Category: News

  • Safety is no accident

    For those who weren’t riding at the allotment yesterday:

    Darren binned it on BBMS (his first run) whilst approaching the rock garden. He flipped over the bars and landed on his right shoulder separating his collar bone from its ligaments. Not good.

    Sam (new member, Darren’s mate) took him to Bath A&E where he was told that he’d be off the bike for approx 12 weeks.

    It’s our first ‘proper’ injury at the allotment since the BCC was formed and although mildly amusing (for Sam more than anyone else) it’d be good if we could all refrain from braking ourselves whilst riding there. I’m speaking to some bubble wrap suppliers about suffocation concerns but hope to have the first BCC full body suit on sale within the next few weeks…

  • National Mountain Bike Conference 2008

     

    The National Mountain Bike Conference 2008 is almost here:

    “Are you on the right track to developing and providing facilities for off-road cyclists? Whether you are catering for family cyclists or mountain bike enthusiasts, the CTC & IMBA-UK conference at Earls Court is for you.”

    “CTC – the national cyclists’ organisation and IMBA-UK are bringing together key speakers from across the world for this major mountain bike conference at Cycle 2008. The programme has been specifically designed for those who are passionate about off-road cycling including: trail builders, project managers, sports development officers, funders, landowners, AONB and National Park staff, and all those involved in managing or developing off-road cycling in the UK.”

     

    This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from the people who spend their lives doing what have just started to.  I will be attending the conference on behalf of all of us at the BCC so want to make sure that we make the most of it by going prepared.

    My intention is to attempt to secure a high profile contact that we can treat as a mentor, and to get some guidance on what we are doing  and how best to go forward.

    If you have any thing that you would like to ask, or any ideas please let me know (either by e-mail or simply leave a comment below).

    For more information and the full press release please see here

    Cheers

  • It's a sign

    Finally, after having failed miserably on our first dig day (the ground was stupidly hard) we’ve managed to erect two of our permanent signs at the allotment!

    Neil, Chris Sheppard (new member) and I put two up; one at the top of the hill and one at the half way point.

    As silly as this may sound; it makes the place really feel like it’s ours now, officially.

  • Bow saw and muddy spoons

    Earlier today Al, Caroline, Darren, Sam (new member), and I went out to the allotment to cut up a large tree that had fallen across BBMS – within 25 mins we’d turned it into a log pile thanks to a nice new bow saw. I like bow saws.

    We then went about clearing and remarking Spoons which was really wet and lacking any direction in places.

    We’d only gone out there because Darren had mentioned that he’d seen the tree yesterday and wanted to ride today – kind of like an MTB A-Team; “Today, still wanted by the Longleat Estate, they survive as builders of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… The BCC-Team.” OK maybe not.

  • Old news…

    I’ve finally updated the track times section of the website.

    You sub 40 boys have set the bar, and with little dry weather forecast between now and next summer it looks like your records will be unchallenged for some time…….or will we see a Champery esq performance in the driving rain by any of our Hill wanabies?

    Under 40s in the full wet, now that would command some respect!

    We have also received a fantastically generous donation of £250 from Frome Selwood Rotary club following a successful presentation made by Neil, Robin and myself back in July. The BCC are enormously grateful and keen to put the money to good use. Special thanks to Neil Carpenter for organising the meeting and introducing us to the Rotary club.

  • Suggestion Box

    As the last post says we’re committed to getting things right but aren’t too proud to admit when we’re wrong. We are also very keen to listen to other views and ideas , so; we’ve set up a suggestion box.

    Be it constructive criticism, wishful thinking or just a novel idea we’re all ears!

    So please write down any ideas that you have in an e-mail then send it to us at suggestion.box@blackcanoncollective.co.uk and we’ll make sure your thoughts get aired at the next committee meeting.

    Thanks!

  • Membership Applications

    Well although we’ve been a bit quiet lately things are still rolling along nicely; we’ve been busy fund raising and out riding so haven’t posted much but rest assured we’re still here!

    We do have some exciting, but unconfirmed, news relating to donations so look out for more information on this shortly.

    Now on to the issue of Membership Applications:

    Over the last few weeks we’ve had many membership applications but haven’t kept up too well, the truth is that up until recently we knew all the new members and so hadn’t really tested out our joining process fully (we were able to give them any paperwork/membership cards in person). The reality is that the vast majority of applications are now from new people outside of our pre-existing riding circles. This places far greater importance on our membership application procedure – namely our ability to successfully communicate the fact that we’ve received their money/application and what they should do/look out for next. To be honest we’ve been pretty bad at doing this.

    Now of course we do keep a secure record of every application, associated payment and photo info but this isn’t the issue; we just haven’t been getting back to the applicants once they’ve signed up. This has obviously got to change.

    So we held a committee meeting last night and discussed this issue in some detail – our aim being to come up with a better way of dealing with new membership applications. The outcome was positive, and will be implemented in the next two weeks.

    So if you have already joined but are waiting for some communication from us; rest assured that we will be doing so very shortly. And if you are thinking of joining; well we’ll be improving the whole process to make it easier (including a paypal facility we hope) and ensure that you’re not left wondering if we’ve received your details.

    We’re committed to getting things right and aren’t too proud to admit when we’re wrong.

    So; here’s to getting better…

  • New website content

    Since opening BBMS on the 16th we’ve all been riding it quite a bit, by doing so we’ve come up with some ideas for site content that would be useful and or just nice to have. So I’ve added three new pages;

    Tracks

    Details which tracks are open and ride able to avoid confusion

    Track Times

    Where members best run times are logged so that they can track their progress

    Videos

    Where we’ll dump riding videos taken at the allotment

    That’s not all either… we have plans to create a building/allotment blog where we’ll document everything that goes on to do with it’s renovation, course building and re-design, and a photo album page where members can upload their pics from the allotment.

    If you have any suggestions of anything else you’d like to see added please just drop us an e-mail.

  • All hands on deck…

    Wow

    Saturdays dig day was a massive success with the entire barbed wire fence being built and BBMS given a complete overhaul.

    We had great participation with well over 90 man hours of work completed in one day alone.

    The girls culinary efforts received a warm reception with not an ounce of cake left over by the end of the day.

    BBMS has now been opened (to members only) and already we’ve had some fast times being set, 40.82s is the benchmark courtesy of Tom R.

    Planning of the next full dig day is underway with the aim being to work on another line and extend the existing BBMS taking it closer to the 1 min mark.

    Full write up and photos to follow on the Allotment blog….(which we’ll launch soon).

  • This is it…

    The dig day is almost upon us, and things are all falling into place….

    The PPE has arrived, as has the litter picking kit and signs (Al is making up the sign back boards and posts as I type)

    We’ve now got a scythe and a proper wheelbarrow to call our own

    Rodney’s coming to meet us on site in the morning to give us some fence related pointers

    The girls are going to be cooking up a treat this evening

    Our stigs are primed and ready to rip

    Builders are eager to create new and resurrect old

    Tools are stacked up in the garage

    and day dreams are just itching to be realised

    We’ve been apart for 112 days and have missed the place for every single one

    It’s been hard work getting here but we’re back, and with so much catching up to do

    Tomorrow morning can’t come quickly enough