On 26″ wheels and 3*9 gearing do I get a reward? 😆

No you should be ashamed of yourself, if nobody saw you then you’ll get away with it..
😀

As above, the only reason I bought a 650b full suss is because my 29er hardtail had seen me banished to marquis drive.

I thought the shiny pebbles were impossible?

Nonsense! The trail wont be alive in your 26

I was briefly impressed by the thread title. Until I realised you weren’t talking about walking around the town centre.

So 27.5 full suss and a van to put it in or a ford smax!.
This seems to be the way to go before I can go again 😛

Maybe I’m asking a silly question but why all the hate for Cannock Chase ?

Last summer we drove down to see relatives of the Mrs & take the kids to Drayton Manor. We stayed close to the trails so I took my gear & rented a bike. Thoroughly enjoyed myself, a complete change to what we have up here.

I get the impression that there’s a fair amount of dislike towards the centre on here.

No hate coming from me all very tongue in cheek.

Not from me – been my stomping ground since the early to mid 1990’s.

How were the braking bumps… 😉

FWIW.. I love Cannock. It gets a bad rap ’round ‘ere – cause it’s not seen as ‘proper’, much like the disdain my other occasional trail centre faves appear to be held in here (Swinley, FoD and sometimes even Llandegla). And people dislike the shiny pebbles, poor dears. It is what it is – rolly, flowy, sometimes not-flowy – singletrack full of braking bumps and humans blobbing about on 160mm ‘trail’ bikes.

Fun, if you’re in the mood for that sort of thing.

It also has one of the steepest off piste descents in the UK!

Pah, cannock breaking bumps, just hit them fast and smooth on a rigid sscx and ghost past with a cheery wave…or…ride with as much style and grace as a goose on rollerskates, blow the front tubeless off its rim and dissappear into the bushes in fits of hysterical laughter to be greated by a round of applause by full suspension gnarpoon riders. Somedays you’re john tomac, somedays its the chuckle brothers

I like that someone enjoyed it as a change to other trail centres, because that’s what it is, same as Sherwood Pines. You can’t change topography, not everywhere can be Glentress.

It’s all just riding bikes.

It also has one of the steepest off piste descents in the UK!

Contentious post!

love Cannock! sometimes it feels like there’s too many hills and other times you go you fly round it in the half the time. You always know what to expect through. There’s nothing wrong with 3*9 or parking on Marquis drive 🙂 😉 , I do both!

I like Cannock. Its a good stock ride to keep riding mixing it up with the local natural stuff, especially over winter where the natural stuff is like a swamp. I’ve ridden Llandegla and FOD and I think Cannock is better. OK FOD downhill runs are great and much better than Stile Cop, but as far as the formal trails are concerned Cannock is much better than both.

What are the conditions like off piste at the moment?

I would still like to do a STW meet up at Cannock but when I put that thread up previously I was expecting perhaps about 10 people might come along and then something like 40 odd folks said they’d be interested (this site is way more popular than you expect). That’s quite a large daunting number to be leading out, I might struggle sorting out the logistics and not sure how it’d work and would likely need some ‘assistants’ 🙂 What I’ll probably do is try and sort out a route first then put a thread up here and we’ll try and get something together for mid September.

What are the conditions like off piste at the moment?

Depends which off piste you’re interested in 😉

Some of it is surprisingly cut up
Some of it has returned to sand
Some of it is perfect

Alot is overgrown enough to be getting unridable at points. Dry though.

Last time I tried to ride cannock with that setup, I dislocated my shoulder – twice.
😳

I love cannock too, but I think familiarity breeds contempt, and cannock is pretty familiar to a lot of people.

It suits me because it’s 85-90% as good as anywhere I’ve ridden (I’ve not ridden many places TBF) but I can get round the dog in less than an hour before work without having to get in the car or spend more than 3 minutes on the road.

The busyness doesn’t bother me either, because I’m normally home by 6:30am if I go in the week, and 8:30 if I go at the weekend.

My first ride at Cannock was 1993 with 21 gears and steel forks on my ’92 Stumpjumper.

Image nicked from Rootes1 of Cannock Chase Winter XC races

I seem to remember we rode from Wolverhampton to the race, raced and rode home…

I like the place, it’s just a bit far for regular visits, Wales is closerer & betterer

I’d be game for a meet but it’s a tad far from Forres.

If I get the chance next week I’ll rent a bike & ride it though. Down for a few days to take the kids to Drayton Manor (gotta love Thomas the Tank Engine Land) Most of what I ride up here is natural single track (nearest trail centre being Glenlivet though Fochabers just improved with new skills stuff at the carpark) so a trail centres as big as Cannock is a novelty.

I went on Saturday for the first time and also my first ride since before easter. The follow the dog trail was a nice welcome back to riding, especially as I normally ride the Essex flatlands. The Monkey trail nearly killed me, need to get my fitness back! Like it though, made a nice change to the normal trails I get to ride.

I would be up for a meet with anybody as well, Mondays are best for me.
Please take into account I am in the process of building my fitness back up after twelve months of the bike due to injury and then illness.

Please take into account the fact that I am fat and unfit. No injuries or illness yet.

Laughing at MoreCashThanDash, I never said I was not fat or unfit as well! 😀

donkeydave – Member
On 26″ wheels and 3*9 gearing do I get a reward?

Only if I can get a reward back-dated to 1990 🙂

Personally I love Cannock too. It’s great because it’s as hard as you want to make it. Potter round stopping at the start of each section and it’s not remotely ‘gnar’. Treat it like an XC race and it’s serious fun.

Go off-piste as we always used to have to, and it’s even better.

Please take into account I am in the process of building my fitness back up after twelve months 3 weeks off the bike due to injury and then illness sitting on the sofa stuffing crisps in my face watching shit football

If you want the brutal honest truth. Nearly died on a road ride with a mate this morning who decided that a 15% hill just 2 miles in would be a good idea.