Finally made it back to Cannock.

Thewaylander

And my first impressions were.

What a mess on the trail bottles and crap everywhere, What a bunch of messy ass people you ahve in your area

mobilekat

Didn't you know, the first rule of riding at a trail centre is to use it as a place to dump all the c**p out of your back pack as you travel around....
Its not just Cannock that suffers this, and obviously the extra weight of an empty wrapper really slows some people down.

(its one of my common rants when out cycling!- annoys me even more when it up on Dartmoor!!)

.blitz

Thewaylander wrote:

What a mess on the trail bottles and crap everywhere

Did you see the pink bra? I mean FFS what kind of person loses a bra on a MTB trail? :roll:

Thewaylander

Well jugdging by some of the people i saw riding there half of uhm Blitz :P

I know it happens in alot of places, But I was just shocked at how much mess was there, We get the odd inner tube and stuff in Wales(bar at the top of CWm which is a sh~t tip) but nothing as bad as i saw there.

Lots of people i spoke to blamed the Brummies mind :P

Tom BB

Not noticed that it was too bad.......saw loads of reflectors lying around on Wednesday night though!......probably says it all

Thewaylander

Ah well wont be making the trip again anyways myself.

Unless i'm stuck in the midlands for any bizzare reason lol

.blitz

I am a bit of a gypsy when it comes to rubbish and always stop and take discarded inner tubes home with me and I have quite a collection of rear lights lol. But you are right there are too many plakky bottles, gel sachets, Monster Energy cans, freakin' Clif bar wrappers etc. I dunno about the Brummies I blame the XCJs they are always in too much of a hurry :twisted:

Anyhoo...what did you think of the trail itself?

Thewaylander

It had two sections i rode back and enjoyed, Otherwise it's the same critism for me, Trying to do to much with too little decent, So instead of smooth sections flowing into each, it felt broken, and annoying to try and carry speed.

I think considering the area, its not bad, and the work and care thats gone into it is superb mind. I think the little log ride black bits are a bit naff... but thats just me they just seemed to break the trail down and slow it all up.

Two sections of down hit just right for the area, one had some nice little rocky shoot type bits and kept some flow, and the other was just before you went back to the Dog, rode back up fire track for both these and had another go to get more flow and work the section better.

Those smooth little pebbles are still a little dubious at speed, catch one of those suckers in the damn and there slippy but made it interesting had a good giggle with moments at those on my mud tyres from uplift last week.

As a whole if it was my local and i lived in the area I'd be happy enough, But i wouldn't begin to put it into comparison with more established trail areas.

.blitz

I think that's a fair and reasonable review. Do you not think it compares with Llandegla then? I've never been :?

Thewaylander wrote:

Two sections of down hit just right for the area, one had some nice little rocky shoot type bits and kept some flow, and the other was just before you went back to the Dog, rode back up fire track for both these and had another go to get more flow and work the section better.

Yup I like those sections as well, it seems a lot of people go back up the fireroad for another go. I assume you enjoyed the final section before the visitor centre no?

Thewaylander

Nope it was to flat, i didnt get enough chance to drop my seat for the rollers, so nearly had a nasty seat/nuts accident . And thanks tried to be fair to it, as i know there is alot of work thats gone into this trail, with a lot of locals who are proud of what they have managed.

And no it doesn't begin to compare to the black sections at Llandegla, as there much longer, steeper and with out the constant un-bermed switch backs killing your speed.
But problem with Llandegla it has only 2-3 bits of great trail too, which are the black grade bits. the rest feels like a spin out to them, then a meander back If your heading into Wales hit the dragons back lovely length and some wicked fast sections.

Or you could south to us

x3man

Hey Waylander

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the last section of Follow The Dog. You're right, the last two Monkey descents are the best bit. Definitely worth the second go. It was a blast riding that again with you and your mate.

I guess I won't be seeing you at Cannock again then!

Thewaylander

Dude,

Well depends, got family in brum so if I'm in the area will bring the bike. Was a good gas mate and thanks for helping me and the nut case find the easy routes back up!

Your getting a good shift on ya new toy

x3man

Yeah, no probs. The nutcase is pretty quick!

Thewaylander

And isn't he? can't get over that the guy only started this year, but i put it down to my awesome knoledge helping him at first, adn the fact he has never really crashed hard so has 0 fear

PS welcome to the forums, visit the Crudcatcher for proper giggles mate

ricey155

never noticed any litter any where, trails last week were pretty solid seeing as the rain had hit hard mon/tues

i agree tho take your crap with you hardly heavy, great place lets hope it continues

Thewaylander

I did enjoy my slice of cake in the Cafe after, And what did suprise me was the amount of ladies out on bikes. Much higher percentage there.

.blitz

Thewaylander wrote:

And what did suprise me was the amount of ladies out on bikes.

V. true - on some days I have to fight them off with sticks

Thewaylander

Would travel back up for that :P

.blitz

Yeah most of them ride totally naked and are smoother than Cannock's pebbles.

The trouble is, I keep waking up...

airbusboy

Personally i loved Cannock, given the local terrain they have achieved an awful lot!! It will never be the 7 staines or the welsh trail centres but i'm very glad they've made such an effort and made an enjoyable ride for a mix of abilities.

Regarding the rubbish issue, its prevalent around almost all trail centres i've been to...... I can't believe cyclist are so disrespectful..... CNUTS.

Thewaylander

LOL Blitz,

Bout to say i didn't see no Naked women there lol, but might just have been a bit chilly last weekend lol.

coolboarder

Well, i almost jumped in two footed here on the defence of cannock but didnt. I guess it was a fair review from Thewaylander bearing in mind (from what i can gather) hes an experienced well travelled mountain biker. What i mean is, i dont think its fair to judge Cannock against the likes of Coed-y-Brenin, Cwmcarn etc etc. Youve have to remember we are in the Midlands here and not the Welsh mountains!! The switch backs make the trail longer. With out them you would be up & down in a blink. Yes, the unbermed down hill switchbacks slow you down but theres plenty to make up for these imo.

I absolutely love riding Cannock and do tend to get a bit defencive. Its not that long ago there was no official trail here at all so having this place within an hour of home for me is awesome. Ive only discovered the joys of single track riding this summer and do intend getting further a field over the winter. But for now, Cannock it is.... love it....LOVE IT !!

By the way, was over there Saturday afternoon and didnt see any rubish although i have in the past. Got caught out as well, did the last 2 mile in the dark without lights. I even bottled the werewolf drops for the first time.

Rob.

Thewaylander

Fair enough,

Sadly its only an hour or so from some great Welsh single track so thats what it is gonna be compared to, But I compare all trails to the same standard on the basis, if it's outside Wales its a travel so I consider all trails from the same basis.

I Didn't hate cannock monkey trail as i said but i do feel it did try to make too much of the decents at points, and only when it was allowed to flow did it really come alive.
But as I also said if i lived in the midlands I would be happy with cannock as my local, especially with some Welsh trails so close.


I mean from Cwm Carn It took me about 1hr30 to cannock for instance. thats an easy both way journey for Welshies and Midland people alike.

coolboarder

Thewaylander wrote:

I mean from Cwm Carn It took me about 1hr30 to cannock for instance. thats an easy both way journey for Welshies and Midland people alike.

Yep, cant argue with that. I did llandegla in under two hrs a couple months ago and was well worth it. So where should i try next? Ive done cli-machx at Machynlleth and years ago did the mbr and red bull trail at cyb but that was when the shop/cafe was the other side the road. Guess its changed a lot since!

Hang on...cwm carn to cannock in about 1hr 30 mins :shock: . Some ones got a heavy foot havent they

Thewaylander

Never went above 80 to be fair.

Though i did it a bit less on the way home. It's not really very far at all mate. Come souths, Hit cwm, Afan is a further 45min down the road but it's alright.