Cannock Chase - Staffordshire
Trail Head; Milford, Barley Mo pub car park, 9am
Stats; 21.7 miles, 1,443ft ascending, 2hrs 42mins
Posse; Geoff (Turner 5Spot) David (Santa Cruz Chameleon h/tail) Lee (Turner 5Spot). A local guide failed to show up, so into the driving rain we rode...
Injuries; Geoff managed a full scale paratroopers roll less than 1 mile into the ride on a steep, rutted, baby head descent. With David and Lee doing well to ride around the flailing rider and bike as they parted company. Lee had a nasty tumble in one of the first sections of CTD, running wide he failed to clear a large stump and tumbled, hitting bonce on tree in the process. The lack of brakes also had him "shoulder" a tree later which then dumped him back onto the trail sideways.
Mechanicals; All three bike suffered zero pad life at the finish, x2 Hope Mono M4's and x1 Shimano 4-pot - all fried. Lee had the rear der cable snag on the seat post clamp a couple of times - that'll teach him for not running the cables thru the "taco".
Weather; Wet for the 1st half with a mix of light 'n' heavy drizzle. Kinda dried up (from the heavens at least) on the run back down to the cars. Wet weather clothing was indeed wet. 
2 Comments:
brumster said...
Myself and Lee also did a CC Follow The Dog run earlier in the year - call it a "recon" run if y'like. The FTD run itself is a lot shorter than the hike referred to in this posting, but FTD alone makes for a nice little run. It's got lots of interesting trails, from bar-end smashing tree lines to open, swooping runs and rock-strewn climbs - and the firetrack connections are short and sparse.
The other beauty is that it's possible for non-trailies to stick to the open firetrack while the dudes take in the fun, and with careful planning your routes can cross at regular intervals. This is ideal for taking the kids or less-inclined riders along and not having to miss out on the fun yourself. It suits everyone, basically.
It's also a good introduction trail to MTB n00bs as there's nothing too massively technical in there, and no serious drops to worry people (like, say, Afan :) ).
Farqui said...
Oops, appolgise to David for me - I thought he rode a Spesh. Doh, my memory's not what it used to be. Thank gawd !
All the weather was sh!te it was a crackin' ride. Even tho it's taken me wks to recover my confidence...
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