Black Canon Collective

Category: Dig Day

  • That’s rubbish, that is.

    Litter Pick XC ride. This Sunday (22nd April).

    It’s a Mini Dig Day re-allocation of resources…

    It’ll combine a leisurely ride with litter collection. It should only take a couple of hours if there’s enough of us. We’ll set off for a section of the forest in pairs, each with an empty rucksack lined with a bin-liner. One rider fills the others person’s rucksack so he/she doesn’t have to keep taking it off or putting it on. Simple as. Maybe take a few spare bin-liners with you, and leave filled ones at strategic (discreet) points ready to take back to the car park on your way back.

    We did one last year and it was a huge success. In light of recent events, now’s the time to do another one (and before it all gets too overgrown).

    We realise collecting other people’s litter is an unpleasant chore, but as well as giving you that inner glow of being really useful, at the very least it’s a gesture of goodwill to the Longleat estate proving that we genuinely care about the forest we ride in. Let’s make an effort. It’s all about the greater good etc etc. C’mon, people, let’s get as many riders out as possible.

    If you want to get all competitive about it there’ll probably be a prize for the do-gooder does the best good (ie collects the most rubbish).

    Meet at 10am at the club car park this Sunday. Bring your own BIG rucksack, hi-vis vest (if you’ve got one) and a bike. Binbags will be provided, as will anti-septic hand-gel-cleaning stuff. Gloves will be provided if you need them. Oh, and don’t pick up anything you don’t want to (that means anything that scores a 7 or higher on the Eeeeeeeew-o-meter™).

    NB – Bring your own Eeeeeeeew-o-meter™.

  • Dig Day this Sunday

    You know the drill..

    Sunday
    10am-3pm
    Bring food and drink

  • Leaf rakes and jelly babies

    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.

  • Dig Day this Sunday!

    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.

  • P x E = RAD

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

    P = people
    E = effort

  • TRAIL CHANGE – PLEASE READ

    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

  • 4% Dig Day

    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

  • Dig Day this Sunday

    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!

  • DIG DAY CANCELLED – we've decided to build an ark instead…

    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.

     

  • Dig Day – Sunday – 10 until 4

     

    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!