Today was ace.
We had a great turn out of regulars, newbies and even some non members.
We cut up loads of fallen and recently felled trees making piles and stacks as we went.
The temperature was zero (or there abouts) but everyone managed to work up a sweat.
But best of all – the tea stayed hot and the biscuits were tasty.
Earlier today I went into BCH Camping to buy some walking socks, then remembered that we need some enamel mugs for the club.
I asked for a bulk discount (well I was potentially buying all of them) and was pleasantly surprised to be offered a club discount card and membership discounts too!
If you don’t ask….
Check out the Our Supporters page to see what discounts BCC members can enjoy.
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This months dig day will be going ahead despite the recent arctic conditions.
The ground is said to be frozen up to 10cm depth meaning that digging is likely to be even harder than normal so with that in mind we’ve decided to focus upon other worthy tasks such as raking, collecting wood and rocks, improving the shelter, re-marking the trails, and most importantly of all perhaps – taking time to walk around the allotment and day dream a little.
We’ll also be shortening the day so that people stand a chance of staying warm; it will start at 10:00 and finish at 13:00. Short and sweet.
And in case you thought we’d forgotten – there’ll be cups of tea and biscuits a plenty.
See you there!
I think when you imagine going on a riding trip in Wales you think of beautiful valleys, sheep and the occasional country estate. The route to the Glyncorrwg mountain bike centre (the start of the Whyte’s Level trail) was not like this. It included busy roads, boarded up council houses and modified Novas.
It wasn’t all bad however, after exiting the town we were quickly in a wide, steep valley, and soon after that were sampling the facilities of the visitor centre, in my case two slabs of toast with baked beans that were finished by Simon – who had already eaten a fair sized packed lunch.
After everyone was fed we returned to the vehicles to sort out our bikes and dress accordingly for the gloomy day and light drizzle, with Fin generously lending three of us Marin bikes (which were superb in my formerly anti-Marin opinion).
We then set off along the river to the first climb, which was 45 minutes on rooty, rocky singletrack, broken by short sections of sweeping descent. We stopped frequently which gave everyone an opportunity to recover and an opportunity to be demoralised by Chris still smiling after every climb – he seemed to be unaffected by the effort it took us.
Despite the climbing being as fun as is possible I think we (maybe not Chris!) were more excited to reach the top and to know that we would mainly be descending from then onwards, the most memorable descent being the black route which took you over boardwalk and jumps before some steep rock chutes, where Mark became entangled in his bike after crashing on a steep 180 degree corner.
From this point we were descending most of the way to the end, with Bob always easily pulling away from me despite her claims that I would be faster. Rob was also happier on the descents – his skate shoes and baggy clothing more suitable for a long downhill that featured berms and tabletops, than the climbs he had earlier mashed up.
Finally – after Fin had jet washed the bikes clean and Andrew and I had braved the ice cold showers – we were back eating again in the visitor centre. All that remained was the drive home: Mark carrying all the bikes in his van, Fin with his new flashing light on his bonnet and Andrew trying every radio station in South Wales in our quest to sing along to Take That.
We’ve finally got round to adding some of the content and functionality we promised when we launched this website.
We promised to enable members to make video and photo contributions to the site. We toyed with different ways of doing this and decided that creating a BCC ‘group’ on a media hosting site then embedding a media stream such as a slide show (or similar) was the best solution. This would allow users to add media without having to have access to the website itself, as any new media would only be added to the ‘group’ which would automatically be included in the embedded media stream. Gravy.
However we couldn’t find a provider of video and photo hosting that was good at both so we went with the best at each; Vimeo and Flickr.
We now have a photo page, with embedded Flickr slideshow, that members can add to, see http://www.flickr.com/groups/blackcanoncollective.
We also have a video equivalent that uses vimeo, see: http://www.vimeo.com/groups/blackcanoncollective. This doesn’t currently have any content but as soon as it does it’ll be embedded on the videos page.
We promised to enable members to create blog entries on the site; this is being trialed (not the members but how we do it) and will be a great addition to the site showing many more dimensions than I have been able to with my own scrawlings.
We’re also going to be changing the format of the welcome page so that the latest news / blog entries are displayed more prominently, this will ensure that content isn’t missed and the page stays fresh.
We’re always looking to improve so will be glad of any feedback you may have on this or anything else.
This weeks Night Rider saw another new face.
He was pretty sluggish (we reckon he’s over 20stone) but made for the perfect ride leader with his crazy bright light suit / beard / head…(must be over 5000 lumins all in)
Not sure he can make it next week though as he’s gonna be busy the following day.
Check the website to see where the ride will start next Tuesday.
Friday nights rainfall caused problems for a lot of people.
The allotment got its fair share resulting in some pretty impressive ruts, mini lakes and silty swamps.
But if it wasn’t for the water leaving a trail on its way down the hill we’d never have known where to dig drainage, every cloud……
We worked all day to weather proof 143; we dug drainage, built a water bar, rebuilt ‘flip flop’ from scratch, re-routed the very bottom section and gave everything else a good rake and shape.
We all stopped for lunch, ate sausages and drank tea.
By the end of the day it looked like new, better even, it was just begging to be ridden.
Chris, Jack and co worked hard to make the most of the soft conditions and dug all day at the jump spot. It’s gonna be ace by spring time.
Sunday saw some new faces, some old and some who looked like they should have drunk less the night before.
We rode all day, crashed a bit but made the most of our new old trail.
I must admit to wanting it to rain, in the same way that you do when you have a new coat, I wanted to test out our newly weather proof trail.
It didn’t though, it stayed dry and fast and we kept on going until we couldn’t see where the hell we were going.
This is what the weekend is for.
P.S. Kudos to Rob for doing the mini step!
We’re pretty confident with the format now so here it is: The BCC Tuesday Night Ride.
Tuesday 16/12/2008
Meet at The Horse & Groom (East Woodlands) for 7:00pm start (theres’ limited parking available so please share transport).
90-120 mins of riding followed by a couple of drinks at the pub.
90% XC off-road however some road does mean that a rear light is needed.
Decent front Lights are mandatory.
The ride is open to anyone, not just BCC members, so wrap up warm, bring a fiver for the pub and we’ll see you there!
Oh and do check the website for details each week as the start point will change from time to time
(Got no lights? Join up as a full member and get 10% discount at either AVC or Live2ride!)
Where indeed did Will get to before our ride? Well I can tell you where…… everywhere but where he should have been! You see Will managed to take a country lane tour of the villages between Frome and Warminster before ever finding his way to the Horse and Groom. By the time we’d found him he’d probably done enough riding for most people but as we’ve come to realise with Will- he’s always happy to be on a bike. He just smiled and got on with it, up at the front of the group mashing his way up those hills. Quality.
The ride was good, just over an hour and a half, with only a slight alteration planned for next time; bypassing the soul destroying quagmire that is Sheppards Woods, in favour of the faster rolling trails around shearwater.
We had no mechanicals and everyone came back in one piece. I say that but Rich from Live2ride managed to aggravate a shoulder injury meaning that when sat in the pub he moved a little like Herman Munster. Oh and his light ran out of battery with 20 mins to go (my fault as I’d lent them to him)!
Was great to see new riders coming along, with even more coming next week it looks like the BCC Tuesday night ride is here to stay!
Oh and the fire in the pub was nice….
It seems that I managed to screw up the embedded links on the membership page while updating it with the SALE prices a few weeks ago…
It meant that if you tried to sign up you were presented with the club rules pdf rather than the membership application form; which obviously made joining a little difficult.
I’ve fixed it now so please have another go!
P.s. Thanks to Robert Bunce and Sam Wells for telling me.