Black Canon Collective

Category: TickerTape sponsored by Transition Bikes

  • It's all about matching kit!

    With so many people away, revising, at work, hung over, injured or just all raced out from the national, and easter weekend at molfre this months TickerTape was at risk of being a little dull. Sure the trails are ace, and the prizes flipping lush as always…but would anyone show up???

    Well they did, not many, but just enough to make for an epic afternoon of sweat, dust, midgies, speed, and the odd high speed front flip attempt.

    Bob Darvill surprised everyone with his total disregard for his own well-being – hitting everything in sight but never quite landing smooth,like his bike was a bucking donkey!

    Ben Lovell’s been putting in loads of riding recently and it certainly showed… looking fast on every section and carying loads of speed through the corners.

    Big bird put in a short appearance but managed to set a good time right at the end, closing in on the faster times but now being chased by Ben lovell, meaning that the mid pack battles are now between Stace, Jim, Ben, Burd and Robin so expect to see some trash talking at the next event.

    Will Hardy put in a whopping 13 timed runs, each time improving on the last and looking super fast down from the rock garden into the slam berm.

    Ben Irons was flying the hardtail flag high, only being robbed of the second place on his last run due to a sudden and overpowering urge to try and do a front flip in sight of the finish line.

    Chris Smith turned up earlier than anyone else, hoping to put in a few cheeky practice runs in his new matching race kit. Word on the street was that Chris was out for the course record and so was pulling out all the stops, new kit, new tyres and a new haircut too. He didn’t disappoint either, putting in a blistering 45.33 in the dying moments. All I can say is that he must have cheated, sure he’s a great rider, and yes he’s fast but I swear he did something funky to his freelap watch (what do you mean I’m bitter?)!

    I managed to make up the numbers, riding with some gypsy style for the first half of the event and then on my all out run at the end locking up the rear a fraction too much on a corner coming to a stop then starting again in a tough gear. I say that, but while I would have been quicker I wasn’t close to Chris’s record breaking time.

    So, beans were awarded to Will for treating it like a flipping enduro, Ben Lovell for showing us all up with his rate of progress, and Ben irons for his grit and determination. His showy, suspense filled time revealing antics helped too.

    Next month we’ll be racing on puppets, yeah that’s right we’ll be racing on Puppets….Puppets, PUPPETS!!!!! (for the first time ever!) So get practicing. we’ll be using the Judy line and will also be using a mystery lower section… lush.

    Special thanks to Max Bikes PR, Transition and Dakine for the prizes!

    Note Chris’s trash talking to Zak, the previous record holder!

  • Don't forget – It's TickerTape on Saturday

    We’ve got some cool T-shirts from Transition Bikes to give away along with a Dakine Tract 3/4 jersey for whoever shows the most beans! The weather is set to be awesome, and the trail’s running fast..

    (remember though, yr 2 membership runs out today so if you want to take part you’ll need to sign up for yr 3 membership today. Cheers!)

  • TickerTape + Dig Day dates up now!

    After a very hectic first two months for the committee we’re chuffed to be getting back into the swing of things with Dig Days and TickerTapes returning to their rightful places on the BCC events calendar. Check it out to see what’s going on and when…

  • BB 'the triple crown' King, where do you sit?

    The first ever Tickertape Triple Crown event at the Allotment saw great success with the legendary BB King making a return to Wiltshire’s famous grounds to provide a performance that left many people in aw. There was no soothing blues to be heard, but the fluid sound of an orange Marin being ridden by one very chirpy chappy, my good friend Ben Batt (whom I now call BB King for becoming the King of the freelap TickerTape hill).

    All hail the King, prostrate at his feet for where do thy conquered challengers compare to thy Tickertape King?

    Well I’ll tell you, I used “maths” to work out peoples performances at the TickerTape triple Crown in terms of a percentage of the Kings speed over the 3 taped courses. Ben Batt’s time was 166.17 seconds, my time was 174.01 seconds. 166.17 / 174.01 gives a ratio of how fast I was against Ben Batt’s time, which is 0.9549, “multiplying” this by 100 gives a percentage of how fast I was against BB King (Ben Batt, we’ve covered that…);  95.5 %.

    So, for all the people who completed all three legs of the Tickertape triple crown, these are you’re ratings in the order of the “alphabet”;

    Bart – 98.8%

    Ben Batt – 100%

    Ben Irons – 95.5%

    Ben Lovell – 82%

    Burd – 90.7%

    Burv – 90.8%

    Charles – 64.8%

    Charlie. E – 85.5%

    Curtis – 79.6%

    Denham – 95.4%

    Keith – 83.3%

    Nigel – 81.9%

    [rob] – 99.9%

    Robin – 89.5%

    The Chedgy – 85.7%

    Stacey – 45.9%

    Take from it what you will, perhaps try to improve on your rating for the following TickerTape events, I know I will be…

  • TickerTape Triple Crown

    Yesterday saw the very first TickerTape Triple Crown; an epic rally style DH event with no time for ‘dilly dally’ and the incremental search for that perfect run a fond but distant memory. That’s right, one run was all you got and time wasn’t on your side either; with 5 Freelap watches, 20 riders and little more than an hour to practice and get a timed run in on each trail, lets just say the last 15 minutes of each stage was pretty frantic!

    Icy trails, frosty leaves, chilling air and numb hands were welcomed by comparison to the wet weather we were all hoping to avoid. That said the conditions were like a double edged sword; the hard trails meant incredibly fast rolling speed, but icy conditions made cornering really tricky, especially on those glass roots!

    The day kicked off with OneFourThree, our roller-coaster trail packed full of jumps, drops and berms. No-one had ever been timed down OneFourThree as riding it is almost always more about super tweaks, air time and style than balls out speed. With some tight course markings and teasing straight line options there was plenty who were gambling for the odd time advantage, some successfully and others, well, they just concentrated on their super tweaks.

    Some late comers meant we extended the timing window for this first stage, but then some very last minute timing glitches meant that Neil Cousins didn’t get a time which was gutting as he was in with a shot of the fastest over all, there just wasn’t time to try again though – we had to move on…

    Spoons next, and some big crashes too. Sulky, Robin and Stacey binned it on the same S-bend, but all managed to walk away smiling, sort of. This ‘Stace Plant’ shows just how hard and icy it was (sorry Stace), he took it like man though soldiering on to finish his run.

    Many had near misses, while others looked like they were on rails; Rob lewis managed to hold the high line setting him up nicely for the tricky rock garden, something most struggle with in the dry. Ben Batt rode out one of the most impressive front wheeled crotch-to-stem grinds I’ve ever seen, all whilst cornering off camber on roots too; the man’s got beans (we just hope that they’re still intact)! Simon ‘Big Burd’ Truelove was doing what he does best when at TickerTape’s – trash talking his way into mini battles with other riders, in this case Robin Liquorice and Stacey, who had both already slammed pretty hard – Burd was on to a winner!

    Now on to BBMS which saw some very tired riders, and some pretty silly crashes too, most had adopted the half practice run (down to the start of moron, the bottom section that all the trails shared) then went straight into their timed run to conserve energy and finish what had become an epic test of bike pushing fitness. Yet again Mr Batt was somehow riding like it was dry, but then overcooked it on his timed run. Charlie Evens had a similar misfortune but got straight up like a champ to finish his run in style.

    Loads of spectators made it out, which was pretty awesome, adding to the atmosphere with shouts and squeals (I might hand out cowbells next time). A rouge lead-less dog caused a bit of commotion at one point but then having just seen three grown men dressed as Santa and his elves I’m not surprised. That’s right; Nige, Burv and Bart came dressed in the gear they used to record their debut dance video , seeing them come tearing down OneFourThree like some sort of freeride MTB Santa train was beautiful and troubling in equal measures.

    With everyone done and all the times in, all that was left was to work out who was fastest and who’d won the Transition Revolution 32 Wheels. After some pretty embarrassing attempts at adding up all became clear: Ben Batt took the overall fastest time (by 0.14 seconds from Rob Lewis) despite his crash, winning the coveted tickerTape sticker along with the respect of everyone there. As for the wheels, well Curtis Saunders won them after it turned out that Sulky hadn’t done his required three runs due to his Tango-man hand (crash induced) leaving him incapable of holding the bars. That’s a double dose of bad luck!

    Everyone had an awesome time, and despite some haggard faces and pathetic whimpers (mostly from me) we’re all looking forward to the next Triple Crown some time in the summer.

    Finally a big THANK YOU to Transition bikes for hooking us up with some great prizes, and to all those who helped set up and pack away.

    Beans!

  • TickerTape Triple Crown

    Now you will have noticed that this event hasn’t had quite the same fanfare build up (poster etc…) as I usually do, but this was deliberate as we don’t currently have enough freelap watches to cater for members and their mates. Tomorrow’s event is for members only.

    That said, tomorrow is going to be awesome!

    Neil, Garry, Will, and I made it out to prep the trails today, and they look super fast; the ground is very hard and will be tomorrow too, so don’t put spikes on as you’ll just end up crashing!

    The event will start at 11:00 sharp, all trails will be pre-marked (OneFourThree, Spoons and BBMS , all running into Moron) but each will only be ridable for 70 minutes, (starting with OneFourThree) in that 70 minutes each person can practice as many times as they like, but will get just one timed run. When the 70 minutes is up the trail will be closed and we’ll move on to the next (Spoons, then BBMS) until we have all posted one timed run on each.

    The rider with the fastest accumulative time will be awarded the special TickerTape sticker.

    Winning the wheels will be a little different; at the beginning of the day each rider will have to guess what the fastest accumulative time will be, and write it down on their entry form, the rider whose guess is closest to the fastest time will win the wheels. Only riders who complete all three timed runs will be able to win the wheels. In the event of a draw the drawing riders will have to play scissor paper stone (best of three) until we have a winner.

    No one has ever timed themselves down OneFourThree so we’ll all be just as clueless about this.

    There’s just one prize, but it’s pretty massive; http://www.transitionbikes.com/NotBikes_Wheels.cfm (the top wheelset, but in black) QR kit will be available for free if needed.

    Please be ready to begin at 11:00, as once each trail is closed it won’t be possible to get a time on it.

    That’s it I think, make sure you bring your full face helmet, food, drink, and plenty of beans!

    For those of you who follow World DH racing, you’ll be excited to learn that Transition have just launched a World Cup DH race team! Transition have been great to us, supporting our TickerTape events with great prizes and a real interest in what we do, it’s really exciting to see them on the World Cup circuit . Full press release details are here

    (..don’t know about you but I reckon Bryn Atkinson will be in my BCC FANTASY DH lineup for the 2010 season.)

  • ..le's 'ave a look a' wha' you could'a won!

    This months TickerTape was a right messy affair!

    Almost everybody was wet through before the riding even started thanks to an hour of raking and taping the course.  None the less everybody got stuck in and had a cracking time; fighting mini battles with each other and the elements. The timing board had a malfunction (it got wet) pretty much straight away, so we had to resort to new type of result recording that relied on both honesty and the ability to remember stuff (memory). Many would have taken advantage of this relaxed arrangement, but remembering that times count for nothing if you haven’t got beans most just concentrated on giving it some.

    As already announced ; Will Hardy, Ben Batt and Simon Truelove won the Transition Bikes prizes for giving it the most and so are the proud new owners of these lovely goodies!

    www.transitionbikes.com
    59.93

    *Neil got the fastest time of the day , so expect to see a rush on sepia lenses amongst the TickerTape regulars!

  • STOP PRESS: November Tickertape

    Chairman ARC Denham:

    “Can you announce the Tickertape Got Beans winners are Will Hardy for his incredible commitment to carrying on despite 18 crashes. Ben Batt for committing to every corner as if his life depended on the amount of roost he created. And Simon Truelove for riding fast despite a lack of chain, then beating rival Jim on Jim’s bike after some balls out runs. Stems to Will and Ben, T to Simon.”

  • 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.

  • November TickerTape

    November Ticker Tape 21/11/2009

    It’s that time of the month again!

    With so much rain the trails will be riding very differently from those dusty days only a month or so ago. .. Depending on the ground conditions we’ll be running OneFourThree or BBMS, into Moron. Either way you can expect a great day of racing riding and the chance to win some great Transition Bikes prizes.

    Hopefully we’ll have a good turn out this Saturday as it may be the last chance to ride a TickerTape until the Bumper event on the second of  January.

    If you don’t fancy pitching yourself against the clock, no worries ; the other two trails will be open as usual.

    Remember ; if you do want to get involved you must be a members and wear a full face helmet. Non members are welcome to come along and watch though.

    Cheers