Unfortunately due to frozen ground conditions tomorrow’s Dig Day has been cancelled. As much as we want to crack on with the new features and trail developments there’s simply nothing that can be done given how deeply frozen the soil is. So, why not go for a ride while the trails are running super fast or perhaps just stay inside out of the cold.

Cheers

You know the drill..

Sunday
10am-3pm
Bring food and drink

17 people made it to the Dig Day on Sunday.
We installed two new tool stations, repaired the recent water damage on 143 and Aviator (the step-up) before renovating east 17 and working on the new XC decent too. After lunch we raked BBMS back to black and created some new XC goodness in the top woods also.
We ate jelly babies and got wet in the rain.
It was brilliant.

This Sunday the 6th November, from 10 until 4.

We’v really been picking up steam recently, with more and more people attending our monthly Dig Day it goes without saying that we’re getting more done.

OneFourThree is still the subject of our hard work, with the mini drop and “flip-flop” needing to be rebuilt with treated timber and the (wait for it….) step-up line finally being continued (!) we’ve got plenty to do. The new XC descent is also being continued – one of our longer term projects that will be great by next summer.

To reward everyone for working so hard we’re laying on some hot food for the occasion – cooking sausages at mid day to keep everyone going.

So, come along and join us if you’d like – we’ve got plenty to do as always and will be grateful of the help.

Cheers

p.s. The Allotment will be closed to riding during the Dig Day, as normal.

Today was Dig Day, people turned up and we got loads done. RAD.

P = people
E = effort

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

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

Please join us on Sunday between 10am and 4pm at the Allotment to repair the water damage on the DH courses and design and start work on the very top of the new “Downward Facing XC Trail”.

Water, food and midge repellant recommended.

See you there!

Due to the mental weather (it’s been raining v heavily all night, and is set to rain like this all day too)…we have decided to cancel the dig today as there really isn’t any pressing need for it to be held today, in these conditions.

However, IF people are very keen to look over the XC route today, and the weather improves we will hold a session between 13:00 and 15:00 just to walk and discuss the trail corridor for the XC decent.

If you want to do this say so here, or on the Forum, then we will make a decision at 12:00 based upon numbers and the weather.

To Do list:

1. Scope out new XC descent route, start clearing, getting ideas and doodling on the ground.

2. Build new feature at the top of puppets.

3. Scope out new 143 lower, discussing features and starting on a detailed plan.

See you there!