Saturday 27th February

After last Sunday's rain strewn mess, the sun was shinning on the Sidcup crew.

The first job saw the crew go to complete the fencing work that got rained off last Sunday afternoon in the area around "Bushell's Bend" to the "Orchard" tunnel.

Above : Looking between the two tunnels towards the finish line area, new fencing on the right..

Above : Looking towards the "Orchard" tunnel, new (well recycled) fencing on the right.

Above : Grading work on the finish line jump, we've filled in the gap between the 2nd and 3rd bit of the triple. Posts and fencing are still to go up on the right.

While in this area, we were putting up fencing in an extremely soft area where we have filled in a hole with lots of soft wet mud. After getting everyone else to avoid only muggings could get well and truelly stuck - so deep that it was above my knee. After much struggling, even digging with a shovel, I had to admit defeat, leave my boot behind and get the digger to dig my boot out! Thanks to everyone for their help and Aaron for taking the photos of me stuck!

Above : Stuck! My left leg is up to my knee.

Above : One boot.

Moving on to the other side of the tunnel, another crew began taking down the fencing, while the digger moved the old berm our of the way.

Above : You'll now turn left after the table top, around where the guys are standing on top left..

Above : Inside of the corner on the left, leading into "Eastwood".

Above : Outside of the corner, looking back at the "Orchard" tunnel.

Above : Wrecking crew of Michael Banks and Colin Bushell.

Moving around the track, through the "Eastwood" corner and over the new (last winter) little jump, we come towards the water tanks corner that lead into "Claggy Maggy". We're now going to be turning right instead of left, around the marshal post and into "Derek's Dive".

Above : Going along the straight out of the "Eastwood" corner, you are now turning right.

Above : We in filled the depression and put the stakes in with the digger but it was wet underfoot.

Above : Dropping into Derek's Dive, the earth on the right form the old berm, will be use to make some sort of drop off.

While one crew was working on the wrecking / laying out the new corners, the other crew got on with putting up the fencing in Claggy Maggy following last Saturday's work.


Above : Same shot as last week, but now in focus..

Above : You can see the gap in the fencing opposite for access to the little island in the track for our enduro / cross countries.

Above : New fencing up around the outside of "Claggy Maggy".

Above : Looking around the corner. We'll be coming back to finish off the infield "island" fencing (and some tree pruning), hopefully with whatever we can recycle from the other projects.

Above : The other end of the enduro access. In the centre is a hole we've dug for clay for jumps on the mx track and we used it successfully in 2009 for the enduro and cross country, in past years we've had a little woodland loop to the right.

Above : Looking back around the corner. Peter Burton leans on the fence while waiting for the tractor to come back with more rolls of chestnut fencing..

Above : Peter Burton and Colin Parkin, waiting for more fencing to arrive. The "lump" in the foreground will be used to define the inside of the corner, rather than having to put new track stakes in every meeting.

Above : Didn't quiet have enough fencing on the roll to make it to the gate. We'll join on a little bit of recycled left over fencing form elsewhere to do this bit. A little bit about the gates - we've now brought ten of these in two batches over the winters of 2008 and 2009. They have a metal frame on each side and below ground to hold them firm (we've built 1 out of wood planks and 1 out of a pallet with dubious success). They are really good for giving not only track workers and first aiders access to the track but at 1.2m wide they are great for our enduros!

Above : Just right of the gate is a little problem to fix, the Jump was widened for a red bull arch, but just a little to far and the fence is collapsing..

Above : Taxi! Aaron drives Pete B and Colin P back after a long day's work.

Thanks for wading through the long post, felt we had to make up after last Sunday's disappointment and with the bad forecast for Sunday, leading to Sunday's work being provisionally cancelled, looks like I'll see you all next Saturday.