No hora I was in deepest wales running around mountains…with a strange beard!!

Surely you go out riding and go different places for a variety of terrains and obstacles. Pebbles are Cannock, wyre forest mud, kinver is sandy, Hopton castle is full of roots but it’s not something to moan about is it you ride the terrain an push yourself on that terrain. You don’t go somewhere different expecting the same thing. Otherwise why bother. If you can’t ride pebbles fast keep going an practice on them. But MTB as there called are made for all terrains so get on an ride them all. Just my opinion

You don’t go somewhere different expecting the same thing. Otherwise why bother.

Well put

Im afraid I have to agree with Hora here, been over a fair few times and always come away rather disappointed and I hate those blessed pebbles. I generally always chose to ride either local mud fest of wyre forest or if I have the time I ride elsewhere further affield. I’ve also been shown bits and bobs by local people off piste too and always came away rather disappointed but thats because I prefer other types of trails where its my skill that limits me and not the surfacing. If we all liked the same sorta trails it’d be a rather dull place tho!

I prefer other types of trails where its my skill that limits me and not the surfacing

‘Eh,surely that amounts to the same thing…….

I ride on the Chase most days and love it. No two days ever feel the same. Chase Trails have done a fantastic job with the materials available, it does however takes years of experience to ride the pebbles properly though having a 29er helps!

it does however takes years of experience to ride the pebbles properly

Really?

This thread continues to baffle me. I imagine that next time I ride at Cannock I will be thinking about this thread and will crash constantly rather than riding it without noticing it was particularly pebbly/slippery. I’ll be like a drunk trying too hard to walk in a straight line 😆

I’m guessing not really,really……….err really………. 😯

Golf chick it is your skill that limits you at Cannock. You lack the skill of being able to ride pebbles fast. That’s not a dig at you. I lack the skill to jump massive doubles but I’m not going to moan that they are there I’m just going to keep at it and eventually either land them or give up. But what I
Trying to say is it’s never terrain limiting you but your lack of skill at riding that terrain

Awesome you need skill to ride Cannock 😆

Some trails you need skill to ride. Some trails are easy to ride but hard to ride really fast. Some people never go fast so they never realise this 🙂

Of course you do in a sense if you lack the skill to ride a bike then you would struggle

Skill is probably the wrong word ability is suited better I think

Cannock when it’s damp is certainly a slippery beast…….

That five-ways fire road is easily avoided with some local help…..handbags is what my mate call it 😉

Don’t recall those cobbles on the upper or lower cliff though…..

MTFU etc

I had a lovely crash on the pebbles on ‘Let Loose’ yesterday. I haven’t crashed for ages so it was nice to get back into it.

Molgrips summarised it nicely up there ^

I’ve neither Nick Craig’s fitness, nor Chris Akrigg’s skill, but on every visit I’ve had to Cannock I’ve caught and overtook nearly every rider I’ve seen. There are tight lines, awkward berms, sections that reward smooth riding and momentum and of course these mythical pebbles. Do you need skill to ride Cannock? Of course you do. You can roll most of it with relatively basic skills, but you’ll have more fun riding it faster and harder. I do, and I’ve still got a lot to learn….that’s what keeps me going back.

And that’s one of the points I’ve always believed in since FtD was completed as a full loop. You can ride the whole trail at whatever pace you fancy. Some ride it steadily and claim that it’s too easy etc but if you try to go as fast as you can it takes on a different persona.

You could claim that it’s the pebbles, perhaps in part it is. I reckon it’s also a lot to do with the nature if the trail being tight through the trees and is like comparing such riding with let’s say wide, open and fast trails as you find in the Peaks.

I took up riding as a kid on the Chase and as a result have a preference to forest singletrack over wide and rugged National Park type trails (although I’m looking forward to 3 days in the Lakes next week)

It’s about variety and each to their own although the tendency to criticise trails because they don’t suit a particular rider’s is frankly disrespectful.

Completely agree ST each to their own and not every one likes the same thing. I don’t go to Cannock very often as I prefer more natural trails. But you criticise places for having different obstacles to overcome. The only thing to criticise is yourself for not riding a trail as you find it.

On your last paragraph thats a ridiculous statement. I like the Peaks but I miss the Surrey Hills/N.Downs (almost 100% woodland riding).

From some of the early comments the surfacing at Cannock is a compromise.

This compromise is compounded further in that if pebbles are an ideal riding surface and its in such abundance, why is it not exported to other man made trails?

Its making the best cost effectively with whats already in the area. Thats fine but to take humbridge with those that critise it for being difficult to ride on?

Come on.

If I lived within 30mins of Cannock I’d ride there frequently but if the Peaks (or anywhere else) was only 30mins extra away I’d hardly visit Cannock. I think that says it all for me.

st – Member

Personally I don’t really like Llandegla for example.

I was there the day he didn’t really like Llandegla.

He really really didn’t like it 🙂

Yep it does say it all for you hora. However, I live 30 mins from Cannock and an hour from the Peaks. I prefer to ride at Cannock, be it on the Monkey or off piste.

I have never really found the surface that difficult. ..had plenty of crashes but then I’m crap. It’s a fantastic facility that probably sees the highest volume of traffic of any trail in the country. It makes the most of very little elevation and seen as we didn’t pay to build it or have to pay to ride it then there’s little room for complaint imo.

Perhaps you’d be better sticking to not turning up on Peaks rides and blaming your bike for not being able to ride stuff 🙂

Hora my dear, no-one thinks pebbles is ideal but its what the whole forest is sat on. The new stuff is getting crushed rocks mixed in with it at great financial cost so should hopefully last longer and maybe help you ride a bit better, like your new headangle of the week. Or new forks.

So was the bit you clipped your bars on on the fearsome Werewolf Drop? Oh great fireballs in the sky, you need a skills course.

Oh, an 3 pages gets a 9/10.

Its making the best cost effectively with whats already in the area. Thats fine but to take humbridge with those that critise it for being difficult to ride on?

So your saying now that you arn’t good enough to ride on the surface quickly? Thats your problem not the chases. There are plenty that can ride quickly at the chase. What was your lap time by the way?

Oh and fwiw neither of my bikes are LaPierre’s or 29ers.

Hora, I think you need to stop looking for this holy grail of mountain biking, both in terms of trail and bike. You’re never going to find perfection because you want the bike and the trail to completely compensate for your (low?) skill level.

Sorry? Confused. Wheres that come from? I dont like pebbles so that makes me a listless, confused rider?

Went a couple of times this year and enjoyed it, yeah it’s pebbley but the peaks are rocky and dahn sarf is muddy and Wales is pebbley,rocky, muddy and full of woolybacks,
It’s all good 😀 it’d be boring if everywhere was the same

It seems that the ideal surface is needed at Cannock now then “Tarmac”. Why are you looking for ideal surface that the whole point you go off road on a so called MTB so as to not be riding on perfection surely. I also think now over eyre forest they should start getting rid of all the mud an putting gravel down so it’s easier for us to go fast. That’s really what your saying. And Fwiw I ride a lapierre what a muppet I must be

Surely mountain biking is about riding your bike over different terrains and obstacles? I would have thought pebbles would come under this? Riding on surfaces with varying levels of grip is part of the fun; you have to judge the level of grip and adapt your speed and weight distribution to make the most of it. If the pebbles weren’t there, part of the challenge would be lost, and Cannock wouldn’t be as good (in my opinion). Riding on a surface that is smooth enough for a road bike would be pretty dull.

I love rocky AND muddy 😀

The Lapierre comment was observational. There seemed to be a fair few there on Sunday.

Who wants uniform smooth hardcore? Too many trail centres have this as a default. What I like is more slabs, rocky, loose earth, berms etc.

Cannock has potential- those pebbles dont add any attraction or charm. The upgrade to the surface? I’ll go back and try again. For me I love flow in a trail centre. Its hard to flow through the trees on pebbles.

But your crap on wet pebbles

My riding is shit

On Llandegla I really like the Cafe and the staff

The trails are 100% shiny fixed pebbles

I notice the pebbles were concentrated on what I presume is the high wear areas- over humps/into corners

I dont like pebbles

For me, in general the best ‘trails’ are ones that flatter the rider. Say the hard/technical ones- just hard enough that you know it’s bloody hard but also reward you soo much

Awesome you need skill to ride Cannock

Its hard to flow through the trees on pebbles.

So to sum things up you don’t like pebbles and that means the trail center is crap because you don’t have the skill to flow through trees and pebbles. Plenty of others manage to flow through the trees and pebbles year round without a problem. Maybe you should have spent more time at the cafe?

I wouldn’t class myself as a great rider but I can hold my own on tech sections and have never had a problem with the pebbles at cannock. The only times I have had a fall at cannock are when I have had a lapse in concentration or have overdone it on a particularly difficult section, it has never been the fault of the trail.

I don’t mind the pebbles at Cannock. With the right tyres / pressure grip is not a problem. What I do miss though is flow. The braking ruts are now so deep in many places that they break the flow, and that’s annoying. There are also no drops of reasonable height (say a foot or slightly more) that you can take at speed (so they’re safe), or a rock garden that you can approach fast and just skim over. The black bits are really difficult, the red bits are really easy – something in between would be terrific. But what a great initiative the whole thing is – it gets thousands of people out in the open doing fun things, so it contributes more to national happiness than, say, the NHS… 😆

I Ache. Summed that up great ha ha

I really like cannock, can’t say I’ve ever had an issue with the pebbles. But then, at my modest pace, I’m unlikely to. 🙂

Hora, did you GPS the ride? Jus’ wunderin’, like…

Limburger, completely agree. I find the bits like upper cliff, the one before it and the final bit just before the rollers flow nicely (with the little stump drops) but last time I was there I found most of the rest a bit “stop-start” but maybe thats just me. Was also a shame to see the rollers covered in stones to slow you down – can see why they’ve done it but they were really fun before.

Was also a shame to see the rollers covered in stones to slow you down – can see why they’ve done it but they were really fun before.

To armour them / reduce erosion…and iirc, to slow people down; there were a few nasty accidents at the end from an overenthusiastic minority who allowed their enthusiasm to overtake their skill level.

limburger, with the programme of works now underway you may see a bit more of the intermediate stuff to which I think you refer but it will take time.

_tom_, the regular presence of ambulances for the unfortunate riders who used to try to (literally) fly through the rollers and the suceptibility of the trail surface in semi-frozen conditions led to the rock armouring of the rollers.

This also touches on limbruger’s point. The sheer acessibility of Cannock Chase means that a mid-level trail supplemented by more technical options was the best solution.

I don’t get this issue of the trail lacking “flow”, sure they aren’t berm after berm of rider flattering lines but as long as you think about the trail and what’s coming up next it should never really be an issue. The braking bumps and other issues arising from erosion are far from ideal but only part of this is down the the micro trail design, the wide range of rider abilities coupled with the material have far more to do with the current state of the trail*

*which is progressively being addressed by Chase Trails.

I don’t get this issue of the trail lacking “flow”

Maybe what tom is alluding to (and I agree with) is the stop-start nature of some sections mainly due to some fairly small but important features. I’m thinking of tight uphill corners in the middle of otherwise downhill sections, narrow tree gaps, rocks and tree stumps in the middle of the trail and small trees that have been left in place (it seems) to deliberately slow things down.

Now please don’t imagine for one second I prefer a 3m wide straight line kitty litter surface through the trees but everytime I ride off-piste it strikes me how much ‘flow’ is possible on the Chase. Corners that flow naturally from one to the next and if there’s need for a tight turn, it doesn’t come at the end of a screaming descent there’s a flick or two on the approach just to calm things down. Little jumps have landings and there seems to be no need for big banked up berms when the terrain is used appropriately.

Of course off-piste gets churned up but imho it’s nothing compared to the braking bumps and damage on the official trails which I think is proof that people are having to brake hard or take evasive action because the trail takes an unexpected turn and in this respect doesn’t ‘flow’

I realise you have to accommodate riders of all levels and I’m no ace but I often wonder how many of these ‘calming’ features on the official trails are H&S/FC inspired

I will have to see these pebbles for myself when I’m back at Christmas. Rode Cannock a lot when I lived nearby, can’t remember any pebbles, are they a new edition?