Never Ridden Cannock Chase

benillustrious

I've never ridden any of the trails at cannock chase so was wondering what to expect? The nearest trails to me are at sherwood pines, and I agree with others that the red route isnt too difficult once you've ridden it a few times, but serves me well on a sunday morning. How technical is follow the dog and the monkey trail by comparison?

Corners R Us

From personal experience best done when dry. Lots of shiny shale/stoney surface that is challenging when wet. Trials themselves are fun and interesting and definitely worth a visit....but forewarned as above!!

.blitz

Can't think of anything that's unexpected apart from maybe the tree stumps in the middle of the trail or off-camber corners that disappear down the hillside but otherwise no actual skillz required everything is rollable in the true spirit of red trails.

Dog is mostly flat and fun, Monkey is a bit harder with some steep climbs and descents

The surface is loose and rubbly in some places and rock hard/skittish in others and the braking bumps/craters fill up with water but hey it's off road

Enjoy

thebatfink

I've ridden round Cannock but only the blue sunday walkers route I'm keen to have a stab at the single track but I've never done anything like that before. I'm curious, what do you mean when you say 'rollable' and also, is it a good idea to blast round there for my first time? I'm always kinda worried I'll get in the way of more experience riders and pi** them off.. but equally I'm not sure how else to learn except for having a go?

mcnultycop

By "rollable" it means that you can hit things quickly and jump off the drops, etc, or you can just roll off them as slow as you want.

You can't learn other than trying, so ride the red trails. Get out of the way of faster riders when you can do so, but only when it is safe to do so. If it is singletrack with no safe passing places people realise they just have to wait.

.blitz

thebatfink wrote:

I'm always kinda worried I'll get in the way of more experience riders

Console yourself with that thought and let them past when it's appropriate. There are plenty of places for people to come by, it's not a race track

rockmonkeysc

No matter how slow you are, you won't be the slowest. Just let people past when the politely ask.

Briggo

RockmonkeySC wrote:

No matter how slow you are, you won't be the slowest. Just let people past when the politely ask.

Someone has to be the slowest to have that baseline to be able to be faster than the slowest, unless he is the slowest, but then you say he can't be.

So who is the slowest, unless no one is but then how can that be?

kajjal

I wouldn't worry about being too slow just hop out the way if people need to pass. These are not closed race runs and people expect a variety of riders. The sherwood pines red run has some good tight, fast flowing trails but does take it out of you a bit on a hardtail until you get the feel for it. I did the blue route to warm up which was very sandy in places and caused the bike to twist under me a fair bit in the deeper sand.

YIMan

benillustrious wrote:

I've never ridden any of the trails at cannock chase so was wondering what to expect? The nearest trails to me are at sherwood pines, and I agree with others that the red route isnt too difficult once you've ridden it a few times, but serves me well on a sunday morning. How technical is follow the dog and the monkey trail by comparison?

Follow the Dog is pretty similar to the red at Sherwood Pines. Werewolf Drop is the only slightly difficult technical bit I can think of.

The Monkey Trail has much more ups and downs, so it's a more challenging ride fitness-wise. Technically it's mostly a little bit harder virtue of the ups and downs. There are probably two bits that I can think of that are technically a bit more difficult than anything you'll find on the red at Sherwood Pines - two rocky step downhill bits (Upper Cliff?).

ElliesDad

I'm probably the slowest rider on the Cannock Chase Red, lol.

Seriously don't worry about it, there is nothing at Cannock that you cannot just roll over as others have said and there is no harm in getting off and walking sections if you really don't like the luck of something! You also need to get into your head that going a little bit faster is actually safer and easier because if you go too slow then you actually don't have as much control over the bike.

As for faster riders, I've never had a problem 99.99% of them give you a friendly hello and thank you when you pull over at the side of the trail for them to pass, you can usually hear them coming up behind you.

rockmonkeysc

Briggo wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

No matter how slow you are, you won't be the slowest. Just let people past when the politely ask.

Someone has to be the slowest to have that baseline to be able to be faster than the slowest, unless he is the slowest, but then you say he can't be.

So who is the slowest, unless no one is but then how can that be?

I don't fully understand it either but it just happens. When I race, no matter how badly I ride I never come last. I have even fallen off twice on a minute long track and beaten a few others.
There is always someone slower. Usually my mate Winston.