it is a very special bike, ‘one of a kind’. Let me know below if you have any information.

    Here’s the link to the thread on southerndownhill.com; Curtis HT stolen

    Cheers, Ben.

  • XC Ride Away – July

    Dan Hunter will be leading the XC Ride Away this July, here’s what he’s got in store:

    Hello I’ll be leading the July 11th XC ride away, across the Marlborough Downs and Ridgeway – so don your beards and prepare your retro steeds for a 17 mile trip across the neolithic landscape.

    The Route: Click here for a Goolge map of the route and parking location

    Difficulty: easy/moderate – highly recommend this ride for beginners who are comfortable riding the distance, but all are welcome.
    This route is largely open flint covered tracks so little technical skill is required. I would say half of this route involves climbing, but again this all non-technical. There is little in the way of singletrack but the open countryside and views are fantastic.

    Duration: 2:30 – 3:30 hours (Depending how long we stop for)

    Travelling: 1hour 10 mins drive from Frome.

    Ride start time: 10:15 – 10:25

    Food: There is a café half way round for food and drinks, but riders will need to bring enough while riding, as its not always open. If its hot ring plenty of fluids regardless.

    Clothing: Depends on the wether of course, but it is very exposed so bring a summer jacket or gilet if it looks chilly/wet or some sun tan lotion if it looking sunny.

    Meet up: The ride is open to all members & non members, please let us know who coming by the Friday evening so we can arrange lifts etc, we’ll be meeting in the Frome car park near the Cheese & Grain on Sunday around 8.30am to leave for 8.45am, although your welcome to make your own way to the parking spot near Marlborough if your coming from elsewhere.

    Check out the forum to arrange travel arrangements by clicking on the image below:

  • Men at Work…

    Today Ben, Will and I have been hard at work making a new notice board for the Allotment.
    The weirdest thing has been happening though…. rather than being the ones doing the wolf whistling (well you know what builders are like…) we’ve been getting loads of attention from passers by.
    I think it’s something to do with the way Ben hold his drill….

  • Follow Me – Thanks!

    We’d all like to say a special Thank You to Jonny Ashelford for organising the Follow Me raffle that raised over £100 for the BCC!!

    The film was cracking with most people struggling to refrain from making “brappp” noises or giggling like little children at the awesome trails and tricks being drenched across the cinema screen.

    After watching Follow Me we were treated to a screening of Seasons with the added bonus of some french subtitles….all we can say is that we wish we’d paid more attention as none of us can remember what the french for “gnarly” is… “le gnarrrr” or something like that I guess…?

    Cheers to the following companies for donating to the raffle: John’s Bikes, Thor, Follow Me and KCNC and to all those who bought tickets and came along for the ride.

  • We're not the only forest users…

    …and so it’s really important that all mountain bikers show respect to walkers, dog walkers and horse riders when out on the trails.
    Unfortunately on the 29th May a horse rider had to be taken to hospital by ambulance after falling from her horse onto her face due to a mountain biker startling the horse she was riding. The incident occurred in Longleat (on a bridleway) when the mountain biker rode past the group of horse riders at high speed rather than slowing to a reasonable pace and giving way. Unfortunately the mountain biker rode off leaving the other horse riders to pick up the pieces.

    This is very rare, but does emphasise how important it is that we all take care when riding our bikes in or around Longleat, because other then our Allotment the trails are shared by so many.

    So please, ride responsibly.

  • BCC on Facebook

  • June TickerTape – BBMS + Massacre

    Our TickerTape DH Jam format hasn’t changed much since the first event well over a year ago…

    1 x taped DH course

    1 x white board + pen

    1 x freelap system

    It’s a jam, not a race.

    It’s about having a laugh not psyching each other out. People always cheer each other on (and wind each other up)…

    Sure you’re against the clock and there can only be one fastest time, but that’s between you, the hill and you’re ability to ignore the massive shouts of “PEDAAAAAAALL” from the onlooking crowd.

    Beans have always played a big part in every event, whether its trying a drop for the first time, fully committing to a rooted corner or doing 17 runs in an afternoon. Giving it some beans is always rewarded.

    This month Will Hardy took the fastest time, winning the coveted sticker for the first time ever by 0.38 seconds.

    Jamie Friel showed more beans than most improving by a whopping 30 seconds over the course of the day. It was his first ever TickerTape too, and he was going for it!

    Jamie McDougall also gave it plenty, suffering from about 27 punctures and hitting almost every tree in sight. Committed.

    After the event was over and tape collected we spent the rest of the afternoon sessioning Spork and riding trains down OneFourThree…it doesn’t get much better than that.

    Thanks to everyone for helping set up and pack away, to Andrew Grace for the doughnuts and bananas, to Max Bikes PR for the awesome prizes and Shimano for providing the race tape.

    Beans.




  • Ticks (they're everywhere and they're not good!)

    Ok, a little dramatic, but it really is very important that you know what to look for, how to prevent getting them and also how to get one out should you be unlucky…

    We’ve created a Tick page in the ‘about’ section of the website, and included details on the FAQ’s but please do take the time to read the advice below as Limes Disease is pretty horrible but is known to be carried by ticks in the area.

  • Follow Me Prizes

    We’re giving away 2 x year memberships + 2 x BCC T shirts at tonights Fund Raising raffle. So go on, buy a strip….

    Date: Thursday 17th June 2010

    Time: 20:00

    Place: Little Theatre, Bath

    TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW FROM THEIR BOX OFFICE (just click here)!