Black Canon Collective

Month: April 2011

  • Bath Cycle Races

    Just a heads-up, really. Road-racing makes a return to Victoria Park in Bath for the next four Wednesday evenings. Many friends of mine from a previous life will either be organising or competing so I’m going along to watch (and wish, misty-eyed, that I was still that young and fit). If anyone from the BCC would like to join me in spectating, they’d be very welcome.

    This kind of closed-road circuit racing is fast and furious and given the narrow nature of the roads, chicanes and gradients in Vicky Park, it should make for some amazing viewing.

    If none of you have ever seen a circuit race, come and see what road bikes are really for and what proper fitness looks like! First race is this Wednesday evening (4th May), then 11th, 18th and 25th May. If anyone would like a lift, gimme a shout.

    Chas.

    “Bike Racing Returns to Victoria Park in Bath.

    It has been many years since the smell of embrocation has wafted around Victoria Park in Bath but it’s going to be back for four Wednesdays in May. Next month sees the exciting return of the Bath Cycle Races and with a slightly different format compared to your average bike race you’re promised some hard and fast racing from the off.
    With the support of Bath and North East Somerset Council, British Cycling and with the collaboration of four local cycling clubs (Somer Valley CC, Avonlea-Treasure RT, Velo Club Walcot and Bath CC) spectacular racing returns to Victoria Park each Wednesday evening in May with a 6.45pm start. And with an overall prize fund in excess of £2,000 the competition is bound to be fierce.
    Each race will be an action packed fifteen to thirty minutes long. There will be separate races for Youth A/B, 3rd and 4th category riders and women, with the evening of racing finishing with the Elite 1st and 2nd category race. Series leader and points leader jerseys will also be awarded after each round.”

  • Southerndownhill.com set up at the Allotment…

    This is a real family affair; with BCC Member Dan Irons (Fascade Photography) making this promotional video for Rob Lewis’s (a BCC Founding member) DH Race Team and TFTuned Shox (who are close friends of the BCC), and all the riding being filmed at The Allotment.

    It’s a great video, so watch it!

  • A crime we didn't commit

    On Thursday evening a crack litter picking team was sent to longleat forest by the BCC Committee for litter dropping crimes they didn’t commit. These men (and a woman) promptly went about picking litter all over the Longleat estate whilst riding bikes and doing skids. Today, still trying to work out why so many people left bags of poo all over the place, they survive as riders of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… The BCC Litter Picking Team-crew-gang.

    Al, who had spent most of the evening wearing an unnecessary amount of jewellery and talking street, was keen to comment that “I ain’t gettin’ on no plane!” though we, like you, have no idea what the hell he was going on about.

    Chas Thursfield, who organised the pick declined to comment on Al’s oddness but was heard saying “I love it when a plan comes together” on a number of occasions.

    Say, are we a groovy, happenin’ bunch o’ guys, or what?

    Listen!

  • A very Good Friday

    That’s what it’s all about. Shiny bikes, blue skies, warm sunshine, dry trails, stunning scenery, good company, big grins and lots of wildlife.

    Three of us went for a local loop starting early on Good Friday morning. We met up at the Allotment, headed out through Horningsham, went up over Cold Kitchen Hill and came back through Longleat forest. Explored a couple of new trails, rode a few favourite trails backwards (didn’t ride the BIKES backwards, obviously), performed some health-and-safety on one, admired the views, drank in the scenery and generally set the world to rights. A superb morning well spent.

    Anyhoo, the pictures speak for themselves. Long may this summer weather continue.

     

     

    Oh, and I hope at least some of you picked up on the obscure 80s lyric reference.

  • In Dust We Trust

    Another great turnout for a Tuesday Nightride. 23 riders met in the East Woodlands church carpark, and after the first Byway, divided into 11 riders in the Social group and 12 in the… erm…. ‘Anti-social’ group.

    On leaving the carpark, Ryan’s crank promptly fell off. The first of many mishaps for the evening.
    Aboard his Charge Cooker 29er prototype, Neil took charge of the Anti-social group and led a superb ride. There were two new faces in the ASG this week in a ‘try-before-you-buy’ capacity; a work colleague of Chas’, and a young tri-athlete prodigy, Matt from Trowbridge, who pretty-much set the pace for the group. After half-an-hour it was all a bit of a shock for Chas’ workmate who sadly had to bale-out after ‘hitting the wall’ on just the second climb.
    A regroup at the water feature and then a sprint down NCN24 to Centre Parcs. While negotiating ‘Doodles’ another crank-arm fell off. This time Sean was the victim (as his Singlespeed became a Halfspeed) and had to drop from the group. Kev nobly sprinted back to East Woodlands to retrieve his car to save Sean the long walk home. I think someone’s chain snapped at this point, too…
    A bit further on and we were soon sampling the unique delights of the undergrowth singletrack around Cannimore and Buckler’s Wood. Our rapidly-decreasing group of nine undertook the newly-found (and as yet unnamed) stretch of trail that wriggles its way through dense, small trees with low branches and stumps to negotiate through its entirety. A challenge in dexterity rather than speed, this trail takes a full five or six minutes of shoulder-dropping and track-standing to complete, hopefully without dabbing. All riders emerged intact at its end, with just a torn armwarmer and a ripped t-shirt for our troubles. Just then, by a staggering coincidence, Geraint who was just returning from London in a hired van, drove past as we were dusting ourselves down and hailed us over for a chat.
    Then a quick sprint back along the singletrack and over to the outskirts of Crockerton to ride a firm favourite, The Badger Run, down to Shear Water. A few sharp climbs back out of the forest up to the road and we followed the path back around Centre Parcs, through the toll booths to the top of The Allotment and rode the Dinner til Dusk descent before retracing our steps and heading homewards. En route to East Woodlands another Anti-social rider wended their own way home leaving just eight to return, dusty and happy, back to the pub and cars.
    All trails were superbly dry and dusty making for some very interesting cornering in places, but providing masses of traction on the climbs. Even the perma-puddles were developing dry lines through them which is always an encouraging sight. Dust was certainly the main feature of the evening, and youthful exuberance and enthusiasm often boiled over in the form of skidz enshrouding all who followed them in pyroclastic flows. Skidz ARE for kidz, people.
    All in all a superb evening’s ride for the Anti-socials who were all surprisingly very social despite losing 33% of our number during the course of the evening.
    I’m afraid I can’t comment on the Social group’s ride as I didn’t hang around at the pub, but I’ll bet they had a great ride too ;O)
    Oh, and Al “26-till-I-die” Mackinlay was later seen test-riding a 29er in the pub car park and was heard to comment “It rides like a bike”. You’ll all be riding them soon, I tells ya…

  • Time to renew your BCC membership

    Yep, as the image says, it’s time to renew your membership (it was actually due on the 1st of April!) so you need to log in to the website (using the user name an password you use for the forum) then you can rejoin by clicking the link on the right hand side of the forum and follow instructions….

    If you haven’t rejoined by 25th April then your account will be deleted and you will have to join as if for the first time.

    Thanks!

  • Dirt Fantasy DH League

    Why not join the Dirt Fantasy League game here: http://dirtfantasyleague.com it’s your chance to become a fantasy downhill world cup mountainbike team manager and select your pick of the worlds best riders in the hope of becoming 2011 Fantasy League Champion.

    We’ve created a BCC League so that club members can pitch their team management skills against each other.

    Just go to http://dirtfantasyleague.com/?page=register then pick your team, once you’ve done that you can use the ‘mini league admin’ option to join the BCC mini league.

    League Name: Black Canon Collective
    League password: see the forum

    It’s not hard and there are some great prizes to win too….

     

  • Pick up sticks

    Dig Day saw a group of committed members first repair a damaged berm, clear a Freeride trail corridor, then make a long to-do list before scoping out an XC trail corridor and picking up some litter.

    Doesn’t sound like much but collectively we made two massive piles of branches, sticks and falled trees, filled two large bin bags full of litter, and came up with long list of things that we could do to improve or repair the existing trails, not to mention all the ideas for new…

    It was great to see some new faces, and encouraging to see everyone get stuck in to the not-so-glamourous (but absolutely essential) side of trail building.

    Thanks to all those who helped out, please check out the Forum over the next couple of days for details of the new trails and the to-do list to find out how to get involved.

  • Sorry, No Pets

    Over the years we’ve happily allowed people to bring their pets (well dogs) along with them on club rides, but we’ve come to realise that as much fun as it is to ride with your mutt it’s not exactly a recipe for the most enjoyable ride all round. Even the best trail dogs can be unpredictable and make other riders feel nervous, not to mention scare the local wildlife of which there’s quite a lot.

    So, from today onwards we won’t be allowing any pets on BCC organised rides.

    Thanks

  • Wotta Lotta Litter…

    Following on from Sunday’s Dig Day, I can report that The Allotment is absolutely devoid of litter. Not a trace. Not so much as a Werther’s wrapper or an EPO syringe. Rien. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

    Sadly, however, the same cannot be said of the rest of Longleat forest, and this has become something of a bugbear of mine over recent weeks. For me, a ride is partially spoiled when I’m nipping gazelle-like [don’t laugh] through some sinewy singletrack deep in the undergrowth only to find a discarded carrierbag with an empty six-pack of “Monster” cans nearby.

    I’m certain that BCC members are not responsible. But there’s an awful lot of litter around the trails we use. A Mule-bar wrapper here, a Powerade bottle there. Everybody drops litter. Sometimes accidentally. Even I’ve been known to stuff a wrapper in my pocket only to find it’s not there by the end of the ride. I had to punish myself quite severely for that one.

    So, it’s a big forest, but if we approach it methodically, I reckon we can put a substantial dent in the litter levels out there. I suggest a Bike Ride/Litter Patrol one evening, which will combine a leisurely ride with litter collection along the way. It should only take an hour or two if there’s enough of us. We’ll set off for a section of the forest in pairs, each with an empty rucksack, lined with a bin-liner. One rider fills the others person’s rucksack so he/she doesn’t have to keep taking it off or putting it on. Simple as.

    I realise collecting other people’s litter is an unpleasant chore, but as well as giving you that inner glow of being really useful, there will be the added incentive of free drinks/cakes for all do-gooders supplied from Mr Denham’s van. I have also hidden a £50 note in an empty Quavers packet somewhere in the forest. And if nothing else it’s a gesture of goodwill to the Longleat estate, proving that we genuinely care about the forest we ride in.

    A show of hands, first, please, to see who’s willing to help out. So as not to intrude on the Tuesday Nightrides, I suggest a Thursday evening and maybe starting earlier than 7pm? Possibly even THIS Thursday (21st Apr) to make the most of the good weather?

    Who’s with me?