Cannock Chase - Monkey trail opens this saturday

coolboarder

Well ive just done the full circuit for the second time and enjoyed it even more. The rain we have had recently has helped the trail although the sections with the bedded in cobbles are a touch slippy Just one foot dab due to the wrong gear choice and i actually did the werewolf drops this time, rode the lot and loving it.

Im wishing my life away wanting each weekend to come asap each week !!

Rob.

Andy

gazderry wrote:

first impressions of the Monkey trail, and I'm a bit disappointed really, there are certainly some nice bits, and I realise the whole trail needs to bed in properly, a good downpour would help, but it just seems confused as to whether its an xc course or a giant pump track and it doesn't seem to flow. I dont want to sound a moaning minnie because there were some excellent bits and some nice touches but it didn't feel right for some reason.

Anyone agree or am I way off the mark?

Nah I totally agree. I think its currently overhyped due to the new trail euphoria.

Full marks to the guys who designed it and spent the past couple of years of their free time building it. I think they've done a great job with what they've got to use. I just feel the switchback climbing gets a bit tedious pretty fast and it feels like lots of sections joined up at the last minute rather than one big loop.

The Tackeroo ending to FTD however I give full marks to. I never understood why people liked the chainslapper so much and the new ending is massively better than the chainslapper ever was. The only downside is the loss of sections 15 and 16.

kangaroo

i think people liked the chainslapper because it was a downhill section and was great fun

there are more sections to come on the monkey and those will start to fill in the gaps between sections

eddyesi

were some serious beginners out there today, and quite a few young kids under 10 with parents over the monkey side, so was very stop start. Understand its a bank holiday and people have to start somewhere, and the dog you probably could get round with a competent 10yr old or beginner without holding people up too much. But the monkey side of the new trail is a very Red section, and should have some kind of guidance on age/abilities limits :idea:

Andy

eddyesi wrote:

But the monkey side of the new trail is a very Red section, and should have some kind of guidance on age/abilities limits :idea:

I'm pretty sure it does.

eddyesi

Andy wrote:

eddyesi wrote:

But the monkey side of the new trail is a very Red section, and should have some kind of guidance on age/abilities limits :idea:

I'm pretty sure it does.

I know theres the board opposite, maybe it needs to be a little more 'idiot proofed' big boards on the trail entranceway in and before the train crossing maybe. Should advise to do only the dog first and if you didnt struggle then do monkey :idea:

Not just thinking of my issues, dont want a child getting hurt and some parent getting HSE involved, doesnt help anyone, but it was annoying, its not a family trail :twisted:

Alex

The signage is as clear as on any Forestry Commission trail. Cannock Chase isn't a private leisure centre like Coed Llandegla. The Forestry Commission expect forest users to exercise a certain modicum of common sense.

Almightydutch

Another one here thinking some people should read the signs. Far too many kids and novices up there for my liking. Dont get me wrong if they can ride then fair play but they cant. Even saw a few kids on BMX's...just wrong.
I'm not a hardcore racer but after todays ride we were all getting so peed off at being slowed up on the trails. Some serious overbiking goin on with most of them too, 140mm+ travel and still goin dog slow. When will people learn. We had two hardtail guys with us(one his first time up there and we blitzed virtually everyone)
One guy on the bit down from tackeroo was just funny. Full face lid, full body armour and rolling over everything and even missing out the stone jumps to the side of the tracks. IDIOT!!!
Tracks pretty badly cut up in places and i'm starting to hate the cobbled stones when it rains for 5 mins but still 100% better than the FTD original.
Saying all this, i shall still be up there twice during the week and again next weekend for a mammoth one. Hats off to the builders for creating what they have done

bails87

Thanks Chase Trail builders! Really enjoyed the Monkey and the new ending to FTD today.

Agree with the 'overbiking', but if people want to ride certain bikes there then that's their choice. Full respect to the young kid on the cyclocross bike though, put some of the full-faced, full sussed AM-ers to shame

coolboarder

Am i the only one on here who actually likes the switch back climbing? If they had used more of the fire roads for up hills it would have got slated big time. I think with the type of terain chase trails have to deal with it couldnt have been made much better. The switch backs by and large arent all that steep a gradient.

But of course we are all entitled to our own opinion



Rob

Almightydutch

No Rob, my mate loves the switchbacks. His new nickname is machine though, he demolishes them with a big grin and i must say its very disheartening when we all catch up.

To make matters worse he even had a fag while goin up one of the climbs just to rub it in.

Andy

Almightydutch wrote:

One guy on the bit down from tackeroo was just funny. Full face lid, full body armour and rolling over everything and even missing out the stone jumps to the side of the tracks. IDIOT!!!

You ever considered the idea he didnt want to do the jumps?

Almightydutch

In which case Andy, why go to the trouble and get THAT kitted up. All the gear and no idea/balls.

.blitz

It was...interesting yesterday. I'm slow but being waved past by people shouting 'come on, we don't know what we're doing hahahahaha' was a little weird.

BTW I sometimes wear a FF and have a 140mm FS bike. The reason old giffers like me go so slow is that it's more important to be able go round again the next day than knock a few seconds off our previous lap time

bails87

Almightydutch
Read the 'overbiking' thread

And I like the switchback climbs too. It almost hides the climb because you're focussing on the technical aspect of it. I'd much rather have that than another long fireroad climb.

BorisSpencer

I haven't ridden the MTyet but I certainly like the switch back climb in Section 8, far more enjoyable than the fire road climb up to the start of 8. It would be interesting to know the relative heights of each.

With regards to the earlier post about kids on BMXs maybe the OverBiking thread should have a sister called UnderBiking.

SDK2007

I've done 6 laps now and it's starting to flow better. The rain has helped to harden up the 'beach' surface sections but the trail is taking a hammering. The difference from Saturday to Monday was very noticable with a lot of holes and bumps appearing in the braking sections.

BorisSpencer wrote:

I haven't ridden the MTyet but I certainly like the switch back climb in Section 8, far more enjoyable than the fire road climb up to the start of 8. It would be interesting to know the relative heights of each.

The fire road climb up to 8 is 55 meters elevation
The section 8 climb is 25 meters elevation

MattMTB

Afternoon all,

I went to Cannock Chase for only the second time on Sunday, the first time I went with the Mrs and we just did the leisure trail but this time I went with a mate and we did two loops of FTD and a little bit of the monkey. We did the bit of the monkey just over the railway tracks on the left hand side. Up all the switchbacks and then down and round back to the road. How do you get to the rest of it? Do you just continue up that fire road until you see a sign? I must admit, cos we hadn't done it before and I hadn't researched it on here, we assumed we'd done all of the new monkey but clearly we hadn't! The bit we did was perhaps a mile in all.

Cheers,
Matt

kangaroo

cross the railway and road and start to go down the little dirt road
then turn immediately to your right in front of the buildings there and you will see the entrance to the monkey a few meters down and to your left
it has a bike stile entrance

.blitz

MattMTB wrote:

We did the bit of the monkey just over the railway tracks on the left hand side. Up all the switchbacks and then down and round back to the road. How do you get to the rest of it?

After the level crossing and the road, turn right

MattMTB

D'oh! :oops:

I remember that road to the right, even went about 10 metres down it then my mate said 'ooh, look, there's bikes up there' and we went up to that last section.

Oh well, hopefully I'll be going up this Saturday again as I absolutely loved it 8)

EDIT: BTW, what is the name of that road you cross? Next to the railway line? Just trying to get the bearings of where the trails actually go on Googlemaps, cheers

.blitz

It's the A460 Rugeley/Hednesford Road: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/30817339 (thanks SDK)

MattMTB

All of the info on that link is brilliant! What device does one use to capture the data? Where from and how much?! Cheers

.blitz

Think you need to ask SDK2007 - he did it 8)

mansecrofter

Hi
Just wanted to say that this trail is totally superb. I have ridden all the Scottish and Welsh centres and there is intense interest here to keep red riders occupied and it compares with ball of them. I love the switchbacks and the down hill sections. More black options would be great thuogh. One key thing that really gets me annoyed is the number of bikers who dont park at Birches and pay £3 to help support the trail development.

How many of you guys on this forum who moan at the trail and its braking bumps skip the payment. Bluntly;l to keep thhis trail fit for use it needs support and maintenance. Hence I willlingly pay for my discovery pass for a years biking here for 35 quid.

So lets pass this on if you are a mountain biker lets pay to use these trails. Thanks to all those trail builders and voolunteers. I love this traiil !

MattMTB

I totally agree mate, I need to get myself a discovery pass - I've spent £9 on parking already in the last month!

Went up there today, pretty muddy but all good fun Got in a full lap of FTD and The Monkey Trail, pretty quiet too, due to the weather being crap.

I just need to get myself a better bike now! 8)

Cheers,
Matt

SDK2007

MattMTB wrote:

All of the info on that link is brilliant! What device does one use to capture the data? Where from and how much?! Cheers

Hi,

I use a Garmin Edge 500 with a Heart Rate monitor and Speed Cadence.
RRP is about £250 but you can find it for £188.

It has become an essential part of my riding now - heart rate and cadence data is seriously useful

If you're interested then check out this excellent in depth review here : http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/11/garm ... eview.html

slowslowslow

Done the new Monkey trail a couple of times and loved it. Far better than FTD.

In response to people who talk about slow and inexperienced riders i would say that if you don't do trails like this and those in Wales you will never improve. First time round i found it really tough, the second a lot easier and was only a couple of bits i did not do. As I go I will get the confidence to tackle them. We all started somewhere and have different skill levels. I find the Dog easy now and don't see why I should not broaden horizens.

As regarding speed, yes i am not that qiuick, and probably inconvenience some of the speedy boys, but I keep an eye open behind me and regularly call people through. Do not like holding people up, so a call from behind to let me know you are there is a real help instead of just suddenly hearing someone on my shoulder.Agree it ain't a place for novices, but apart from that we should all be able to share and enjoy it..............

YIMan

People can ride what they want, where they want, wearing what they want, as slow as they want. As long as they are courteous to faster riders, who cares?

Never thought I'd see snobbery enter mountain biking!

Lowride

Four of us went over from warwickshire on friday and did a lap of the monkey trail. It`s just what cannock needed, we were all very impressed and have told loads of our mates to get over

Massive shout out to the guys/gals who built the trail and maintain them throughout the year, its awesome and compares to many trails at welsh trail centres

Keep up the good work!