Coast to coast is a common expression; but how about Chase to coast?
Chase Skills founder Craig Rogers decided to lead an intrepid group of adventurers on a slightly different challenge.
Cannock Chase to Aberystwyth in four days and just to make it a little bit harder, they did it almost completely off-road.
Midland Mountain Bike Mag couldn’t resist bringing you a story like that, so we got Craig in to re-live his epic ride…..
Coast to Coast is both common as a self-guide and a fully-guided off-road holiday that mountain bikers complete in the UK. However, these are normally located in the north of England where the distance between the coastlines is small. It’s always been on the tick list of ‘must do’ and certainly still is. It was always my intention once the skills coaching of Chase Skills was established that we would look at other Mountain Bike activities. One evening, sitting in The Horns Pub in Slitting Mill after a damp, cold, winter night ride, chomping on some chips and sipping a pint, a light bulb was clearly visible glowing above my head. “Chase to Coast”! A ride from Cannock Chase to Aberystwyth. A quick calculation on my Blackberry Google Maps highlighted that the distance is very similar to a Coast to Coast and that’s how the planning began.
Many months later, on the 13th July 2011, after a lot of planning, including routing, riding, re-routing, riding, re-routing, riding, a group of varying ability riders met at Cannock Chase for 4 days of mainly off-road riding with Aberystwyth promenade as the destination.
One guide (myself), seven riders (originally eight, but we suffered a late cancellation), nine mountain bikes (yes, that does include a spare), one support driver and a Land Rover crammed with luggage, food, mobile workshop and spares for the four days ahead.
9am and we were off, we said goodbye to the support vehicle as it drove to the first checkpoint of the day, 12 miles south west. The day started relaxed with some beautiful Staffordshire flat farmland and the entertainment of Paul Yates. Paul decided to try SPDs for the first time and spent most of the first day on the ground at most stopping points. We wound our way through checkpoints one and two and on to the lunch stop. The weather was far better than we had hoped for with the sun beaming down on us. With the lunch stop over we continued towards Ironbridge Gorge. Our crossing point was Coalport, the road down to the river was steep and the corners were sharp. This made for a very memorable moment. I looked over my shoulder just in time to catch Chris Lomax realising that one of the corners was just that little too sharp as he went straight on into the bushes. The first day was a long slog with more than 42 miles to cover due to the location of suitable accommodation. The long slog is worth it as the night is spent at an awesome Elizabethan manor house. A big feast was washed down with some well deserved beers and everyone was ready to hit the pillow.
The next morning, we woke up to another beautiful day with some great riding ahead. Day two was a much shorter 28 miles. However, it included climbing the Long Mynd, twice! We started with a gentle ride through some amazing Shropshire scenery with some more entertaining SPD moments from Paul who was now in competition with son Adam on how many times they could hit the ground trying to unclip! A few miles in and the route had its first real technical test. A steep and narrow, rocky, muddy, bridleway through a very dark forest. All riders got down with a big smile; the only casualty was Paul who suffered a puncture. A quick inner tube change later and we were again winding our way towards Church Stretton and the bottom of the gruelling Carding Mill Valley climb. We met the Land Rover at Church Stretton and following a quick visit to Plush Hill Cycles we were starting the climb to the top of Long Mynd. It’s fair to say that nobody made it to the top, but credit to Nick Waldron for giving it a good go! A perfect place for a lunch stop was found and we made our way to the waiting Land Rover where Neil (driver) had setup the table, chairs and awning ready for us to feast. With lunch over and it was time for the legendary Minton Batch descent. I rode off ahead to find a stopping point for some photographs and set myself ready. Adam picked a perfect opportunity to take a tumble, right in front of the camera.
Minton Batch took two other victims, Paul and Chris both took small tumbles. A few alcohol wipes later and we were ready for our second ascent of the Long Mynd; albeit an easier climb. A few tired legs were showing but the group made it to the top and we spent a few minutes looking into the Welsh horizon and the mountains ahead of us. After an amazing fast open descent off the Long Mynd (GPS recorded 41mph!), we were on the way to the second night’s accommodation with one final field crossing taking the last big of energy of some of the riders legs.
Day Three began with another glorious morning; however, we were constantly being reminded of the “weather” that was coming in from the Irish Sea. We started with a long road climb that highlighted some tiredness in some of the group’s legs; however, everyone was still smiling. The day would see 31 miles of riding with a mixed bag of terrain. The morning was filled with some beautiful scenery as we crossed the Welsh/English border. Paul suffered his second puncture before the afternoon’s slog to the top of a huge wind farm. It was immediately evident why the decision to build a wind farm here was taken, wind, and lots of it. The perfect time for our first downpour too as we battled against the wind at our highest point of the entire four days (1825 feet). Of course, as the saying goes, what goes up must come down and a very steep and technical down it was. This descent was fast, very fast; it’s what your adrenalin glands are made for. Graham Waldron had a spectacular meeting with a thorn bush at the bottom and spent the entire evening removing some very long thorns from various parts of his body. We settled down for the evening after another great feast at a local pub before waking to a very different scene the following morning.
Day Four and we had the “weather” that has been promised with 40 final miles ahead of us. The sky was filled with various shades of greyscale and was leaking, leaking hard! As we prepared for the final departure, the leaking stopped and we made our way back into the Welsh mountainside. We suffered a few heavy downpours during the morning, making some of the riders fatigue feel worse, but the group battled on and completed the grind through the Hafren Forest before descending to our lunch stop. It stopped raining in perfect time for lunch, although again, Neil had already fixed us up with the awning to cover under. “This is it”, I shouted, “The final session, the run down to Aberystwyth”. A few riders were hinting that their legs were starting to suffer, but the thought of Aberystwyth being only 21 miles away was enough to find some reserve energy. We rode a road section on the A44 which involved a long climb into a headwind followed by a long 5 mile descent which is normally fast. Graham, Nick and I broke away from the group and started a true Tour De France style chain gang, pedalling against the driving wind to hit around only 20mph. This downhill road section, normally a rest for mountain bikers, proved to sap a lot of the rider’s energy which for some was already into the reserve tank. Another climb later and some legs are really suffering, until a moment that sparked some extra energy. Our first glimpse of the coast line and the town of Aberystwyth. “Nine miles to go!”, I shouted with conviction which was enough to spur on even the most tired of bodies. Another cracking descent finished with an irate farmer shouting from a distance, “It’s a bridlepath, not a cyclepath” over and over again. I bit my tongue, but was very tempted to tell him to learn the access laws of England and Wales. We continued with a final slog across farm land before a short road ride into Aberystwyth.
Yes! Aberystwyth! We had done
it, all riders arrived at the Promenade and we rode together towards the Pier to the waiting Neil with the Land Rover before dipping our wheels into the Irish Sea. The wind was still blowing a gale; however, the sun came out to greet us as we congratulated all the riders for an epic four days of riding.
The evening was spent eating, drinking and talking about how the achievement meant different things to the group. The following morning we delivered all the riders, luggage and their bikes back to the starting point at Cannock Chase. Of course, the trip back only took 3 hours compared to the 4 days it took get there!
From my perspective, not only is the ride an achievement, but from a guiding point of view, getting seven riders more than 140 miles from Cannock Chase to Aberystwyth across, at times, demanding terrain is a great feeling too.
We’ve had a lot of enquiries regarding 2012 and we will be putting the trip on again. The four days have been structured to give something to everyone. Some riders will see it as a big challenge whereas some riders see it as less of a challenge and more of a great ride. Whatever your ability and fitness, if you can think that you could ride Follow the Dog and Monkey trails at Cannock Chase twice a day for 4 days, then Chase to Coast will be for you! A holiday such as Chase to Coast is more about stamina and conserving energy. I always tell riders to try and ride some long distances of around 20 miles, they don’t need to be technical, just long enough to get the muscles working for lengthy workouts. Dare I say it; road riding is good for building stamina.
As for the technical sections, of course, we can recommend a Mountain Bike Skills Course, which will also help with co
nserving energy.
Visit www.chaseskills.co.uk to book your place on the next epic adventure.
Words and pictures by Chase Skills founder Craig Rogers
