Black Canon Collective

Category: The Allotment

  • Birth of the jump spot…

    The jump spot meeting was a great success with Chris Smith taking on the role of dig leader for the whole jump spot development.

    Chris, Jack and Sam (Mondraker and recent MBUK fame) started working on the spot today; beginning the first of many jumps – a large table top.

    As a result of the jump spot we will be receiving at least 4 new member applications (all of whom will be heavily involved in the development of the jump spot) not to mention the many more that we anticipate as the site develops.

    All were very positive about what we are doing and agreed to operate within the rules and ethos that bind us all.

    Chris will be taking photos of the work so that we can regularly publish progress on the website, and Neil will be publishing minutes from the meeting in the next couple of days so you’ll be able to get the full story.

    We’re really picking up momentum now…..

  • 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…

  • Dirty jumps

    Big things are gonna be happening at the allotment over the next couple of weeks and months…

    We’ve just approved the build of a dirt jump spot (map shown below) to include both big and small and to cater for all. We chose the spot a few weeks ago because the ground is soft enough to dig, on a slight slope and shielded by the surrounded bushes and trees. Poifect.

    But best of all we’ve got local Pro Chris Smith (of MBUK fame) to run the show! Yep Chris (BCC member) will be in charge of both the design and build of the jump spot ensuring that we end up with an awesome spot to call our own.  We’ll be posting progress here on the site so you can stay informed but if you wanna join in then please get in touch; all you need to do is join up and you can take part in this and any of our other projects.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Dig Day Update

    Not long until our first BCC dig day (Sat 14th June) and things are starting to fall into place; we’ve got the rigger gloves, permanent signs and a litter picking kit on order. Maria and Helen have been talking scram and have come up with a selection of home made cakes, sandwiches and pasties that should keep all of us content; the latest line up is chocolate brownies, banana cakes, Cornish pasties and cheese and pickle/BLT rolls. Lush.

    I spoke to Rodney Garton today and have arranged the delivery of the fence posts and barbed wire to fence off the derelict building at the bottom of the Allotment. Rodney has been very helpful – offering to lend us all the tools we’ll need to do the job and even helping us out with some paint to mark up persistent stumps.

    The weather forecast isn’t looking as happy as it could but to be fair it does look like perfect building weather; light showers (with sunny spells), 15deg C and light winds.

    So we’re on track for a great day, if you’d like to help out just send us an e-mail at committee@BlackCanonCollective.co.uk

    Cheers

  • A New Beginning…

    This afternoon the BCC were made aware of yet more uninvited visitors by a friend of the club, Clare. Thankfully we were able to send some members (Ben and Ben) to politely explain the current situation and ask them to leave. The visitors left but not before making a valid point; although they had seen the existing signs (explaining that the site was for BCC members only) none of the signs explained that the area was in fact closed. A mute point perhaps as these were not members, but not an irrelevant one. So Maria, Ian and I set off this evening to put up some additional signs along side the existing signs (see earlier post), we hope that together these will give sufficient information.

    It has become clear that despite our best efforts to inform people of the closure of the site and the reasons behind this they keep on riding. This simply isn’t tolerable given our obligations and so has forced us to take quite drastic measures: We have unmarked every course, and pulled up every single feature rendering the entire site un-rideable. This is not a knee jerk reaction but rather a considered solution to something that could jeopardise everything we are working towards. 90 % of the trails that exist at the allotment are based upon the lie of the land with the odd man made feature thrown in to spice up the trail – however it is the features that get the most attention from newbies and non-regular riders, and so by removing these and making the rest of the trails un-rideable we are removing the very thing that is attracting those with no desire to contribute in a constructive manner.

    The good news is that we can look forward to re-building these trails (as planned) one by one to full IMBA standards without the fear that we will have lost the site before getting started. Thankfully the Longleat estate are even further into the felling of phase one, and so are also preventing large sections of trails from being ridden by default.

    Our goal is to safeguard the future of the area not to prevent people from riding for the sake of it, but given some peoples lack of respect (when clearly informed) we have had no alternative but to take this approach.

    Longleat trails are dead, long live Longleat trails!