Anyone ridden the Monkey Trail yet?

[Iwasgoodonce]

Did a very slow lap of the Follow The Dog trail with my lad yesterday and saw the sign for the new Monkey Trail on Cannock Chase. It warned of death and boulder fields etc.
Anyone done it yet? Is it viable on the shall we say 'older machine'?

 

[orange71]

I've heard good things about it from various people and have been told it can be done on a hard tail (maybe even rigid) - but I would expect it to be tougher than the follow the dog.

 

[Pickle]

Not done it myself, but my modern hardtail riding mate has just done it and gives it the big 'thumbs up'.

 

[stewlewis]

Yep did it when it opened, on a modern.
Fun, very much. Swicthback climbs are hard, the downhills are ace, and the new ending to the FtD is really good too. I think it'll be the way to go now, rather than just FtD, unless of course you wanna lap the dog then back around at via off to the Monkey Trail.

I've heard it's a bit rugged and chewed up by now, but I'm looking forward to going again.

Linkage to big sat pic:

http://apbp9a.blu.livefilestore.com...he Dog and Monkey Trail 17-04-2010.jpg?psid=1

 

[gump]

Monkey Trail is great. No bull, they have done a fantastic job.

To call FTD and The Monkey both red is daft. Chalk and Cheese.
The Monkey is not unrideable hard, or really technical, but is a great ride, and ride it fast and its superb. On a par with other Welsh centres IMO.
FTD is on a much easy scale, in terms of gradient and technicality.

Go ride it. Its worth it.
You can ride it on retro no prob, but a bit of cush will be more fun

 

[Pfennig]

I'd agree with Gump. FTD is fairly easy, especially as they have replaced some of the later sections with one longer more flowing section.

The Monkey trail I find to be a lot more challenging, definitely worth a ride! Only done it on a retro hard tail (a C16). I found the uphill switchbacks in particular to be pretty demanding but more than worth it for other parts of the ride.

The monkey trail also branches off FTD so you can do a combined lap of both in one.

 

[OrangeRetro]

The Monkey Trail is a funny one, lots of people compare it to Wales, but for me its still not quite up there. A Welsh trail usually gets the majority of the climbing out of the way in the first half of the ride, where as the Monkey Trail undulates all the way around. Its still a massive improvement on FTD, even though I've always loved FTD for a quick evening blast. You just don't get the nice flowing long downhills that you get in wales.

I've only ridden the Monkey on my Hardtail, but it would be far better on the full suss. Retro, well you could, but I don't know how much fun it would be?

On a side note, it bites in the dry! The number of people covered in dust from falls on a dry day is considerable. The trail tends to lull you into riding a little too quick. The black sections are also quite technical.

Overall its well worth a ride though!

http://www.justgoride.co.uk/Content/Art ... aspx?id=32

http://www.justgoride.co.uk/Content/Rou ... spx?id=235