Rode Cannock Chase on Saturday and its nnot all its cracked up to be..

Just thought it was boring, did Follow the dog then on to the Monkey, think i could count the amount of jumps on 1 hand..

Wont be going back in a hurry…

I was toying with the idea of going back tomorrow, first visit was couple of weeks back, thing is with Cut Gate/Peaks only being an extra 10 miles from mine I will probably invest my 2 hours of driving going there instead.

…which is not to say Cannock is crap. I like the Monkey alot….just FTD less so…and 2 hours drive to go round MT 2x is well….meh.

I think i'm spoiled with where i live though, got Kielder and Hamsterley within a hours drive and Dalby and Glentress in 2 hours…

Took me 3.5 to get to Cannock and just felt a bit let down..

I'm pretty close to Cannock, really like it.

Not sure I'd want to drive over 3 hours to ride it though…

To drive 3.5 hours to a trail centre, I'd want it to have a rep like Whistler!

Having said that, I was also there on Saturday, first time since the Monkey opened, and I really enjoyed it. Found what some say about the braking bumps to be somewhat true, but overall worth a (just over 1 hour for me) trip. You must have a lot of fingers too, I reckon there's 7 nicely spaced rollers in the last 300 yards of the Monkey, plus a couple of stumps to pop off.

Lets see now, there's about 5 jumps on the section 8 where you decide on the monkey or to stay on the FTD, there's 2 or 3 on each of the Lower Cliff and Upper Cliff section, there's a couple of rocky jumps on the sections before the rollers, there the end of the bridge near swinnos, there's the jump off the end of Hugh's bridge, there's also various humps on the first section of the Monkey and several on a couple of sections after that. Just how many fingers have you got?
It aint a freeride course but a great fun XC course which begs to be ridden fast. You've gotta admit that the final couple of swoopy downhill sections on the Monkey are just brilliant.

What a twonk you drove 3.5 hrs to get to Cannock Chase 😯

yeh but whats to like about it?? I think it was the last section which starts by offering you the 2nd shortcut before you go up of the Monkey which takes you down by the river was the best bit of the whole run.

I had an easly start on it saturday but when i got back to the car the place was rammed so it must be really popular, seemed to be a lot of locals with loads of day trippers like myself about..

When i go to a trail centre i expect to be leaving with big grins after the ride, this just didn't cut it..

That final downhill section, (not sure what you'd call it) is awesome. There must be 10 opportunies to get airborne there alone.

edit – you sure you didn't miss big chunks out by following the grey shortcut signs?

okay so maybe a bit of an exaggeration on the jumps but the 1st hour of the ride was dull.. like i say the last section of the monkey was canny..

I didn't enjoy it as much the last time I went. First couple of rides there were great but there are too many annoying climby bits for my liking! Next time I go to Cannock it's for Stile Cop, although I'm tempted to spend an extra half hour in the car and drive to FOD!

When I go home my parents live about 30 mins drive from cannock but I always seem to take the two hour drive option and head for North Wales. It's not that Cannock is really bad but the lack of elevation tends to disappoint.

I was there on Saturday I felt exactly the same, however we'd only driven for 1 1/2 each way. But we'd driven from Macc which is on the edge of the peaks. I've decided that i can't do trail centres anymore and I have ridden a lot of them. I always get bored and just want to get the end. It not like i pootle round i do all the jumps and drop offs but doing these trail centres is not what I want get out of mountain biking. For me its about getting into the countryside and cover more ground than on foot to places you can't get on a road bike. I find the trail centres claustrophobic.

My mates loved it by the way. But I couldn't stop thinking driving from the peaks to ride in a wood in Birmingham was a bit like flying from Alps to snowboard in tamworth snow dome.

ride in a wood in Birmingham

Sure you went to the right place? 😉

@ _tom_

It's a shame your a bit far away in Northampton, i'm in P'boro, as could get some car pooling action going on. As like you I ain't got shit to ride in many directions.

2hrs+ to drive every time I want to ride a decent trail is a bit of a pain in the arse.

…anyways Peaks tomorrow….hopefully the rain holds off.

moan moan moan.
i grin whenever chucking it down the black stuff at cannock

moan moan moan.
i grin whenever chucking it down the black stuff at cannock

what one short little rock garden? The rest is an (easy) red

Big laugh at the OP though driving 3.5 hours to get to ANY trail centre let alone Cannock (which is my local and I really like), not to mention the fact that he will have drove past places such as the Peaks and Wharnecliffe to get there 🙂 (oh and if you live within that close to those places you do know you have N York Moors etc and all the great riding there pretty much on your doorstep. Its not just about trail centres you know!)
If you want jumps you should have cut across (from the seating area on Lower Cliffe on Monkey) to Style Cop downhill runs

It's a shame your a bit far away in Northampton, i'm in P'boro, as could get some car pooling action going on. As like you I ain't got shit to ride in many directions.

Yep, it's crap round here! Woburn and Chicksands are the best local things, hoping Woburn doesn't get shut down any time soon as I'm having fun learning new stuff in the freeride area.

Greensands Bike Park might be good when its all properly built and packed down a bit, was far too loose when I went but it was a boiling hot day in the great "summer of 2010 dry spell"

The Chase is not just FTD and MT, you need to ride the rest of it.

I was there for the first time on Saturday too, I also drove for a an hour and half.
I thought it was good considering there's not much elevation.
The thing is with all the posts about the new Monkey Trail being fantastic etc it has bigged it up some what.
It all depends on what you are used to riding, what is rad air and gnarly to one rider may be a piece of pish to another.
I made it round on my singlespeed jump bike (standing up ) and cleared the black rocky bits with no problems but I am local to the Peak and wharncliffe so ride stuff like this alot.
But I saw some riders going round the black stuff which is ok as it would give them something to aim for next time.
I will be going back sometime with some mates but when we get a dry-ish spell as I got soaked on sat and the large pebbles were slic when wet.

Try riding it when it's wet and at a grown ups speed.

ride. it. faster!

i travelled 3hrs to get there and had muchos fun on the monkey.

although I'm tempted to spend an extra half hour in the car and drive to FOD!

FOD 1/2 hour from cannock?, what is it, a rocket car?

Try riding it when it's wet and at a grown ups speed.

Oh get her!

I agree with OP
Not worth bothering with Cannock Chase at all
Best to stay away
😉

Not to eek too much out the locals, but does local knowledge open up much more?

Reply as cryptically as you like 😉

Basically I am going to get up at 6 tomorrow morning and flip a coin to decide between Cannock or Cut Gate.

Liking the sound of Cut Gate!

Yeah me too. I rode the Peaks, well a little bit of it, for the first time a fortnight ago and coming from the flatlands its amazing…views and riding. Shame my biking buddy on the day who was showing me the stuff took an innocuous fall which somehow fractured his wrist. hopefully lightning will not strike twice or I am buggered. 8)

FOD 1/2 hour from cannock?, what is it, a rocket car?

Not from cannock, but it's only about half an hour further away from my house. Cannock is an hour and a half, FOD is just over two 🙂

I ride Cannock Chase about 3 times a week. In the last year I must have been on the Dog twice and the Monkey 3 times.

Some of the Chase is quite good.

i'd rather ride a 32:11 single speed fixie 36er up the north face of everest whilst being chased by a pride of tibetan leopards than ride cannock, it's full of ramblers, horses and doggers, all on fireroads, it's utter shite, best advice, steer clear. 😉

the monkey trail is just there to keep people away from the off-piste stuff on the chase 😉

The monkey serves another purpose. It gives the first sheep a trail to follow and then all the other sheep can follow him.
Nothing to see here….move along… 😉

Any locals fancy shepherding me around in a couple of weeks then? 😉

I'm not going to bother reading the majority of posts on here because i don't quite understand them. Trail centres will never have the appeal of an awesome lakes or peaks trail. But what they are very useful for is for riding in crap condidtions or riding with people who are still finding there feet in mtb'ing. You can head out and baring mechanicals, know exactly what time you are going to back and in most cases do as much or as little as you like with facilities to get changed and buy and overpriced coffee 😉

And lets not forget the amount of work that has gone in by volunteers, I for one commend them on what they've done and for what its worth i think its an excellent trail that is easy worth the 1-1 1/2 drive that i have to get the there.

Jamie, try here-http://www.bikeadventuresuk.com/forum/index.php

OP, you chose to drive 3.5 hours, thats 7 hours in the car to ride round some potholed sandy flat red graded trails in the West Midlands, then you have a moan? 😛

yeh i have a moan, and thats becasuse the locals to Cannock who recommended it so much to me on here made it sound like it was so good i thought i'd check it out…

Like i say – i wish i didn't bother it was crap!! And if thats all the locals do ride over that way then they are no riders in my opinion just a bunch of wannabe mtb extreme riders because they have a mate who does it or have seen it on the tv. When i was packing up to leave in was all first timers by the looks of it hiring helmets for the day and buying clothes for a single ride out..

Idiots

Like i say – i wish i didn't bother it was crap!! And if thats all the locals do ride over that way then they are no riders in my opinion just a bunch of wannabe mtb extreme riders because they have a mate who does it or have seen it on the tv. When i was packing up to leave in was all first timers by the looks of it hiring helmets for the day and buying clothes for a single ride out..

Idiots

🙂
trying too hard there chap

I agree with Stu McGroo. Nowt to see, nowt to do.

all the locals do ride over that way then they are no riders in my opinion just a bunch of wannabe mtb extreme riders

are you for real? you get this upset over riding a trail? best calm down lad you'll do yourself a mischief 🙄