Bedgebury Forest Cycle Club Newsletter 8th December 2009 OK, so even I have to admit that it has gone beyond "sticky dust" out there now. In fact it is so wet that last week I rode around the singletrack on a pedalo! However the good news is that Dave Cole, our esteemed chairman is never one to miss a money making opportunity. He now has a demo fleet of Lapierre pedalos available to hire from Quench Cycles at reduced rates for club members. The pedalos feature Shimano Single Speed paddles, Avid hydraulic anchors and Fox Floats to give a smooth ride over the choppiest of trails.*

Night Rides

Trust me; it's lovely out there at night. With the moon lighting up the forest and the rabbits scampering around in the beam from your lights, you can almost forget about the sogginess of the trails. Join us in the car park by the bike wash at 18.15 on a Wednesday evening and experience the magic for yourself. Lights are available to borrow – just reply to this email to reserve yours.

Christmas night ride

The special Christmas nightride will be on Wednesday December 16th. Cover your bike in tinsel and fairly lights and join us in a winter wonderland. Led by Andy, we now need to know how many people are coming so we know how much (non alcoholic) mulled wine and hot mince pies to bring along. Please reply to the post on www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/forum.html or reply to this email.
Please note that we cannot accept unaccompanied juniors or inexperienced seniors on nightrides. Please contact the club before you come out if you have any doubts.

Saturday Rides

These are continuing all over the winter with some exceptions for trail building and Boxing Day. These rides are the best way to get to know club members and ride around the forest with others if you are not too confident going around the singletrack by yourself. Please see the events calendar at www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/calendar.html for full details.

Trail Build

Saturday 12th December is a club trail build day. If you want to get involved with improving the trails and see what some of the club members look like under their helmets then this is the day for you. Trail building is immensely satisfying particularly when you ride down a great new bit of trail thinking "I helped build this". Tools are provided, but if you have a spade or mattock and want to bring it along, then that will be great as we sometimes have more people than tools. We use bikes to get to the work area, and we advise bringing a packed lunch. Meeting point is at the bike shop at 10am, and we work until around 3pm although you can of course leave at any time. Ian Smith is our trail chief.

Coaching

2010 should see the coaching activities of the club expand significantly. The Forestry Commission has recently appointed Ollie Ireland as its first Cycling Development Coach for Bedgebury. Along with this, the coaching team is being increased with three more coaches being trained to British Cycling standard. With Ollie strengthening the links between the club and the community, next year looks like being a very exciting one for the coaching “department”. Welcome to the forest Ollie!

Bike Park

The bike park consists of the dirt jump course and the "North Shore" wooden structures. Significant changes are planned in this area for the near future. Firstly the big tabletop jump at the bottom of the jump course has been the scene of several serious accidents – one of which necessitated calling out the Air Ambulance. Because of these accidents, the jump will be reduced in height and reshaped over the next few days.

The high level North Shore is reaching the end of its design life and will have to be removed in the next year. The Forestry Commission is keen to involve the club with replacement facilities so if anyone has any opinions as to what they would like to see in its place, please contact the club, the Forestry Commission, or come along to the club committee meetings.

Club Merchandise

The Beanies are on their way… A limited number of Beanie hats will be with us in the next week or so. Made and embroidered in the UK, they are bottle green with the club logo on them in black and white. A large number of these have been pre-sold so get your order in now for Christmas. Price is less than £10. If you are interested, reply to this email and I will pass your details on to Malky our in house graphic designer.

Bike Shop

Quench Cycles and the attached bike wash will be open all through the Christmas period with the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.


* Some of this paragraph may not be entirely true…

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