On Monday I am riding at Cannock, having not visited the place before.
I intend to ride the Monkey trail.
Is it good?
Which of my 2 bikes is best to take - long travel hardtail or 5" full travel bike?
Is the trail fully way marked? (my navigation skills are poor)
I am picking this in preference to riding s.wales trail centres.
Any thoughts welcomed.
Does cannock have a decent cafe for lunch/end of day food?
Its good for the topography and surfacing materials available, dont expect the West Mids to be Scotland.
Either bike, there are some bumpy sections. Orange 5s most popular bike.
Fully waymarked.
It does have a cafe at the main carpark and another halfway round (Marquis Drive).
It has braking bumps. Please bear this in mind.
Either bike will be just fine.
It is good.
It is very well sign-posted.
There is a decent on-site cafe.
No bike choice will prepare you for the werewolf drops or apparently "dangerous" braking bumps. Unless on an Orange 5 of course.
But seriously, not very rocky, so take that as you find. Waymarked, but diversion or two may be in place.
I am picking this in preference to riding s.wales trail centres.
I'd go to S Wales if the travelling time was similar. If you're making a bit of a journey to Cannock you may be a bit disappointed.
Not that it's not fun to ride - riding anywhere's great!
Thanks guys for the heads up.
I have no great expectations for massive climbs, and quite like rides which are flatter so you have to attack the trail to get most out of it.
A cafe half way round sounds civilised!
Am leaning towards full suss if lots of braking bumps to give my lower back an easier time. Are there any jumps/berms/fun bits?
It's one of my favourite trail centres to be honest. No its not scotland or wales but it does incredibly well with the terrain and topgography its got. Some really sweet singletrack.
In answer to your question i'd take the full sus, not for any other reasin other than it'll be a little more fun and help you ride it twice! 
Am leaning towards full suss if lots of braking bumps to give my lower back an easier time. Are there any jumps/berms/fun bits?
Yes. Monkey moreso than Dog.
Make your way over to http://chasetrails.co.uk/downhill.php as well if you fancy a bit more jumpy/droppy. Not extreme gnarr, but I've broken a collar bone there 
I had checked out the DH tracks on the web, I like my DH days (forest of dean, cwm carn, UK bike park, etc) however person I am riding with likes to keep his wheels on the ground, so suspect will only do Monkey trail, but time permitting may do it twice, or session any good bits.
Is it reasonable to be able to do monkey trail, then a DH track, assume your pushing to the top, is the DH part of the centre close to the Xc trails? Would be fun to stick the full face lid in and session a DH track for the last part of the day.
You'll be surprised how little fire road there is compared to some trail centres - even the climbs are fun. What fire road there is, will soon be largely by-passed by the looks of things.
dialled prince albert for me - and it is great for cannock, 140mm forks are plenty.
You're in luck; Monkey is close to DH runs.
FtD is under an hour a lap, never ridden the Monkey though so that might make my oppinion irelavent.
I'd go wit somekind of XC/race bike given the option as there's no real steep bits to make longer travel/slack angles worthwhile, so the extra speed makes it fun.
Rob - brilliant, thanks for confirming.
With scope to ride DH track, will take full suss.
Am taking camera to hopefully capture some decent riding shots, will post early next week with results/thoughts on the place.
Thanks to all for comments.
Monkey trail new black route ups the anté somewhat, several technical drop offs on rock, I found the erm, limit of my meagre abilities there the other day in the wet... And the least two descents of the monkey are far more fun than the have any right to be in the Midlands! (a bit of air to be had too, if you like)
i'd make your tyre choice more pertinent than choosing between HT/FS.....
it's sloppy when wet due to the local aggregate used to build the
As above you will need at least an Orange 5 for some sections. Owning an Audi will also help.
This is sounding better after each post I read.
I am running spez. purgatory 2.2 on my full suss. and have recently swapped out to Spez. storm control 2.0 on my hardtail - albeit not that impressed by the latter so far, not as much grip as say maxxis medussa or panaracer trailraker, albeit equally not as draggy as either of the aforementioned.
i'd go full suss then! i meant to say slippy not sloppy
Yeah, the slippy pebbles are a pain in the arse, more noticeable on the dog than the monkey.
I'll most likely be riding there on Monday as well assuming the weather is okay over the weekend.
Orange 5's post the best lap times so long as the have chosen the correct tyres...
In all honestly I ride it on whichever bike is nearest the front, the full suss or hardtail and it's fun none the less
I think the final section is still closed but other than that I think everything else is still open. Head over to http://www.chasetrails.co.uk if you want any more info.
You'll enjoy it, there is plenty of fun and singletrack.
We normally do the short one (FtD), hit the cafe, and then the long one.
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