Black Canon Collective

Category: Forum

  • 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 ?)

  • Easy breezy ride

    Ok , it’s not an epic or weekly club event but it was arranged through the club forum and is open to all…

    This weeks “easy breezy” Saturday club ride was well attended by ….. Err…… Me and and Al , silly really as the weather window Al predicted came good and we had a proper sunny one !

    Shame on all you folk’s with better things to do like trawling the aisles at Sainsbury’s and taking the kids to ballet etc – you really need to get your priorities sorted !

    Starting from the BCC car park (closer to home than the H & G) we rode down into the darkiside/doodles area and made a safer entry to the area from the road that we can use in future, no undergrowth was harmed in the making of this entrance , in fact it was more a case of making the existing moss and twigs more comfortable. – and it’s less visible and safer to enter from the road !

    We then rode around a bit trying to link all the bits of sweet singletrack together in that side of the woods – we even found a boardwalk (well sort of) to try if we can find it again on Tuesday

    Down the road road, along crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon and sidewinder
    etc, etc ( oh yes Al has names for all of them ) and back to the without incident or bus collisions.

    Don’t forget it’s Wales next Sunday wooohooo!

  • XC Ride Away – July

    Dan Hunter will be leading the XC Ride Away this July, here’s what he’s got in store:

    Hello I’ll be leading the July 11th XC ride away, across the Marlborough Downs and Ridgeway – so don your beards and prepare your retro steeds for a 17 mile trip across the neolithic landscape.

    The Route: Click here for a Goolge map of the route and parking location

    Difficulty: easy/moderate – highly recommend this ride for beginners who are comfortable riding the distance, but all are welcome.
    This route is largely open flint covered tracks so little technical skill is required. I would say half of this route involves climbing, but again this all non-technical. There is little in the way of singletrack but the open countryside and views are fantastic.

    Duration: 2:30 – 3:30 hours (Depending how long we stop for)

    Travelling: 1hour 10 mins drive from Frome.

    Ride start time: 10:15 – 10:25

    Food: There is a café half way round for food and drinks, but riders will need to bring enough while riding, as its not always open. If its hot ring plenty of fluids regardless.

    Clothing: Depends on the wether of course, but it is very exposed so bring a summer jacket or gilet if it looks chilly/wet or some sun tan lotion if it looking sunny.

    Meet up: The ride is open to all members & non members, please let us know who coming by the Friday evening so we can arrange lifts etc, we’ll be meeting in the Frome car park near the Cheese & Grain on Sunday around 8.30am to leave for 8.45am, although your welcome to make your own way to the parking spot near Marlborough if your coming from elsewhere.

    Check out the forum to arrange travel arrangements by clicking on the image below:

  • Year Three Memberships + New BCC Forum

    Year Three Memberships

    Hello

    Due to a change to the way we will be operating the forum, and the fact that the change requires a lot of technical jiggery pokery we’re not in a position to accept year three memberships just yet.

    So, despite the fact that your membership cards expired about an hour ago, the club will grant an extension to the year 2 memberships until we can begin accepting year three applications.

    If you’re already a year 2 member then please continue to use the allotment and other club benefits as usual. Those who are not, don’t worry, we’ll have it sorted before you can say…”so what’s a TickerTape anyways?”

    We’re aiming to have all this in place for Tuesday the 6th April 2010 but will have to update you when we know a little more.

    Thanks for your patience

    New BCC Forum

    We’re moving to a custom BCC forum, on the BCC website, so will soon stop using the southerndownhill.com club forum.

    The move to the new forum will include a period of about a month where we have both, for handover purposes. You will be given new usernames and passwords for the BCC website and Forum when you join up for year three.

    Rob Lewis (southerndownhill.com) has been incredibly helpful and generous in providing the club with both forum space and website hosting since we started back in 2008. We’re making this move for a number of reasons, all of which will benefit the club, but (and this is important) this is not being done because we don’t want to be a part of SDH or because they don’t want to have us.

    We need to provide a forum that is more club focused, in terms of it’s functionality, ease of use, and visibility from our website. The SDH forum is in many ways better than our BCC forum, but it’s just not quite right for the current and future needs of the club.

    The new BCC forum will be part of the BCC website, it’ll also be very simple. This is something that has caused problems amongst many members who’ve struggled to find their way onto the current forum – while not actually very hard, it could be easier. This is important as people who are active on the club forum are the ones who are most active within the club. Of course this is a case of chicken and egg, but it’s clear that by making the forum easier to use, more people will use it and then more people will get involved in club activities.

    The new forum will display some threads to the public so that people can see what’s going on… other threads will be only visible to members once logged in, meaning that we can retain the private nature of the club forum too. As part of this change we will be able to provide ‘members only’ website content aswel, meaning that we can have areas for people to upload route maps, see club resources resources etc etc…

    In addition the change will enable us to conform to online Child Protection best practice more easily, something that really is very important especially as we are growing in numbers.

    So a valuable change all round…but…

    All that aside, I’d like to say a special thank you to Rob Lewis for all his help, it’s probable that we would never have even existed at all if it wasn’t for the fact that some of the original Longleat riders first met on the SDH forum, and then were able to use it when setting up the club. I hope that many of you stay active members of SDH, I know I will.

  • May Velodrome Trip

    Check out the Forum to get involved in our next Velodrome Trip…

    Black Canon Collective – June ’09 Calshot Velodrome from ndrwdnhm on Vimeo.

  • New – Monthly XC Ride Away

    This is great news, thanks to the ride leader training and some momentum picking up from the weekly night riders the club will be offering a monthly XC ride away! This will me a permanent fixture in the club calendar and will be held in between the Ticker Tape & Dig Days each month. With loads of local and not so local trails and routes to explore we promise to keep things fresh.

    Full details will be available on the website, via the news feed, Calendar and also the club Forum where you can discuss the ride or make travel arrangements etc.

    Our first ride:

    The Gap Route – Brecon Beacons

    Distance: 40km
    Total Ascent: 1100m
    Duration: 5h +
    Date: Sunday 21/03/2010
    Meeting point: Talybont-on-Usk
    Meeting Time: 10am for a 10:30 start

    (Parking is on the main road it can be busy, especially if the weather is nice!)

    The ride is mainly on existing bridleways that cut through the Brecon Beacons. The highlight of the route is riding through the ‘Gap’ between Cribyn and Fan-y-Big at 599m

    A route map can be found here: http://www.ridethequantocks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/gap.pdf

    And a description can be found here: http://www.mtb-wales.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Subjects&file=index&req=viewpage&pageid=31

    There is a café at about the halfway point, grid reference: SO055175

    Notes:
    Unlike trail centres, the tracks were not designed with mountain bikers in mind, and have to be shared with other users.
    At some places on the route we will be many miles from civilisation, mobile phones can’t be relied upon.
    The highest point on the route is exposed to the full extremes of weather.
    • Ensure your bike is in good mechanical order
    • Always ride within your ability
    • Carry enough food and water for a full day
    • Carry your own tools and spares
    • Even if its sunny when you set off carry a waterproof and warm jersey
    • A personal survival bag or blanket is recommended
    • As is small backup light

    The ride is open to anyone over 18, members and non-members alike.

  • BCC Mini Enduro

    Fancy racing riding around the allotment, and surrounding area, on a mini BCC enduro pre Set 2 Rise ?

    Ian Crook came up with the idea as a kind of XC enduro TickerTape equivalent; basically it’s a low-fi, members only, mini enduro race event with apple strudel Mule Bars to give away. At this stage that’s all we’ve got, but it sounds good to me…

    Check out the suggestion box thread on the forum here: http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,164215.120.html to get involved, or make your own suggestions.

  • 2:1

    This morning Geraint, Mark, Chris, Rob and I went on a muddy slog around Stourhead.

    Geraint led the way with Rob keen to keep up the pace, Mark, Chris and I were more than happy pootling along behind, pretending to be nonchalant, while actually struggling like hell.

    The weather was glorious and the route very scenic. It’s always great to be shown somewhere new.

    After some 2:1 ratio mud (for every 2 wheel rotations, you only move 1 forwards) and puddle splashing antics (in your FACE mark!) we attempted to ride back to the cars with Geraint only able to use his drive side crank as the other one had fallen off! In sympathy I rode the last decent one footed too, but gave up pretty quick on the final climb. Embarrassingly though, Geraint was quicker on the final stretch with just one leg than I was with two.

    To join us on the next ride, or to organise your own, check out the forum (where Mark organised this one): http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,205047.45.html