Recent closures

If you’ve been out riding the trails this week, you may have been diverted around a couple of closures. The first was due to the Forestry felling trees in the section starting with the Stegosaurs. The second closure, which the Forestry had no control over, was the railway crossing. This was closed by Network Rail for emergency works. Both sections are now open.

The end of Tackeroo remains closed but work is progressing well – we estimate that it will reopen around the end of April.

Andrew

No trailbuilding Sunday 18th March

Just to let you all know that there won't be any trailbuilding this coming Sunday (18th March). The regular trail crew will be helping out at the local round of the Midlands XC series. The course will use the Tackeroo block so if you're riding the Dog, please obey any requests from the marshals.

If you fancy entering or coming to watch, please see here.

Andrew

Monkey Trail Diversion

The diversion around the forestry's thinning work starts this coming week (Monday 5th) for approximately six weeks - please follow the signs along the fireroads as there will be some pretty big and dangerous machinery operating in the area.

We're in ....

Chase Trails are entering two teams of five and a soloist (i.e. nutter) in this year’s Mountain Mayhem so to ensure our place, Dave and myself headed for the Staffordshire Moors in the Shenani-van armed with enough IT equipment to give PC World a run for their money. We met up with Ian (our soloist), set up our mobile office and waited impatiently for midnight. At the stroke of 12, the entry forms were downloaded, printed and carefully filled in.


Now to find Pat Adams’s house … a reconnaissance mission the previous weekend plus a nose for sniffing out cake at 100 paces meant we found his cottage with ease, along with more eager entrants. The Aston Martin guys in their smart DJs and posh car were heading off as we arrived (probably for a G&T or two) but we also arrived in style …. on our trusty steeds – a Trance and P7. It turned out that we were the first to arrive by bike - we don't do things by halves!

Mrs Adams ushered us into the warmth whilst Pat plied us with tea and cake - what more could we want? Entry forms and a cheque were handed over – that’s blown it, we’re in …. now the serious training starts …..


Well, here's Abi's training plan - I think there's too much riding and not enough cake eating!

Andrew

Diabetes UK - Big Bike Ride - Sunday 22nd April

Diabetes UK are holding a fundraising event on Sunday 22nd April. Their "Big Bike Ride" offers a choice of 1.5 or 15 mile off road routes through Cannock Chase ensuring there is something for all abilities at this event.

There will be a registration fee of £5.00 (in advance) or £10.00 (on the day) per cyclist and participants are encouraged to register before the event. They ask participants to try and aim to raise £50 in sponsorship. The person who raises the most sponsorship will win a Giant Sedona bike (or equivalent) worth £349.

To find out more details, click here.