Black Canon Collective

Month: August 2011

  • Series overall – 3/4

  • Big Grins with Bigfoot MBC

    I can sum up August’s Ride-Away in two words.

     

    “Epic singletrack”.

     

    There. Write-up written. Thanks for looking.

     

     

    Longleat’s trails have already returned to their ‘Winter setting’, and after slogging round their deep, sandy gloop on Saturday, I was resigned to putting the mud-tyres on for our club visit to the woods around Cranham the next day.

     

    Good job I didn’t.

     

    As part of my very informal trail exchange programme with other MTB clubs in the area, we were to be guests of Bigfoot MBC, a large and very active club based in Gloucester. Nine BCC members (Steve, Simon, Kevin, Will, Andy, Ryan, Pete, Sean and myself) met with 12 of the Bigfoot clan in a pub carpark on the A46 just north of Painswick.

     

    The woods around Cranham are their local patch. And what a patch. A large, deciduous, not-too-steep-sided area to the east of Gloucester…. And absolutely stuffed choc-full of sinewy, natural singletrack and interesting features.

     

    To my astonishment, it seemed that all the rubbish weather we’d had this summer (especially recently) had completely bypassed this corner of Gloucestershire. We were treated to three hours of the most amazing, hard-packed, dry, dusty – and above all fast and flowing – singletrack. And all in stunning condition with nothing badly overgrown,  and nothing unrideable.

     

    We got our accidents and mechanicals out of the way early on. With a fast-moving group of 21 riders – half of whom were on unfamiliar trails – there were always going to be a few problems. Will had a worrying spill at the bottom of the very first descent, spectacularly going over the bars. Thankfully he was a just a little shaken and suffered nothing more serious than a squashed banana and a bent saddle-rail to show for his acrobatics. A singlespeeder’s chain snapped on the way back up. Simon suffered pedal-strike shortly after and toppled over sideways. A Bigfoot went over the bars in the bottom of a deep bombhole, his forks compressing to the max catching him out. A tyre was gashed at about the same time as someone’s freehub expired. The second-half of the ride went hitch-free.

     

    Ryan in shock and awe.

     

    These outstanding ribbons of singletrack seemed to go on forever. Due to some trick of the local topography, the downs seemed to be an awful lot longer than the ups. Throw in a drifty corner here, a little kicker there, a steep-sided bomb-hole over there and a short/sharp climb way over there, and you’ve got some world-class XC stuff that many man-made trail centres would be envious of.

     

    After an hour or so we all stopped for a breather at the top of  Coopers Hill – the famous cheese-rolling hill – and admired the stunning views over to the Malverrns. According to local MTB folklore, some one HAS managed to successfully ride down the near-vertical grassy slope.

     

     

    After another hour of more singletrack we were led to a little jump-spot where the Yoof amongst us amused themselves briefly on a series of smallish dirt ramps thrilling us oldies with their low-phat air.

     

    We headed off again and had ­– yep, you guessed it – about another hour of yet more singletrack. Eventually our time was up and we were about to head back to the pub. A number of our party were beginning to reach their limits, and at this point I may have cajoled our guides into showing us a few more trails instead of taking the road back to the pub. Glad I did.

     

    What a ride. 99% flowing, woodland singletrack. Over three hours of it. Seriously, 99%.

     

     

    Oh and the sun came out too. Quite possibly, the best ride of the year for me.

     

    *HUGE* thanks to Jason and the Bigfoot MBC for a great day.

     

     

     

  • Small, But Perfectly Formed


    Small, but perfectly formed.
    Ryan’s choice of gears?
    The area of Exmoor we went to?
    The number of BCC members on last Sunday’s Ride Away?
    Chas’ skill set?
    All of the above, actually.
    With no ‘certified’ Ride Leaders present for the first of this month’s Rides Away, the club outing to Exmoor quickly devolved into a slightly less formal ‘Forum Ride’.
    We few. We happy few.
    Chas, Will and Ryan met in the Cheese and Grain carpark and made the 90-minute drive to Dunster, while Paul, holidaying near Ilfracombe, had a much more tortuous journey eastwards along the north Devon and Somerset coastal road, arrived nearly an hour late and successfully snaffled the last available space in the car park.
    Chas explained that this small corner of Exmoor is a very steep-sided ridge with bridleways radiating from the the top in all directions. “There will be some pushing”, he added.
    The sight of our XC Rep in knee/shin and elbow pads had a couple of the more DH-oriented members of the group raising their eyebrows, but he explained he’d fallen-off on one of the descents on two previous attempts and was keen not to do so this time. As we all know, when you wear pads it increases your skillz. :Fact:
    After some world-class pfaffing from Will, the party of four headed out of the carpark and immediately zig-zagged up one of the steepest climbs in the vicinity. Even the mighty Mr Noble would have struggled here (I think). After catching our breaths at the top, we aimed for the first – and worst – of the day’s descents (the one which Chas had yet to conquer). Impossibly steep at the bottom, it’s also very loose with no traction available nor any particularly good line to choose. At its steepest section, it has a 90-degree left-hand turn, and then a number of roots and trees to negotiate. With a cemetery conveniently situated at the bottom, Chas led the way down and – for the first time – actually felt in control of the bike on this his third attempt at this descent. But disaster; a dad and his two young sons were scrambling UP the climb just at the tricky left-hander. The cry “Dismount!!” went out and we all had to grind to a halt at pretty-much the steepest point. In a deft move, Chas baled-out off the back of his bike grabbing a tree with his right hand while catching his seatpost with his left. Skillz. Those pads were clearly working their magic, but success at nailing this trail would now have to wait till another day.
    Singlespeed fuel.
    From the bottom a nice, rideable, rooty, singletrack climb off to the left brought us back to near the trail-head where a gnadgery, shortish drop with a steep, trough-y, switchback was the reward. Then began the long climb back to the very top where a wide path spans the length of the ridge. Off to the left from the ridge we took a Restricted Byway all the way down to the road. Fast, long, wide, stony and twisty with bermed corners, ditches and bedrock all the way. We wiped our streaming eyes at its foot and headed north along the road to pick up ‘The Fireroad Of Doom’ through a forested area, which would take us all the way to the top again. Over to the Northwest end of the ridge where we forked right and took a seemingly endless deciduous singletrack descent all the way down to the road again. Fast and straight-ish with obstacles to negotiate en-route, it got steeper and funner towards its end. More eye-wiping, whoops of enjoyment and excitable chatter at the bottom.
    Will demonstrating his Fly Tai Chi
    Another short stretch of tarmac to the left and we soon picked up another stony bridleway which would take us back to the top. Rocky and almost unrideable at the bottom, it soon levelled off a bit and we could ride back to the fork where we headed over to another descent, this time on the north side of the ridge, down into Periton Combe. A long, fast and fun singletrack path through woodland, a short climb, and then another grassy descent which steepened and turned rooty. Yet another hum-dinger of a downhill.
    One of the many evil, evil rides/walks/pushes.
    The less said about the next climb the better, really. Another evil, evil fireroad which twisted its bitter way to the highest point on the ridge at 300m. Occasionally it widened sufficiently to ‘tack’ up the gradient, but at one point we were all pushing. No shame there. From there we decided to call it a day but since our first attempt at ‘that’ descent (at the other end of the ridge) was spoiled by pesky pedestrians, we would have another go. So we took the gently-downhill, straight bridleway along the ridge – about a 100m drop in altitude over about 4km – to the top of the oh-so-steep troublesome one. Fourth time lucky, then? Some of us dropped our saddles (not for the first time today) and we headed off down the slope in procession, with Chas bringing up the rear.
    Nailed it.
    Chas arrived intact and beaming at the bottom (he *may* have done a small happy-dance at this point) only to find Will stretched-out and rubbing his knee. Apparently, in a fit of youthful exuberance, he had caught Paul up near the end of the trail, their wheels overlapped and Will, unable to stop, had taken a tumble. Nothing too serious – not even any broken skin. Just dented pride.
    To sum up the ride in a small-but-perfectly-formed way: staggering climbs, awesome descents, amazing views, fantastic weather and dusty trails.
    Special kudos and XC Beans award must go to singlespeed evangelist Ryan who attempted to ride (but didn’t necessarily complete) all of the evil, evil climbs.
    Nice ride, fellas.

  • Satisfied Customers

     

    Last Wednesday evening, as part of my YSUYTAWSYO Inter-Club Exchange Programme (that’s “You Show Us Your Trails And We’ll Show You Ours”), I had the enormous pleasure of showing the “Bath Wednesday Night MTB” guys round our patch. Andy Stewart (old friend and organiser of the Midsomer Madness ride) very kindly copied me in on his ride report:

    “Was that enough singletrack for you?

    Yep, Chas’ ride turned out to be “all that it was cracked up to be” – he even delivered on the promised ‘warm, dry and dusty*’.

    12 of us in all I think it was (Chas, Conrad, Tony, Will, Steve, Mat, Dave, Dan, Justin, Kevin, Lee and Andy). Lift sharing worked ok. Thanks to those who drove and took others: Justin, Dave, Andy. Even Tony managed to get to Widcombe for 6.15 😉 and we got away bang on 6.30. Conrad and Will made their own way and were late though so we didn’t get away until 7.15 which mattered as proved later we needed all the day light we could get.

    Don’t ask me where we went but it consisted of all the best singletrack in and around Longleat with the odd bit of linky tarmac and fireroad, I reckon 80% was on tight, twisty, loamy, sandy, pine needly trails, squeezing between the trees in ‘just wide enough for your bars’ gaps. Plenty of swooping down and climbing up. With added views (we spotted Kelston Round Hill in the distance), water features and lakes.

    Special mention must go to the XC downhill trail in their Allotment – by now it was properly dark and all bar the first few lost the line and ended up making up their own. Especially Dan who’s lights packed up! It looked mad from the bottom to see all these lights coming at us through the trees.

    Special mention must also go to the “S&M Singletrack” – tight and twisty between the holly bushes. I was going to say I’ve never felt so many small pr!cks in one night but Chas had already accused us of being “the most gay group he’d ever ridden” with by that point 🙂

    *Final special mention must go to Chas’ own version of ‘The Badger Run’ near the end – ours is guaranteed wet and muddy, his was sandy and rocky. I had fun trying to see (and breathe!) due to all the dust kicked up by those ahead as we flew down it.

    Steve was carrying his new Go-Pro HD camera for the first time, strapped to his chest! He got 2 hours of footage so it’ll be interesting to see that.

    Much talk of  “we should come out more than once a year” and a possible Sunday ride (I think September was mentioned)

    Chas’ also mentioned their regular Tues night rides – 7pm from the Church in East Woodlands. You can ride as a guest but will need to join up if you plan to become a ‘regular’

    Details here: http://www.blackcanoncollective.co.uk/

    Cheers again Chas for a great ride 🙂

    Andy”

  • TRAIL CHANGE – PLEASE READ

    Basically we’ve started the first phase of re-building and tweaking 143, and as such it will now ride very differently:

    The kicker that shoots into the seating area (with the left hand side option; thread the needle) has been completely re-built; it’s now set back 2-3 ft, has a bigger transition, is a little kicky AND there’s now a proper full width landing to aim for.

    Please ride it carefully as it feels completely different, so you’ll need to take a slow run first to get a good feel for the kick before going for it…

    Cheers

  • First AVC GoPro Video!

  • Batchelors Facebook deals

    Batchelors Cycles in Warminster is pleased to announce a series of special deals only advertised on their new facebook page, just like batchelors on facebook to keep updated with their latest deals AND remember that BCC members get 10% off when they show their valid membership card.

  • BEHOLD!!! The Pub-Bike Of Doom…

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    A recent glance round the Man Cave (my bike shed) and a quick stroke of the chin revealed two things:
    1) I have too many bikes.
    2) I have nearly enough spares to build another bike.
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    For those who don’t know me, aside from the acquisition, riding and maintenance of bicycles, I have very few other interests in life. Two things which fall into the ‘other interests’ category are possibly “building bikes”, and “cake”.
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    I don’t think I’ve ever bought a bike off the peg. For me it’s way more fun to source the components independently and build it up myself. Somehow it will always ride better that way, and I can have every confidence in it having tightened every nut and fitted every component myself.
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    It’s like making a cake (and like I say, cake is one of the other few thing that REALLY interest me). I make my own recipe. I source all the ingredients myself. I stir in the right… and bake it for… no, that metaphor is failing.
    Anyhoo, the point is this.
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    By now I know what fits me and what works best. If I were to buy a whole bike, I’d only end up changing half the componentry on it. This way, I get exactly the spec I want and know that it’ll be ‘right’. I also really enjoy the whole process of the build. Breathing life into a pile of individual items, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Patiently fitting everything, never rushing. Getting oily in the shed. It’s all good.
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    This latest build was bit different. All I was lacking was a frame. A mental check meant I (probably) had everything else I needed. A visit to eBay and a little patience rewarded me with an ancient-but-useable Giant frame in Chas size. It’s been kicked around a bit, sure, but it’s 6061 Alu and aside from the odd dent and scratch, it’s rideable. To be honest, I don’t think deborah5669 actually knew much about bikes when she placed her ad, otherwise she might have mentioned that the bottom-bracket was permanently seized in the frame. But then she probably found it in a skip and thought “I can sell that on the ‘bay”.
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    Still, for the princely sum of £5.61, I now had all I needed to complete a build.
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    Old headset that had been languishing on a shelf for a couple of years. No idea of brand.
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    Some old steel ‘touring’ forks. These are obviously for 700c so I’ll have to stick that old Aksium wheel on there and call it a 69er. The rear wheel of that pair failed long ago so the odd front one has been in the attic for some time. Waiting.
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    Stem? Nasty old 3-bolt Kore thing. Old on-one 2″ risers gave a goodly 28″ of width. Ripe for singlespeeding. Mismatched v-brakes… managed to salvage front and rear from two different sets. Just about work fine. Cables weren’t a problem. I always recycle old cables where possible. An old rear one, becomes a new front one. Outers were some lengths of old, braided gear outers off an old roadbike. Some old DMR brown grips completed the ‘controls’…
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    The seized-in square-taper BB meant that the HT1 chainset (and BB) I had planned to use now wouldn’t fit. Luckily, I had an old Deore square taper crankset. The lock-ring on the spider has ‘play’, but it’s all staying in place. Not enough matching narrow chainring bolts, so a mix of colours and brands.
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    Rear wheel is an old v-brake-only Shimano thing. With a Mavic 317 rim. All silver to clash with a the all-black front wheel.
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    Seatpin? Well, I guessed that I probably had accrued enough shims over the years to get anything to fit. In actuality, I had a 30.4 seatpin which, when I fashioned a coke-can shim, fits the 30.9 internal diameter of the seat tube perfectly. It’s only a 350mm, so legally it’s way over it’s “Minimum Insert” mark, though.
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    Surely I don’t have a seatclamp that’ll fit? Oh wait. Yes I do. Just needs a bolt. Ah. There’s one.
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    Saddle was picked out of the bin. Literally. I had just thrown it away. After years of use/abuse, my not inconsiderable arse had finally split the covering. A yard of insulation tape soon saw to that, though.
    A half-link chain, an old tensioner and some tyres of comparable width completed the build. I actually have enough parts to fit gears, but why on EARTH would I want to do that???
    .
    So, total cost of build: £5.61
    Hacking through familiar, local, dry-and-dusty trails on a perfectly good rigid singlespeed bike for four hours on a Sunday afternoon: Priceless.
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    Sure, it’s a little short in the cockpit, and it’s a bit twitchy/light on the steering, but then it’s old-skool geometry. It’s fine. It’s a bike. It goes and stops. No creaking, no rubbing, no rattling. Rides like a dream. I built it.
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    Yes it IS purple and yellow.