Author: Archive User

When not making the rest of us laugh with their choice of wet weather gear, the inseparable trio have been working hard, dancing to ‘them modern sounds’ that come out of Nige’s tinterphone. They insisted that I try and get them as much publicity as possible, as they’re hoping to launch a JLS tribute band, but are looking for a fourth member. For those of you who are wondering why Nige looks a little different, well he has been practising a long time, and filmed his part for this ‘back in the day’ when everything was apparently much better. We’ll let you be the judge of that….

Mason Thomas, British Cycling’s Regional Events Officer (REO) for the South region, wrote to the BCC recently asking “how can I support you?”.

Funded by the British Cycling Whole Sport Plan, Mason’s brief is to increase the quality and quantity of participation opportunities in cycle sport events, in the region, across the disciplines of Road, Track, Cyclo Cross, Mountain Biking, BMX and Cycle Speedway. Now that may sound, well, a bit much especially for a Friday afternoon. BUT with the addition of good tea and flapjack…

When asked “how can I support you?” my first instinct was to talk about the TickerTape events that we run, and how grass roots, low profile and accessible races events are prohibitively hard to run legitimately within the existing British Cycling event framework. Crucially though, they along with all other ‘jumpers for goalposts’ style events are a wonderful way into the sport, and indeed a very good way to bring on new competitive riders in any discipline.

As it stands, the current lack of provision forces organisers to find the grey area or face jumping through hoops which make the events indistinguishable from other larger events, and hence render the format an unachievable one.

We’re not alone either; there are many other ‘mates races’, invite only events and underground races that go on all over the country. But by attempting to force these events to become legitimate by current measures they will actually be forced deeper underground.The alternative is that organisers take on much larger events to stand a chance of breaking even, but then as already said; the format is lost. Also don’t forget that in many cases the ‘organisers’ are the riders themselves, or at best a local club, event organising is simply being undertaken to facilitate the event as opposed to for any monetary gains. Most aren’t interested in being an event organiser, they’re just trying to fill a hole in the sport.

As an organisation focused upon the ‘sport’ this breeding ground must be catered for by British Cycling, after all people have to start somewhere and there must be a great deal of untapped talent that isn’t picked up because of a lack of low end events (by ‘low end’ I really mean ‘low-fi’).

So British Cycling needs to provide support that both raises the quality of these events (Health and Safety provisions may be off putting and often seen as more hot air than tangible benefit, but if appropriately measured they are very important and offer more value than they do headache), but also allows them to exist at all by retaining the beauty of the turn up and ride, informal vibe that’s so important to the participant. The grey area isn’t a comfortable place to be, but is one that too many of us are forced to occupy if we are to continue to provide local riders with such important events.

Mason was very helpful, and showed great enthusiasm to what we are working towards. Hopefully this conversation will be the start of a wider debate and ultimately lead to a proactive response from British Cycling as a whole. Insurance packages geared towards club run, member only, low-fi races events, the type that so many are searching out right now are long overdue.

If you’d like to know more, or get in contact with Mason, please see the details below:

Whole Sport Plan: http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/search/article/bc20090630-British-Cycling-s-Four-Year-Plan

Mason Thomas -Regional Events Officer – South -Email: masonthomas@britishcycling.org.uk

The club forum is a hive of activity, it’s where we organise rides, holidays and trips away.

It’s where we discuss club activities, make suggestion and get feedback.

The forum is like the clubs dining table (a pretty big dining table with lots of chairs, and loads of interesting conversations all going on at once).

The best bit is that it’s full of club members and so is a great way to meet local like minded people that you might not have bumped into before.

You can get to the forum by clicking the ‘Forum’ tab above (next to ‘Home’) then logging in using your www.southerdownhill.com login details (this was given to you when you joined the club).

If you have any trouble or don’t know where to start please e-mail Al and he’ll get you going. alastair.mackinlay@blackcanoncollective.co.uk

Cheers

We’ve got lots of projects on the go right now, all being worked on lovingly by your friendly committee members and fellow club members.

Chris Smith is planning the development of a purpose built Skills Area where people of all abilities can learn to ride a multitude of features. Chris has secured the input of some very experienced track builders, and is finalising the layout of the first two lines. Expect to see these very soon.

Neil Cousins is leading development of ‘Punch and Judy’ (collectively called Puppets), a short but technical DH trail. Thanks to a bumper turnout at the last DH Dig Day we’ve already seen great progress, and can look forward to even more in the weeks to come.

Alastair Mackinlay is working to improve our website, forum and all round e-communication. He launched the new website only last week and it’s looking very pretty! Expect to see some new content and a regular news letter before too long.

Ian Crook has been working hard to generate a linking XC section across the waist of the Allotment, so that the existing trails can be linked in with the new Skills Area, and existing Fire Road. Expect to see this winding single track mature nicely and become one of the most used as the Allotment is developed. Check out the forum for details of the next XC Dig Day.

Chris Sheppard has canvassed our many XC enthusiasts and produced a trail specification from which we will build our new all weather XC trail, project name ‘Groovy Blue’.  Excitingly we’re thrilled to have secured the input of one of the best trail designers there is,  so will be making the first detailed plans early in the new year. This is going to be a fantastic opportunity for the club, and one that we will make the most of! This has taken time, but will be well worth the wait so expect to see a purpose built, all weather XC descent running down the west side of the Allotment in the next membership year.

Simon Truelove is finishing off a beautiful club calender ready for 2010, which along with some club T-shirts will be sold to raise money for the XC and Skills Area trail building projects. Fund raising will be one of the main focuses for 2010 so all ideas are very welcome.

Having raised over £1200 specifically for XC activities over the past 18 months we are keen to put that money to good use; recently purchasing two sets premium lights (worth just under £500) for our regular night rides, and committing to a total spend of over £2000 towards MTB Trail Leader training so that we can lead high quality, fun and safe XC rides for all our members.

In addition to these projects we’ve plenty of other things on the boil; such as a special triple crown TickerTape event on Jan 2nd, Club Social on Dec 15th, planning a club trip to the Megavalache next July, sourcing 100’s of tonnes of local materials to build the trails, building a shelter at the allotment and opening an online club shop. Not to mention all the other stuff that goes on such as night rides, dig days, TickerTapes and rides away.

Best of all: this is all being done for riders by riders, for free during evenings and weekends. We’re about more than just the ride; we’re working together (all 98 of us) to make our local riding community and trail facilities better. That’s pretty special.

If you’ve got any comments, suggestions, questions or want to know how to get involved in any of the projects above please drop us a line.

info@blackcanoncollective.co.uk

07870 60 98 71