Its Dig Day this Saturday and there’s plenty to do!

We’ll be aiming to continue work on the new bottom section of BBMS which will include; bench cutting the new line, building a catch berm, building up a drop and then continuing to clear the trail to the very bottom.

Hopfully plenty can make it out, it should be great weather and would be ace to be able to open this new line by the end of the day. Oh, you might need insect repellent though but dont worry if you haven’t got any – we’ll be selling it on the day!

See you there… (starts at 10:00am and finishes at 16:00, any help during this time is greatly appreciated)…

Today 8 people made it out to the DH dig day

(given that it’s Easter weekend that’s pretty good – what with so many people being away)

Everyone worked hard through the rain and constant bullying – “I can’t see any digging!!!! Chedge stop standing there, Ben jump up and down on the mud, Josh…Josh….JOSH!!!!”

By the end of the day we’d finished the massive berm at the bottom of ‘Battery Hill‘ (on ‘Puppets‘), dug up two monster stumps and started the long loamy raking mission to clear the bottom section of the trail.

The lads below had become a trail digging version of the A-Team, so it seemed only fair that they get to name the feature they’d worked so hard to make. After everyone had a go riding it, giggling like kids riding a massive new berm with a kicker at the end (!) they had made their decision…..

What I hadn’t expected was that they would choose to call it “Weeeeee Boing“, yes, as in the sound of someone riding the berm whilst saying “weeeeee”, then “boing” as they jumped off the end. And Yep. I know…. no really.

But do you know what? It’s a great name because as far as I’m concerned they, and the others who worked hard on it last dig day, have earned the right to call it what ever they like.

Well done Ben, Ben, Ian, Josh, Max, Robin and Sam – you’ve made a monster and then gone and called it Betty.

(Puppets is now officially open again, although the bottom section will still need some work to finish it off)

I know, that’s ridiculous - it’s always special!

Come along to the dig day this sat from 10:00 until we get tired (so around 17:00 ish)

We’ll be working on Puppets and will stand a good chance of getting it all finished which will mean we can open the trail up again!!!

So, the usual drill – you bring a rake, lunch, some elbow grease and hard graft and we’ll match that with tools, doughnuts and some elbow grease of our own. Beans.

p.s. look what we were building this time last year…(worked out pretty well ey..?)

Yesterday was a glorious day, the sun was shining and our little allotment was crawling with people raking, digging, clearing and collecting.

Russell Burton spent a couple of hours teaching Neil and I how to route XC trails with clinometers and some magic numbers. We learnt loads and are really looking forward to our next lesson in a few weeks time before restarting work on E-17.

18 people made it out and collectively managed to rake and remark every DH trail, clear and rebuild some tired drainage and add some new drainage in too.

Puppets saw an awesome effort that has left it looking more tech and difficult than ever before. The old berm at the bottom of ‘battery hill’ has been completely removed and the beginnings of the new are well underway. But time ran out as did the timber supply so the trail’s been closed until the next dig day where we’ll finish it off and move on to the lower section.

Thanks to everyone for all their hard work …and for eating all the doughnuts!

This Sunday is the first Dig Day of 2010, and we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

The winter hasn’t been kind to the ground and has tested our drainage to it’s limits, but thanks to some great work last year the damage is minimal. This Sunday we’ll be giving all the tracks a once over, some TLC. They’re almost weather resistant, but need some tweaking here and there.

We’ll also start building the next big feature on ‘Puppets’ a large berm-fly-off at the bottom of the ‘Battery Hill’ section.

We’ll bring the lot sof tools, tea, coffee and cakes, you just need to bring some elbow grease (and a rake)…

See you there (@ the Allotment, 10:00)

In light of a few recent misunderstandings we’ve made sure that the club rules and constitution are both clearly displayed on our website. So, if you haven’t already, please have a little read… it’s mostly common sense but as with any sports club both documents are important and must be adhered to. Thanks

http://www.blackcanoncollective.co.uk/about/rules-and-constitution/

Quick post to say a massive thanks to Dan, Juliet, Mark and Pete for their work all day (on the 25m of East 17 singletrack we completed), and everyone who came across for the last hour  to chop and move wood for marking – given the conditions it was brilliant to see 13 people out for the dig day.

The Met office have issued an advisory warning for Sunday’s weather:

“There is a moderate risk of severe weather affecting parts of the south of the UK on Sunday morning. There is a risk of widespread ice on untreated surfaces following a band of rain, sleet and snow which is expected to clear south overnight.”

With this in mind we’d like to ask that everyone checks the front page of this website on Sunday morning to see if the Dig Day is still going ahead. It is currently, but this may have to change.

The ground is likely to be very hard so could people please bring rakes so that we can clear all of the trails ready for the next TickerTape, and help with the XC project.

Also, please remember to wear breathable layers, warm socks and a hat – that’s right, for the duration of this post I’m behaving like your mum.

Fingers crossed the weather is better than expected.

Well the first of our December Dig Days was a massive success, and with the next (to be held on Sunday 20/12/09) being both XC and DH focused it’d be great if we could keep up this momentum.

On the day we’ll split into two groups voluntarily, with Ian Crook leading the XC Dig and me leading the DH dig.

As always our progress is entirely dependant on how many people turn up, so the following list of items is in priority order (top being most important) so that you know what we’ll be working on and how much we’re likely to achieve.

XC Building

If we have 5+ people for the XC dig we will complete 50m of singletrack, built correctly, on soil not leaf litter, armoured where necessary that drains correctly and is marked clearly.

If we have 10+ people for the XC dig day we will complete 100m of singletrack, built to the same standards.

If we have more than 15 people we can begin work on the one area where we need to cut a shelf into the bank – the section is around 10m long.

DH Building

If we have 10+ people on the DH dig then we can:

Build bottom berm feature on ‘moron’ and complete drainage of the finish line.
Build berm at the bottom of ‘battery hill’ on ‘puppets’
Clear drainage on ’spoons’ (important but very quick to do)
Clear drainage on ‘bbms’ (important but very quick to do)

If we have 15+ people on the DH dig then we can also:

Remove felled trees from the bottom of ‘puppets’
Route the ‘punch’ line into battery hill on ‘puppets’
Rake and mark new bottom section of ‘puppets’

If we have 20+ people on the DH dig then we can also :

Build two drops on ‘punch’ line into battery hill on ‘puppets’
Rake and check markings on all courses (now that all the leaves have fallen and are wet, this won’t need doing so frequently)

It’ll be cold so we’ll bring hot tea and coffee along with mince pies but please do wear some warm clothing and bring your own food and drink also if you intend to stay for the whole day.

Hope to see you all there!