Black Canon Collective

Category: Rides

  • Newport Newbies

    I had been looking forward to more velodrome action since my first taster back in December. To get the authentic experience however, we travelled to Newport, as they have an Olympic sized track (They even dry the air for extra speed)!

    We made the 58 mile journey from Westbury to the Newport International Sports Village and loytered in reception for the rest of the posse to arrive. Neil and Simon soon rolled up, smiling from their early morning blast around Ashton Court. The rest of the group were just crossing the bridge so we decided to see what we had let ourselves in for. The first thing we noticed is what a vast room it is. The track commands most of the space, with smaller courts inside the track where a local martial arts class was taking place.

    Rich and Lee arrived not long after, so we piled into the changing room and embraced the lycra! There was all sorts of excited chatter and in next to no time everyone was in the hall queuing for bikes. A track bike is a very basic machine, so the only adjustments needed is saddle height.

    Our coach for the session was Brian, who had been recommended to me by several others. He was relieved to hear we all had previous track experince and wasted no time with introductions, it was straight on to the track. It was great to be back on the boards (if a little unnatural to begin with) and i was interested in what the next few hours would entail.

    We did a lot of riding in a relatively short period of time, because it is a full size track (250m), you can have a lot more riders out at one time. We completed several drills to test our spacial awareness and to prepare us for riding in larger groups, so that we were as safe and competent as possible.

    Brian suggested doing a flying lap- you get a lap to set yourself up and then pedal your legs off for the following lap. This was great fun and introduced a bit of light hearted competition amongst the group. Everyone gave it their all which was brilliant to see, the results were as follows:

    1. Rich: 16.60
    2. Neil: 17.66
    3. Ryan: 17.94
    4. Ben: 18.06
    5. Simon: 18.41
    6. Mark: 18.66
    7. Chris: 18.85
    8. Rupert: 19.00
    9. Lee: 19.69
    10. Al: 19.75
    11. Kev: 19.84
    12. Juliet: 20.85
    13. Marjory: 20.91
    As you can see, the times were all pretty close and i am sure if we had another opportunity we could have all bettered our times. We had a warm down spin, when the whole group were on track and it was great, although i think some were beginning to struggle after a few intense hours of riding a bike with no gears or freewheel!

    Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, to complete the day we headed to the Bay Leaf in Frome for a curry, whilst Neil and Simon completed their marathon day with a lap of Cwmcarn. I am already getting the next session booked up and can’t wait to get back in the ‘Drome.

  • Exmoor Expedition

    We convened on a misty Sunday morning at the Cheese and Grain, ready to make the hour-and-a-bit journey to “that car park” in Dunster. The drive was pretty uneventful, i was looking forward to seeing the views as we got closer to Dunster, but they were hidden under a blanket of foggy nothingness.

    Mr Truelove met us there aboard his new steed, Penny. It was possibly the biggest bike i have ever seen, yet looked completely in proportion! The next 10 minutes contained faffing, fueling and flapjack which led to everyone being ready and raring to go.

    After a short road section we were at the beginning of the trail, which was a steep narrow bridleway (which turned out to be the main ingredient of the ride). I was already struggling, as i was aboard a rigid/ Singlespeed 29er but it was too late to swap bikes now. We had only been riding for 2 minutes and Kev managed to snap his new chain due to his raw hill climbing power (or the fact it wasn’t fitted properly). This was a quick fix though and we struggled on, turning left at heaven and going up a little further.

    The climbs were always repaid by exciting downhills, however, the first descent was something a little different. It must be the steepest gradient i have ever ridden, mixed with the loose dusty ground it was more a test of nerve rather than ability. All made it down in one piece and we made our way back up via another steep climb.

    You needed serious legs to make each of the climbs, they were made to torture enthusiastic mountain bikers which meant many ended up pushing to reach the summit. But it was at the top that we found a selection of breath-taking singletrack. Fast, flowing, technical, rooty, rocky and steep (obviously) trails that left a lasting impression.

    It was very much a case of rinse and repeat for the remainder of the ride, but with a little more road and fire track mixed in to gain some easy altitude. We made it back to the car park with 3 minutes to spare on the 4hr parking tickets, perfec’ timing. Everything got packed away into the cars, and we wondered into Dunster to grab a bite to eat. There was a quient Deli that sold pies and pasties, so we filled ourselves with some home made tastiness and ambled back to the cars.

    All together a brilliant day was had by all, the mist eventually cleared to provide some amazing views and the trails were in surprisingly good condition considering the fact it’s March. There was only one injury, a rogue boulder jumped up and bit Chas, providing him with a “Shin Nose”, but he managed to soldier on after a plaster and some jelly snakes.

    Thanks to Chas for leading and providing the route and thanks to everybody for good company. See you next month 🙂

     

  • January XC Ride Away – Sunday 15th *update*

    Quantock Hills AONB PRoW network

    January’s XC Ride Away on Sunday 15th will be to the Quantocks.

    Bit of a difference though: there’s an awful lot of trails there which I can *almost* guarantee you won’t have ridden before. They’re not particularly bad at all, they just get overshadowed by all the old favourites.

    Back in the summer  I had the unenviable task of riding, filming, photographing, describing and grading all the cycleable Public Rights Of Way within the Quantock Hills AONB boundary. And got paid for it. “What a nightmare!”, I hear you cry, “How did you cope?”. Well, thanks for your concern. Somehow I got through it and nailed all 175km of the PRoW network.

    I thought I already knew the Hills pretty well, but there are dozens of great trails that just don’t get the attention they deserve.

    So. Let me introduce you to some new trails down there you may not know. Maybe in time they’ll even become old favourites too.

    Meet at 8am in the Cheese & Grain car park. All being well, we’ll aim to start the ride from the lay-by on the A39 just outside Holford at 9.30am (grid ref: ST158408). There are no facilities or shops on the Quantocks so please bring enough food, drink and spares for about a 4 hour ride. It will also (obviously) be quite hilly.

    UPDATE: I’ll be recce-ing the route on Sat 7th Jan. I’ve plotted it  out and it’s bang-on 3omiles with 4,500ft of climbing  :O0. Obviously, there’s loads of possibilities for bolt-ons or short-cuts. I will report back when I’ve seen if it’s viable. Or even enjoyable…

  • Chris' Racing & Riding Blog

    Hopefully most of you know who I am now, I’ve started a blog about my racing & riding which will cover next years events, but to start off i’ve covered what i’ve been upto this year.

    CLIC24, Cheddar, Somerset 14/05/11

    First 12hr of the year was CLIC24 a charity “ride”, originally a 24hr only but this year it had a 12 and 6hr category, the course was 10miles of mainly bridleway, double track and a small amount of tarmac. Thought I’d start the race on my singlespeed 29er as I found it feels much less effort compared to my 26er. The  start felt relaxed after 3 xc races and I happily cleared the 24hr racer traffic and rolled through the start top 10. I kept a steady pace all day, feeling settled and comfortable, in the end I finished first in the 12hr solo by 2 laps, beat the 12hr teams and was leading the 24hr solo field. It felt a good start after the winter.

    Erlestoke 12, Erlestoke, Wiltshire 28/05/11

    2 weeks after CLIC was Erlestoke 12, originally a 6pm-6am race, now a more social 12pm-12am, the course was a mixture of fast flowing singletrack, spikey climbs and longer tarmac climbs. Felt quite a bit of pressure after a good ride at CLIC and hoping to perform well in the singlespeed category. Got another good start and stayed near the front, conscious not to race to hard from the start.

    With lots of support from the Black Canon guys and great pit work from my dad the hours ticked through, the small amount of raining making little difference to the course. As the day drew on I still felt good, but as the lights went on I had  a very grotty lap, getting back into the pits I had a bottle of water, getting back out on the next lap I felt much better. By then my 12hours were up, turned out i’d lead the SS class since the start, had won by 2 clear laps and came 5th overall. Some nice prizes from Charge bikes and a sit by the BCC fire helped me forget my tired legs and sore hands.

    Erlestoke 12 Finish

    Are You Tough Enough, Deepcut Barracks, Surrey 3/07/11

    After a nice break I found a Gorrick Based 4hr Enduro lap race with a singlespeed class to enter. During my warm up I noticed quite a few big names from the enduro world were there, including Anthony White of Cannondale/MT Zoom racing. Got another flying start, leading the whole field down into the first singletrack, which came out onto a road section, legs span like crazy so I lost touch with the leaders until we got back into the singletrack. The course was tough! Very little chance to rest and very technical in places, I was glad it was only a 4hr races. Half way through the first lap I manage to wash the front wheel out on a loose corner, as I collected myself up the then second placed singlespeeder went through, and that’s how the race ended, as hard as I pushed I could not bridge the gap to him. Great respect to him, Mr White only beat me by 15minutes or so and my time would have placed me 5th in the Open class.

    Bontrager TwentyFour 12, Plymouth, Devon 23/07/11

    After another little break of reduced riding I managed to get a later entry for Twentyfour 12 after writing it off for the year. Having raced Newnham Park years ago and briefly this spring I had a fair idea of the terrain, but after listening to report from people had pre-ridden the course it sounded tough, lots of climbing but a rewarding course. Having not done the race before I was caught off guard by how early people queued up at start! So I snuck in near the middle, from the off the course climbed straight up a grassy slope where I weaved through the hoards of gear’d riders who are incapable of riding quickly up hills!

    As I had no pit crew I had little idea of my race position, but luckily 4hrs in I overheard the race commentator mention I was leading 12hr solo male, so I pushed on, after about 7hrs I had my usual feeling of feeling sick and getting slight cramps, luckily this eased as darkness well but I had lost first and was down to 4th, luckily some friends popped by to check my progress, I put them to use sorting my lights and lubing my bike whilst I ate. After that I put in two strong laps which bumped me back to 3rd, I rolled back in hoping for it to be passed 12am and leave me in third, unfortunately it wasn’t but I had called and end to my day, I went to bed thinking I’d been passed by 4th and 5th but luckily they had stopped before 12, leaving me in 3rd, I was very pleased as I had gone hoping to get some endurance back and came away with a podium and prize money.

    Bontrager 24:12 third

    Brighton Big Dog 6hr, Brighton, East Sussex 20/08/11

    I had been looking forward to the Big Dog all year as I used to live in Brighton and knew the trails well. I went down the day before to practice the course with an old friend, the course suited me well, not too rough and manageable climbs. The day of the race was very warm, riding around before the start I noticed a few familiar faces from the racing world, including defending solo champion Ian Leitch on his factory Cannondale Flash 29er.

    I had a mediocre start so was pleased when the first climb appeared and I could pass people. I rolled through the start/finish line to be told I was “atleast top 20” I was happy with this an continued to push hard up all the hills and enjoyed the fast singletrack. I began to struggle with heat after a few hours and wasn’t drinking enough, but I was in a solid 7th place so needed to keep my head. I managed to keep pushing and kept consistent lap times and had a great last two laps. After finishing I checked the lap board to see I’d came in 6th, was pleased with that as it was a shorter race to what I’m used to, so I was surprised during the podium presentation that I was called up for 5th place! A collection of nice prizes helped ease my headache and the drive home the next day. Definitely going back next year to push top 3.

    Big Dog Podium, even for 5th!

    Kielder 100Miles, Scottish Boarders 3/09/11

    A race only in its 3rd year but widely renowned as an epic, which meant I had to give it a try. So on the Friday we drove the 300miles in lovely sunshine to the Campsite, checked in and stuck my tent in the only dry patch of ground I could find! We went and signed on, where I was forced to buy a survival blanket and whistle, what had I let myself into….

    As the race is such a long way and they want everyone to get in before its dark the race starts at 6.30am! So I get up at 5am to discover it had been raining all night and was still raining, undeterred I dressed to suit and hoped the rain would stop. We assembled at the start, around mid pack, and followed the lead quad bike for about half and hour, luckily no one seemed keen in racing so I could make my way through the pack quite easily.

    So the race got going well, I had made my way forward and the pace was good, the rain was still falling but I felt good, then disaster my brake pad wore out after only 25miles! I only had one spare set so I knew I need to save these for the rear, so I plodded on, taking it steady down the descents and pushing hard up the hills, then after another 15miles my rear brake was totally shot, stuck in the new pads and proceeded to pass all the riders I had just passed =( I reached the 50mile point and felt so cold as I was soaked through, I put on another layer and pressed on.

    I reached the 65mile point and was relieved to find a tech station where I could get new brake pads for the front brake. I crossed the boarder back into the UK feeling better but still very cold, reaching the final feed station at 78miles I was ready to finish but I knew I had to keep going! 10miles from the end and I was knackered, I had been riding with another chap and we kept each other going, he left me as his brakes were working better than mine, 2miles from the finish and my front brake wore out again! So the last descent, which should have been really fun was taken with extreme care as to not crash!

    I crossed the finish line in 10hrs 53 minutes, 44th place out of 600 starters! and the 4th singlespeed rider. As the afternoon wore on the riders slowly came in, in the end 177 finished, less than 1/3!

    Singlespeed UK Championship, Pippingford, East Sussex 17/09/11

    My first SSUK Champs and I had been advised not to take it too seriously! Undeterred I headed out on a practice lap to check the course, it then started raining heavily and I could tell the course was going to be tough in wet conditions.

    As is customary at SSUK races you leave your bike and walk to the start line, in the meantime your bike is “arranged” mainly into piles of colours or brands. After the Le Mans style running start I quickly found my bike and got going, unfortunately I took a tumble and damaged my rear brake lever, at this point I thought it was race over, but I managed to get them working again I contuined racing.

    Eventually I crossed the line in joint 4th officially, the organisers only count the first 3, or 9th unofficially, and happy enough to be top ten, but wondered how well it could have gone. Always another year.

    Bristol Oktoberfest, Ashton Court, Bristol 15/10/11

    Had been looking forward to this race, partly because it was the last long race of the year, and because it had a singlespeed category. The format was 9am-5pm which meant an early start but less time for me to stand around fretting! Being a local race there was a few familiar faces to catch up with before the start, the start was a Le mans style running start, with such a big field it meant finding my bike and getting going quite frustrating, eventually I was going and trying to get through the field! The course was very fast and flowing man made singletrack, with a few long climbs but nothing too testing, i was expecting to struggle on the rougher sections but the 29er made light work of most of it, only struggling with a section of rock garden.

    Due to my poor start i found myself in 4th, the second and third laps went much better with consistent 28/29minute laps, this put me upto 2nd, where i was informed the leader was “2 minutes” in front, it took me another 2 laps to catch him, when i did overtake him he was looking spent, but I continued lapping at a consistant 30minutes, ensuring no one could catch me. As the day drew on i felt good and was enjoying flying through singletrack, trying my best to pass back markers in a polite manner, due to the amount of singletrack this proved difficult at times!

    I finished with 25minutes till the end, knowing i couldn’t squeeze in another lap, to my surprise I was only clear by 5minutes! I was happy to end the season with a win, gives me motivation to work hard over the winter.

    swooopppy

    Thanks for your time, and thanks for the support over this year.

    Chris

    you can follow me on @c_noble87 and http://chris-noble-mtb.blogspot.com/

  • Lost and found

    By Ryan Mckee...

    Well, I always moan about having to endure a 10 mile journey to my closest trails, so I thought I would dust off the trusty OS map and see what I could discover. I sketched out a rough route over breakfast, prepped the bike and ventured off into the (relative) unknown…

    It took all my determination to get out of the door, it had been threatening to rain for the past few hours and I am highly allergic to rain! However, I am glad I did, stumbling across some hidden trails that I shall definitely be re-visiting in the near future.

    Westbury Map

    So with the OS in my pocket and “Don’t worry be happy” on repeat I trudged along the 1/2 mile section of road to reach The Bell Inn where the trail begins.

    Line of BeechesThere is a path that extends from the pub and joins the local woods, where most of the ‘local youths’ can be found on any given evening. After sliding along the tunnel-like dirt track, the trail opened up, with several directional options I chose to to head up-hill towards the Chalk Quarry. Due to large amounts of precipitation that seemed to have been falling for the past 7 days I was pleasantly surprised (and slightly perplexed) to find bone dry, dusty trails beneath the relative shelter of the trees above. Perhaps these new trails have a micro-climate all of their own?

    My mind was soon drawn to other things as the track became narrow, rocky and very steep. This is exactly what I was hoping I would find. The climb continued for several punishing minutes, reaching a clearing at the top gave me a perfect excuse to have a much needed drink and check the map.

    After confirming that I wasn’t lost (yet) I continued along the ridge line, scoping out lots potential tracks off the steep slope to the left. After eyeing up one particular track I decided to give it ago, it wasn’t in the route plan but the whole idea of this outing was exploration. I am glad I did. berms, jumps, off-camber, high speed, Heaven. I Got a bit over excited and ended up heading towards a particularly large tree, however my head was acting as an effective break so no damage, only pride!

    A short, steep push up and I was back en-route.

    Clalk quarryI then emerged onto a gravel double track path which ran parallel to the Westbury Chalk Quarry. This is quite a sight, seeing such a large space of the Earth missing seemed like quite a shame when you consider the rolling landscape that Westbury is nestled in. Another road section followed, stretching from the White Horse to Eddington, where the next trail was located.

    This is where things began to unravel somewhat, I had accidentally ended up on a footpath, which lead in the opposite direction to the bridleway I was originally aiming for. There was a steep, grass track climb to reach the the summit. It was at this point I had realised I was more than likely in the wrong place. There were several hints:

    • It could be the lack of any visible tracks
    • It could be the gunfire which echoed across the plains
    • Or it could be the large “Military Firing Range KEEP OUT!” and red flags whistling in the high winds that swept across the vast space before me

    Firing rangeWhatever the reason, I now had to rely on orienteering skills which I hadn’t used since completing Duke of Edinburgh 5 years previously. They were shoddy, At best. However, Technology soon came to the rescue as for some strange reason i had WiFi connectivity? Taking this as some kind of gift from the gods, I pulled out my phone and plotted a some points. I had no choice but to trust the directions it was giving me, as time was not on my side (I had to be in work within 90 minutes). For the first time ever, it took me to the destination i wanted to reach! This meant I was securely back on ground i could ride over without running the risk of finding an unexploded land mine or becoming a training exercise target.

    All was well, I put my foot down mindful that the clock was ticking, re tracing my footsteps and revisiting the trails I had found only hours previously. They were fast and loose, and definitely made the steep climbs and risk of being “neutralized” by the T.A worth it. It was quite an adventure, I can no longer moan that nothing exciting ever happens, and to top it off I made it to work on time. Bonus.

  • Small, But Perfectly Formed


    Small, but perfectly formed.
    Ryan’s choice of gears?
    The area of Exmoor we went to?
    The number of BCC members on last Sunday’s Ride Away?
    Chas’ skill set?
    All of the above, actually.
    With no ‘certified’ Ride Leaders present for the first of this month’s Rides Away, the club outing to Exmoor quickly devolved into a slightly less formal ‘Forum Ride’.
    We few. We happy few.
    Chas, Will and Ryan met in the Cheese and Grain carpark and made the 90-minute drive to Dunster, while Paul, holidaying near Ilfracombe, had a much more tortuous journey eastwards along the north Devon and Somerset coastal road, arrived nearly an hour late and successfully snaffled the last available space in the car park.
    Chas explained that this small corner of Exmoor is a very steep-sided ridge with bridleways radiating from the the top in all directions. “There will be some pushing”, he added.
    The sight of our XC Rep in knee/shin and elbow pads had a couple of the more DH-oriented members of the group raising their eyebrows, but he explained he’d fallen-off on one of the descents on two previous attempts and was keen not to do so this time. As we all know, when you wear pads it increases your skillz. :Fact:
    After some world-class pfaffing from Will, the party of four headed out of the carpark and immediately zig-zagged up one of the steepest climbs in the vicinity. Even the mighty Mr Noble would have struggled here (I think). After catching our breaths at the top, we aimed for the first – and worst – of the day’s descents (the one which Chas had yet to conquer). Impossibly steep at the bottom, it’s also very loose with no traction available nor any particularly good line to choose. At its steepest section, it has a 90-degree left-hand turn, and then a number of roots and trees to negotiate. With a cemetery conveniently situated at the bottom, Chas led the way down and – for the first time – actually felt in control of the bike on this his third attempt at this descent. But disaster; a dad and his two young sons were scrambling UP the climb just at the tricky left-hander. The cry “Dismount!!” went out and we all had to grind to a halt at pretty-much the steepest point. In a deft move, Chas baled-out off the back of his bike grabbing a tree with his right hand while catching his seatpost with his left. Skillz. Those pads were clearly working their magic, but success at nailing this trail would now have to wait till another day.
    Singlespeed fuel.
    From the bottom a nice, rideable, rooty, singletrack climb off to the left brought us back to near the trail-head where a gnadgery, shortish drop with a steep, trough-y, switchback was the reward. Then began the long climb back to the very top where a wide path spans the length of the ridge. Off to the left from the ridge we took a Restricted Byway all the way down to the road. Fast, long, wide, stony and twisty with bermed corners, ditches and bedrock all the way. We wiped our streaming eyes at its foot and headed north along the road to pick up ‘The Fireroad Of Doom’ through a forested area, which would take us all the way to the top again. Over to the Northwest end of the ridge where we forked right and took a seemingly endless deciduous singletrack descent all the way down to the road again. Fast and straight-ish with obstacles to negotiate en-route, it got steeper and funner towards its end. More eye-wiping, whoops of enjoyment and excitable chatter at the bottom.
    Will demonstrating his Fly Tai Chi
    Another short stretch of tarmac to the left and we soon picked up another stony bridleway which would take us back to the top. Rocky and almost unrideable at the bottom, it soon levelled off a bit and we could ride back to the fork where we headed over to another descent, this time on the north side of the ridge, down into Periton Combe. A long, fast and fun singletrack path through woodland, a short climb, and then another grassy descent which steepened and turned rooty. Yet another hum-dinger of a downhill.
    One of the many evil, evil rides/walks/pushes.
    The less said about the next climb the better, really. Another evil, evil fireroad which twisted its bitter way to the highest point on the ridge at 300m. Occasionally it widened sufficiently to ‘tack’ up the gradient, but at one point we were all pushing. No shame there. From there we decided to call it a day but since our first attempt at ‘that’ descent (at the other end of the ridge) was spoiled by pesky pedestrians, we would have another go. So we took the gently-downhill, straight bridleway along the ridge – about a 100m drop in altitude over about 4km – to the top of the oh-so-steep troublesome one. Fourth time lucky, then? Some of us dropped our saddles (not for the first time today) and we headed off down the slope in procession, with Chas bringing up the rear.
    Nailed it.
    Chas arrived intact and beaming at the bottom (he *may* have done a small happy-dance at this point) only to find Will stretched-out and rubbing his knee. Apparently, in a fit of youthful exuberance, he had caught Paul up near the end of the trail, their wheels overlapped and Will, unable to stop, had taken a tumble. Nothing too serious – not even any broken skin. Just dented pride.
    To sum up the ride in a small-but-perfectly-formed way: staggering climbs, awesome descents, amazing views, fantastic weather and dusty trails.
    Special kudos and XC Beans award must go to singlespeed evangelist Ryan who attempted to ride (but didn’t necessarily complete) all of the evil, evil climbs.
    Nice ride, fellas.

  • Big Bang Theory

    Last Thursday night three bike riders (I won’t use the word cyclist it would be an exaggeration) set off on a jaunt around the hills of Blagdon and Black Coombe.

    We started out after a protracted journey due to road closures, and when we finally arrived were subjected to watching Malcolm screw even more bits onto his classic GT Timberline (1993)….prompting me to almost rip the allen key from his hand.

    Well eventually we set off down Loves Lane (no really..it’s not a euphemism) to get to the bottom of the coombe, involving chucking our steeds over a couple of gates…which is where the trouble began.

    I dropped the trusty Duster over the second gate, which was immediately followed by a loud bang and the rim dropping to the ground.

    Dave nearly wet himself with laughter, and proposed that it was the enormous weight of my Alfine hub that had caused the tube to explode.

    Personally I think it may just have been a dodgy tube…and was glad that it happened whilst stationary rather than on the cheese-grater style rocks of the coombe.

    Any which way I was more than a little disappointed as it was a new Slime Tube that had just gone bang, and there certainly wasn’t any self-healing going on.

    So off came the tyre, and out sprayedpoured the entire tubes worth of slime, what a mess…new tube in and off we set with me now looking like Shrek and the Duster having an interesting brown to green fade paint job.

    The rest of the ride was far more fun with dry, dusty rocky descents mixed with a few whoops and steep climbs through the woods and massive grins all round.

    Everyone felt chuffed to make it to the top of the coombe without bringing up a lung, and looked forward to the drop from the top back down into Blagdon.

    Brakes off and down we shot, Malcolm fighting with his fully rigid GT, when we met up at the bottom his eyeballs were still bouncing up and down in his skull. In typical Scots fashion he dismissed the idea of suspension and put his blurred vision down to a lack of riding gloves….fair play.

    Anyway good route, good weather and great company…it’s why we ride.

    P.S. it’s Daves birthday today…

  • 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

  • More Mendip Mud

    Four up in the post bus, Chris, Kevin, Steve and I (Al) meet up in Frome and headed over to Burrington Combe. I was breaking in my new toy, so stopped often to faff (I wasn’t catching my breath, honest!) whilst the other chaps stood about getting cold and offering “helpful” advice 😉 We rode up and around to Rowberrow, where we played like little kids amongst the mud and filth, before riding back over the highest point in the Mendips, through hub deep mud, wind and a little rain. We love it! Chris flatted twice, Steve bent his seat clamp and Kevin happily rode without issue. I faffed, but thats OK ‘cos she’s lovely! Back home for a late lunch and a snooze on the sofa. Perfect!

  • As far as the eye can see…

    Stacey, Chris and I couldn’t make the XC Ride Away this month because of other commitments, but we managed to squeeze in a quick blast around Rowberrow at the crack of dawn instead.
    The air was still, the mud was wet and we had a great time.