New Mountain Bike Parking near Marquis Drive, Cannock Chase

parking problems at marquis drive

Parking around the Marquis Drive Visitors centre has become very very busy since the opening of the Forestry Commission Trails ( Follow the Dog and Monkey Trail) on Cannock Chase. Marquis Drive is actually a Staffordshire County Council site and local riders often use the car park to access Follow the Dog which runs close by.

The Parking situation became intolerable for the visitors centre this summer with several near accidents and conflict between the various users of the centre, particular as there is a cafe and big adventure playground on site which attracts many families.

The County Council have therefore created a one way system through the centre but have also designated a series of car parks at ‘nine gates’ approx 1/2 a kilometre down the road specifically for bikers. It is hoped that local riders will use this car park instead of Marquis Drive and relieve some of the congestion there.

upgraded bikers car park

The Council has added bike racks and the car park is close to the bike wash facility at the visitors centre.

 

Summer hasn’t gone yet!

After a weeks rest I was desperate to get back on the bike. My back and glut were still a little sore, but I thought a little gentle recreational riding would do them good (not so, by the way). With friends up for the weekend, 5 kids under the age of 10 to entertain, and a great weather forecast it was bikes, scuffed knees, elbows and lots of sweet stops to keep them going.

We had two under 4’s on seats, a 5 year old, an 8 year old and a 10 year old on bikes and, of course, a few mums and dads itching to get out and play on Cannock Chase which was in perfect condition: leaves starting to change colour, blue skies and dusty, dry trails.

5yr old !On Saturday after entertaining the children around the Stepping Stones, the mum’s managed a cheeky ride on some of Follow the Dog before Sarah’s crank fell off, and Steve and myself even managed to get a lap of The Monkey Trail in before the compulsory BBQ. On Sunday it was a mass ride. After driving the bikes up to a car park in the middle of the Chase to gain some height, we all rode around Hednesford Camp before brunch at the Marquis Drive visitor centre. I then found some kiddie friendly exciting trails most of the way home to Milford. The kids even did Ewocks, an aptly named Star Wars singletrack, or ‘sniggletrack’ as Holly calls it, which flies through the trees below the Deer Lawns and above the Stepping Stones (apologies those who have know idea where I am talking about, but it’s all fantastic riding).

10 !It was then the Dad’s job to ride out and fetch the cars, of course just having to take in one more descent on the way. Although very tired by the end, the kids rode the lot – all 17km of it!

Vote for Chase Trails in the Final of the Lottery Awards

You might remember this posting http://www.stodgell.co.uk/?p=2830 from a while ago. Well Chase Trails got through to the shortlist. Please cast your vote if you have ever ridden on Cannock Chase and help them win.

Volunteer trail building group Chase Trails was founded by local riders in 2003 with the aim of building and maintaining high quality, sustainable mountain bike trails on Cannock Chase. Working in partnership with the Forestry Commission, they have built 15 miles of mountain bike trails which they are continually working to maintain and improve. To date it is estimated that over 25,000 hours of volunteer time have been invested in the trails.

Chase Trails rely on volunteers to build and maintain the trails. They hold trail building sessions every week and are always looking for new volunteers to come and get involved. Visit their blog for find out more about volunteer trail building. http://chasetrails.blogspot.com/

By voting for Chase Trails you’ll be showing your support for the trails and the work the volunteers do to build and maintain them. We’d encourage everyone to get behind them and support this fantastic project.

Click here for more information and to vote http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/best-sport-project/141/ 

 

Cannock Chase Car Park Treatment !

With Sleepless in the saddle this weekend and the European Champs looming I thought I would get another opinion on my hip flexor issues that are still plaguing me a little.

After training at Chase road corner car park on Thursday, night fellow chaser and physio Ann had a look at me.

Stood around watching, other club members whispered and then burst out laughing. As you can see from the photos it kind of looked a bit dodgy, particularly the bit (not photographed ) where she had me hands on the roof of a car and crouched down behind me checking the symmetry of my glutes !

Chase Road Corner is about 300metres from one of the most notorious car parks on The Chase, Anson’s Bank where a certain footballer gained notoriety. I’m not sure what normal night time users of that car park would think !

Good news is she agrees with the other physio and has diagnosed asymmetric bum muscle syndrome ( well that’s my Somerset translation of it)

      

Start them young!

I found my old bent small diameter handlebar Miri mapboard the other day and managed, by re-compressing the rivets with a pair of molegrips, to get it working again. I was going to give it to Cath but someone else has grabbed it….. Tuesday nights Chasers O training kids course looked an ideal opportunity so Holly did it as an MTBO. She even managed to read the map whilst riding at one point.

Junior World’s 2018 here we come 😉

        

Rugeley Bike O

As I had produced the map for this event and know the area like the back of my hand, I decided to ride non-competitively at this event but was really looking forward to my first mountain bike orienteering on Cannock Chase, home turf, for ages.

From doing the map I new the weight of the points seemed to favour the north, so I headed out that way.

After a good start, although a little nettle stung, I could not find the end of the bridleway going to number 38 and ended up thrashing my way around Rugeley’s less salubrious estates, which don’t bear much resemblance to the OS map, before eventually doubling back for the control. I think I lost at least 6 or 7 minutes in total.

From then, to be honest, I wasn’t really navigating much, more route planning, though I had a wobble on Etching Hill trying to be clever going in on a different bridleway which was totally overgrown losing another minute or so.

After a fantastic big ring power blast down a 6 inch strip of dried mud which snaked its way down the cornfield towards number 31, getting huge ‘hedge rush’ from the corn stalks brushing the handlebars, it was a climb back up onto the Chase. Again I knew exactly where I was going with no need to refer to the map.

I seemed to be making good time so decided to take a gamble and go for the 50 pointer at the other end of the map on Cycle Shacks shop back door.

Unfortunately some tea leaf had nicked it !

I then careered eastwards, tucked down over the handlebars, time trial style, to try and get a control on Gentleshaw before heading for home.

I ran out of steam climbing back up towards Cannock Wood and Beaudesert but a gel got me going again, skidding into the car park just 40 seconds late.

Thanks to the organisers Matt from Cycle Shack and Dave Tipper, a great evening.

Please vote for Chase Trails !

Please see the message from Chase Trails below, The Cannock Chase singletracks don’t build themselves so please give them your vote.

I’m writing on behalf of the volunteer trail building group Chase Trails. We’re delighted to announced that we have reached the semi-finals of the National Lottery awards.
 
For over 8 years Chase Trails volunteers have worked to design, build, maintenance mountain bike trails on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. Over 100,000 people have now ridden the network of cycling trails built in partnership with  the Forestry Commission.
 
The trails continue to grow thanks to our efforts building trails every Sunday morning.   

I konw you have used the trails at Cannock in the past and I writing to ask if you would support our project by helping us promote this news and encouraging people to vote for us. By supporting Chase Trails you’ll be showing your support for the trails and the work the volunteers do to build and maintain them. We’d encourage all of the mountain bike community to get behind us and show their support for trail development and the future of sustainable mountain biking in the UK.
 
People can vote online www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/best-sport-project/141/ or by calling 0844 836 9721 (voting closes at midday on 20 June so vote today)