Black Canon Collective

Category: BCC

  • Erlestoke 12 – Entry now Open!

    This is one of the highlights of the local MTB calendar, here’s what SPAM have to say about it…

    The 12 hour Salisbury Plain mountain bike event (formerly the Set2Rise) hosted by SPAMBiking is now in its 4th year. The event that takes place on the last May bank holiday weekend has steadily grown in popularity due to the quality of the course (fun singletrack now makes up even more of the 7-mile lap), the great organisation and friendly atmosphere.

    This year the format is changing from an overnight race to a Midday to Midnight race on Saturday 28th May. We struggled for a new name; we liked SPAM SPAM (Start Pedalling At Midday, Stop Pedalling At Midnight) but have settled for the more sensible “Erlestoke Twelve”. This new time will give more daylight riding plus the final few hours of night riding and for anyone who’s scared of the dark, or gets knackered after 6 hours, there’s the option to race for 6 hours from Midday til 6pm! The course will be similar to previous years featuring the roller-coaster grintastic singletrack of Erlestoke Woods.

    12 hr race:

    • Solo – £30
    • Pair – £55
    • Team (up to 4 riders) – £100

    6 hr race:

    • Solo – £25
    • Pair – £50
    • Team (up to 4 riders) – £80

    The event is sponsored by Charge Bikes who will be donating a stunning array of prizes again this year. Light hire and charging wil be offered by Lumicycle and Mule Bar will be giving away tasters of their excellent products throughout the race, while keeping the tunes going to raise spirits! Catering will be from Luffy’s Bus, The Drop-Off Cafe or you can bring your own provisions for the post-race celebrations! Bertie Maffoon’s bike shop will provide spares, and any emergency maintenance can be carried out by Finely Tuned Ride. Free camping will be available on Saturday Night for a well deserved rest after racing!

    Click Here to Register for this Event

    http://www.erlestoketwelve.com/

  • AVC – Discount Weekend!

    Get yourself down to Avon Valley Cyclery this weekend with this voucher, it’ll give you an extra 10% off!

  • Dinner 'til Dusk Three: Heroes

    Time & Date: Sunday March 27th, course opens at 13:00, 14:00 start.

    Duration: Three hours of enduro racing.

    Course: A different climb, more technical features, more fun descending

    Fancy Dress Theme: Heroes (encouraged, not essential)

    Teams: Any size, but solo or pairs recommended.

    Prizes: For best fancy dress and most beans. Stickers for solo and pairs winner.

    See you there!

  • 06/02/2011: Dig Day

    Next Sunday sees the next Dig Day:

    Tasks include:

    Pimping up BBMS – drainage, catch mounds and root polishing.

    Dinner ’til Dusk climb clearing – raking, marking, testing.

    Seating area improvement.

    Most of the tools will be provided, but additional rakes would be very useful.

    Hope to see you there, 9am to 3pm. Bring food and water.

  • Cadence bike shop

    Just before Christmas I popped in to show our 2011 calendar to the Cadence bike shop guys in Bath. They were kind enough to put some on their counter throughout December and when I returned in the new year they greeted me with a £40 donation to the clubs trail building funds which was a wonderful surprise. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Jonny from Cadence for his support and kind donation.
    So if your in Bath and want to see a beautiful range of bikes and accessories just pop in and say Hi!

    Or check them out on-line at http://www.cadencebikeshop.com/

  • Red Bull Hill Chasers – Bristol this Sat Night!

    I recognise that photo…. ; )

    This is going to be an amazing event, with some top pro riders such as Danny Macaskill and Chris Akrigg racing head to head with some local heroes including our very own Red Bull event specialist Neil Cousins. Come along and support them, but make sure you cheer for the most for Neil, obviously!

    To settle a long standing battle between bike disciplines. Who will be the fastest in a short uphill sprint in Bristol’s city centre? A night time dual uphill eliminator race for all bike disciplines: BMX, Mountain Bike, Road Cycling and Fixed Gear. Taking place on the iconic Park Street and featuring 16 of the top bike athletes from across the UK versus 16 top local heroes from Bristol, Red Bull Hill Chasers will settle the score once and for all.

    DATE
    Red Bull Hill Chasers will take place on Saturday, January 29, 2011.

    TIME
    7.00 pm start

    LOCATION
    Park Street, Bristol

    THE PRIZE
    Supplied by Charge Bikes:
    1st – Gold Bike Frame
    2nd – Silver Bike Frame
    3rd – Bronze Bike Frame

    ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
    For your chance to compete against Red Bull athletes and some of the top cyclists in the UK and become Red Bull Hill Chasers Champion, please complete the application form on the right hand side of this page. Only 16 local bike enthusiasts will be able to take part, so get your application in ASAP.

    Once we’ve received all of the applications, we will be in touch to let you know if your application has been successful and also to provide further details on the event. Entry closes on January 15, 2011.

  • Puppet School

    Saturday was set to be wet and gloomy. The allotment had suffered more rain in the lead up to the 2nd round of the TickerTape Winter series than it had done in ages, the trails were soft and roots were slippery.

    Over the past few weeks a few die-hard members have been practising Puppets in an effort to put in some good times on the day. To be fair, most people have a couple of ‘practise runs’ in the lead up to any of the TickerTapes, but this was different, this was a display of more than a whimsical semi effort, this was all out dedication, and boy did it pay off…

    Within moments of the track being open Curtis Saunders marked up his first time, a time that would only be beaten by himself all day long. To put that into perspective Curtis was riding against Steve Geall, Chris Smith and Rob Lewis – all bloody quick but not in the same league on the day, Curtis was on fire.

    The track was a real mix of ground conditions with a sloppy start into an almost sandy mid section before some glassy roots then full on slop and corner ruts by the bottom – it was a real test, and one that evolved as the track was ridden.

    Liam Arkell showed the continued progression that he’s become known for, and a great attitude of getting back up and trying again when ever he came off. Tom Dunford was another rider that impressed; Tom rode the mid section with a really attacking style that looked fast and on the edge, a real step up and one that didn’t go unrewarded. Tom won the coveted Beans trophy while Liam was awarded a “king of the hill” T shirt both courtesy of Rose Bikes.

    Chris Smith made a brief appearance, taking a break from being a proud farther to ride his bike in the interest of keeping the “overall” in reach. Despite a pretty impressive effort given the lack of sleep and clear zombie look about him, Chris was off the pace placing 6th leaving him needing a pretty special performance in the last two rounds.

    Steve Geall was rocking an XC / Retro tyre mix with a Paneracer Trail Raker on the front and a Michelin DH Mud on the rear, but it worked well even with that poncey mudguard he’d bodged on the back. Steve rode well but got distracted by the urge to pull super-tweaks on the “WEEEEEEBOING” berm and lost valuable time.

    Jason Southam popped his TickerTape cherry, James Richards made too many excuses, Ben Lovell’s mum made the best cookies ever, Rob Lewis looked like he’d been sleeping rough for the past few days and rode like he had too, Jamie and Pip were hardcore (or stupid) riding to and from the event and racing in jeans, Keith seemed to get a little frightened of a big tree, Simon actually got to recored a time, Bob should have spent less time worrying about other people’s times and Ben Irons was seen riding a full sussseerrrrrrR.

    All in all it was a great day, one that had everyone wishing they’d shown even half the commitment that Curtis and others had in the lead up to the race. Sure if we all rode it on the same terms the times might have been a little different, but not the result, Curtis schooled every one of us.

    Thanks to everyone who helped set up and pack away, especially Ian Crook who came out early despite not being able to ride, to Rose Bikes for the great prizes and to Shimano for the race tape.

    (Click on the poster at the top of the page to see the overall standings)

  • Saturday Forum Ride

    Gareth suggested a Saturday ride on the club forum which evolved ( as these things seem to ) into a small group of us going of to Swinley forest in Surrey to check out the trails.

    Swinley, BTW is actually closer than you – or at least I – would have imagined and only about an hour and half away.

    We arrived at about 9.30 and after a brief interlude to put a chain on Gareths bike and allow those who hadn’t previously booked an online permit to get one ( £2 ) from the visitor centre, we set off to explore the myriad trails on offer.

    The party consisted of Mark, Juliet, Kevin,Andrew,Steve,Gareth and Pete and we floundered around a while trying to find the “good stuff” and asking directions of the locals.
    When we eventually got it together we found there were trails everywhere, we would follow a twisty ribbon of singletrack for a while until we popped out onto a junction and then it was a quick look around before diving back off down another promising looking trail.

    The trails were refreshingly firm and the climbs short and sweet , the worst part of the day was being continuously offered equally tempting choices at every junction and fork in the trail – a really hellish day in paradise !

    We eventually headed back to the cars with my rear tyre patched with gaffer tape and Gareth on a single speed thanks to his prehistoric chain finally biting back and tearing his rear mech off!

    Thanks to all involved but especially Gareth for giving us so many opportunities to make our ” reader tips” bodges a reality and Juliet for the baby wipes ( DO they make them from real babies ?)

  • XC Night Ride Away

    After having to reschedule the away day to Brechfa for the last two months, we thought we’d not risk a third plan until the weather improved in the spring, so for this months ride away we stuck a little closer to home by popping over to Ashton Court for some fine Bristolian singletrack. To mix it up a bit though, we did it in the dark .

    After a rain filled drive across south Bristol, blindly following Pete who “knew where we were going”, we pitched up in a dark lane to thankfully dry, clear skys. Having put on all our warm kit, we heading into Ashton Court and picked up the trail. It was wet, and muddy, but filled with fun a laughs as only the madness of a group night ride can be. The mud in 50 Acre Wood was thick and sticky, making the going slow, so thoughts of two laps were soon but to one side since no-one was keen to to get stuck all over again.

    Back over the road in the far less sticky stuff, we convinced Pete to ignore his earlier bad luck (punctures when its 6inches deep in mud are just not funny) and we were soon enjoying the Bikefest course we’d loved back in the summer (and indeed in October). A couple of deer, and badger and an alien later, we found ourselves back at the “start”, so packed ourselves into cars and headed back toward home via the pub for a very well deserved pint.

    Thanks to the Bristol Trail Group for making such fun trails and apologies for taking so much of it home! We’ll be back, hopefully when its a bit drier.

    Next month we are off to …actually, that hasn’t been decided yet… well; keep an eye on the forum and join in the fun.

  • Neil Cousins reaches the semis

    That’s right, when not hiding away from mud Neil Cousins has a fetish for fixies and tight jeans…Well today was the Red Bull mini drome event in London, and Neil was competing under the Charge Bike banner. Well he did them and us proud with a strong Semi Final finish. Here’s a video of him in an earlier heat…

    A shaky start but Neil took the win with style.