Cannock chase monkey trail,how hard an can my bike take it?

Garya2361

Hi all my names gary and just after some helpful advice!!!
I've recently started to get into cross country and recently done the follow the do route at cannock chase but I seen half way around the intersection for the monkey trail and bottled out of doing it ;( purely down to the fact I'm new to biking at the old age of (31) I'm lucky as I live in lichfield so cannock is on the door step but just don't want to do to much to soon and wipe out into a tree.also just invested in my first descent bike in the form of a lapierre spicy 516 an hope this will help me out round the trails and also help in technique.
Thanks for any advice an if any of you are on the chase and see someone wiped out then it's probably me lol.

thistle_

It's not a difficult trail if you've done lots of riding before.

There's more climbing (and descending) and it's longer so it's more physically demanding. If you stay on the red route and avoid the black runs most if it is no more technically difficult than follow the dog.
The only exception I can think of is where the trail descends towards the railway line where there are some steps in the trail. I bottled it the first time I did it (the day after the trail opened) but they seem to have bedded in nicely and are more rideable now.

Take your time, look where you are going and don't go too fast. If you're not sure of something get off and walk down it. You've got plenty of other visits to nail anything you miss out the first time around.

ali4390

To be honest it's quite an easy route - if you're not confident then take your time and as the above poster says you can always get off your bike. I tried it on my second time to Cannock on my £300 hardtail and both myself and bike coped with no problem.

Once you've done it once you won't think twice about doing it again, parts of it are really good fun - espeically Lower Cliff!

.blitz

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

There's more climbing (and descending) and it's longer so it's more physically demanding. If you stay on the red route and avoid the black runs most if it is no more technically difficult than follow the dog.

+1

People ride it on all kinds of bikes some of them don't even have suspension or gears FFS

#trailsareforeveryone
#weallhadtostartsomewhere
#atleasttheyrehavingago

Mtaylor2012

"People ride it on all kinds of bikes some of them don't even have suspension or gears FFS"

Agreed, i went up there on Sunday and saw people on full suspension Apollo bikes from about 10 years ago, there was as many bad bikes as there were your high end ones. It also seemed like every other person up there had a Cube too, they've become massively popular!

bails87

A Spicy 516 can most definitely 'take' Cannock.

Maybe it's worth getting comfortable on FTD first though before stepping 'up' to the Monkey. Or do the final descent to get a taster, which you can get to by following the split towards the Monkey, going down the switchbacks, crossing the railway and road and then going straight on up the fireroad, rather than following the signs to the [EDIT] right.

frankspencer1979

I did it for the first time t'other day on my hardtail and found it no problem, you could always hop off if there's something you don't like the look of. I saw one dude on a retro mtb with v-brakes, and another fella on a Trax doing the werewolf drops, so you'll be laughing on your spicy!

waby1234

Ability is probably more important than bike in many cases.

Garya2361

Thanks for replys gents gonna take the plunge on Tuesday an see how things go.
Anyone wanting a laugh is most welcome to join for morning ride.