The Party - and what's new for 2009

Happy New Year! Hope Mctomo doesn't mind me pinching his cool sparkler photo at left - thought it was pretty festive! 2008 was a great year for Stile Cop and the Racer's Guild. It's been a real pleasure making new friends and thrashing bikes down our little patch on Cannock Chase. To celebrate 2008, we've got our first annual RG party...








2008 End-of-Year Party and DVD Launch
Date: Friday, Jan 9
Time: 7:30 - 10:30 PM (Not AM Bev!)
Location: Cannock Chase Birches Valley Visitor Centre, New "Treehouse" Classroom (see picture below)
Who's Invited: RG riders and friends, family, partners.
Beverages: Bring your own! (it's a grassroots party...)
Music: Supplied by DJ Stinky Harry
Cost: Classroom rental cost is £75, so the donation tin will be out! Also, bring money to buy a copy of the Boon Productions DVD.
Parking: At Birches Valley (or Go-Ape parking area), will update this post later when I find out if you need to pay and display (better safe than sorry).

The FC has kindly let us use the new classroom, so this will be a pretty chilled party - just like our RG practices. The entrance to the new classroom is past Swinnertons to the earth mound and through the gate on the right. The new classroom is the long building with the deck, but the entrance is from the courtroom side, shown below.


We will premier the Boon Productions DVD recapping the 2008 season, which also includes some extras from Ian's video library. You'll be able to buy a copy at the party. We should also have Andy Dunwoody on site with a rolling slideshow of photos from the year...don't forget you can buy his very cool calendar and other cool stuff with your photo on it from the Red Bubble site. I've got mine hanging on the wall already and it is class!

On to 2009...

The plan for 2009 is more of the same! Why change what's not broken right? There will be some minor website changes, which you may have already noticed. The number of practices that count for your final season total will be dropped from 8 to 6. And we'll also be getting the same kind of pimp number plates that we used for BSP for the whole season. And Descent-Gear has decided to support the RG by offering a 10% discount to their already CRC competitive prices. Thanks Si! Check out the members page for more info...

There will also be some good improvements to Stile Cop. More signage. Better jumps. And those new dirt piles will be transformed into a cool new skills area / dirt jump line! It's all very exciting, but please don't get too eager and screw things up by working unofficially on the lines.


And finally, spawned from the grassroots of Stile Cop and stopwatches, something very fast this way comes! As everyone knows, we've got some sick talent locally, and we've decided to select a few of the top guys and make a team which will hit the major races, including the NPS, in 2009. RG riders are free to join us at the races, but the actual Squadron Downhill Team has already been selected for 2009: Greg Hampton, Elliot Machin, and Andy Hughes.

The team will have some very wicked jerseys, and similar RG jerseys will be available for anyone to purchase. We are hoping to get T-shirts and stickers as well! The first race will be the Wentwood Downhill on March 1st. Look for the website to go online before then so you can follow their success over the next season of racing. I personally can't wait! Bring on Spring!