[Closed] Can you guess this **** trail centre

Cannock. Easy.

😆

Slippery woodwork.

Shiny pebbles gotta be Cannock; never been a fan.

Nothing wrong with Cannock.. Shiny pebbles only on bits of it and only shiny when wet. (Granted that's most of the time..)

Some of the best bits nowhere near the marked routes though 😉

Ignoring all the other stuff as i don't really care about who rides what or who does what with their stuff, Cannock is ace. Its a good challenging trail and this adds to the character of it. Its not too easy just nice, only downside is that it eats your bike.

If hora can't cope with the pebbles he has no chance with the black sections 😆

Few trails built by a handful of locals in their spare time with limited funds & resources.

Trails are fine,perhaps it's just your riding that's **** .......... ?

The pebbles are only 'fun' after it's been dry for ages then there's been a slight rain to make them damp. When it's wet/muddy/dry there's no issue at all

I love Cannock, you forget how good it is and it's always a treat whatever the weather. It does does eat your bike I agree, I always have a new noise the ride after Cannock.

only time ive had a problem on the wet pebbles was on some oe nobby nicks ,bloody dreadful tyres.just run my tyres a bit softer at cannock and wet shiney pebbles are never a problem,the loose pebbles on upper and lower cliff in the summer are a different matter.

Funny that I just done Cannock today and thought 'blimey where did all these pebbles come from?' Still a good blast though but was very busy....

I've never seen so many people poking their tyres to see how hard they were as i did today on the dog, pebbles were slick and traction just wasn't there, did make it interesting.

We went yesterday , loads of folk out enjoying the shiny pebbled trails in lovely autumn sunshine .

Been a while, I have a few days off, I feel a visit is in order

I actually don't mind Cannock. It's a quick fix kind of a place for me as I don't know the off piste stuff, so it 'does' as a half-day razz around. This is just me, though. Each to their own. I'd rate it ahead of Gisburn, which, IMO does not make the most of the available elevation to be the 'bigger' trail centre that it could be.

Still, I'm more into the so-called 'natural' type of riding. Not in a macho 'Ray Mears is my best mate' kind of way, just in an 'appreciating the countryside' kind of way. I do like a nice rocky descent though, so the Dark Peak is my fave by far.....

Keep on riding folks, wherever you choose to lay your tyres.

Last time I went to Cannock I couldn't remember a lot of pebbles? Have they just been put down? Due another visit I think!

Cannock is as tame as .... that,s why there are loads of phat bikes there to counter those dickdastardly peebles 🙂

My riding is shit (honestly) but I know a good trail. The last descent before you cross back over the road on the monkey trail is a bloody crying shame as that descent had the makings of the best. In two or three sections of those fast switchbacks it was earth/loose but then back to bloody glued in-Brighton beach-stuff .

High Voltage (the worse) was terrible for the fixed-pebbles.

A question to the lovers of Cannock- how the hell do you corner then? You cant be riding at a decent pace on those descents as you'd wash out.

I thought u weren't well enough to ride Hora, that was your excuse at the peak poodle?
There aren't many pebbles on the proper Cannock trails, plenty of 29ers though I grant you. Maybe 26" isn't capable of pebble riding, couldn't be the rider though could it? 🙂

Never had a problem at Cannock in the wet tbh (other than the bike eating grit obviously) and i ride a Zesty, with nobby nics on........... Goes round the corners just fine

It'd meant an extra 3hrs+ in the car as I was away last night/on the gin.

Be honest, without that surfacing it'd be ALOT better wouldnt it.

The black sections didnt have pebblea but I missed out the last black section but it looked good as I passed it 😀

The Chase is fine, all you have to do is avoid the FTD and monkey and ride all the small local built stuff, can be a bit muddy but there are miles of single track out there!

harsh... cannock is ace. I like the sliding about, only slides a little before I find grip.

good tyres with 25psi tubeless. cannock is ace

Alexdudley I was thinking that as it does have some good elevation-bits too

Cannock is pretty good considering the lack of elevation and that it's built on a prehistoric river bed, hence the local building material of sand on pebbles making it a difficult trail to maintain. It's slippery occasionally but it's a place that allows a lot of people to get an introduction to mountain biking.

Personally I didn't like Llandegla - I found it a soulless and dull trail which I was glad I hadn't made a special trip to visit. There they have both the elevation and the building materials to hand to make something truly great, but seem to have wasted the opportunity, but other people like it so each to their own.

For sure, we do 3 hrs on a Sunday and don't cross the same path, before FTD that is all we had to ride, could do a Chase pootle, but couldn't take the stress!!! Lol

The powers that be on the chase banned importing materials at the very start when Chase Trails was set up, think they were just being awkward , I'm sure if they knew then how popular it would become they may have allowed hardcore on the trails instead of the natural polished stones, shame as it could have been so much better.

nowt wrong with it.makes it different

Everyone rides either a LPierre Zesty or a 29'er...

So these 29er things are they all the same?
Who makes them?
I presume it's not Lapiere?

Be honest, without that surfacing it'd be ALOT better wouldnt it.

Yes, for about half an hour...
Gets a LOT of traffic does Cannock.

Singlespeedstu- dont know. I cant see past the size of the wheels as for the main the frames look diddy. The only one I saw that made me admire/double-take was a green Chromag 🙂

Passagerizlas right, you don't have ultimate F1 style grip at Cannock, and faring around with tyre pressures and different tyres won't give you the complete answer. You have to have faith that tyres will bite if they wash out a bit, and the often do. It still puts the frightened on you no matter how many times it happens. The worst thing you could do is panic and grab a handful of brake. I run 35psi front and rear and the bike is skippy but does grip eventually. Not sure where my pace is, I'm sure I'm not the fasted by a long way, but I'm definitely not the slowest. In terms of cornering, it's the lean the bike into the bend whilst leaning your body away technique bending your knees and getting low on the bike, I also do a twisting from the hips action. It's not too dissimilar from skiing for those of you who ski. But that's not 100% foolproof. it's also handy to look for features in the trail you can use like a rut you can get your tyre into to stop you from skidding out or a parallel root or a little raised tuft on the edge of the trail. It's fun I love Cannock.

Cut my riding teeth at Cannock a long way before the Follow the Dog or Monkey Trails were built. They have done very well with the terrain, elevation and materials on offer.

A question to the lovers of Cannock- how the hell do you corner then? You cant be riding at a decent pace on those descents as you'd wash out.

I think the definition of 'decent pace' is relative to the location. However, plenty of better riders than I scream around the bends! I mince but that's my lamer style...

Just look at the two full scale commercial quarries located on the Chase to see why there are pebbles everywhere. The forest is sat on one of Europe's largest sand and gravel deposits.

In the early days money was tight and there was a resistance by the powers towards using imported material and this has helped keep much of the trail network looking less obtrusive than it would have been had we used imported material such as crushed Limestone.

If imported material had been used in the Monkey then it would have cost too much for the budget available at the time.

All said though it's not a massive issue for me, although it does seem to be for others.

New trail construction and overhauls to the existing trails is now done with a 50/50 mix of local sand/gravel and imported crushed gritstone. This gives what is hoped to be a good balance between durability, grip, cost and aesthetics

hora - Member

Singlespeedstu- dont know. I cant see past the size of my magnificent ingnorance

Err Lapierre's are bloody good bikes.
29'ers? Hmmm. No.

Yep them 29ers are all the same.
They're almost as shit as blue bikes.

i think you are just bi**ching for the sake of it (how un-STW of you!). The pebbles are making it more all-weather than the mudfest it used to be. I was up there on friday (only 3rd time this year) and quite enjoy the variety of it all. Yes things could be improved - less braking bumps, a few modifications here and there but there is no such thing as the perfect train centre. The team of volunteers who look after the trails are doing a first rate job.

Cannock... And its ace great use of topography and a bit more technical than degla

Cannock Chase is my 'local' real riding spot...I tend not to ride FTD or Monkey Trail since they became so well used/abused but have the occasional slide about on the polished pebbles- its great practice for riding in icy conditions, you learn to rely on balance and the bike moving rather than the grip of your tyres and the full suspension..(if you use it). There are so many other trails that you can easily ride a full day without doing the same trails twice. Not all trails are created equal, having been to the Austrian Alps this summer Llandegla as a trail centre has nothing on the likes of X-Line at Saalbach or Wargrain Bike Park but we have to make use of what we have easily available to us.
As for 29er and Lapierres..dont see many CX bikers over there

Perhaps you should have entered the Dressage class.
It takes place every Saturday & Sunday morning, in the Birches Valley Cafe garden.
All the classes are represented. The [i]French[/i] & [i]Halifax[/i] classes are popular.

There's even a motorised class, for those with roof mounted carriers. It's very popular. Takes place in the car park.

I quite like the challenge of trying to ride fast on the pebbles - some of the sections where they are would be a bit too easy without them.