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Month: July 2011
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Chalk and Cheese
You know sometimes it can be a real let down when you meet one of your idols whether they are a sporting hero or rock legend.
Today was thankfully not one of those.
Well I had the pleasure of running into Martyn Ashton, and his bike tour in Bath, so I had to go over and say hello.
Martyn and I are both about the same age, and clearly he loves riding his bike too…but that’s where the similarity ends, you need to witness the show to fully appreciate his natural ability and the countless hours (years) of training.
Martyn had just finished getting the onlookers into a full on frenzy with his astounding bike handling skills (and a fair bit of showmanship) when I went over to say hello, but you couldn’t have hoped to meet someone more polite or modest, what a great ambassador for our sport.
Anyway Martyn thanks for the chat, and signing my BCC T-shirt.
If you want to see Martyn and a few other familiar faces check out http://www.bikeridersutd.com/ or for more tour dates http://biketour.animal.co.uk/.
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Frome's Missing Link
Most of you have probably heard of Colliers Way, National Cycle Route 24 which runs from Dundas to Southampton. At the moment there’s two bits missing from Great Elm into Frome and at the southern end of Frome to Feltham Lane. Some of us got pretty fed up that nothing was happening so we set up a group to get things moving.
Yes I know that a cycleway is not too interesting to you but it does give you a safe off road way of getting into the Longleat woods or up to Radstock without too much bother. There are temporary routes but they do involve hills that would give many unfit cyclists a coronary. They are “maintained” by Somerset so while they do form part of their pothole collection there is not usually deep mud or stumps to jump over so are beneath your notice.
We are hoping to apply for planning consent in the autumn and will need all the support we can get first to get consent and then to build it, With so little money about we can expect a lot more voluntary work will be needed.
To support us just go to http://www.fromesmissinglink.org.uk and sign up as a supporter. Whether you are just good with a spade or have the odd £500k to spare we would be pleased to hear from you and keep you updated with progress.
Geoff Pell.
Make sure you sign up to the petition here: http://www.fromesmissinglink.org.uk/petition.aspx
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TickerLate rnd 2
Rnd 2 of the TickerTape Summer series was something of a treat, not only did we get to ride the loamy goodness of MCC but we also got to witness local hero (and secret practicer) Chris Smith testing the first ever set of schwalbe velcro tyres.
MCC is unique at the Allotment because of the way it’s been built, in that we haven’t actually done any building at all, just marked a super flowy trail down the side of the hill and left it to evolve naturally. What’s great about that is the fact that every time you ride it the fastest line changes; corners develop ruts, ruts become worn out and then new lines get formed to miss out the speed sapping loam piles. Now, as fun as that is trails like this just don’t ast very well, so we keep this one as a bit of a treat, something different to look forward to now and again.
Rnd 1 saw Steve Geall take the win from Chris Smith leaving Chris trying to find excuses why old man Geall had beat him on home soil. Well Chris took no chances at Rnd 2, with his secret weapon tyres that allowed him to pedal his way around every corner like someone riding a bike made from two loam spurting catherine-wheels. Chris took the win leaving the rest of us to dust ourselves down and think up our own underhand tactics for rnd 3 tomorrow.
Ollie Butler really impressed with his new attacking style, showing a marked improvement at every round, and Jamie Mc rode really well too despite shouting at himself on every run and nearly throwing up on a few! Both won beans, and deservedly so.
Thanks to everyone for helping set up and pack away, and to Rose Bikes for the ace prizes and support.
Tomorrow should be pretty slippery so pop a set of muds on or bring your body armour!
Set up from 12…
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4% Dig Day
Massive thanks to the die hard; Ian, Sam, Will and also Ryan.
We worked really hard to get every DH trail running sweet (after all the recent rain damage), put up a sign on the notice board and erect two new tool stations to encourage members to do some maintenance in between sending it off spork, chatting in the seating area or hiding bikes in trees.
We had to completely rebuild the flat berm (after spork) on spoons, as whoever had recently “repaired” it had done so by using a lot of wood and some crazy stakes about an inch from the riding face. Please don’t do that again, we appreciate the effort but the end result meant that we had to start from scratch after removing all the wood.
We also managed to scope out the whole of the Xc descent, including the very top.
There are two new features already lined up on Puppets and BBMS that we couldn’t start and a load of bigger projects just waiting to be started but with so few people we did well to achieve what we did.
Imagine what we could do with even 20%…. ?
Re-surfaced kicker on Puppets 
Completely re-dressed weeeeeee-boing on Puppets, removing barrows of rain washed silt. 
Battery hill repaired after much water damage, but it's rougher, that's for sure! 
The first of the new tool stations. Please use them! 
No excuses, there for all to see… 
Raised the level of the base of the table top take off on 143 to help with drainage off to the sides. 
Re-cut and shaped the lower berm on BBMS, removing loads of silt. 
Cut the rear-mech remover from the mound, just after the berm on BBMS. 
BRAND NEW option routed, marked and raked, instead of the c***y rooted corner on BBMS. 
Slight tweak to the next section too, it's no longer straight… (BBMS) 
It's going to be super drifty and fast… (BBMS) 
Looking back up at the new bit, flick flick flick, full speed, drifty fun…got a kicker to build too. (BBMS) 
Removed barrows and barrows of silt from Rolo and the original double on Spoons. 
Re-filled the deep drainage rut across the Flip-Flop landing on 143. 
Completely re-built and shaped the flat berm after finding some crazy stakes… (Spoons) 
The second tool station, no excuses now…if it's leafy – please rake it, if its broken – please repair it. 
Who put stakes in our berm??? We had to completely rebuild it….! 
Took the knuckle off of the Spork landing to reduce the chance of any nasty over the bar action on Spoons. 
Look there's 20 of us…oh no, wait, it's just 5 people working really hard…! Now I don’t like to be negative, and I know that many were away this weekend, but there are many more who weren’t. We all love riding at the Allotment but that’s only because of the hard work and dedication of a few of us who spend hours looking after the trails and building new stuff at the rate that we can given the numbers who turn up. If you want use them please come along and help us to not only look after them but make them better and add more of them too.
It’s not a lot to ask really, just that everyone start pulling their weight so that we can all enjoy the trails together…
Thanks
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STOLEN BIKES!
Orange G3 Specification
Frame; Orange G3 6061-T6 Custom Butted Aluminium, size 19”, colour Athena white with silver and red decals. Frame Number – T8518M4.
Fork; RockShox Tora SL with Lockout 100mm, colour white.
Front Brake; Avid Juicy 3 with 160mm rotor.
Rear Brake; Avid Juicy 3 with 160mm rotor.
Front Shifter; Shimano SLX 9spd M660, colour black.
Rear Shifter; Shimano SLX 9spd M660, colour black.
Front Hub; Shimano 525 Disc.
Rear Hub; Shimano 525 Disc.
Spokes; DT Swiss Competition S/S, colour black.
Rims; Mavic XM117, colour black.
Inner Tubes; Geax MTB Ultralite.
Tyres; IRC El Gato 2.25.
Headset; Race Face Thermo SP, colour silver.
Stem; Race Face Ride XC, colour black.
Handle Bar; Race Face Ride XC, colour black.
Grips; ODI Cross Trainer Lock-on, colour black.
Seatclamp; Orange OEM, colour silver.
Seatpost; Race Face Ride XC, colour black.
Saddle; SDG Bel Air, colour white with black.
Chainset; Shimano FCM442, colour black.
Bottom Bracket; Shimano UN.
Pedals; DMR V-12, colour black.
Chain; Shimano PC69 9spd.
Front Derailleur; Shimano Deore, colour black.
Rear Derailleur; Shimano SLX Shadow, colour black.
Cassette; SRAM PG950.Distinguishing marks;
– 2010 Frome Cobble Wobble sticker on seat tube.
– Right-hand leg of fork is badly scratched and scuffed.
DMR Trailstar Specification (note now v different from the photo).
Frame; 2001/02 DMR Trailstar, 4130 Steel, colour black with red decals.
Fork; 2003/04 Manitou Sherman, colour black.
Front Brake; Hope Mono M4, colour black with gold piston bore caps, with adapter and 200mm Aztec rotor.
Rear Brake; Hope Mono M4, colour black with gold piston bore caps, with 160mm rotor.
Rear Shifter; Shimano Deore Rapid Fire 9spd.
Front Hub; DMR Revolver 20mm Bolt-thru, colour black.
Rear Hub; DMR Revolver, colour black.
Spokes; -, colour silver.
Rims; Mavic D521, 36 Hole.
Inner Tubes; Geax MTB Ultralite.
Tyres; Tioga Black Turtle 2.2.
Headset; Hope Headset, colour black.
Stem; Amoeba, length 50mm, rise 10o, colour silver.
Handle Bar; Easton EA50 Riser, colour black.
Grips; ODI Ruffian Lock-on, colour black.
Bar Ends; X-lite Disco BB, colour black.
Seatclamp; DMR Single Bolt, colour black.
Seatpost; Tioga T-bone 6061, colour black.
Saddle; DMR, colour black.
Chainring; DMR Saturn, 40 Tooth, colour black.
Bottom Bracket; Shimano UN40.
Cranks; FSA PowerPro, colour black.
Pedals; Transition Stepdown, colour gold.
Chain Device; DMR Speed Guide, colour silver.
Chain; Shimano PC69 9spd.
Rear Derailleur; Shimano Deore 9spd, colour black.
Cassette; Shimano CS-HG50 9spd 11-32 Tooth.
Chain Stay Protector; DMR, colour black.If you have any information about these please get in touch info:blackcanoncollective.co.u
Thanks
