Black Canon Collective

Category: Race

  • Tickertickertape

    Two months is a long time, especially when it’s practically three! It feels like ages since we last rode between the tapes so it was great to see BBMS lined in red and white and the usual hustle and bustle of TickerTape.

    Ben Lovell, Bob Darvill and Jack Howe took the beans awards after an awesome day. Ben clocked up almost non stop runs getting better every time. Bob put in a really great effort for his first TickerTape, riding a different bike each run but giving it his all. Jack (the scruffy looking one in the middle) only managed a couple of runs but schooled most of us with his distinct riding style as he silently pumped his way down the tree lined course.

    A special mention should go to Ben Batt (triple crown champion) , who always rides as if his life depends on it, putting in some blisteringly fast times, one of which was with a blow out only 2/3 of the way into the run!!!

    Southerndownhill.com sorted us out with some great prizes and even brought along a back up pit tent in case it rained! Their new race bikes were rarely given a rest as everyone had a go at testing them out , so thanks to Neil and Rob for being so generous.

    After the event had finished a few of us sessioned onefourthree then ‘spork’ before calling it a day and going home.

    Over 20 people made it out in the end, a great total considering that we had some notable absentees, next TickerTape should be even better thanks to the days being longer and warmer too so check out the club calendar for details!

    For more pictures from the event check out the BCC flickr pool here

  • Megavalanche – a rough plan…


    Last night a group of 8 of us huddled around a table at the Horse and Groom to thrash out some ideas of how we can all get to Alpe d’Huez to race “The Mega”.

    For those of you who didn’t manage to get there, or are still waiting to be convinced that it’s a good idea, this is a summary of our estimated costs and arrangements thanks largely to the past experience of 4 time Mega veteran, Simon ‘Big Burd’ Truelove:

    Transport

    £75-100 per person

    We’re planning to take a number of cars and vans over the channel and drive the 787 miles from Somerset to Alpe d’Huez. This will cost approximately £300-400 per car (including fuel, tolls and ferry/tunnel),vans may cost a bit more, but the total travel costs will to be shared between everyone. Flying was considered but this is typically far more expensive (~£200 per person) and would also include the faff of organising transfers, hire cars and a sedative laced burger to get Ben Irons onto a plane.

    We have 2 vans lined up for sure (taking up to 5 people and ~10/12 bikes), but we’ll obviously need some cars too. Driving will be shared so that no one person is left having to do a non stop death-grip challenge the whole way.

    Accommodation

    £15-20 per night

    Based upon 4 sharing a small self catering apartment. Some may prefer to stay in slightly more swanky surroundings, and this will certainly be possible, but the std accommodation need not be very expensive. Once we’ve got a firm idea of numbers, and lengths of stay, we’ll be able to book this up (April ish).

    The event

    During “Mega week” there are actually 3 events:

    1. Avalanche Enduro Vaujany (event similar to the Afan Mash Up or the event held at Kielder forest last year – a circuit ride where you only get time on the downhills)
    2. Avalanche Cup Oz en Oisans (a full-on, super steep, super tech downhill race)
    3. The Megavalanche (mass start downhill race starting on the glacier (pic blanc) and descending for 1 hour +)

    The program for the week is as follows:

    Monday July 5

    Avalanche Enduro Vaujany (Seeding run)

    Tuesday July 6

    Avalanche Enduro Vaujany (Race)
    Avalanche Cup Oz en Oisans (Practice)

    Wednesday July 7

    Avalanche Cup Oz en Oisans (Race)

    Thursday July 8

    ‘Bike Speed’ (we don’t know what that is either, but it sounds very french!)
    Megavalanche (Free practice)

    Friday July 9

    Megavalanche (Qualifying races)

    Saturday July 10

    Megavalanche (Mega Ladies – Mega Challengers – Mega Amateurs – Mega Affinity)

    Sunday July 11

    Megavalanche (Mega Affinity)

    Some people are keen to take part in the full weeks program of events while others are more focused on the Mega but are keen to go and have a taste of the Les Gets and Morzine trails too. So, we may go out in two groups, some going from Saturday 3rd July to Monday 12th July and others going from Wednesday 7th July to Wednesday 14th July (including travel).

    Cost of entry/Lift pass

    £64-119

    This is obviously dependant on how many of the events you choose to enter (prices converted from Euro’s and are subject to currency fluctuation).

    • Pack Platinium: Avalanche Enduro Vaujany, Avalanche Cup Oz, Megavalanche, Pass 9 Day £119
    • Pack Gold Enduro: Avalanche Enduro Vaujany, Megavalanche Alpe d’Huez, Pass 9 Day £99
    • Pack Gold DH: Avalanche Cup Oz, Megavalanche Alpe d’Huez, Pass 7 Day £91
    • Pack Gold: Megavalanche + Pass 7 Day £82
    • Pack Silver: Megavalanche Alpe d’Huez, Pass 5 Day £74
    • Pack Bronze: Megavalanche Alpe d’Huez, Pass 4 Day £64

    Other costs & considerations

    • BC Race license / doctors note – either one is needed to enter the event, but the race licence is quicker, fail-safe, and comes with other benefits too. As a member of a British Cycling affiliated club you get a discount on this too. See here: http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,153221.0.html
    • Food- We will have some self catering facilities, but there are plenty of reasonable eateries in the town. Allow about £20/ day to be on the safe side, though you could easily eat for half that.
    • Insurance – You need to arrange personal cover, ideally something which covers mountain bike racing and your bike. Although available in the past, many insurance companies won’t cover racing so do check!
    • Kit and spares – you need to be prepared for a week of bike beating riding. Other than the obligatory safety wear (detailed in the next section) must haves include decent DH tyres, a hydration pack, spare tubes, pump, puncture repair kit, zip ties, brake pads, magic chain links, mech hangers and a decent multi tool (with chain tool). You’ll also need a decent thermal layer or shell jacket for the 1hr wait at the top on race day.
    • Bike – unless you feel that you have a chance of wining (and so care about every 10th of a second) don’t ride your XC bike. What I mean is; ride a bike that is as robust and downward biased as you have so that you can enjoy the 2580m of descending rather than suffer for the benefits on a few uphill sections. The track is fast and very rough in places, don’t be deceived by the head cam footage.

    Safety wear

    The organisers do insist that all Mega competitors wear the following: full face helmet, long gloves and elbow pads. They also “strongly recommend” knee pads and a long sleeve jersey too. It goes with out saying that wearing decent protection is going to be really important so do factor in the cost of this if you haven’t already got any.

    More info

    To enter just click here (be sure to have your doctors note or race licence details ready):
    For more info see:

    And finally…

    We’ll add to this as and when we get any more information, but the Mega discussion will be on the club forum here: http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,201995.0.html so do check it out if you want to get involved.

  • Battles

    Picture 031

    I have heard it said that the reason downhill is such a great sport is because it’s social and friendly – you’re only racing against the clock. This cannot be said of today’s Tickertape:

    Firstly we were all battling against the rain, sloppy mud, and mechanicals. Bird was against Jim, Neil against Denham, Denham against a tree, Dave against himself, our shoes against traction, Sam (Wells) refusing to compete against anyone.

    Sam and James were competing – to be muddier or crash better than the other while Will & Ben Batt were against full runs, preferring not to not finish each run rather than go any less than 168%.

    Highlights of the day included very vocal support (or abuse), shouts of “PEDAL” to those with no chain, Ben’s MC Hammer trousers, everybody going on everyone else’s bikes, Will “sending” the biggest of the Spork drops and finally the Cobble Wobble King surprising himself by enjoying the wet – and snatching the fastest time of the day right at the death.

  • 2010 BCC Calendar

     

    Now I might have left this a bit too late, but… I hope to put together a 2010 Black Canon Collective Calendar which will be ready in time for Christmas! The calendar will be sold for a reasonable sum to raise funds for some of the projects which we are working on (skills area and Groovy Blue trail). Now we are dealing with a very short time scale and I need pictures FAST! I want the calendar to show all the different aspects of bike riding (XC, DH, Velodrome, cobble wobble) digging, racing or general ride related faffing that BCC members get themselves into. The only rule is that the photo must be of a BCC member and it must be of sufficient quality to be printed on A5, but the rest is up to you. To have any hope of this project working, I need YOU to get all your best photos and upload them onto the Black Canon Collective Flickr account before Sunday 15th November.

    http://www.flickr.com/groups/blackcanoncollective/pool/

    A select panel of judges will then select the finest 12 photos for the Calendar.

    If you have any questions please e mail me on simon.truelove@blackcanoncollective.co.uk

    Ta

    Simon

  • Cobble Wobble – Full Results

    We’ll be publishing the results with category breakdown over the weekend.

    Prizes will be awarded on Saturday 26/09/09 to the King of the Cobbles, and the winner and runner up in each class.

    Red cells mean that we have no category info for that rider, so if your category info is missing, send us an e-mail by Friday 25th and we’ll update the results.

    Cobble Wobble - Full Results

  • Wednesday 16th September 2009 – Cobble Wobble, Help needed

    CW2

    Frome is hosting the start of the Somerset stage of the Tour of Britain on Thursday 17th September 2009. A number of events are planned for the Wednesday evening before the start of the stage under the ‘Velo Jam’ banner and The Black Canon Collective has been asked to help run ‘The Catherine Hill Cobble Wobble’. It is a come and try uphill time trial for cyclists of all ages and abilities and it will be a great event. Riders will set off at approx 2 minute intervals up the cobbled road chasing the illusive “King of the Hill” title.

    Now this is where we need some help.

    Basically we need the help of 12 (or more) members/ friends/family to marshall the event.

    St. Johns Ambulance will be on hand just in case something goes wrong so there is no need for any marshalling experience or First Aid qualifications. All you need to be able to do is blow a whistle, keep people off the track and look good in a Hi Vis vest!

    If we have more than 12 volunteers it will mean that we can do shifts so that we can all take part in the festivities and even have a go at becoming the King of the Hill! Obviously after the event we will have to sample some of Milk Street Brewery’s special ‘Cobble Wobble’ ale.

    Dates volunteers need to be available

    Monday 14th September (time to be confirmed) – We will have a practice to make sure everyone knows what they need to do and how everything will work

    Wednesday 16th September (as early as possible but 6pm at the latest) – We will need to mark out the course and set up the marshall points before the event starts at 6.30. If you can only turn up later your help would still be much appreciated for packing up and also marshalling so that other marshalls can ride the event.

    So if you and any friends and family can help please let us know on the club forum http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,206286.0.html, or by e mailing andrew.denham@blackcanoncollective.co.uk or by calling Andrew Denham on 07870 609 871.

    Cheers

  • BMX Regionals!

    www.bathbmx.com