Not actually sure how new it is since the last time I went before today was probably a year ago, but it has been changed around a bit (no drops) and is now even faster and funner than before 😀 If you want to practice your berm technique it’s ideal as the whole thing is pretty much big berms and fast jumps. It’s so smooth you could probably even ride it on a bmx.

Think all of the skills I learned from Jedi have finally sunk in as I felt like I was flying down and leaning the bike properly into all the bends 🙂 Still a bit scared of jumping at speed after my last incident but I was getting better toward the end of my ride. Feels great as my last ride at Cannock was rubbish.

But you didn’t have to pay 5pound for the privalidge of riding at cannock did you.
And there wasn’t a dirty great horrid fence around Cannock.
Plus Cannock has trail builders that give a shut about a range of riders than just the freeride/4x posse.

I mean with everything they are doing at Chicky it’s as if they have set out to f up the xc opportunity

I didn’t have to pay or have any bother with a fence? AFAIK you don’t have to pay in the week. There weren’t any “wardens” or anything anyway.

And I thought Chicksands was always known as more of a freeride venue than xc since it’s so small and relatively flat.

Had to pay £3 to park at Birches Valley for Cannock.

I mean with everything they are doing at Chicky it’s as if they have set out to f up the xc opportunity

There is an xc loop and the freeride area takes up a relatively small area of the forest. Yes, the focus of the efforts is toward the freeride area, but there is still plenty of wood to mess around in xc stylie.

Every time I’ve been there I’ve mixed it up by doing a few xc loops and then hitting the freeride area. The ideal type of day for me.

I wish I lived closer as I would go more often.

With regard the the dual track: That is a bit disappointing, as I loved how it was.

But you didn’t have to pay 5pound for the privalidge of riding at cannock did you.
And there wasn’t a dirty great horrid fence around Cannock.
Plus Cannock has trail builders that give a shut about a range of riders than just the freeride/4x posse.

I mean with everything they are doing at Chicky it’s as if they have set out to f up the xc opportunity

With an attitude like that is it no wonder that they don’t bother to build time consuming xc trails for riders who are unhappy to pay to ride them?

The XC is not their’s – and there is a countryside full of XC, but pretty much nowhere like Chicky.

Stop complaining.

tom, great to hear 🙂

chicksands is great 🙂

I’ve been riding on and off at Chicksands since ’94, my issue with paying for it, that the year I did, it took them 6 months to send a response for my sub, then no request for renewal or anything else, if they can’t be bothered to collect, why pay? also, the XC course which is my interest was trashed by wood felling a few years a go, an is still nothing to what it was.

Excuse me but i Live within a short ride of chicky, I’ve been riding at Chicky since I was a kid. Have tried to get involved with fat trax and have been blocked at every turn. I’ve seen one side of the wood taken away from riders, the red route removed. The blue route removed and the hills fenced off. I’ve seen a fat trax turn a friendly all riders wood in to a freeriders only place with a space set aside for dogwalkers.
Solander> I’m pleased to pay to ride at Woburn but Chicky is a joke. how would you feel if you paid your membership and your “club” systematically removed your trails? I only recently dropped my fat trax membership after one of the trail police threatened to burn my sons bike for using the 4x on a Wednesday evening while I watched. Not the best PR a club can do is it?

While I accept the fields are full of xc trails the mountains are full of freeride trails, if we share what we have on our doorstep we might all be happier?

Mikey> there is no xc loop. It was removed some years ago.
And _Tom_> if you visited in the last 2 weeks and didn’t see the fence I worry deeply about your cognitive abilities.

burn your sons bike???? nice pr. who was that or can i guess

I like Chicksands it has a few painful memories for me 😀 😕

Much of what you say is right crotchrocket – shame – for whatever reasons as the place has such potential

Yep, Fattrax havn’t done anything for the average rider, never have come across anyone policing the area tho, more likly to see Digger’s running round (Aussie soliders from the local base)

Last time I was there in the Autumn, the red & blue routes were there just, but they do need a lot of repair to the signage unless you know the area

crotchrocket if you’re referring to the fence near the car park/top of the trails I don’t see your problem? It’s a normal size and has gates along it so you can still get in 😕 It does sound quite bad how you’ve described it with regards to the trail closures etc though.

With regard the the dual track: That is a bit disappointing, as I loved how it was.

Yeah it was great before, they’ve made it a bit less challenging but it’s a lot faster and great practice for berms and jumps. They’ve also removed most of the woodwork (ladder drops & north shore) which I was disappointed about as I was looking forward to giving some of the easier stuff a go 🙁