I’ve got a rare day off Thursday and want to get out on the bike. Somewhere within an hour or so of Worcester.

So either FOD or Cannock chase.

Or is there anywhere else I’ve not thought of ?

FOD is running fantastically at the moment, I don’t know Cannock very well to be honest, but there is a ton of variety at FOD.

FoD every time. So much variety and as mentioned, it’s running beautifully right now.

I know you said you were there the other week, but the Wyre is running really well atm (well yesterday anyways). So depend what, you want to ride

Never been to Cannock but FOD is great

I know you said you were there the other week, but the Wyre is running really well atm (well yesterday anyways). So depend what, you want to ride

Cheers. I’m riding the wyre on the Friday so just wanted to explore somewhere different.

Not done FOD or Cannock for a few years now.

That’s like comparing the football world cup final to a premier game , im local to cannock and unless you know where all the off pieste is its absolute pants, on the other hand I was at mallards pike last thur – Fri and it was running the best I’ve seen it , just love it there

Forest Of Dean is excellent conditions at present should be a lot quieter than today never seen Beechinghurst car park that full ever crazy think people know the lockdown is coming Dowies was great.

im local to cannock and unless you know where all the off pieste is its absolute pants

I often say that I’ll still ride FoD even if I lived in Cannock…

I’ll only go there now if I’m riding with a local who knows the off-piste, and even then it’s not a patch on anything the FoD has to offer. What surprises me most though is the reluctance from Cannock locals to come to FoD, even for guided rides.

FOD but park at park end and use the cafe or bike shop cafe, a lot of great trails that end of the forest

What surprises me most though is the reluctance from Cannock locals to come to FoD, even for guided rides.

2 reasons-
1, we know the good parts to ride on the Chase.
2, Everyone at FOD has webbed feet and 11 fingers.

(we went to FOD earlier this year, it was great off piste, good how some of the unofficial bits still seemed kind of official in places)

Better to have 11 fingers than 8 light ones. 😉

I’ve not been to Cannock, but it sounds a bit like Swinley. The trails are fine and there are some off piste bits that aren’t easy to find that are ok.

But FOD has trails all over the place – you could ride for days and not cover / find them all.

I went exploring a bit at Dowies for a few hours yesterday and the trails there are running pretty great. Dry and with some bits of loam on some corners.

Met up with a few people and went down one of the scariest things I’ve ever been down on the edge of Dowies – to everyone else I don’t think it was that hard but for me the several steep chutes were at my limit.

I did a 40k ish effort a few months back – bit of trail centre / DH runs to warm up then out to the enduro runs, then the frying pan, then Dowies. Cycled back to Pedalabikeaway along the family trail and did a final shuttle up the fire road and down launchpad. It was a great day.

Joe, was that over Shutcastle rather than Dowies, you end up down by Little DryBrook, with the last 100 metres being about 3 mini chutes?

As all say though, FoD is the place, but you need to know where to go, midweek it’s pretty empty though, but i do find Freeminers/Verderers a bit boring, much better to explore the areas, such as Shutcastle/Dowies/etc down by Parkend, or the area around Mallards, although i do believe the weather’s changing, so Mallards might be a bit muddy.

Equidistant as also in Worcester as you will know…

I avoid having to go to Cannock for any reason I possibly can. It does nothing for me!

FoD (well, the greater area) is still my favourite place to ride in the UK… I never have a bad ride there! So I stay away from Pedalabikeaway as much as possible, but even if forced to ride the Verderers I just use it to practice my technique as I could ride the trail blind. If FoD was the only place I could ever ride again for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t be unhappy!

I’d go FoD too, i’ve only been to Cannock once, but whilst it was fine, nothing jumped out at me as making it outstanding.

Cheers all. FOD it is.

I used to know all the off piste stuff at Cannock but that was a long time ago.

Is the off piste stuff easy to find and loop together at fod ? Was planning on doing the freeminers and verderers trails plus some off piste if I have the legs left.

Is the off piste stuff easy to find and loop together at fod

No, it’s not actually at FoD, it’s a mile or two away, at least the stuff at Parkend is from what i saw on map and when we rode there, we had a guide.

Unless you like having BIG days, it’s usually best to stick to one area of FOD offpiste. There’s dowies and shutcastle, pillowell, mallards pike, laner land, staunton, pludds and even more. I moved here a few months back and to find the offpiste stuff you usually have to be with a local, or browse segment explore on strava.

Is the off piste stuff easy to find and loop together at fod

Depends what you mean by ‘FoD’. if you mean Cannop/Pedalabikeaway then yes, you will be able to find it.

The stuff that others have alluded to above is all well known, but essentially unofficial – it’s generally the easy/nursery slope trails. The real gold hidden away for the locals 🙂

For the sake of not riding miles, and finding some reasonable trails, park at PBA, ride trails there, head over the road & ride Barn Hill, which is west of Cannop Ponds. There is enough there to keep noobs happy for a day & it’s one climb up & probably 15 different trails down. You won’t stumble across anything special, but it’s all good fun (and better than the stuff you will find at Doeys/Shutcastle). The amount of traffic at Barn Hill these days, it’s essentially become an extension of the trail centre anyway.

Good to know.

Is the Café open at PBW?

Thanks all !!

If you want a pedal trail experience then Cannock is better, but if you want more of an uplift DH experience the FOD is in a different league.

@argee

Joe, was that over Shutcastle rather than Dowies, you end up down by Little DryBrook, with the last 100 metres being about 3 mini chutes?

As all say though, FoD is the place, but you need to know where to go, midweek it’s pretty empty though, but i do find Freeminers/Verderers a bit boring, much better to explore the areas, such as Shutcastle/Dowies/etc down by Parkend, or the area around Mallards, although i do believe the weather’s changing, so Mallards might be a bit muddy.

I’m pretty sure it was Dowies – you go up the main fireroad and peel off to the right to climb a further slightly narrower fire track thing (2 bikes width apart) then it’s off to the right near the top of there (over a fence). It has got quite a few steep ish and rocky chutes.

I thought Shutcastle was off to the other side of Dowies – it’s not an area I’ve been to yet that I’m aware of. On the list next time!

FOD main xc circuits are ok – but it depends what you like I guess. I’ve done those and most of the DH runs so am now more into exploring other bits using a bit of Trailforks and just seeing what I find. Makes it a more bitty day – but once you know where stuff is you can start to link it up the next time you go I find….

I’ve just had a weekend of riding both. Hadn’t ridden Cannock for a couple of years, and always had a soft spot for it as it was one of the first centres I rode back in the early days.
Spent Friday travelling to, then riding the Donkey (no off piste). Don’t think I’ll be rushing back – seemed to be a lot of effort for not a lot of fun.
Then on Saturday met a friend and FoD local who showed me more off piste goodness around Dowies/Pillowell etc. Absolutely superb riding, some of the best I’ve (personally) ever ridden. Loved it, and worth the 4hr drive and a night in a B&B to ride it. Smooth and flowy, steep and techy – FoD has it all. Been a few times now and currently it’s by far my favouritest place to ride, and I’ve barely scratched the surface…

I hate to knock Cannock but I’ve gone to FoD 10 to 1 in the last few years, both 2 1/2 hours from me, and I think there is just more on offer at FoD for everyone, plus the breaking bumps are horrendous.

Hob-Nob
Free Member
Is the off piste stuff easy to find and loop together at fod

Depends what you mean by ‘FoD’. if you mean Cannop/Pedalabikeaway then yes, you will be able to find it.

The stuff that others have alluded to above is all well known, but essentially unofficial – it’s generally the easy/nursery slope trails. The real gold hidden away for the locals 🙂

For the sake of not riding miles, and finding some reasonable trails, park at PBA, ride trails there, head over the road & ride Barn Hill, which is west of Cannop Ponds. There is enough there to keep noobs happy for a day & it’s one climb up & probably 15 different trails down. You won’t stumble across anything special, but it’s all good fun (and better than the stuff you will find at Doeys/Shutcastle). The amount of traffic at Barn Hill these days, it’s essentially become an extension of the trail centre anyway.

You’re sending the poor guy down bitch gap in the wet, that’s nasty!

Might get a bit muddy been raining most of the day suppose be dry Thursday Shuttcastle is just up the fireroad from the bottom of Dowies 6 run Shuttcastle trails are narrower than Dowies the new rerouted Bluebell is great with a few more little jumps in it the locals did great there.

Mallards Pike area is starting to get damp, extra traffic and rain that’s forecast and it will become a sloppy mess. It’s all natural so it doesn’t hold up as well as the maintained trails around PBW.

The cafe at PBW will be open on Thursday, closed on Wednesday. Same for the cafe at Mallards Pike.

You’re sending the poor guy down bitch gap in the wet, that’s nasty!

Probably a few of the others first!

It will be a soggy one though, as it rained a lot last night & this morning…

There are anti-mtb signs condemning ’wild trails’ from Forestry England around The Pludds that have appeared recently. They’ve removed features and called the cops apparently. All mtbing should be done at Cannop etc.

I’m assuming it’s because they’re cross about the steep trails that drop onto the narrow path along the beaver prison rather than the start of a general crackdown in all areas.

Cheers all

Fod is meant to be rain free tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Going to do the two red trails then get have a look about.

There are anti-mtb signs condemning ’wild trails’ from Forestry England around The Pludds that have appeared recently. They’ve removed features and called the cops apparently.

The Pludds is one of the few areas of FoD off piste[*] that I haven’t ridden yet, and was planning on going there soon. How sensitive is it?

[*] that I know of…

Not ridden the Pludds in years never found it that interesting compared to what else is in the Forest maybe its changed for the better not a great link up from there to Dowies.

Not to derail, but heading to FOD on Monday with friends. What would be the go to trails for a day’s riding? XC only and been about 8 years since the last trip.

Thanks!