Cannock Chase Mountain Bike Centre https://d145mbeh1pcb1.cloudfront.net/media/reviews/photos/thumbnail/280x280s/1f/fe/d4/rainbow-valley-6-1366819335.jpg Hot

Having visited Cannock Chase for the first time today I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the trails and the varying terrain. Most of the downhill sections were excellent and left a big grin on my face and that of my mate that was with me. The climbs were most surprising quite steep and technical in places. The facilities at cannock are great very cheap to park just £3.00 for the whole day. All in all a very enjoyable day out I will definitely be back as it is quite local for me. The only complaint I would have is about the people who use the trail and leave there litter strewn across the forest floor not nice when there are people who don't really get a lot of recognition for looking after the trails you ride and keeping them in the condition they are in maybe these people who drop there rubbish should consider this and the environment around them and put there rubbish in there pocket or bag and dispose of it properly so other peoples enjoyment of the trail is not marred.

Had fun at Cannock, will visit again.

Follow the dog on its own was not worthy of a Red classification in my opinion, nothing challenging really, more of a novice flowing XC trail. But the Monkey trail is a brilliant intermediate extension, with the black sections adding much fun. Worth going for the monkey trail alone.

Found the Follow the dog trail a bit overcrowded (particularly worrying as it is only march), got stuck behind people who plain refused to move out the way when asked politely.

You could easily ride here on a hard tail, suspension is not really essential.

Some friendly locals showed us some diversions down unofficial trails on our second loop. These were good tree root strewn trails and worth riding.

Trails were well looked after and the facilities were good.

excellent trails really well kept by volenters!! monkey trails is excellent big ups and technicle downs!!

We drove up from Bristol for a few hours and were a bit surprised how much fun we had at Cannock. I think we both underestimated it a little - although I'm still carrying a lot of excess flab from Christmas. Anyway, we both left well-pleased with the ride. It's great fun for a novice/intermediate rider. Some great flowing sections and a few significant challenges here and there on the second trail (Monkey). We went in mid-Feb and the trail was pretty quiet and in great condition considering recent weather, but can imagine it gets busy in the summer, given the location. All-weather trail - but nice to see some mud and rooty sections! Finally, the centre is great, too, with cafe/toilets and shop with pretty much all you'd need. Def worth a visit - do a couple of laps to make a day of it!

Cannock Chase is my local riding spot, every time I go it leaves me with a grin on my face!

Not an expert but great trails and deffo the best in the midlands

A good trail, as many otherrs have said it is really only one trail with an extension rather than 2 separate.

For someone that lives in the Midlands it is the closest 'proper' mountain biking.

This is my local trail, and I ride it often. I'm not sure that FTD needs to be a red, the length and a lot of the trail would lend itself to being a fun blue. There are elements which would be beyond it, but these are the parts which don't really fit the character of the area anyway - e.g. Werewolf drops and Stegosaurus, seeing as they are comprised of imported rock, which isn't a natural feature of the chase.

I think the overall loop (it's hard for me to see the Monkey as separate from the Dog) is very good, and keeps the interest coming through out. It's starts off almost immediately on singletrack, and has some great singletrack climbs and descents - although it could do with more, and switching out those fire road climbs.

I like to do 2 laps of the Monkey. Its a figure of 8 with the upper loop being monkey trail and the lower one being follow the dog...I do the first half a dog, 2 monkeys then the tail end of the dog. Its well worth the 200mile round trip a couple of times a year.

Follow the Dog is a 6 mile red graded trail suitable for most people with some off road experience.

The Monkey Trail is a 6 mile extension on the Dog trail, still graded as red but more technically demanding. the last two descents are the best on the Chase (Upper and Lower Cliff)

Stile Cop Bike Park has over 10, 1 minute long downhill tracks along with the main "Red Run" the most used and fun trail on the hill, a great starting point as most jumps and drops are rollable.


Word can only say so much, so check out our video from 2011 filmed on the Monkey Trail at Cannock Chase http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2EfN19-eH1k

Cannock Chase has two red routes, Follow the Dog and The Monkey Trail. Both are tremendous fun to ride, and aren't too tricky for most people who can handle a red route.

Follow the Dog is the main loop, and the easier of the two, coming in at around 6 miles or so. It's a fantastic trail for beginners too, as there's enough to challenge you if you want it to, but there's nothing major to put you off if you're new to mountain biking and all the tricky bits can be avoided or walked.

Right from the start of FTD, you're on singletrack until about 1/3rd of the way around when you'll hit the one and only fire road climb. Once you're at the top, it's back onto singletrack until you reach where the trail splits in two - and the Monkey starts (which I'll get to in a minute). Carrying on the Dog from the split, and about 2/3rds round, you'll reach the campsite (which has fresh water if you need it). From then, it's all the way back down the hill back to the car park. There's nothing overly challenging in terms of features, but add some speed and you can make it as tricky as you want.

The Monkey Trail starts mid-way around Follow the Dog, and if you choose to do it you'll miss out a very short section of the Dog. Where the trail splits in two, heading to the left will start you onto the Monkey, and starts off with a nice steep switchback descent down a hill to the railway crossing. Once you're over the railway line and road, you'll hit the Monkey. There's plenty of stuff to keep you busy here - short sharp climbs, fun flowing descents, several black sections, various berms, rock gardens, and some jumps. However, the fun comes when you reach Upper and Lower Cliff. These two sections have some fairly steep climbs, but the descents are awesome fun. Lower Cliff is by far my favourite, and there are several places where you can get some nice air if you want to! Plus, it doesn't take too long to ride back up each one if you want to do them again. Once you've done Lower Cliff, you head back over the road and rail crossing, back up the hill, and you'll rejoin Follow the Dog.

Traffic-wise, Cannock gets very busy during weekends, especially during summer. If you can make it out during the week it's a heck of a lot quieter, but during weekends expect to get stuck behind people who are slower than you sometimes! In addition, because of the amount of traffic the trails get, the surface tends to get a lot of braking bumps, so if you have a full suspension bike, you might want to bring it a long - but you can do everything perfectly well on a hardtail or even a rigid bike.

Facilities at the Chase are decent - to start with, it's only about 20 minutes ride up the hill from the railway stations at Rugeley, so it's easy to get to by train. The trail head has a large car park, bike shop, cafe, toilets, a GoApe, and is open every day (bike shop closes on Wednesdays). There's also a second cafe approx half-way around Follow the Dog, though it's not signposted that well and about 5 mins ride away from the trail.

Finally, there's unfortunately no skills area of any kind on the Chase. There are some little jumps scattered around remote areas which, if you know where they are, can be fun, but there's nothing to really practise and hone your skills on, sadly. You can always give Stile Cop a go, but it's more of a downhill park (with massive jumps and so on) and even the easiest of the routes is pretty steep.

Had a brill ride here with some of the iBikeRide crew. Decent visitors centre and shop. Loved the beginning of the follow the dog with the rock step taking you up and the numerous bits of shore intertwined within the route. The Monkey Trail which comes up half way through the Follow The Dog is an up, down, up down, up down type of trail so you are never far from a descent that will be twisty and often full of numerous rock gardens. Overall it's rooty, rocky and full of shore so a brill red run. It's 2 hours from my home but definetly now a day trip destination. It''s worth it. Didn't try the black sections this time round but they looked awesome and will be back soon.