Black Canon Collective

Category: Building

  • Glorious day

    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!

  • Dig for doughnuts

  • DH Dig Day

    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)

  • Club Rules and Constitution

    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

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

  • Christmas No1

    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.

  • Dig Day Weather

    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.

  • Dig Day plans

    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!

  • Building trails 9-5

    First FeatureSam and Jack Wells (who many of you will have read about here: https://www.blackcanoncollective.co.uk/2009/11/19/brothers-wells/) have begun their trail building project for us at the Allotment.

    With the type of lifestyle that many of us can only dream of both are able to build trails and go riding all day almost every day. The brothers approached us recently, asking if they could get involved with the club and build some trails with us. Given the quality of the other trails that they’ve built and their pretty awesome riding ability we jumped at the opportunity.

    The trail that they’re building (to be named) will be a fast open freeride trail with big features in it. It’ll run down the east side of the Allotment, starting at the top plateau and will finish just short of the skills area. They scoped out the trail route for us, and explained the placement of all the features too before we agreed and gave them the go ahead.

    They’ll be building the trail over the next few months, mostly during the week, but will also be working on it at some dig days and weekends. If you’d like to help out please get in contact, they’d be glad of the extra man power.

    As with all our trails it’ll be built with the weather in mind, so drainage, side cambers, and raking back to the soil will be key. We’ve got the rest of the winter and most of the spring to get this trail up and running, so there’s no rush – it’s all about getting it right.

    Sam will be updating the website frequently with news of progress and pictures too, so check back to see how they’re getting on.

  • Ruddy bloody hard work

    Sunday’s Dig Day saw a fantastic turn out; 20 people showed up and they worked flipping hard.

    Puppets has been transformed, with two separate start sections  ‘Punch’ and ‘Judy’ each offering a slightly different flavour: Punch will be the hardest taking its inspiration from Schaldming, tight rooty with steep drops, and Judy will be fast and swoopy but still include ‘battery hill’ the steep stepped chute that many will remember. You’ll notice that a few got carried away sculpting what can only be described as a tobogan run, but it looks awesome and should be ace to ride. We’ve yet to build any of the berms or drops but will tackle these over the next few dig days. It won’t be long before Puppets is up and running at this rate so lets hope we get a similar turn out at the next Dig Day (20/12/2009) when we’ll also be holding an XC Dig Day to work on ‘East-17’.

    We also did a hell of a lot of drainage work which should help keep all the trails open through out the winter

    Cheers to everyone for showing up and working so hard, it’s pretty clear what’s been achieved….

    Dec Dig Day 3
    Dec Dig Day
    Dec Dig Day

  • East 17

    At the moment I think about raking on the train.

    I plan how some artful mattock use will provide the perfect drainage solution while on the toilet.

    I spend my lunch hour calculating how many trees I will have to saw to finish the marking.

    I use my headphone cables to illustrate my trail ideas to work colleagues.

    But I haven’t had the time to actually work on the new singletrack (“East 17”).

    (Please keep an eye on the forum for the next singletrack dig day).