Black Canon Collective

Category: Dig Day

  • Trail doodles

    Yesterday we completed the lower section of puppets, raked and groomed the whole trail and then smiled as we imagined racing it in two weeks time at the next TickerTape.
    We drank tea, ate chocolates and debated the ethical robustness of GM food (I know….not what I was expecting either).
    The afternoon was spent trail doodling, sketching a new lower section for BBMS with our tyres.
    Turns out we did a pretty good job, getting the feel and flow just right, so we raked it to unearth the ground features and define the trail.
    Clearing loam (a foot deep in places) really takes it out of your arms and back, but seeing the trail evolve is infectious so we carried on raking until we couldn’t anymore.

  • Don't forget it's Dig Day!

    Hello everyone, just a reminder that there is a dig day this Sunday (2nd May).

    The Day will be split up into 2 parts;

    1st part- we will be continuing work on puppets, to get the course ready for Mays Tickertape (judy line), mass raking section of the bottom part of puppets is encouraged.

    2nd part- TDS (Trail Development Sessions), BRING your BIKE and your IMAGINATION ! Together as a group we will discuss and test (session) different (and entirely new) line options for the bottom of BBMS that may well become a new properly defined bottom section to BBMS…

    Hope to see plenty of you there, DO BRING WATERPROOF CLOTHING as it is expected to rain. Don’t worry though as there’ll be warm drinks and doughnuts for everyone to enjoy!

    Ben. (DH Rep.)

  • Weeeeeeee Boing

    Today 8 people made it out to the DH dig day

    (given that it’s Easter weekend that’s pretty good – what with so many people being away)

    Everyone worked hard through the rain and constant bullying – “I can’t see any digging!!!! Chedge stop standing there, Ben jump up and down on the mud, Josh…Josh….JOSH!!!!”

    By the end of the day we’d finished the massive berm at the bottom of ‘Battery Hill‘ (on ‘Puppets‘), dug up two monster stumps and started the long loamy raking mission to clear the bottom section of the trail.

    The lads below had become a trail digging version of the A-Team, so it seemed only fair that they get to name the feature they’d worked so hard to make. After everyone had a go riding it, giggling like kids riding a massive new berm with a kicker at the end (!) they had made their decision…..

    What I hadn’t expected was that they would choose to call it “Weeeeee Boing“, yes, as in the sound of someone riding the berm whilst saying “weeeeee”, then “boing” as they jumped off the end. And Yep. I know…. no really.

    But do you know what? It’s a great name because as far as I’m concerned they, and the others who worked hard on it last dig day, have earned the right to call it what ever they like.

    Well done Ben, Ben, Ian, Josh, Max, Robin and Sam – you’ve made a monster and then gone and called it Betty.

    (Puppets is now officially open again, although the bottom section will still need some work to finish it off)

  • Holiday Dig Special

    I know, that’s ridiculous – it’s always special!

    Come along to the dig day this sat from 10:00 until we get tired (so around 17:00 ish)

    We’ll be working on Puppets and will stand a good chance of getting it all finished which will mean we can open the trail up again!!!

    So, the usual drill – you bring a rake, lunch, some elbow grease and hard graft and we’ll match that with tools, doughnuts and some elbow grease of our own. Beans.

    p.s. look what we were building this time last year…(worked out pretty well ey..?)

  • 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)

  • TickerTape + Dig Day dates up now!

    After a very hectic first two months for the committee we’re chuffed to be getting back into the swing of things with Dig Days and TickerTapes returning to their rightful places on the BCC events calendar. Check it out to see what’s going on and when…

  • 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.

  • Whatever the weather

    Despite some pretty chilly conditions and rock hard ground 13 people made it out to build today!
    We managed to build 2 new drops on ‘Punch’ the tech line on ‘Puppets’, and add an awesome little kink that makes the section even better than ever before.
    Not long now until TickerTape, so we may hold a short trail prep day to get the tracks running sweetly for the big event. We’ll keep you posted…
    (Ian will post a blog entry about the XC effort, including pics, very soon…)