Black Canon Collective

Month: November 2009

  • Website gremlins

    It seems that the images on our website are being attacked by some Events Calendar gremlins. We’re trying to sort it out but can’t get hold if Gizmo…

    Update: Now fixed. – Al.

  • C'est tres chic…

    Good news; it’s looking like we’ll be able to get some BCC t-shirts made in time for Christmas!

    The printers are sending us some blank samples, so after a session of Clothes Show style prancing around we’ll choose the most, well, a la mode design and get a batch made.

    We’ll be launching this exciting new range in Primark, H&M, Williams the butchers and halfway down 143.

    Beans.

  • Calendar enitrely underwhelmed with new photograph's

    We plan to create an A4 size, 2010 calendar with an approximate sales price of £6 to raise funds for the skills area and “groovy blue trail”.

    BUT, without you photo’s this calendar won’t even get started. Don’t make me use this photo – its rubbish!

    the best photo ever

    So, please have a rummage around in your digital storage devices, thumb through your glossy prints or spread all your slides out on the table and somehow get them to me before Sunday 15th. The photo’s can be taken anywhere in the world and so long as they have a club member in and you own the rights to publish them then your photo could hang on lots of wall for an entire month. Please publish your photos on our Flickr account

    http://www.flickr.com/groups/blackcanoncollective/pool/

    or contact me at simon.truelove@blackcanoncollective.co.uk if you are having technical dificulties.

    Cheers

    Simon

  • Christmas social update

    Thank you to everyone for their posts on the forum regarding the date of the Christmas social. If you are interested and haven’t had your say yet, you only have until Monday (thats the 16th) to do so. In the mean time here’s a copy of the menu to whet your appetite!H&G menu 001

  • TickerTape Triple Crown

    I’ve just got confirmation from Keith at Transition Bikes that we’re going to be able to hold a special TickerTape event on Saturday 2nd January. Full details will be published soon, but we can say that it will be a Triple Crown (one timed run on each of the three trails) and will be made extra special by the addition of some pretty amazing Transition prizes.

    What ever you do make sure you keep 02/01/10 free!

  • Ladies' First Night Ride

    We had our first unofficial Ladies’ Night Ride on Sunday evening 7.00pm at the Horse and Groom, Frome. At this time of the year it’s going to be a bit muddy, but thankfully, the mud was soft and squidgy and the puddles not too deep. I don’t know about you girls but, the night, the mist, the glowing lights, and the mud was rather therapeutic ooooooowa!!! We took our time and planned our route along the way depending on our lights’. Although our group was small, it was a great first night ride and strongly urge all ladies of all skill levels to join our Sunday Ladies’ Night Ride. I can promise a ride under the stars with lively conversation and the thrill of smashing through the mud and up a few inclines; you’ll love it!!! So lets make next Sunday our official Ladies’ Night Ride.

    Ladies' Night-Ride

  • DH Trail Development

    Hi all, an update on the DH side of things.

    As you are all aware we have been working on the DH tracks at all dig days. The work is to refine existing tracks to allow weather proofing and making them a bit more ballsy.
    These alterations have been amazingly successful and a big thanks to all those who now ache due to digging so hard. We now have almost weatherproofed trails, 3 dope new drops to progress your huck skills and 3 varying tracks offering different ride experiences.

    Into the future we are looking at Puppets, an old track next to 143. This is steep and gnarly. There’s a thread on the forum about this, so please read and drop us a reply. Thanks to those who’ve already replied, it’s all been very helpful. We will try to stay true to the original but we have to make it more weatherproof, etc. Work will start on the next dig day so your hands + riding input will be much appreciated as always.

    Peace out ya’ all.

    Neil

  • It's good to talk

    This here website, that you are reading this here post on, is all about the BCC. Its about what we do, why we do it, how we do it, when we do it and who’s doing it. When you stop to think about that, and consider we now have over 90 members, that’s a lot of stuff to keep up to date and easy to find.

    As part of the autumn committee projects, I’ve picked up the website baton (that had been hiding under my desk) and shall be trying to improve not just the website, but how we communicate with our members as a whole, and indeed, how they communicate with us.

    We need to make sure we are communicating beyond our existing members too. Potential members and other interested parties are important website users too.

    So, all that said, there are a few things we know we need to do…

    • Improve the website usability.
    • Improve our use of emails.
    • Improve our use of social media for 2-way communication.

    .. and indeed there may be more. Which is where you come in. What do you think we could do better? Is there anything we don’t do you think we should? Are there things we do do that we shouldn’t? Would you rather the website was purple and yellow? Please let us know! 🙂

    There is a forum thread for members to comment in here, you can also comment directly below and/or anyone is welcome to send an email to suggestion.box@blackcanoncollective.co.uk. We promise not to take anything personally, so please, be honest.

    And no, I wasn’t serious about the purple and yellow…

  • Ride Leader Training

    Many of you will be aware we raised some money earlier on this year  so that we could afford to train some members as ride leaders.

    With an ever growing club it’s become increasingly important that we have trained leaders (and first aiders), both for insurance reasons, and to ensure that we can lead safe, exciting rides for all of our members.

    • Are you interested in becoming a ride leader?
    • Do you feel that you have some of the skills to lead small groups on rides?
    • Do you have the time to commit to leading a number of rides every year (don’t worry, we don’t expect you to be available all year round)?

    We will be using the CTC to provide all Ride Leader Training, and affiliated organisations to provide the associated First Aid training.

    Full details of the courses are here: http://www.promtb.net/courses/leaderawards/trail.htm

    This really is a great opportunity to learn some new skills and help out the club,  not to mention the fact that over time you could become a fully qualified ride coach (and that’s a pretty nice feather to put in your cap).

    We’re looking to train 6 people, including at least 1 woman, as soon as possible.

    The club will pay for all the training, with an initial payment and then incremental payments over an agreed period. Having said that we are completely open to discussion on this subject, so if you’d like to do it but feel that this payment format just isn’t quite right; let us know!

    If you’re at all interested please contact me.

    andrew.denham@blackcanoncollective.co.uk

    o7870 60 98 71

    Thanks!

  • Skills Area

    Over the past few months I’ve been working closely with the committee designing the skills area. The area will cater for all and help improve everyone’s skill level; from technical trail manoeuvres to getting your first few inches of air under your wheels. I’m really looking forward to getting this area built and am keen for your input, so if you’d like to get involved in any way please drop me a line.

    Cheers

    Chris