Black Canon Collective

Month: April 2012

  • Dinner 'til Dusk Cancelled

    Due to the forecast heavy rain and strong wind, Dinner ’til Dusk is cancelled for reasons of safety and enjoyment.

    New date to be announced shortly.

  • Too much junk in the trunk

    A Longleat-erpick.

    That’s the new name for a Longleat Litter-pick XC ride. It’s what we do with binbags, rucksacks and bikes in the Longleat forest sometimes. You ride off in pairs to a designated corner of the forest with a binbag lining the largest rucksack you can find, and then each fills the other’s rucksack with loadsalitter. A simple idea which marries a social XC ride with some seriously good PR and a healthy dose of that greater-good inner glow we all crave.
    We had a great turn-out of riders, but the odd number of 13 meant that someone either went solo (which doesn’t really work) or joined a pair. So that’s what happened: a threesome disappeared off towards Sheppards Woods and some daisy-chain sack-filling took place. It was a beautiful thing.
    In a little over two hours we pooled our findings in Longleat’s main car park, there to meet with Longleat staff who’d take it off our hands and dispose of it. To our surprise we’d collected well over 25 binbags full of rubbish, almost filling Andrew’s van, and too much for the Longleat staff to fit in the truck they’d brought to take it away. And what a variety of detritus: a door, a car shock-absorber, an oil drum, a hoover, a cistern… not to mention the usual array of Monster cans, KFC wrappers and lucozade bottles.
    Especial thanks must to Gordon, Clare and young Dylan who made a bee-line for the Crockerton area (a litter hot-spot) and collected so much rubbish they couldn’t fit it in Gordon’s MPV (Longleat staff went back to collect the overflow). Sterling work from those three.
    It was also good to see such a cross-section of club members out together for the one cause. Truly inspiring.
    Nice work, fellas.

  • That’s rubbish, that is.

    Litter Pick XC ride. This Sunday (22nd April).

    It’s a Mini Dig Day re-allocation of resources…

    It’ll combine a leisurely ride with litter collection. It should only take a couple of hours 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. Maybe take a few spare bin-liners with you, and leave filled ones at strategic (discreet) points ready to take back to the car park on your way back.

    We did one last year and it was a huge success. In light of recent events, now’s the time to do another one (and before it all gets too overgrown).

    We realise collecting other people’s litter is an unpleasant chore, but as well as giving you that inner glow of being really useful, at the very least it’s a gesture of goodwill to the Longleat estate proving that we genuinely care about the forest we ride in. Let’s make an effort. It’s all about the greater good etc etc. C’mon, people, let’s get as many riders out as possible.

    If you want to get all competitive about it there’ll probably be a prize for the do-gooder does the best good (ie collects the most rubbish).

    Meet at 10am at the club car park this Sunday. Bring your own BIG rucksack, hi-vis vest (if you’ve got one) and a bike. Binbags will be provided, as will anti-septic hand-gel-cleaning stuff. Gloves will be provided if you need them. Oh, and don’t pick up anything you don’t want to (that means anything that scores a 7 or higher on the Eeeeeeeew-o-meter™).

    NB – Bring your own Eeeeeeeew-o-meter™.

  • Tickertape – Winter series round up

    The Winter series was a great success

    Heres some go pro footage from the last round of the Tickertape winter series 11 -12, first one is with Sam Chedgy and the second on board with Chris Smith and Steve Geall, enjoy……

    TickerTape 19/02/2012 from Sam Chedgy on Vimeo.

    Here are the overall results from the series

  • BCC statement in response to media coverage of damage to Roddenbury Hillfort

    First and foremost, neither the Black Canon Collective (BCC), nor its members were to blame for the damage caused to Roddenbury Hillfort, and were saddened to find the damage.

    The BCC is a local mountain bike (MTB) club based around Longleat forest which is entirely run by local volunteers. The club has been running for 4 years and is comprised of 200 members including qualified MTB ride leaders, skills instructors and British Cycling commissaires. The purpose of the club is to support and develop the local MTB community by working in harmony with local land owners and has, to date, proved successful. It is affiliated to national cycling bodies British Cycling and the CTC, is constituted accordingly and is run by a formal committee.

    The club licences 30 acres of woodland, the ‘Allotment‘, from the Longleat estate on which it has been creating a range of permanent trails for all MTB disciplines by hand for the past 4 years. The trails built and maintained in the Allotment are best-practice and built to the International Mountain Bike Association’s (IMBA’s) trail-building guidelines and standards. The BCC does not build trails anywhere other than the Allotment, which is approximately 5 km from the site of the Roddenbury Hillfort.

    In addition to providing support for the local mountain biking community the BCC has organised litter-picking rides in Longleat forest, built a children’s cycling track in a nearby village, and been involved with the organising and marshalling at numerous community events and charity fund raisers across the region. The BCC is a responsible organisation and has the utmost respect for Longleat forest, the landscape and the environment.

    In response to the appearance of the dirt jumps at Roddenbury Hillfort, the BCC notified the estate and offered then to help with any repairs, as a gesture of good will. The BCC then set about building an equivalent legal set of trail features at the Allotment to accommodate and give a focus to that style of riding in an effort to prevent further occurrences of similar ‘wild’ trail building.

    This regrettable matter highlights the importance and need for the continued existence of a purpose-built, managed mountain bike area within Longleat forest such as the Allotment.

    The BCC is currently involved in discussions with the Longleat Estate due to the recently announced plans for restricted access to parts of the Longleat Estate which, unless altered, will mean the loss of the Allotment site, the legitimate MTB trail network it contains and 4 years of hard work by local volunteers. The BCC is keen to explore every alternative to the closure of the Allotment site.

    Black Canon Collective

  • Membership 2012/13

    We are now into April 2012, which normally would mean that it was time to pay money and complete membership forms. However due to the negotiations with the Longleat estate, the committee have decided to extend the 2011/12 membership year until we know exactly what our future will be.

     So – if you’re a current member, you don’t need to do anything (just keep your membership card – we will inform the estate that the cards will remain valid).

    If you’re a new member, then you pay a small fee (£10), which will be offset against the cost of a full membership when we ask everyone to sign up again.