Cannock... mega fail
One of my mates said to me this week that he`d heard people were riding the new 'monkey' trail not realising what it was like and hurting themselves falling off and then complaining!
I was there on the trail today (saturday) and I had a guy in front of me that should have no way been out there. He fell off three times in no more than 200 yards. I think people should be made more aware what level of riding skill is required
I was there on the trail today (saturday) and I had a guy in front of me that should have no way been out there. He fell off three times in no more than 200 yards. I think people should be made more aware what level of riding skill is required
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Specialized til I die
Specialized til I die
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I can ride most red routes, but struggle on some, BUT the only way I'll get better is to ride these routes, so sometimes I need to be slower and might look incapable, but I am learning, remember, you were learning once, give learners a bit of space with your already learnt skills.
Caz xx0 -
I don't think you are the sort of rider the previous poster was referring to...
When I was at Cannock there was a specific area I avidly watched family after family fall off at, the large rock section at the beginning of the follow the dog trail. Anyone else notice this?
I am pretty sure the post was not directed at beginners.
albo.0 -
I like what they've done at Coed y Brenin. All the "main" trails start off on the same, very rocky, very rough bit of trail.
It's quite fun to watch several people attempt to ride it, then give up less than 100 metres in. At least that way they're not going to find themselves halfway round the forest, in serious trouble.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:I like what they've done at Coed y Brenin. All the "main" trails start off on the same, very rocky, very rough bit of trail.
It's quite fun to watch several people attempt to ride it, then give up less than 100 metres in. At least that way they're not going to find themselves halfway round the forest, in serious trouble.
I did that the first time I went to Coed Y Brenin, went under the forks, 2 rocky bits later I chickened out and went and did Yr Afon...I can now ride Cyflym Coch without getting off....I learnt that way not to over trail myself.
Caz xx0 -
They need something like that at Coedy I reckon. Some parts, whilst not inherently "Rad, sick dude" (etc etc) can have very high conseqences if you mess up. There's a section of the MBR, (Abel, I think), where if you miss a beat, and overshoot the left hand bends, well...
Let's just say that you may not come back from that one.0 -
I was at Cannock yesterday for the first time. Rode 'follow the dog' first and really enjoyed it bar the puncture! Then had a go at doing 'chase the monkey', unfortunately my lack of fitness/general tiredness let me down and I took the short cut where I could and made my way back to the car park to wait for my mate.
Unfortunately I had to follow more of the trail on foot to get back to the car park, but made sure I got out of the way for other riders.0 -
just riden the new monkey trail loved it especially the section just before and just after the railway tracks..... but definately an unforgiving course now and a level of skill is definately required0
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Incase any of you think I`m saying that beginners should not be allowed on the Monkey trail thats not what I`m saying!
The point I was making is that some people are getting swept along with other more experienced riders and then once their on the trail they realise its a bit beyond their skill right now. The last thing I want to see is ppl hurting themselves
Somebody above mentioned seeing ppl fall off on the rocky setion at the start of the Dog. As we got to that section on saturday there was a young lad just getting up, plastered in mud. He`d just fell off but he said he was okay so I carried on. I always ask ppl if their okay if they`ve just fallen off
There was 6 in my group on saturday when we went round probably 6-8 ppl who had stopped catching their breath. I was leading and soon caught up the a guy who did`nt really understand how to go round berms, he just kept hitting them head on and not turning then coming off. The ppl who had stopped had now caught us up as we had this slow guy in front, I was trying to give him space but these idiots just started shouting Coming Thru. We did`nt let them past, they should have waited for a safe place if they want to pass. Some more of my mates went on sunday and did 2 laps of the dog before maybe riding the monkey trail nxt time________________
Specialized til I die0 -
Good advice lowride.
I've always avoided the Chase at weekends as the congestion ruins it for me. I'm not a great rider, and prefer to go at my own pace (which is too slow for many) or with friends who know my limitations.
Generally confine my activities to weekdays (when i can get time off) and evenings in the summer. At quiet times like these, people stop, talk and help each other out. I've never seen any examples of 'bad manners'
I love 'follow the dog' - it challenges me but doesn't scare me. I've tried part of the Monkey trail but baled as i wasn't having fun and i was worried about holding people up.
From what I've read, the place has become much more popular since the Monkey trail opened. People are getting too competitive, there's too much testosterone flowing and less competent riders are being pressured to go too quickly.
With Cannock being so close to urban areas there is far more likelihood that ill-equipped, inexperienced riders, unaware of the risk will come for a day out, and seriously injure themselves or cause a more experienced , but impatient, rider to crash.
Don't know what the answer to this is. Limiting numbers seems a bit drastic, and probably impossible to enforce. Maybe wardens or more scary warning signs.0 -
il agree that the Chase trails is not too far away from a big accident waiting to happen, especially at peak times. Ditto to riding weekdays or evenings less traffic.
I normally find that the idiots who shout coming through are the one who are normally in a world of pain when they reach anything with a gradient or a technical feature! Even a monkey (excuse the pun) can fly down hill without using brakes.
I was there a couple of weeks back to do the monkey trail to find a group of people walking up a trail like salmon while riders where coming down, we tried to stop and explain there stupidity but was given the usual duck off, who are you to tell me what to do, then within 5 minutes a group of riders standing in front of a rock section looking puzzled at how to ride it.
I dont know if its possible but maybe if they built another trail that was just as long as the monkey trail but starting from a different point, it would maybe alleviate the problems. From what iv been told by locals theres plenty of hidden trails that could be way marked but im guessing time, money and maybe the forestry commission are stumbling blocks.
I hope theres further development in the area as by the looks of it there seems to be enough demand for it.0 -
Andy wrote:the1pig wrote:I dont know if its possible but maybe if they built another trail that was just as long as the monkey trail but starting from a different point, it would maybe alleviate the problems.
You clearly have no idea of how long it takes to build a sustainable trail...
Depends on how many people you got on the job....0 -
hats off to cannock and all it volunteers an excellent job on the monkey, well planned well made well thought out, must have taken ages but well worth it0
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People will try to ride stuff regardless of all the warnings, chicken runs and qualifier sections. We've seen it at Gisburn, we've built one rocky drop, the chicken run goes straight on over a short bridge, to go down the rocky drop you have to go around a bend. People have been riding down the grass slope to the right of the drop :roll: . Makes no sense at all, if you don't want to ride the drop take the chicken run.It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
I've bought a new bike....ouch - result
Can I buy a new bike?...No - no result0 -
Being a relative beginner, how are the trails graded? red/black? I think the grading system is a bit vague sometimes and not always clear. For example I went to Thetford for my first ever off road ride and found the red extremely easy and the black fairly easy, there are even big signs saying "WARNING Black run its really hard...." or something like that.
Not that I went particularly fast. 
So are the trails labelled as such? 0 -
Andy i know it takes along time to build trails and i did not mention a timeframe for the work to be done either, it was merely a suggestion to how the overcrowding could be reduced.
Im certainly not knocking the fantastic job that they have done there and thats why i put it down "time as well as money" as a stumbling block. Though Im sure if somebody was to donate a couple of million on building another trail with a team of trail builders working around the clock it would happen much quicker.
If there was an alternative start point or if some of these hidden trails that have existed on the chase for years, can be opened up or highlighted to public then it would alleviate the problem of overcrowding which visitors are getting there. Even if it meant shorter single track sections followed by stints on fire roads as an interim. Im sure plenty of people would ride them as quite clearly the demand is there.
Instead of flaming me from your golden throne for my suggestion whats your solution?0 -
I enjoy Cannock as its one of my local places to ride, but i've only done the Monkey once since it opened as I can only get there at weekends and its far too busy.
But what concerned me when I did the Monkey was how many people who looked inexperianced that were not wearing helmets.0 -
What's bad as well is how quickly the trail is getting chewed up on some of the descents as (usually) inexperienced riders slam the brakes on and skid down "steep" sections.
I know having the confidence to roll these sections comes with practice, but there should be bright red "NO SKIDDING" signs or something.
Makes me feel very bad for the trail fairies.0 -
I havent ridden the monkey trail yet but it always used to strike me on FTD how some of the faster, flowing sections had been made much less so by the proliferation of breaking bumps in advance of anything that wasnt completely straight or anything remotely steep. Its central location (and relatively flat terrain) has always meant a lot more less experienced riders out on the trails. Given the apparently much more technical nature of the monkey trail I fear it's going to get chewed up pretty quickly.0
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Andy wrote:the1pig wrote:Instead of flaming me from your golden throne for my suggestion whats your solution?
Get along to lend a hand trailbuilding on a sunday morning, 10am behind swinnertons.
+1 on this one, he doesn't mean it in a "if you're not going to help, shut up" type way. It literally is as easy as turning up, you don't even need tools. Take your bike along too if it's easier, go for a ride afterwards. Ask the chaps in the bike shop where to go and they'll point you the right way.
Meet lots of new people to ride with, lots of random social events, the odd free t-shirt and BBQ. It's all good. No elitism either, a good mix of people turn up, from local riders to their mums and daughters. Good stuff.
The trail certainly isn't self sustaining in any way, especially as it's newly built and very dry at the moment. It's hard knowing what will survive and what will turn to powder and need fixing. Every build day will be fixing up a section that needs it, like all the new changes to the Dog (lots of rock reinforcement) and Monkey link section recently.
http://chasetrails.blogspot.com if you're curious. The missus blog is fairly Chase focused too generally http://firecat-a-go-go.co.uk (although we're going to Scotland in a month so it might change flavour for a bit).0 -
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