Black Canon Collective

Category: Night Rider

  • A tale of two rides

    A tale of two rides

    Perhaps its the dry trails, perhaps its the warm weather or perhaps its the light evenings. Who knows, but after a winter of the hardy the Nightrider is once again busy enough for two groups and double the fun! We don’t really do “fast” and “slow” since speed is relative and we ride what teh group want to ride, so we split into “social” and “other” and ventured off, to meet after in the pub…

    Social:

    Following a minor bit of tyre faffing from Rhys (nice “bang”  BTW Rhys), the social group consisting Marjory, Andy, Rhys,James and Pete headed off with Andy leading from the back (demonstrating proper ride leader behaviour) and Pete at the front (demonstrating the “Darwinian” approach to ride leading).

    Having negotiated a bit of felling in Shepherds Wood we made our way through (around actually) the ford and up the allotment via the scenic route. 

    We made our way into Doodles via the new path by the road and enjoyed a very nice sunset from the woods – mixed opinions were shared about old doodles vs new doodles – the paint someone had use to mark the trees was unanimously frowned upon !

    We then bounced and skipped our way along Transistor and down “the middle one” (we must name that descent [Its called Stubborn Erection – Al]) back up to Canimore woods to try the usual bits such as Vlad, Pump and Vancouver plus a couple that were new for some.

    As the time drew on, and the need for cider became pressing for Andy, we headed back around Centre Parcs with one last “hurrah” by way of a quick blast down Fenceline.

    It all seemed very agreeable and I don’t believe we had any falls or refusals (Rich Cory was with the other group!)

    — Pete

    IMG_1951

    Anti-Social:

    The trouble with the faster boys is that they are always in such a hurry to get to where they are going, they miss the fun bits getting there. So it was a Nath missed both lefts in Shepherds and we rode out the wrong side and missed the ford. No matter, it’ll all still be there next week.

    Again, faster boys, they get fixated. I made the mistake of mentioning the Strava time of a local roadie up the BCC Climb to Chris as we rode along the road to it, and duly he fired straight on up at warp speed, missing the easier, more fun way on the left (why always the left?). We regroupped as 8 at the top and headed for Fencline. I say headed, ‘cos whilst Diz added some air to his tyres bored minds plotted a more direct route down. Direct, loamy and bloody good fun as it turned out, which cheering from 4 chaps also out halfway down. I myself even cleared a double, on my XC hardtail with my saddle up – it was new, I knew no better and just rode it! Phew.

    Up to Jihadi’s, or Wigwams as its been renamed to avoid annoying terrorists, and straight back down with joyful abandon. Bumped into Curtis out riding his dogs to. Up, Bonnet, Duk, Endurex, Duk, that new bit, Vlad, Jeremy (where we waved George off home), Transistor and Doodles to finish. At which point whilst heading up to the gate my legs knew I’m better at being social than riding XC. Good job it was downhill to the pub! Some direct, some via BBMS. Its all good and no lights!

    No falls, no refusals, and we even had Rich Cory in our group! 😛

    — Al

    Fun

    Same time, same place next week for more of something similar, but its never the same…

  • If you only join us for ONE Tuesday NightRide….

    …make sure it’s tonight.

    You know the drill:

    https://www.blackcanoncollective.co.uk/activities/weekly-night-ride

    Ta.

  • Law of Diminishing Returns

    Longleat’s trails yesterday
    The Law of Diminishing Returns. It’s a theory. It states that the more you have of something, the less you enjoy it. If you have one Mars Bar, you enjoy it. If you have 20 Mars Bars, you don’t enjoy the twentieth.
    Which is why it’s so important to ride bikes when conditions are so good.
    Tuesday 7th May came at the end of an unseasonably dry spell. A good three weeks or so had passed with very little in the way of precipitation so Longleat’s trails were at their absolute finest – dry and dusty. You HAVE to ride when trails are like that – we get so few good days round here that it’s just plain wrong not to ride bikes round the forest. Which is why I was a little surprised to find only nine riders gather in the church carpark on such a glorious evening. Only a couple of years ago we had upwards of 30 in attendance on similar evenings.
    The night’s group consisted of some of the regular old-guard, a few relatively-new faces and a couple of guests. You can usually count on a few riders dropping out on a ride, but Paul “Satnav” Gunstone surprised us all by not even making it out of the carpark. It emerged he’d rather find his missing Garmin than ride, so, assuming he had absent-mindedly left it on the roof of his car before he set off, he drove back home retracing his steps and keeping an eagle eye out. Turns out later it was in the boot of his car all along. This man is in charge of millions of YOUR pounds, people.
    So we were down to eight.
    Before the ride I’d dusted off my ageing 5inch-full-susser. It doesn’t come out to play very often (in fact its previous outing was a weekend away to the Lake District in October last year…) and consequently I had to re-calibrate my skillz on the ride out from Frome. For a while I thought I’d made a mistake: the lolloping, flexing, bouncing thing beneath me felt very alien. But by the time were in Shepherd’s Wood and enjoying the singletrack, I was (apparently) getting my shred on.
    At Rushpool Farm we paused briefly while Geraint returned from a little (but sadly fruitless) Trail Foraging Expedition in Dertford Wood. At this point Chris “Cave Man” Snell decided the arm injury he’d picked up at the weekend was too troubling and opted to return to the cars.
    So we were down to seven.
    The double-track descent down to the road from there – Breach Lane – is a fast and stoney one and hugely enjoyable on a bouncy bike. Watery-eyed, our seven-of-nine arrived grinning at the bottom. Even our special guest for the night – Tim Flooks – managed a “Yee-haa!” on the way down, and an “Again! Again! Again!” at its end. Greg, aboard his carbon hard-tail singlespeed, negotiated the concrete 3foot drop-off with style and aplomb. By the time we’d ridden the road to the bottom of the Allotment, Tim decided he’d tested his forks enough for the evening and elected to turn for home.
    So we were down to six.
    A convoluted but again dry and dusty route led us from there to the beginning of Oodles. At this point Steve discovered he was missing a cleat-bolt and his cleat was coming loose. Bizarrely, Robin had a spare about his person. Who carries spare cleat-bolts??!  Anyway. Steve’s night was saved and we carried on, after taking the opportunity to take-on some Haribo. Clearly high on sugar, it was decided we should make motorbike noises while riding the next section (Oodles). So we did. Greg had brought no lights so by the time we’d finished Doodles he was eyeing the gloaming with unease, and wisely elected to return to the cars before it got too dark.
    So we were down to five.
    Some superb trails in excellent condition greeted us at Cannimore and we made full use of as many as we could for as long as we could. Etch-A-Sketch was bone-dry and it’s shoulder-dropping, track-standing twistiness proved hugely enjoyable. Even Steve, who had required some cajoling and peer-pressure to participate in this section, emerged happy at the other end.
    Geraint punctured en-route to the top of the Allotment, and, in the shadow of a fibreglass gorilla, we soon had a replacement tube fitted and we were on our way again. As ever, the Allotment in the dark is a fabulous place to be on a mountainbike, and the five of us whooped our way down the recently-swept MCC, climbed through East17, and drifted through The Meadow’s covering of dry leaves before arriving back at the road. We retraced our steps past Rushpool Farm and crossed the ford back to the (other) road. Here we split. Robin and I headed for Frome via Friggle Street and Wallbridge.
    So they were down to three.
    As Robin and I left, Steve required some more cajoling to go to the pub, so it’s quite possible only two riders made it back for a beer. Well done to Geraint and Richard if you managed to fly the BCC flag back at the Horse & Groom.
    About 23.5 miles for me, and probably Geraint. A bit less for Robin. About 17 miles for Richard and Steve, less for Greg, less for Tim and and less for Chris. And ‘nought’ for Paul.
    That was a great ride in great conditions. I hope the other seven enjoyed it as much as I did.
    But only two or three riders in the carpark after nine set out? That’s quite a diminished return.

  • Imaginary points creating a constellation

    Looking at my technowidget (endomondo.com) after Tuesdays Night Rider I looked at the stats and shapes to gain inspiration for this jumble of words that you’re now reading. Some of this may make sense, some may not but I hope it (loosely) describes the events of  stardate 1110.8 through 1110.9. I thought that the 19 equidistant imaginary points draw a shape which shares a slight resemblance with the big dipper and this got me thinking. So hold on tight, here we go………

    Seven astonauts led by Captain Sheppard began their journey on the tarmac to reach the lauch pad that is the rocky singletrack to the Ford. The bridge was crossed (for fear of getting space boots damp) and launched up into the dark abiss. A small patch of asteroids (traction less mud) slowed the pace slightly before once again hitting maximum velocity and winding the way up the twiddly singletrack that avoids the hellish fire road past the side of the allotment. For the final section of the climb some of the space travelers swapped Lunar vehicles and we headed back onto the upper slope of Beelzebub’s fire road. All I can say about this experience is that I learnt how to change down the gears on a cyclo-x bike and that skinny 70psi tyres do grip. Lunar vehicles were then returned to their owners.

    From the top we headed along an overgrown trail, nearly losing one space traveler in a black hole before reaching heavens gate viewpoint and the circular stone space time portal. As I reached out and opened the gate (which I hadn’t opened for years but instinctively put my bike in the precise position required to open the gate easily) it I felt like I had gone back in time by 17 years. We then swooped along a newly revived piece of ancient single track which had previously been blocked by felled trees.

    After cutting through the BCC shuttlepark we bumped into 3 alien dirtjumpers. They weren’t hostile so they tagged on as we shreaded the singletrack from the Longleat entrance towards the doodle system. Doodle was by-passed, I created a new line called rodeo girl (suitable for 800mm wide bars) and we twinkled our way over towards Shearwater past another group of astronauts which were having a problem with one of their lunar rovers (it looked like they had the issue under control so we carried on). We dodged black holes (badger holes) and lauched over milky ways (that drop thing) with the aliens in hot pursuit. The climb out of Shearwater turned into an impromptu space walk and since Chas was more used to controlling his Lunar rover than space walking there was a slight mishap but he ventured on bravely with a sore shin. Back at the top of the allotment the aliens waved fairwell and sped off on a B-line for the pub.

    MCC, East 17 and that trail with the log pile at the end were negotiated before passing some astronauts (again) and the race for the pub began (back the way we came).

    Sometimes I look at the night sky in wonder and much like our Universe, the trail system that we have on our doorstep amazes me in the way it is contantly growing and evolving.

  • Go Frome

    For those who are interested in giving a bit of XC MTB’ing a go, see you at 6:45pm:

    The ride is suitable for any adult with a mountain bike, and a good level if fitness. Riders will need to wear suitable weather specific clothing, a helmet, and have good lights with a run time of at least 2 hrs. Riders must also bring their own food and drink.

    FOR THOSE WITHOUT LIGHTS I WILL BE LEADING A 1-2 HR ‘LIGHT RIDE’ THIS EVENING ONLY.

    Any questions just give me a ring 07870609871

  • Frisky bullocks

    Eight of the more foolhardy members of the Tuesday Nightriders had to demonstrate their cattle-wrangling skills last night when they joined the Anti-social group’s ride.
    .

    En route to some newly-found and much-hyped singletrack, they had to negotiate a series of field-edge bridleways the last of which contained a herd of very inquisitive and frisky bullocks. Not knowing quite how to deal with an approaching army of two-ton bovines, our intrepid band of non-farmers walked/trotted/ran their bikes through the enclosure, desperately trying not to start a stampede or spook the residents. Visions of that scene in Black Hawk Down where the Somali locals swarm on the doomed, crashed ‘copter, or that scene in LoTR where the orcs are chasing the Fellowship through the Dwarf Mines of Moria flashed through my mind… Anyhoo, we all made it safely through the farside gate (just) and nervously laughed-off the experience. Now on to the more serious stuff of enjoying what we had come for.
    .
    This singletrack nirvana was about a mile-and-a-half in length. Starting inconspicuously on nothing more than a deer-track through bluebells near the edge of the woodland, it continued unbroken for over two kilometres. It could easily be ridden in one continuous length, but this being new territory and under encroaching darkness, we paused three or four times to regroup. Occasionally dipping under the odd low deciduous branch in its early stages, it wound its way around the periphery of the wood. Soon it widened and became loamy as it dropped steeply down through conifers to the river, offering up some interesting roots, drops and dips to surmount along the way. From there it narrowed again and followed the watercourse downstream, twisting and rollercoastering between the trees and over fallen logs. A short, sharp, unrideable rise near the very end was the only major obstacle to interrupt the flow. By the time we emerged at its end onto some fireroad, eight white grins in the forested twilight indicated that we’d all ridden some of the finest singletrack on offer in Longleat.
    .
    We arrived back at the pub 22 miles and nearly three hours later, only to find it in darkness and no sign of the Social group… maybe they had fallen foul of those fire-breathing, man-eating young bulls…
    .

  • In Dust We Trust

    Another great turnout for a Tuesday Nightride. 23 riders met in the East Woodlands church carpark, and after the first Byway, divided into 11 riders in the Social group and 12 in the… erm…. ‘Anti-social’ group.

    On leaving the carpark, Ryan’s crank promptly fell off. The first of many mishaps for the evening.
    Aboard his Charge Cooker 29er prototype, Neil took charge of the Anti-social group and led a superb ride. There were two new faces in the ASG this week in a ‘try-before-you-buy’ capacity; a work colleague of Chas’, and a young tri-athlete prodigy, Matt from Trowbridge, who pretty-much set the pace for the group. After half-an-hour it was all a bit of a shock for Chas’ workmate who sadly had to bale-out after ‘hitting the wall’ on just the second climb.
    A regroup at the water feature and then a sprint down NCN24 to Centre Parcs. While negotiating ‘Doodles’ another crank-arm fell off. This time Sean was the victim (as his Singlespeed became a Halfspeed) and had to drop from the group. Kev nobly sprinted back to East Woodlands to retrieve his car to save Sean the long walk home. I think someone’s chain snapped at this point, too…
    A bit further on and we were soon sampling the unique delights of the undergrowth singletrack around Cannimore and Buckler’s Wood. Our rapidly-decreasing group of nine undertook the newly-found (and as yet unnamed) stretch of trail that wriggles its way through dense, small trees with low branches and stumps to negotiate through its entirety. A challenge in dexterity rather than speed, this trail takes a full five or six minutes of shoulder-dropping and track-standing to complete, hopefully without dabbing. All riders emerged intact at its end, with just a torn armwarmer and a ripped t-shirt for our troubles. Just then, by a staggering coincidence, Geraint who was just returning from London in a hired van, drove past as we were dusting ourselves down and hailed us over for a chat.
    Then a quick sprint back along the singletrack and over to the outskirts of Crockerton to ride a firm favourite, The Badger Run, down to Shear Water. A few sharp climbs back out of the forest up to the road and we followed the path back around Centre Parcs, through the toll booths to the top of The Allotment and rode the Dinner til Dusk descent before retracing our steps and heading homewards. En route to East Woodlands another Anti-social rider wended their own way home leaving just eight to return, dusty and happy, back to the pub and cars.
    All trails were superbly dry and dusty making for some very interesting cornering in places, but providing masses of traction on the climbs. Even the perma-puddles were developing dry lines through them which is always an encouraging sight. Dust was certainly the main feature of the evening, and youthful exuberance and enthusiasm often boiled over in the form of skidz enshrouding all who followed them in pyroclastic flows. Skidz ARE for kidz, people.
    All in all a superb evening’s ride for the Anti-socials who were all surprisingly very social despite losing 33% of our number during the course of the evening.
    I’m afraid I can’t comment on the Social group’s ride as I didn’t hang around at the pub, but I’ll bet they had a great ride too ;O)
    Oh, and Al “26-till-I-die” Mackinlay was later seen test-riding a 29er in the pub car park and was heard to comment “It rides like a bike”. You’ll all be riding them soon, I tells ya…

  • Sorry, No Pets

    Over the years we’ve happily allowed people to bring their pets (well dogs) along with them on club rides, but we’ve come to realise that as much fun as it is to ride with your mutt it’s not exactly a recipe for the most enjoyable ride all round. Even the best trail dogs can be unpredictable and make other riders feel nervous, not to mention scare the local wildlife of which there’s quite a lot.

    So, from today onwards we won’t be allowing any pets on BCC organised rides.

    Thanks

  • Tuesday Night Rider

    …when was the last time you came along?

    Meet at the Horse and Groom pub to leave at 7:00pm, we’re there every week.

  • XC Ride Away – Ashton Court (at night!)

    We’ve been talking about trying this for a few months, to change up the ride away a little bit,we thought it would be a good way to start 2011.

    THIS IS A NIGHT RIDE SO YOU’LL NEED A GOOD SET OF BIKE LIGHTS. THE CLUB HAS 2 SETS THAT CAN BE USED UPON REQUEST.

    As always you will need a good quality, well maintained bike with plenty of brake pad material, a helmet and suitable clothing and spares i.e. – extra spare tubes due to the type of terrain, power links etc. There is no bike shop on site.

    We will car pool as much as possible to keep costs down. If anyone would like to drive and take bikes and passengers, please let us know.

    We’re going to meet Saturday evening in Frome at the Cheese & Grain at 5.15pm, aiming to leave 5.30pm, that should get us there 6.30pm, riding by 7pm. We’ll ride until we’ve had enough, and on the way home we’ll stop off for a beverage of choice at a pub that will be named at a later date. So you may want to have a quick change of clothing depending on the weather.

    Here’s Pete riding the trail in earlier in the year…

    Trail Details

    Please Note: The trails are more difficult during and after wet weather when tree roots and rocks can become slippery.

    The first part of this signed route runs around the spectacular Ashton Court Estate where you can cycle through wonderful woodlands away from busy roads.
    The yellow trail in Ashton Court is a great place for youngsters or inexperienced riders to have a go on the rough tracks because the route is not too technical – A new ‘figure of eight’ link has recently been constructed and signed in Ashton Court to create a separate circuit in the Estate.
    More adventurous mountain bikers can follow the pink trail in 50-Acre Wood to test out their skills in more rugged terrain. A 400m section of off-road track has been created so that novices can extend their ride into 50-Acre Wood over relatively easy terrain and return to Ashton Court via Weir Lane.

    Check out the club forum to arrange transport etc…