Cannock Chase, Freeride Meetup Sunday 29th November - Write Up

Sunday 29th November 2009: A write-up of our free ride day in the West Midlands Cannock Chase featuring LeapB4ULook (LB4UL), Goofy Mark, Mutley and AdeMcC (me). Not done a meeting write-up before, so chronologically seems to make the most sense!

6.20am Alarm goes off.  This is obviously far too early and I stay in bed another 10 minutes.

6.30am Get up, prepare sandwiches, drink coffee, pull out assorted items from the boardroom (cupboard for mountain board bits and bobs but boardroom sounds grander).  Why didn't I sort all this out the night before?

7.00am Leave House.  Its dark, cold and rainy. I wonder if many people will turn up.

7.50am Arrive at Coppice Hill carpark entrance.  Amazing since I had to re-'repair' the satnav the night before with gaffa tape and I forgot to print off maps. No ones there, the gate to the car park is closed and its still raining.  Do mountain boarders shit in the woods? Absolutely! Ooh, car turning up, trousers back on! (don't want to explain myself to local copper)

8.00am Goofy Mark and Mutley turn up.  Introductions are made, we eye up each others toys, the rain gets heavier, we get back into the car.  Where is LB4UL?? At this point would rather be in the car than out in the wet so maybe not a bad thing.

8.20am LB4UL turns up and suggests we try the next car park along.  This sounds like (and turns out to be) a great idea.  We pad-up, look happy and discover that LB4UL was late due to him losing his car key (it turned up on the length of string looped around his neck).

The next 5 hours or so consists of the following runs, all of which can be found on Rogers Run Guide here.

(1) Start from car park at top of hill.  Can only see first 15 metres but on map appears to go right down into valley.  Only way to find out - ride! Path feels more like river bed at times but beats walking and though shallow, gets us approximately 2/3rds of the way down before we lose momentum.  Opposite side of valley looks like there are tracks everywhere.

(2) LB4UL spots tasty looking track to the right, short, not too steep, bit rutted, sharp right hanger at the bottom.  Goes first and makes it looks easy.  Everybody else ignores the bend and ends up in the soft bushes.  For the first time, and for the rest of the day the rain stops.  This is a good sign.

(3) Into the valley and spot track opposite, gravelly, well drained, potential to be fast.  Is fast! Couple of escape routes left and right but otherwise on to the bottom with selection of river, bogs or raised bridge to choose to comically crash into.  Once again LB4UL rides it clean, the rest of us less so, but we're all smiling so we keep on.

(4) Followed the valley North, turned right, crossed the river, travelled perpendicular to river to find grassy track to right with boggy central run with options left and right being bit dryer.  Super slidey and rutted but not too much of an issue.  The sun is shining now and it is actually looking like quite a nice day!

(5) Continued East and found two grass tracks that start and end at the same points.  One straight and fast, the other, longer and twisty.  We each ride each one in turn.  LB4UL gets interest from couple of elderly dog walkers and complains that 'this always happens' and 'why can't the same thing happen with young ladies?'  General consensus that not many young ladies visit Cannock Chase on wet Sunday mornings, and besides, we all stink and look a bit grubby by now.  Mutley suggests naming the runs the 'pair of tits'.  No one objects.

Mark reads the map and informs us that if we continue on this path, we are moving further away from the cars.  A good way in the right sort of direction is back up the hill.

(6) Head right at the track at the top of the slope to find the road leads downwards again.  Best strap in!  Road disappears downwards but LB4UL assures us its ridable.  Everyone rides it clean except for me who landed on my arse. Hooray for arse pads!  Informed by LB4UL that I need more weight on front foot.  Fair enough comment, just feels hard to fight when you can feel the rocks pinging off the front truck the whole way down!  Wonder if I'll get another bruise for the wife to laugh at?

(7) Another track that disappears round the corner.  Mark and Mutley ride first.  All we hear is a shout, then giggling from the bottom.  Giggling is a good sign, so down I go, to be presented by a huge puddle and obvious escape route to the right.  Escape route is a bog.  "Lean back" shouts GM.  I'm going to lean forward; I've got good momentum, its not too boggy and I need to commit more to these things.  And end up face first in the bog.  Hahaha, more giggles, the bogs claimed three victims so far.  LB4UL pulls up short in a very calm and dignified manor.  I suspect that he's done this kind of thing before.

Quite lost at this point.  I suspect that if this whole thing had been a rouse to take advantage of me by three strangers in the middle of nowhere, then the plan had been highly elaborate and is therefore unlikely.  I don't worry about this possibility for long...

(8) Similar track to last one except straight.  Can see puddle at bottom so we all take it very easy!  Bit too easy, not enough fun and holding back is daft really as I'm already half soaked.

(9) Can see starting point on other side of valley.  Only way to go is down the grassy slope with nice steep middle section and run out onto grassy track which would have run further if not so soggy.

Walk up different track with definite possibility for riding down at later date.  Back to car to expose ourselves to the amusement of walkers and bikers.

1.40pm All leave in one piece uninjured and boards working.  Satnav in two parts.  Bugger.  I head roughly east, hit the A38 and head home.

In summary, Cannock Chase is a fantastic location for boarding.  Yes, the day started out wet leading to the trails being a bit boggy and slidey in places but it certainly deterred the crowds that can get in the way of these things.  In theory, We could return next weekend and the weekend after and still not see everything to do here, or come back in the summer and have a completely different riding experience.  Grass, gravel, woods, short steep tracks, long gentle tracks, long steep tracks and everything in between - there is plenty to keep the average freerider happy.  Consensus seems to be that we'll be back for more soon, so keep an eye out on the forums and next time, be involved!

Big cheers go out to LeapB4ULook, Goofy Mark and Mutley for sorting out the details and arranging for all this to take place, all I had to do was turn up.