The fun is in the Chase

Chase Trails are a collection of purpose built mountain bike trails built on land on Cannock Chase owned by the forestry commission. There are trails for family and leisure, technical singletrack for the more advanced rider and a downhill course for the full-suspension, armour-wearing nutters.

Follow The Dog - Day 1

We (Agent Gorgeous and I) chose to ride the technical singletrack, a seven mile route known as “Follow The Dog”. Having never ridden on a purpose-built trail before we didn’t really know what to expect. However we soon realised that the investment in our mountain bikes was a wise one and both of us had the biggest smiles after completing the first section, a twisty singletrack through forest with a bumpy surface and the odd jump thrown in, which neither of us had the guts to actually jump, those trees are really close!

The trail is split into sections, with each section depositing you out of the trees and onto the fire roads that criss-cross throughout the chase. This provides a good opportunity to grab a breather and regale the highlights of the previous section.
A short ride along these fire roads and you’re at the start of a new section, each with its own distinctive feel, flat singletrack through dense trees, downhill singletrack with berms to ride, sticky mud singletrack, short sharp fast descents and lung busting climbs.

Halfway around the trail brought the first crash of the day. A fast, twisty downhill section, which we both later agreed was the best section of the trail. I guess I was becoming a little over confident and halfway through got up a little too much speed, too much to take one of the bends, I thought I’d managed to hold it but as the bend tightened I completely lost balance and had no where to go but off into the side, unable to unclip my spd’s, rolled over and skidded along ‘till I came to a halt. Still, I hadn’t injured myself and was quite happy about it until I realised I’d broken the (hydraulic)cable on my front (disc)brake, which meant riding the rest of the trail with only my rear brake functioning.

I persevered on as I was determined it wouldn’t spoil my enjoyment, cue second crash of the day. This was a couple of sections later, this time I was trying to take it steadier through twisty singletrack in dense forest. Unfortunately, in one downhill section my lack of front brake meant slowing down was impossible, my rear wheel completely locked up but no sign of slowing and a tree fast approaching. I decided to try ditching my bike and bailing out to the side, with some success, my bike was fine, and I got away with scratches, scrapes and bruises to my legs – battle scars! Suffice to say, I took the rest of the trail a tad slower!

Follow The Dog - Day 2

After the previous day’s mishaps, the opportunity to get back out there arose and as my front brake was fixed I gladly took it. The weather couldn’t have been more different, whereas the previous day was warm and sunny, this time it was persisting it down, but getting muddy is what mountain biking is all about.
Thankfully no crashes to write about and we sampled a section of the trail that we’d missed last time due to poor directions. I was able to ride the second half of the trail properly; having good brakes means you can ride faster!

We were both really impressed with the trails and will certainly return, and for anyone else thinking of going along you must stop by the café, they make a great bacon and sausage sandwich.