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Taking my annual trip to The Chase tomorrow. I'll be having a run around the wood then getting on the bike to ride a few trails.
Normally I just do Follow The Dog and The Monkey as it's easy to follow and I don't really want to get lost due to time constraints. Is there anything else obvious and easy to follow that's worth looking at?
And more generally, how's it riding at the moment?
Lots closed on The Monkey
https://www.forestryengland.uk/article/harvesting-operations-cannock-chase-forest
Was there last week. Plenty of off piste stuff to the right of the diversion on the Monkey
If it's only an annual trip I'd be tempted to wait till rainbow valley re-opens but perhaps that's only because I don't know the off piste stuff too well! I have enjoyed a couple of shortened laps in recent weeks but it's not too far away.
I went yesterday, it's riding pretty good but quite a few big puddles in the braking bumps! Feet got soaked right through. As others say there's a lot of the monkey closed at the minute, didn't bother me though just took an extra lap of lower cliff descent which is the best bit of the trail anyway imo 🙂
Lunge - there’s a few of us riding the off-piste there tomorrow if you fancy it…
We rode it as a family fairly recently and I felt that the longer trail over the road was in need of some love. It just felt like a slog with little reward.
For comparison, I'm comparing it with Sherwood Pines, where there has been some good work done to rebuild the berms to increase the flow and Dalby, where the volunteers constantly improve the drainage and rebuild sections that have worn out.
I should also add that I view and use trail centres as places for kids and new riders to learn and progress. Once you've progressed enough that opens up the off piste and bike parks. So TC's should be looked after and kept to their original grade, rather than riders moaning that they've been 'sanitised'...
It just felt like a slog with little reward.
I always come away from Cannock feeling like this, I guess it's just not my kind of riding there!
The marked trails have there place, as mentioned above, but the natural side is far far better to ride. Some of them are super obvious, but without a bit of guidance you may struggle to put together a good loop